Tag: Peter Weyand

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GAINcast Episode 89: How Speed Happens (with Peter Weyand)

“People recognize the power of science, in terms of testing and numbers. But unless you’re involved in it it’s hard to appreciate the creativity that is also part of the process.” — Peter Weyand

The founder of modern sports performance training, Vern Gambetta, interviewed SMU locomotion researcher Peter Weyand about human speed and performance for his GAINcast show.

The GAINcast name is an acronym for the internationally recognized Gambetta’s self-made sports performance education, outreach and training efforts, Gambetta Athletic Improvement Network.

Gambetta’s 60-minute interview with Weyand posted Nov. 2, 2017, “Gaincast Episode 89: How Speed Happens (with Peter Weyand).”

In it, Weyand touches on the experiences early in his career as a high school and college athlete playing basketball and running track that sparked his pursuit of a research and academic career in sports science and human performance.

As a high school coach, Weyand’s early interest intensified, leading him to pursue advanced degrees and a scientific career exploring the mechanics of human locomotion and speed, including at the University of Georgia and then at Harvard’s Concord Field Station.

During that time, Weyand worked with early pioneers in the biomechanics and human performance field, including renowned researcher Dick Taylor. At the field station in particular, Weyand credits Taylor with mentoring young researchers in aggressively and fearlessly digging into basic science questions surrounding mammalian locomotion.

“It was wide open, anything goes. It wasn’t these reductionist questions …. It was anything under the sun you could cook up. And there was an insistence on good scientific questions, and a real integrative perspective on all of it. Those were my formative scientific experiences. People recognize the power of science, in terms of testing and numbers. But unless you’re involved in it it’s hard to appreciate the creativity that is also part of the process. There’s an art of doing science and Dick was a master of that. And everybody that came through that field station under his training, which is really a who’s who in our field in many respects, learned that art from him.”

Weyand is an expert on human locomotion and the mechanics of running. Research from his SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development has produced ground-breaking scientific findings about the science of human speed.

The lab focuses on the mechanical basis of human performance and includes physicist and engineer Laurence Ryan, an expert in force and motion analysis.

The Weyand lab’s most recent research found that the world’s fastest sprinter, Usain Bolt, has an asymmetrical running gait, contrary to the common notions about coaching and training for speed. Bolt’s asymmetry was discovered using the lab’s two-mass model tool, which the researchers have described in the Journal of Experimental Biology, “A general relationship links gait mechanics and running ground reaction forces.” The model can assess the crucial early portion of foot-ground contact — the impact-phase force and time relationships — from motion data only.

Weyand is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology & Wellness.

Listen to the podcast.

EXCERPT:

By Martin Bingisser
GAINcast

There are some basic questions out there that are difficult to answer, such as what limits human running speed. As technology advances, scientists can better study and start to answer this and other simple questions like what makes one athlete faster than another.

Dr. Peter Weyand has spent decades researching locomotion on both animals and humans. His work with elite sprinters has brought some interesting conclusions and is driving the field forward. On this episode of the GAINcast he joins us to discuss his research and its practical implications.

Listen to the podcast.

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Quartz: The science explaining how Usain Bolt became the fastest human in the world

The health and science reporter for Quartz magazine, Katherine Ellen Foley, covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand and his colleagues Andrew Udofa and Laurence Ryan for a story about how world championship sprinter Usain Bolt runs so fast.

The article, “The science explaining how Usain Bolt became the fastest human in the world,” published Aug. 2, 2017.

The researchers in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory reported in June that world champion sprinter Usain Bolt may have an asymmetrical running gait. While not noticeable to the naked eye, Bolt’s potential asymmetry emerged after the researchers dissected race video to assess his pattern of ground-force application — literally how hard and fast each foot hits the ground. To do so they measured the “impulse” for each foot.

