Sprint Performance: Was there something Newton missed?
As a biomechanics lecturer , I’m sure that my students are extremely familiar with my reciting of Newton’s Laws of Motion throughout their degree programmes, and my emphasis that those laws underpin the way in which we study sporting techniques as biomechanists. They should therefore all know the famous equation F = ma, which can be boiled down, in general terms, to tell us that the greater the force created, the greater the acceleration of the performer will be, if mass remains constant.
However, it is not quite as simple as that in the context of sprint performance, especially when the specific requirements on the athlete are changing throughout the different phases of a race. The importance of the direction in which the forces are produced through the acceleration phase of a sprint has recently been clearly described by Dr Helen Bayne from the University of Pretoria based on the findings of Professor Jean-Benoît Morin and his colleagues in elite athletes in France.
As Helen observed towards the end of her blog, the kinematics (that is the technique, or observable movement patterns) that link to effective force production in sprinting are not yet well understood from a scientific perspective; however, there is a wealth of practical knowledge out there in the coaching community on the movement patterns and techniques that are desirable in elite sprinters. To date though, the scientific research that links these movement patterns to the application of force, in terms of magnitude and direction, is limited.
As I often tell my students, biomechanists traditionally consider the forces that are created to be the cause of a movement, and the observed movement patterns to be the outcome of those forces that allow us to describe the technique. However, it is clear that those movement patterns also play a role in the creation of the force.
The challenge for applied biomechanists is to work out what those desirable movement patterns are, and how they might be manipulated to facilitate the creation of the forces that lead to the optimum acceleration of the athlete from the blocks, which in turn leads to the best possible performance over the whole sprint. In my next entry, coming later this week, I will begin to look at those factors that aren’t directly referenced in Newton’s Laws, but are clearly important when trying to maximise sprint performance.
A bit more about me and this blog…
There are several reasons for starting this blog at this time. I hope it will:
- Provide some support and additional explanation for the applied biomechanics work that that our research group is currently doing with the Welsh Athletics sprints squads;
- Provide a platform for me to share my thoughts on current research in the biomechanics of sprint running, and its application to performance coaching;
- Engage and share ideas with others around the world that are interested in maximising sprint performance, whatever their perspective (biomechanics, coaching, physiology, strength and conditioning, sports medicine, psychology etc…).
I plan to update this blog when I feel there is something of value to add to the conversation about maximising sprint performance. If it proves to be of value to myself and those of you that choose to read it, then hopefully it may evolve into a platform for regular dialogue and ideas.
Come back later this week as I will start to look in more detail into the biomechanics of sprint technique…
