Changes in stride rate, stride length, footfall pattern and ankle plantar-flexor strength were also investigated.
Studies have shown that music can have a beneficial impact on everything from stride rate to heart rate.
Raffalt et al. [12] reported similar phenomena in stride rate and stride length.
Consequently, efforts to improve RE via stride rate manipulation would be ineffective, unless the runner's freely chosen stride rate is not economically optimal [69].
Overall, in both men and women, stride rate and contact time decreased with increasing BWS, while stride length and flight duration increased with increasing levels of BWS.
Increasing BWS increased stride length (p < 0.02) and flight duration (p < 0.01) and decreased stride rate (p < 0.01) and contact time (p < 0.01) in small-large magnitudes.
When considering the overall effects of BWS on stride parameters, its major influence was the large increase in flight time, which contrasted the smaller decrease in contact time resulting in overall longer stride length and reduction in stride rate.
First, runners naturally acquire an optimal stride length and stride rate over time, based on perceived exertion [91], which supports the premises put forth previously [91,162,164].
When considering the global unweighing effects on stride parameters during running, its major influence was the large increase in flight time, which contrasted the disproportional decrease in contact time resulting in overall longer stride length and reduction in stride rate.
There is a natural reciprocal relationship between stride length and stride rate [30]; therefore, it is not surprising then to find reductions in stride rate, considering the increases in stride length in the present study and others with increasing BWS [10, 12, 26, 29].
