The Effect of Extreme Change in Stride Length on Oxygen Uptake during Running

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of extreme change in stride length on oxygen uptake during running. Eight healthy active female students acted as subjects. The subjects performed treadmill running for 18min with the three different, freely chosen (F), as short as possible (S) and as long as possible (L), stride lengths at 100, 120, 140 and 160m/min. Running speed was constant and stride length changed every 6min randomly. Determinations of oxygen uptake and stride frequency were made during 5-6, 11-12 and 17-18 min. Both increase and decrease in stride length from the freely chosen stride length caused increase in oxygen uptake. The mean increases in oxygen uptake were 2.8-1.5ml/kg/100m and 13.8-4.6ml/kg/100m at the extreme short and long-stride length at all speeds. The results indicate that extreme change in stride length affected running efficiency.