Carl Lewis: First 3 Steps out of the Blocks

“The Start” has always been a fan favorite for discussion.

Everyone worries about the start to shave a few tenths of a second, when they could work on speed endurance and shave a few seconds, especially in a 200m.

Then again, a good start sets you up for all phases of the race.  So you might as well execute to the best of your ability and let the pieces fall in place.

I wrote about Valeri Borzov – A Clinic on Sprinting from Starting Blocks – First 3 Steps and Usain Bolt Training Regimen Video – The Start.

I’ll post Asafa Powell’s sequence next week.

Now, we can’t forget about Carl Lewis, can we?  (I am sure some of the Carl-haters are saying “yes”!)

Carl Lewis was a relatively tall sprinter, and back then, coaches thought tall sprinters didn’t start well compared to a shorter sprinter, like Andre Cason.  Despite being tall, Carl has excellent form coming out of the blocks, thanks to Tom Tellez and countless hours of practice.

Today, Usain Bolt is rewriting the record books… literally.

Before I attempt to dissect his start (in a future article), I’ll put up the photo sequence of his first 3 steps, courtesy of the IAAF NSA.  The number below each frame is for reference purpose only.

This video was from a 200m start at the 1988 Olympics.