I've learned a lot about blocks over the years, some from my own previous experience and even more from coaching. You can read stuff online about feet placement on the blocks, angles of your legs and knees, block placement, height of our head and butt, etc. But what I can tell you is that a lot of that stuff goes out the window. Most of that stuff is actually recommendations of what has worked for the person writing it.
The first time I placed one of my athletes in blocks, I followed all of the recommended stuff I had found online. I made sure her feet were perfect, angles were as close as I could get them without using measuring tools, blah blah blah. But as soon as she came out of the blocks, it looked and felt so awkward for her.
Now blocks are extremely awkward to begin with. So we did it again and again and again. It never worked right for us. She said the placement of the blocks was just too far apart. We moved up her back block. When I had her get in the set position I was nervous. It didn't look right and her butt was too high. I was worried she would come out and fall flat on her face. But as soon as she busted out of those blocks, she flew. After a few minor changes of her few steps and some back and head placement, she was well on her way to beating everyone out of the blocks.
So what I learned from this, is the athlete has to do what works best for them. You can follow all the rules and guidelines you want, but it may not always work. Test your athletes in different placements. Move the blocks around. Try different angles of legs and blocks. You never know what will work for that particular athlete.
Good luck and go fast!
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