What's the relationship between Sprinting and Maximal Strength?

An analysis of the relationship between sprinting performance and maximal strength, highlighting differences between elite male and female sprinters.

In elite sport, the relationship between the results in competition and the results in the various strength expressions is higher in women than in men. It is interesting to note that statistically, elite female track sprinters display less maximum strength (in static tests) than men with identical PBs in the competitive event, even when strength is normalized to body mass. However, these women have a better start-strength than men, i.e. are able to display a higher strength in a very short time. Elite women also have higher explosive strength than male counterparts. The training consequences of these two points are that strength training is the easiest way to make a developing athlete improve in sprint events. However, strength improvements occur naturally in the general population at a high rate up to their late teens to early 20s. Hence, from a long-term development perspective it is wise to start strength training (maximum strength development) when the rate of natural strength improvement begins to slow down and stagnate. Using this strategy offers the opportunity to continue to improve the sprint performance through new training means, and beat the natural stagnation of speed that occurs in late teens. That being said, strength training with light loads can be introduced at an early age for the sake of learning the basics of technique and working on the speed side of the velocity curve. More than maximum strength, the ability to produce a high strength in a very short amount of time (explosive strength) is of paramount importance in the structure of speed events. This is evident in situations such as efficiency in starting-blocks, short contact times during maximum running velocity in track sprint events, or the ability to produce very high pedal frequencies in cycling, punches in boxing, etc. This ability depends on muscle fiber type, but also on maximum strength. Learn more: www.altis.world