Biomechanics researcher Udofa presented the findings at the 35th International Conference on Biomechanics in Sport in Cologne, Germany. His presentation, “Ground Reaction Forces During Competitive Track Events: A Motion Based Assessment Method,” was delivered June 18.

The analysis thus far suggests that Bolt’s mechanics may vary between his left leg to his right. The existence of an unexpected and potentially significant asymmetry in the fastest human runner ever would help scientists better understand the basis of maximal running speeds. Running experts generally assume asymmetry impairs performance and slows runners down.

Udofa has said the observations raise the immediate scientific question of whether a lack of symmetry represents a personal mechanical optimization that makes Bolt the fastest sprinter ever or exists for reasons yet to be identified.

Weyand, an expert on human locomotion and the mechanics of running, is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology & Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development, is director of the Locomotor Lab.

Read the full story.

EXCERPT:

By Katherine Ellen Foley
Quartz
Eight years ago, Usain Bolt made history in less than 10 seconds at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Championship in Berlin, Germany.

The Jamaican sprinter set the world record for the 100-meter dash, clocking in at 9.58 seconds. Since then, no one (not even Bolt himself) has been able to best that time. On Saturday, August 5, Bolt will once more run the 100-meter dash at the IAAF World Championship (assuming he makes it through the qualifying race on August 4). This will be his last race; Bolt is set to retire after this running season (there’s some speculation he may still race in the 2020 Olympics, although as of now Bolt has said he doesn’t want to).

There’s no such thing as a perfect human running machine. But Bolt comes close—thanks to a combination of having all the advantages of a natural-born sprinter and putting in the effort needed to minimize any of his disadvantages.

Broadly speaking, Bolt has the unique muscular build shared by most of the very best sprinters. All human muscles are made of a mix of slow- and fast-twitch fibers—as well as some that are undifferentiated, and will become slow- or fast-twitch depending on how we use them most often. Slow-twitch fibers are built for efficiency and use oxygen to generate energy from sugar. They’re most effective for activities sustained over a long period of time, like distance running. Fast-twitch muscle fibers are used to generate huge amounts of force, but they don’t use oxygen and as a result can’t carry us far. Training can help shape undifferentiated fibers into either slow- or fast-twitch, but for the most part the best runners were born with an imbalance of one or the other. Elite marathoners have way more slow-twitch fibers, and sprinters like Bolt have an abundance of fast-twitch ones.

The best sprinters also run with a different form than the rest of us. It’s not that they move their legs significantly faster; it’s that they hit the ground harder (paywall). Most of the force sprinters generate is directed straight into the ground for vertical movement; only about 5% is used to propel them forward, Peter Weyand, a physiologist studying human speed at Southern Methodist University in Texas, told Popular Science in 2013. The more force a sprinter can pack into the ground with a quick foot strike, the faster he or she goes.

In a 2010 study, Weyand’s lab conducted an experiment where subjects jogged, ran, and hopped on one foot on a treadmill. They found that the most force came from hopping, thanks to the leg’s longer airtime. The researchers then calculated that if a runner were to generate the maximum hopping force possible with each step, he or she’d be able to reach a speed of 19.3 meters per second (63.3 feet per second)—which would make for a 5.18 second 100-meter dash.

This is just a fun theoretical experiment; it’s impossible to actually sprint and jump straight up and down at the same time. But it appears Bolt generates a powerful punch to the track—maybe the most powerful ever.

Read the full story.

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How Stuff Works: Scientists Discover Something Mind-blowing About How Usain Bolt Runs

Journalist Patrick J. Kiger with the news site How Stuff Works covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand and his colleagues Andrew Udofa and Laurence Ryan for a story about Usain Bolt’s asymmetrical running gait.

The article, “Scientists Discover Something Mind-blowing About How Usain Bolt Runs,” published Aug. 2, 2017.

The researchers in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory reported in June that world champion sprinter Usain Bolt may have an asymmetrical running gait. While not noticeable to the naked eye, Bolt’s potential asymmetry emerged after the researchers dissected race video to assess his pattern of ground-force application — literally how hard and fast each foot hits the ground. To do so they measured the “impulse” for each foot.

