Stride Length vs. Stride Frequency

by Melinda Burris

Stride length and stride frequency are essential components for sprinters and hurdlers. This article defines both, explains how they contribute to the speed needed to achieve the required efficiency to compete and ways athletes can work to improve both factors.
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What is Stride Length?

Robert Maschi is an assistant clinical professor at Drexel University and a board-certified specialist in orthopedics. Professor Maschi practices at the Drexel Athletic Center Physical Therapy Practice. According to Maschi, stride length refers to the distance covered between when one foot lands on the ground and when that same foot returns to the ground again.¹ One stride length requires two steps, one by the right foot and one by the left. This means the footsteps you take while running (or walking) will always be double your stride count. Step count is known as cadence.¹

Kinesiologist and sports consultant Erika Lee Sperl details how stride length, cadence, and pace are inextricably linked: “If you’re maintaining the same pace but running with a shortened stride length, you’ll increase your cadence because you’ll be taking more steps per minute. If you lengthen your stride, you’ll be taking less steps per minute at the same pace.”¹

Importance of Proper Stride Length

It is important for track athletes to realize their optimum cadence and stride length as this knowledge enables them to increase their speed and efficiency. Professor Maschi explains that running “[at] your ideal stride length and cadence” also has health benefits, as it allows you “to run at the same pace with reduced heart rate and oxygen consumption.”¹ This means less strain on the body as less exertion is required while running.¹

Maintaining your proper stride length can also help avoid common injuries. Sperl notes that Runner’s Knee (patellofemoral pain), a frequent injury experienced by runners is often caused when there is “even a slight tendency to overstride.”¹ Sperl explains, “Your knee is more extended when your foot hits the ground, so your leg is straighter and further in front of you. The way the force from the ground pushes back up through your body in that position can lead to increased risk of patellofemoral pain.”¹

What is Stride Frequency?

Stride frequency is quite simply how quickly support is switched from one foot to the other. When the support is switched to the other foot, the body begins to free fall and “the force of gravity accelerate[s] us forward.”² Stride frequency increases as a runner picks up speed. This is illustrated by the fact that noted sprinters including Usain Bolt and Wade Van Niekerk have been clocked in their final laps at rates of up to 250-280 steps or more per minute.²

Which is More Important, Stride Length or Stride Frequency? Coach McGill’s Take:

Coach McGill contends stride length and stride frequency are equally important factors in creating speed. When sprinting without doing hurdles, McGill observes the fastest sprinters are those with the longest stride length because they can cover more ground with fewer strides. Genetics also plays a role, as Coach McGill notes that taller sprinters like Usain Bolt have an advantage over equally talented sprinters with smaller builds “simply because Bolt is able to cover more ground with each stride.”

In contrast, for hurdlers, McGill maintains that stride frequency becomes the more important factor for more advanced athletes. McGill explains, “The space between the hurdles becomes more and more restrictive the faster you are, so you have to focus on being quicker and improving your frequency not only to avoid crashing, but also to maintain speed.”³ Coach McGill notes that elite hurdlers can never fully utilize their speed because they have to sacrifice stride length for stride frequency just to get through the race.”³ So while stride length and stride frequency are both important for track athletes, depending on the event you are competing in at the moment, one will take precedence over the other as a matter of functionality.

Scientific Studies Investigate Whether Running Over Flat Markers Can Increase Stride Frequency

Stride frequency combined with stride length equals maximum running velocity, which is the determining factor of racing times in sprinting. Researchers have maintained that to improve running velocity, a sprinter must either improve both stride length and frequency or improve one factor while remaining consistent with the other. For instance, a sprinter can improve their speed if they increase their stride length while maintaining their stride frequency.

Two scientific studies have been conducted over the last decade investigating the effectiveness of training by running over flat markers (FMR) as a means to improve “stride frequency and swing speed.”⁴ In the earliest study conducted in 2011, the study observed elementary school students and no significant difference was observed between running normally and running over the FMRs.⁴

In 2018, another study was performed, this time using motion analysis to determine if a discernable difference could be observed in performance when FMRs were used in training. Seven collegiate sprinters, all male, volunteered to participate in the study. All participants were required to run a 50-meter dash three times under different conditions. For the first race, the participants ran normally. For the second race, the participants “were instructed to run over flat interval markers and target foot placements over the interval markers (FMR).”⁴ In the final race, the participants ran normally again. The running motion was recorded at 300Hz by a highspeed camera which was panned during the race to collect a variety of data including the running time for each race, stride frequency, stride length, as well as body placement including “hip, knee and ankle angle, angular velocity, torque, and torque power.”⁴ The study results showed “no significant difference in the time of 50 m, but the running speed and the stride frequency improved.”⁴ It was also observed that “the timing of exhibiting the knee joint extension torque became faster and the flexion angle became larger, so that the knee recovery action occurred in a shorter time.”⁴ Researchers believe these results suggest that the use of FMR may be an effective tool for helping sprinters “obtain a higher stride frequency.”⁴

Conclusion

While the study discussed above raises more questions about ways athletes can work to improve both stride length and stride frequency, it is also true that genetics plays an undeniable role and taller sprinters have an advantage when it comes to stride length. At the same time, as has been mentioned, elite athletes capable of higher speeds, often must sacrifice speed to successfully clear hurdles. Stride length and stride frequency are both vital components of sprinting and hurdles and which one takes precedence at any given moment depends on the event you are currently competing in.

References:

1. Mateo, A. (24 June 2020). Should You Change Your Stride Length?
2. Romanov, N. (2020). Theory & Practice: Stride Frequency and Muscle-Tendon Elasticity Complex.
3. McGill, S. (11 January 2020). Email interview.
4. Saito, S., Takahashi, K. Immediate Effect of Running Over Flat Markers to Improve Stride Frequency. 36th Conference of the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports, Auckland, New Zealand, September 10-14, 2018.

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