I'm, going to have to agree with Mr. Bohlen and disagree with all the other
esteemed commentators, successful athletes, coaches and learned racewalk
scholars all. I accept their verdict and would not recommend that anyone
follow my advice when the preponderance of opinion is in the other
direction. My ideas are outdated, as I formed them while training with the
Mexican team in 1980 - eons ago!



But!!! The reason I think hip drop is something important to think about is
this - the straight, supporting leg, when at vertical, is longer than the
bent leg swinging forward. It is desirable to bend the advancing leg quite a
bit, not as much as a runner does, but enough to shorten the lever and make
the foot get forward quicker. If the hips are level, the foot will come
through too high, which is inefficient because the center of gravity is
raised, and also because it gives the appearance of lifting. The best
walkers, at least the ones who appear legal, have flexible hips that include
some vertical motion along with the front to back motion and the rotation at
the spine the causes the feet to land in line. To repeat, the purpose of the
hip drop as the leg swings forward, and the shoulder drop on the other side
that happens naturally for balance, is to allow foot of the swinging leg to
stay low, skimming just above the ground, and then the leg flicks straight
at the instant of contact and the hip begins to rise. A point on the hip
joint moves in all three planes - front to back, up and down, and across the
body like a sine curve seen from above. Ignoring the last of these for a
second, think about it in 2 dimensions: The hip will move in a curve like
the sine curve or more accurately like one of those cycloid things. But
let's simplify further, by fixing the walker on a treadmill so we can just
look at the motion in 2 dimensions relative to the walker's center. OK, it's
an ellipse (oval), with both a front to back and an up and down motion.



Now, to the place we can all agree on - if you increase your front to back
motion, the ellipse will be longer than it is tall, and your stride length
will increase.



Yours in the science and art of race walking,



Ray Sharp

http://rayswalkingdigest.wordpress.com





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