Biomechanics researcher Udofa presented the findings at the 35th International Conference on Biomechanics in Sport in Cologne, Germany. His presentation, “Ground Reaction Forces During Competitive Track Events: A Motion Based Assessment Method,” was delivered June 18.

The analysis thus far suggests that Bolt’s mechanics may vary between his left leg to his right. The existence of an unexpected and potentially significant asymmetry in the fastest human runner ever would help scientists better understand the basis of maximal running speeds. Running experts generally assume asymmetry impairs performance and slows runners down.

Udofa has said the observations raise the immediate scientific question of whether a lack of symmetry represents a personal mechanical optimization that makes Bolt the fastest sprinter ever or exists for reasons yet to be identified.

Weyand, who leads the lab and its researchers, he is an expert on human locomotion and the mechanics of running. He is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology & Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development, is director of the Locomotor Lab.

Read the full story.

EXCERPT:

By Patrick J. Kiger
How Stuff Works
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is the world record-holder in both the 100- and 200-meter, and winner of those events in the last three Summer Olympics. Bolt can hit a top speed of around 27 mph (43.5 kph), and has clearly established himself as the greatest sprinter of all time. But there’s something curious about his legs, and the way he uses them.

As the athlete prepares to run in his final world championship meet in London’s 2017 World Athletics Championships, taking place Aug. 4-13 and less than three weeks before Bolt’s 31st birthday, scientists are still trying to figure out just how the fastest human on the planet manages to achieve such incredible speed. Researchers at the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Locomotor Performance Laboratory don’t quite have the answer yet — but they’ve made a surprising discovery.

The researchers analyzed video footage of Bolt and other sprinters from the 2011 Diamond League race at the World Athletics Championships in Monaco. They also used a “two mass model” analysis tool they developed, which allows them to study the physical forces that a runner creates — without actually bringing Bolt into a lab and putting him on a treadmill. They found that Bolt had an uneven, assymetrical stride, which is something that scientists might have expected to slow him down.

When he runs, Bolt’s right leg strikes the ground with 13 percent more peak force than does his left leg, and with each stride, his left leg stays in contact with the track about 14 percent longer than the right. The researchers findings have been published in a new study in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Bolt’s asymmetrical stride is probably due to his anatomy. As he recounted in his autobiography “The Fastest Man Alive: The True Story of Usain Bolt,” Bolt discovered as an adult that he has scoliosis, a condition in which his spine curves slightly to the left, which has forced his hips out of alignment so that his right leg is a half-inch (1.2 centimeters) shorter than the left. Bolt has written that he feels awkward standing still, and leans to the right because it feels uncomfortable to stand and place pressure on his left leg. Sitting in the same position for too long gives him backaches.

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Slate: Making the Perfect Sprinter More Perfect

How Usain Bolt could have run even faster.

Slate online magazine journalist Adam Willis covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand and his colleagues Andrew Udofa and Laurence Ryan for a story about the world’s fastest sprinter, Usain Bolt, and whether he could possibly run even faster with different form.

The article, “Making the Perfect Sprinter More Perfect,” published Aug. 4, 2017.

Weyand, who leads the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is an expert on human locomotion and the mechanics of running. In his most recently published research, Weyand was part of a team that developed a concise approach to understanding the mechanics of human running. The research has immediate application for running performance, injury prevention, rehab and the individualized design of running shoes, orthotics and prostheses. Called the two-mass model, the work integrates classic physics and human anatomy to link the motion of individual runners to their patterns of force application on the ground — during jogging, sprinting and at all speeds in between.

His lab also reported in June that world champion sprinter Usain Bolt may have an asymmetrical running gait. While not noticeable to the naked eye, Bolt’s potential asymmetry emerged after the researchers dissected race video to assess his pattern of ground-force application — literally how hard and fast each foot hits the ground. To do so they measured the “impulse” for each foot.

