The most important components of fitness for block starts in either a 100, 200, or 400 metre race are reaction time, speed, power and balance. Each of these components play a big role and are all necessary when needing to excel in a block start and sprint.
Reaction time is a critical component within a 100, 200 or 400 metre race.
Reaction time refers to the measure of time taken for a person to respond to a stimulus whether it is a sound, touch or an image. In this instance, the athlete responds to the sound of the starters gun going off indicating the start of the race.
A quick reaction time is important, as it allows the athlete to get a good start out of the blocks and gain an advantage over the other competitors. A poor or slow reaction
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Power is the ability to produce maximum forceful movement and is a combination of speed and strength. It is essential to have power when doing block starts and sprinting, as it enables acceleration and force.
When the athlete takes off from the blocks, he/she needs to power and accelerate their arms and legs and continue this throughout the race.
Power involves strong force from both leg and arm muscles to exert high amounts of energy over a short period of time.
Power is an integral component of both block starts and sprinting. It enables the athlete to have a fast, quick and energetic start off the blocks and allows further movement in strides throughout the distance of the race, which results in a faster time.
Speed is one of the most important components you need when sprinting. Speed is the body's ability to move as fast as possible in a horizontal straight line, but for only a short period of time before their body starts to decline in energy.
An athlete needs to move their legs and arms as quickly as they can while sprinting, so they can travel the specified length in the least amount of time possible. Speed is a must when you want to gain an advantage over the other competitors and beat them to the finish
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Due to muscle memory, once you have completed the test several times on a regular basis, your muscles will automatically remember that movement and pattern. However, to be able to have a good reaction time involves practise and determination.
When our drill is being used for 10 minutes on a regular basis, your reaction time will be improving as it is increasing an athletes acceleration and adrenalin rate and reaction to a quick start off the blocks and a good start to either the 100, 200 or 400 metre race. It also enables the athlete to get familiar with a starters voice, which is helpful for when the athlete is in a proper race as it increases their
One topic that is a big part in the experiment, testing how reaction time is affected by the influence of peppermint candy, is reaction time. Reaction time can be defined as the amount of time an organism takes to respond to stimulus, or a thing or event that evokes a specific functional reaction in an organ or tissue. For example, the International Encyclopedia of The Social Sciences explained reaction time
The training in these sports is an enormous difference. In cross country a runner trains by going miles upon miles each day to build their stamina, as a sprinter this is far from my favorite part. This is a sport where an athlete has to have the will to stay true to a course instead of cutting and cheating themselves the training they will soon need. Cross country is a mentally tough sport, an athlete has to have the mindset that they will be able to go that distance. While in track the athletes also train to build their stamina, it is a different aspect they need it for. This is a sport with no shortcuts, but knowing I pushed myself as hard as possible in those short, intense workouts. Both of these sports consist of lengthy stretching to stay as healthy as possible for the real purpose.
A runner must use a strategy that is specific to that style of racing. If a distance runner attempts to apply pacing to a short sprint he has lost the race before approaching the start. Although racing strategies differ between every individual race it is possible to associate some basic strategies used in particular types of races. These techniques are common amongst the runners of a particular event but vary compared to runners of different types of races.
Cross country is not a hard sport, contrary to popular belief. People often think that you have to be born with the stamina needed for running four or five miles at a time. There are so many different things people think is necessary, like running sprints, heavy miles or lifting weights and building strength, but in reality these things are minor. Although being physically fit is idealistic, it is not the most important thing needed to be successful because having a well-balanced, nutritious diet, pacing yourself and setting a strategy, and having the right positive attitude can put you in the shape to be a successful cross country runner.
There are different types of muscle because each sport has various needs. “Power endurance is typically characterized by intense, repeated efforts for a relatively short period of time (less than 30 seconds)”(1). Sports such as sprinters, wrestlers, fencers and tennis players need to produce powerful movements and repeat them with several times with little to no rest. This training involves lifting about 15-30 reputations of moderate loads, about 50%-70% 1RM per lift.
The disadvantage of this test is that timing gates can be an expensive piece of equipment, training is needed for the timing gate operator and only one athlete can be tested at a time (Barber et.al. 2016; Wood 2008). As this test only comprises of two trials with adequate rest time, interplay of the energy systems is not significant if performed at the beginning of a session (Barber et.al. 2016; Gasston and Simpson 2004). However, if the test is conducted at the end of a session the cardio-respiratory endurance fitness may impact on the athlete’s ability to
The improvement in fitness, as a result of threshold training, that a 100m sprinter would experience would improve their performance in a race.
Muscular endurance is the ability to move your body or an object repeatedly without getting tired. For most activities, you use both muscular strength and endurance. This is used by every player on the field.
It suggests that genes will make it much more difficult for some people to achieve the same performance as other people. Sprinting speed is dependent on fast twitch muscles. The ratio of fast twitch muscles to slow twitch muscles is one component of how professional sprinters are so fast. Sprinters need to “have at least 70 to 80 percent fast twitch muscle fibres” in order to be successful, compared to the global average of 50 percent. (Kelland).
Short course sprinting is a good idea. This is where you need speed. Long course concentrates on endurance. Strength is important in all three sports. In hockey and football you need to use muscles to apply force to overcome resistance.
In sports, you make split second decisions based off your reaction times. If a basketball team were in a game and one teammate was able to get free from his opponent for a second but his teammate with the ball could not reaction fast enough, he would miss his opportunity to score than play. According to the test takes by the American Association of Health, if a man and a women were put into the same predicament, the man would do better than the
Finally, the only significant difference between the reaction times of males and females was with choice reaction time. Males scored significantly lower than
When running, there are four important external forces that definitely affect the kinetics of running: drag force, gravity, normal force, and friction.
What exactly is power? Power is how much force you put into the ground and how fast you can do it, how fast you can use it. Strength allows you to increase your force production and thus making other parts of your training become more effective. A smart and progressive program for strength building can result in an athlete effectively using his strength to improve his performance.
A good comparison of this is when one is looking at how long distance runners run compared to short distance runners. Distance runners can maintain their speed longer while short distance runners can achieve their top speed quicker.