fethi wrote:
Bad Wigins wrote:
They're preying on people's complete ignorance of footstrike mechanics. Shameful.
Yet you say zero about footstrike mechanics.
run a search on my handle and "cheaterfly" or other relevant keywords and you'll find quite a few in-depth explanations.
As briefly as possible, all the vertical forces pass through the foot once the arch stiffens due to the windlass mechanism. This happens long after any kind of bounciness could contribute. Only an energy return system focused directly under the forefoot, and timed perfectly to be delayed until the body is pushing itself forward/upward from the planted forefoot, could have any effect.
Even then, the effect is only to increase vertical distance, lowering cadence. Like a gymnast's vault trampoline board, all you're doing is converting horizontal motion to vertical - if it worked. You're lucky it doesn't.
Elite sprinters go 4 to 5 strides per second. Do you suppose they bounce higher, or lower than distance runners? The gravitational constant is real.