Udofa presented the findings at the 35th International Conference on Biomechanics in Sport in Cologne, Germany. His presentation, “Ground Reaction Forces During Competitive Track Events: A Motion Based Assessment Method,” was delivered June 18.

The analysis thus far suggests that Bolt’s mechanics may vary between his left leg to his right. The existence of an unexpected and potentially significant asymmetry in the fastest human runner ever would help scientists better understand the basis of maximal running speeds. Running experts generally assume asymmetry impairs performance and slows runners down.

Udofa has said the observations raise the immediate scientific question of whether a lack of symmetry represents a personal mechanical optimization that makes Bolt the fastest sprinter ever or exists for reasons yet to be identified.

Weyand also has been widely interviewed in years past on the controversy surrounding double-amputee South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius. Weyand co-led a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability.

Weyand, who is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology & Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development, is director of the Locomotor Lab.

The researchers described the two-mass model earlier this year in the Journal of Experimental Biology in their article, “A general relationship links gait mechanics and running ground reaction forces.” It’s available at bitly, http://bit.ly/2jKUCSq.

Read the full story.

EXCERPT:

By Adam Willis
Slate
Usain Bolt is the only person to win both the 100 and 200 meters at three Olympic games. He is also the only person to do this at two Olympic games. Bolt has broken five individual outdoor track and field world records, three of them his own. He has run three of the five fastest 100-meter races and four of the six fastest 200-meter races in history. As Bolt gets set for the World Athletics Championships in London, the final meet of his beyond-illustrious career, we should be grateful for all the memorable moments the world’s fastest man has given us. We should also be ingrates and ask: Could he have run faster?

Bolt has an uncanny knack for making the incredibly difficult look easy—like Muhammad Ali coming off the ropes, like Westley fencing with his left hand, like James Joyce writing Ulysses from Paris. It’s only natural to wonder, then, if he could have done more. His midrace celebrations, his apparent aversion for practice and affinity for parties, his less than sensible diet—he reportedly ate 1,000 Chicken McNuggets in 10 days during the Beijing Olympics—all suggest history’s greatest sprinter might’ve had a little bit more in the tank.

After Bolt breezed to a 9.69 world record in the 100 meters at the 2008 Olympics, jogging and chest thumping across the finish line just days before his 22nd birthday, his coach Glen Mills made headlines with his claim that Bolt would have hit 9.52, at worst, if he had just run through the line. Scientists took on the task of projecting the time that might have been, with most concluding that 9.52 was, at best, a slight exaggeration. Bolt, though, made that claim look less sensational when he tore through his own world records at the world championships in Berlin a year later, posting 9.58 in the 100 and 19.19 in the 200. Still, Bolt would never reach the 9.52 that Mills estimated, nor, for that matter, the 9.4 that he himself predicted. He would never best those world records that he set in Berlin, when he was not yet 23 years old.

“We haven’t seen the 2009 Bolt since 2009,” says Peter Weyand, the director of the Locomotor Performance Laboratory at Southern Methodist University and a leading expert on the science of sprinting. When I asked Weyand about Bolt’s early peak, he told me that, although 22 or 23 is not an unusual age for a sprinter to top out, he would have predicted more after Bolt’s 2009 performances.

While recent research from Weyand’s lab concluded that Bolt’s stride is abnormally asymmetric, Weyand says it’s unlikely this asymmetry held Bolt back in any way. He does point, however, to several aspects of Bolt’s form that are considered unorthodox and potentially suboptimal.

Read the full story.

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The New York Times: Something Strange in Usain Bolt’s Stride

Bolt is the fastest sprinter ever in spite of — or because of? — an uneven stride that upends conventional wisdom.

The New York Times reporter Jeré Longman covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand and his colleagues Andrew Udofa and Laurence Ryan for a story about Usain Bolt’s apparent asymmetrical running stride.

