how do you count steps

[nitro]

When people are running, do you count their steps or lefts? ie. 16 steps or 8 lefts

[VaultPurple]

lefts... well unless they are left handed, then rights. it always messed me up this year trying to help a new buy on our team because he was left handed

[decanuck]

Steps steps steps! Its the only way that makes sense and keeps it consistent with the rest of T&F. This is one of my pet peeves. In other events where competitors sometimes have odd numbers of steps in their approaches (e.g. high jump), what are they supposed to call their approach? My HJ is 9 steps with a walking start. Should I call that a 5 left with 4 right? 4.5 lefts? You'll never hear a hurdler say "oh man I hit that eighth hurdle so hard I had to 2-left the last ones."

Approaches should be steps = strides = number of times one of your feet hits the ground. I feel very strongly about this.

Hey while we're at it, can we all just use the metric system please? It's so much easier!

[Thats.What.She.Said]

rights, because i'm a lefty and when i'm runing fast i dont have enough time to count every step, but i need to count to get the timing, so instead of struggling to get every number in, counting rights is so much easier.

[powerplant42]

I hate the fact that I've come to count steps down the runway... it's very distracting, but things don't feel right unless I count. Lefts are the only way I can count while running... I guess it's just an American thing, counting lefts/rights, I mean... I don't think any other country does it nearly as much as we do.

[nitro]

rights, because i'm a lefty and when i'm runing fast i dont have enough time to count every step, but i need to count to get the timing, so instead of struggling to get every number in, counting rights is so much easier.

i dont think many peole count every one... since im a right handed vaulter i count 2,4,6,8, and so on

[Thats.What.She.Said]

rights, because i'm a lefty and when i'm runing fast i dont have enough time to count every step, but i need to count to get the timing, so instead of struggling to get every number in, counting rights is so much easier.

i dont think many peole count every one... since im a right handed vaulter i count 2,4,6,8, and so on

well thats stupid, you might as well just be counting it as 1,2,3,4 and so one. i mean i guess its cause i think of it like music, when your tapping your foot, do you count up and down, no just down. idk.

[VaultPurple]

rights, because i'm a lefty and when i'm runing fast i dont have enough time to count every step, but i need to count to get the timing, so instead of struggling to get every number in, counting rights is so much easier.

i dont think many peole count every one... since im a right handed vaulter i count 2,4,6,8, and so on

well thats stupid, you might as well just be counting it as 1,2,3,4 and so one. i mean i guess its cause i think of it like music, when your tapping your foot, do you count up and down, no just down. idk.

there is nothing stupid about counting lefts, unless it is while ur running (no offince to anyone that does it, too distracting in my mind). When you are coaching it makes it easier to count, expecially when someone is turning over really fast and you cant count that fast.

And i accualy jumped with a guy that ran from 6.5 strides because he wanted to start off with his left foot, but his coach just called it 7 lefts because his left foot hit the ground 7 times. That was wierd to me because i thought he should just be able to move up a little or back a little and start with the other foot.

But its still a matter of prefrence.

[PoleVaultinPsychic]

haha...hmm. well, maybe our coach is nuts but he says not to count steps at all. His reasoning makes sense though, because which ever you do if you count as you run and you're off you stutter step or you concentrate so much on the steps you don't think about anything else. Plus his thing is that we need to be able to go from anywhere on the track without having to count steps so for a warm up we have to jump from a bunch of random distances that he tells us and we can't count steps we just have to go.

[powerplant42]

You should know where your warm ups steps are... every one of them... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... you should know every single one so that you don't have to 'guess' as you run.

[hallvaulter]

i dont even count my steps

[powerplant42]

I wish I didn't... but it's a habit that I'm not going to waste time trying to break. It messes with your focus... your brain's got too much input, and it's trying to output numbers and a correct vault. It stinks, but I'm stuck with it... you're so lucky!