Runners: why do you jump up and down on the starting line?

Slight breeze wrote:

Why... Just why? LOL

I like jiggly with my junk a little bit before I get freaky.

You?

Usually because I have to pee really badly.

A lot of fools thinks it wakes up their central nervous system. Well, it has been proven to actually take some explosiveness away. More and more, you will see that elite sprinters/hurdlers don't jump or stretch before getting in the blocks.

CNS fools wrote:

A lot of fools thinks it wakes up their central nervous system. Well, it has been proven to actually take some explosiveness away. More and more, you will see that elite sprinters/hurdlers don't jump or stretch before getting in the blocks.

Interesting, I've never done it for that reason, but I can see how it takes away from explosiveness. I do it to shake out my legs. When they are tight if I can shake them out in the air then they feel better and more flowy when the race starts

It gets me going mentally.

Loosens up the muscles.

It is probably a minimal loss of explosiveness, but everything counts at the elite level. I think for many it is a habit they find comfort with, or like you, just a shake out to feel better. I personally wait until most runners are done jumping around, then I crouch down and get in the blocks, amd still have to wait.

It's the pee thing. Don't want to miss the start. I take care of it as soon as the race starts. Yea, my shoes are smelly.

shake out the nerves

otherwise, just standing there like a dork

Just trying to stay loose between finishing my strides and starting the race.

CNS fools wrote:

A lot of fools thinks it wakes up their central nervous system. Well, it has been proven to actually take some explosiveness away. More and more, you will see that elite sprinters/hurdlers don't jump or stretch before getting in the blocks.

your first maximal effort is not as powerful as the second. meaning, they should only jump once as forcefully as possible before the actual start. you jump twice before the start and the moment with the single greatest capacity to transmit energy will not have taken place during the race.

it helps to know precisely what will wake up your cns. in this case it's one maximally explosive transmission of whatever sort you wish through your legs. do a back flip if you so choose. but only do one. then rock back and forth rhythmically until the gun fires; the amplitude of which shall be greater on the line of the distance races and quite short in the sprints. in each one must not freeze up, but be slithering about almost like an imperceptible snake.

well since almost every sprint race has a false start, the actual start will be their second explosion

Oohhh, that's hot Uncle Joe.

Cause Michelle Jenneke does

it gets my muscles ready and shakes out the nerves plus it's something to do while waiting for the gun to go

Peer pressure. Because all the "serious" looking runners around me are doing it, I want to be taken seriously as well.

I think it has less to do with the muscles everyone has mentioned and more to do with a different muscle - the heart.

You do your warm-up and then have to stand around for too long before the race starts at major meets / events. Your heart rate is lower because of this and there is a benefit when your heart rate is elevated prior to the gun going off instead of having to catch up rapidly.

I always feel that my feet are glued to the line until I shake my legs/jump. Then I feel a little lighter. I assume it is mostly mental and habitual.

Slight breeze wrote:

Why... Just why? LOL

Because they are STUPID.

CNS fools wrote:

A lot of fools thinks it wakes up their central nervous system. Well, it has been proven to actually take some explosiveness away. More and more, you will see that elite sprinters/hurdlers don't jump or stretch before getting in the blocks.

Better than standing still for the last minute.