The article, “Something Strange in Usain Bolt’s Stride,” published July 20, 2017.

The researchers in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory reported in June that world champion sprinter Usain Bolt may have an asymmetrical running gait. While not noticeable to the naked eye, Bolt’s potential asymmetry emerged after the researchers dissected race video to assess his pattern of ground-force application — literally how hard and fast each foot hits the ground. To do so they measured the “impulse” for each foot.

Biomechanics researcher Udofa presented the findings at the 35th International Conference on Biomechanics in Sport in Cologne, Germany. His presentation, “Ground Reaction Forces During Competitive Track Events: A Motion Based Assessment Method,” was delivered June 18.

The analysis thus far suggests that Bolt’s mechanics may vary between his left leg to his right. The existence of an unexpected and potentially significant asymmetry in the fastest human runner ever would help scientists better understand the basis of maximal running speeds. Running experts generally assume asymmetry impairs performance and slows runners down.

Udofa has said the observations raise the immediate scientific question of whether a lack of symmetry represents a personal mechanical optimization that makes Bolt the fastest sprinter ever or exists for reasons yet to be identified.

Weyand, who is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology & Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development, is director of the Locomotor Lab.

An expert on human locomotion and the mechanics of running, Weyand has been widely interviewed about the running controversy surrounding double-amputee South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius. Weyand co-led a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability.

For his most recently published research, Weyand was part of a team that developed a concise approach to understanding the mechanics of human running. The research has immediate application for running performance, injury prevention, rehab and the individualized design of running shoes, orthotics and prostheses. The work integrates classic physics and human anatomy to link the motion of individual runners to their patterns of force application on the ground — during jogging, sprinting and at all speeds in between.

They described the two-mass model earlier this year in the Journal of Experimental Biology in their article, “A general relationship links gait mechanics and running ground reaction forces.” It’s available at bitly, http://bit.ly/2jKUCSq.

The New York Times subscribers or readers with remaining limited free access can read the full story.

EXCERPT:

By Jeré Longman
The New York Times
DALLAS — Usain Bolt of Jamaica appeared on a video screen in a white singlet and black tights, sprinting in slow motion through the final half of a 100-meter race. Each stride covered nine feet, his upper body moving up and down almost imperceptibly, his feet striking the track and rising so rapidly that his heels did not touch the ground.

Bolt is the fastest sprinter in history, the world-record holder at 100 and 200 meters and the only person to win both events at three Olympics. Yet as he approaches his 31st birthday and retirement this summer, scientists are still trying to fully understand how Bolt achieved his unprecedented speed.

Last month, researchers here at Southern Methodist University, among the leading experts on the biomechanics of sprinting, said they found something unexpected during video examination of Bolt’s stride: His right leg appears to strike the track with about 13 percent more peak force than his left leg. And with each stride, his left leg remains on the ground about 14 percent longer than his right leg.

This runs counter to conventional wisdom, based on limited science, that an uneven stride tends to slow a runner down.

So the research team at S.M.U.’s Locomotor Performance Laboratory is considering a number of questions as Bolt prepares for what he said would be his final performances at a major international competition — the 100 meters and 4×100-meter relay next month at the world track and field championships in London.

Among those questions: Does evenness of stride matter for speed? Did Bolt optimize this irregularity to become the fastest human? Or, with a more balanced stride during his prime, could he have run even faster than 9.58 seconds at 100 meters and 19.19 seconds at 200 meters?

“That’s the million-dollar question,” said Peter Weyand, director of the S.M.U. lab.

The S.M.U. study of Bolt, led by Andrew Udofa, a doctoral researcher, is not yet complete. And the effect of asymmetrical strides on speed is still not well understood. But rather than being detrimental for Bolt, the consequences of an uneven stride may actually be beneficial, Weyand said.

It could be that Bolt has naturally settled into his stride to accommodate the effects of scoliosis. The condition curved his spine to the right and made his right leg half an inch shorter than his left, according to his autobiography.

