When an athlete is sprinting, their feet are either on the ground applying force or in the air recovering. To increase speed, we decrease ground contact time and leg recovery time. We apply fast force into the ground and cycle our leg through to apply another quick force.
Let’s try to take .008 seconds off of ground contact time (that’s 8 milliseconds). If we can improve our ability to put force into the ground on and off by 8 milliseconds, and if we can improve leg recovery time by .002 seconds (or 2 milliseconds), then our total time saved is .01 seconds for each stride.
Not a big deal right? Wrong.
In the average 40-yard sprint, an athlete takes 20 strides.
20 x .01 = 0.2 seconds
If you are efficient in leg recovery, even by .002 seconds, this will help you get more momentum and speed in your leg cycling.
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