Initial findings from the study were presented last month at an international conference on biomechanics in Cologne, Germany. Most elite sprinters have relatively even strides, but not all. The extent of Bolt’s variability appears to be unusual, Weyand said.

“Our working idea is that he’s probably optimized his speed, and that asymmetry reflects that,” Weyand said. “In other words, correcting his asymmetry would not speed him up and might even slow him down. If he were to run symmetrically, it could be an unnatural gait for him.”

Antti Mero, an exercise physiologist at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland, who has researched Bolt’s fastest races, said he was intrigued by the S.M.U. findings.

The New York Times subscribers or readers with remaining limited free access can read the full story.

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Dallas Innovates: SMU Researchers: Usain Bolt’s Gait is Asymmetrical

The researchers assessed Bolt’s running using a new motion-based method to test how hard and fast each foot hits the ground.

Journalist Lance Murray with D Magazine’s Dallas Innovates covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand and his colleagues Andrew Udofa and Laurence Ryan for a story about Usain Bolt’s asymmetrical running gait.

The article, “SMU Researchers: Usain Bolt’s Gait is Asymmetrical,” published July 5, 2017.

The researchers in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory reported in June that world champion sprinter Usain Bolt may have an asymmetrical running gait. While not noticeable to the naked eye, Bolt’s potential asymmetry emerged after the researchers dissected race video to assess his pattern of ground-force application — literally how hard and fast each foot hits the ground. To do so they measured the “impulse” for each foot.

Biomechanics researcher Udofa presented the findings at the 35th International Conference on Biomechanics in Sport in Cologne, Germany. His presentation, “Ground Reaction Forces During Competitive Track Events: A Motion Based Assessment Method,” was delivered June 18.

The analysis thus far suggests that Bolt’s mechanics may vary between his left leg to his right. The existence of an unexpected and potentially significant asymmetry in the fastest human runner ever would help scientists better understand the basis of maximal running speeds. Running experts generally assume asymmetry impairs performance and slows runners down.

Udofa has said the observations raise the immediate scientific question of whether a lack of symmetry represents a personal mechanical optimization that makes Bolt the fastest sprinter ever or exists for reasons yet to be identified.

Weyand, who leads the lab and its researchers, he is an expert on human locomotion and the mechanics of running. He is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology & Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development, is director of the Locomotor Lab.

Read the full story.

EXCERPT:

By Lance Murray
Dallas Innovates
When it comes to running, nobody does it faster than Usain Bolt, the eight-time Olympic champion and triple world record holder.

The lanky Jamaican sprinter is known for his explosive acceleration down the track and the famous images of him looking back as he leaves his competitors in his wake.

You’d think Bolt’s powerful legs work as a symmetrical team propelling him at great speed toward the finish line, but according to researchers at Southern Methodist University, Bolt’s gait may, in fact, be asymmetrical.

SMU researchers examined the running mechanics of Bolt, who is considered the world’s fastest man.

The analysis, so far, suggests that his mechanics may vary from his right leg to his left, according to Andrew Udofa, a biometrics researcher in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory.

According to a blog on SMU Research News, most running experts assume that asymmetry impairs performance and slows a runner down. This unexpected asymmetry in Bolt’s mechanics could help scientist better understand the basis of maximal running speeds, according to the university.

“Our observations raise the immediate scientific question of whether a lack of symmetry represents a personal mechanical optimization that makes Bolt the fastest sprinter ever or exists for reasons yet to be identified,” Udofa, a research team member, said in the blog.

Read the full story.

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Does symmetry matter for speed? Study finds Usain Bolt may have asymmetrical running gait

A new method for assessing patterns of ground-force application suggests the right and left legs of the world’s fastest man may perform differently, defying current scientific assumptions about running speed.

World champion sprinter Usain Bolt may have an asymmetrical running gait, according to data recently presented by researchers from Southern Methodist University, Dallas.

While not noticeable to the naked eye, Bolt’s potential asymmetry emerged after SMU researchers assessed the running mechanics of the world’s fastest man.

The analysis thus far suggests that Bolt’s mechanics may vary between his left leg and his right, said Andrew Udofa, a biomechanics researcher in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory.

The existence of an unexpected and potentially significant asymmetry in the fastest human runner ever would help scientists better understand the basis of maximal running speeds. Running experts generally assume asymmetry impairs performance and slows runners down.

“Our observations raise the immediate scientific question of whether a lack of symmetry represents a personal mechanical optimization that makes Bolt the fastest sprinter ever or exists for reasons yet to be identified,” said Udofa, a member of the research team.

The SMU Locomotor Lab, led by Peter Weyand, focuses on the mechanical basis of human performance. The group includes physicist and engineer Laurence Ryan, an expert in force and motion analysis, and doctoral researcher Udofa.

The intriguing possibility of Bolt’s asymmetry emerged after the SMU researchers decided to assess his pattern of ground-force application — literally how hard and fast each foot hits the ground. To do so they measured the “impulse” for each foot.

Impulse is a combination of the amount of force applied to the ground multiplied by the time of foot-ground contact.

“The manner in which Bolt achieves his impulses seems to vary from leg to leg,” Udofa said. “Both the timing and magnitude of force application differed between legs in the steps we have analyzed so far.”

Impulse matters because that’s what determines a runner’s time in the air between steps.

“If a runner has a smaller impulse, they don’t get as much aerial time,” Weyand said. “Our previous published research has shown greater ground forces delivered in shorter periods of foot-ground contact are necessary to achieve faster speeds. This is true in part because aerial times do not differ between fast and slow runners at their top speeds. Consequently, the combination of greater ground forces and shorter contact times is characteristic of the world’s fastest sprinters.”

The researchers didn’t test Bolt in the SMU lab. Instead, they used a new motion-based method to assess the patterns of ground-force application. They analyzed Bolt and other elite runners using existing high-speed race footage available from NBC Universal Sports. The runners were competing in the 2011 Diamond League race at the World Athletics Championships in Monaco.

Udofa analyzed 20 of Bolt’s steps from the Monaco race, averaging data from 10 left and 10 right.

The researchers relied upon foot-ground contact time, aerial time, running velocity and body mass to determine the ground reaction forces using the new method, made possible by the “two-mass model” of running mechanics.

Runners typically run on a force-instrumented treadmill or force plates for research examining running ground-reaction forces. However, the two-mass model method provides a tool that enables motion-based assessments of ground reaction forces without direct force measurements.

“There are new avenues of research the model may make possible because direct-force measurements are not required,” Weyand said. “These include investigations of the importance of symmetry for sprinting performance. The two-mass model may facilitate the acquisition of data from outside the lab to help us better address these kinds of questions.”

Udofa presented the findings at the 35th International Conference on Biomechanics in Sport in Cologne, Germany. His presentation, “Ground Reaction Forces During Competitive Track Events: A Motion Based Assessment Method,” was delivered June 18.

Two-mass model relies on basic motion data
SMU researchers developed the concise two-mass model as a simplified way to predict the entire pattern of force on the ground — from impact to toe-off — with very basic motion data.

The model integrates classic physics and human anatomy to link the motion of individual runners to their patterns of force on the ground.

It provides accurate predictions of the ground force vs. time patterns throughout each instant of the contact period, regardless of limb mechanics, foot-strike type or running speed.

The two-mass model is substantially less complex than other scientific models that explain patterns of ground force application during running. Most existing models are more elaborate in relying on 14 or more variables, many of which are less clearly linked to the human body.

“The two-mass model provides us with a new tool for assessing the crucial early portion of foot-ground contact that is so important for sprinting performance,” said Udofa. “The model advances our ability to assess the impact-phase force and time relationships from motion data only.”

The two-mass model was developed in SMU’s Locomotor Performance Laboratory by Kenneth P. Clark, now an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at West Chester University, West Chester, Pa.; Ryan, a physicist and research engineer at SMU’s Locomotor Performance Laboratory; and Weyand.

The researchers described the two-mass model earlier this year in the Journal of Experimental Biology in their article, “A general relationship links gait mechanics and running ground reaction forces.” It’s available at bitly, http://bit.ly/2jKUCSq.

Support for the research came from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

Weyand is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology & Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development. — Margaret Allen, SMU

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SMU Research Day 2017 visitors query SMU students on the details of their research

The best in SMU undergraduate and graduate research work was on full display at Research Day in the Hughes Trigg Student Center.

More than 150 graduate and undergraduate students at SMU presented posters at SMU Research Day 2017 in the Promenade Ballroom of Hughes-Trigg Student Center Ballroom on March 28.

Student researchers discussed their ongoing and completed SMU research and their results with faculty, staff and students who attended the one-day event.

Explaining their research to others is a learning experience for students, said Peter Weyand, Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

“Research Day is an opportunity for SMU students to show off what they’ve been doing at the grad level and at the undergrad level,” Weyand said, “and that’s really an invaluable experience for them.”

Posters and presentations spanned more than 20 different fields from the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development, the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences and SMU Guildhall.

“It’s a huge motivation to present your work before people,” said Aparna Viswanath, a graduate student in engineering. Viswanath presented research on “Looking Around Corners,” research into an instrument that converts a scattering surface into computational holographic sensors.

The goal of Research Day is to foster communication about research between students in different disciplines, give students the opportunity to present their work in a professional setting, and to share the outstanding research being conducted at SMU.

The annual event is sponsored by the SMU Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

View highlights of the presentations on Facebook.

Some highlights of the research:

  • Adel Alharbi, a student of Dr. Mitchell Thornton in Lyle School’s Computer Science and Engineering presented research on a novel demographic group prediction mechanism for smart device users based upon the recognition of user gestures.
  • Ashwini Subramanian and Prasanna Rangarajan, students of Dr. Dinesh Rajan, in Lyle School’s Electrical Engineering Department, presented research about accurately measuring the physical dimensions of an object for manufacturing and logistics with an inexpensive software-based Volume Measurement System using the Texas Instruments OPT8241 3D Time-of-Flight camera, which illuminates the scene with a modulated light source, observing the reflected light and translating it to distance.
  • Gang Chen, a student of Dr. Pia Vogel in the Department of Chemistry of Dedman College, presented research on multidrug resistance in cancers associated with proteins including P-glycoprotein and looking for inhibitors of P-gp.
  • Tetiana Hutchison, a student of Dr. Rob Harrod in the Chemistry Department of Dedman College, presented research on inhibitors of mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress related to human T-cell leukemia virus type-1, an aggressive hematological cancer for which there are no effective treatments.
  • Margarita Sala, a student of Dr. David Rosenfield and Dr. Austin Baldwin in the Psychology Department of Dedman College, presented research on how specific post-exercise affective states differ between regular and infrequent exercisers, thereby elucidating the “feeling better” phenomenon.
  • Bernard Kauffman, a Level Design student of Dr. Corey Clark in SMU Guildhall, presented research on building a user interface that allows video game players to analyze vast swaths of scientific data to help researchers find potentially useful compounds for treating cancer.

Browse the Research Day 2017 directory of presentations by department.

See the SMU Graduate Studies Facebook page for images of 2017 Research Day.

See the SMU Anthropology Department photo album of Research Day 2017 poster presentations.

According to the Fall 2016 report on Undergraduate Research, SMU provides opportunities for student research in a full variety of disciplines from the natural sciences and engineering, to social sciences, humanities and the arts. These opportunities permit students to bring their classroom knowledge to practical problems or a professional level in their chosen field of study.
Opportunities offered include both funded and curricular programs
that can be tailored according to student needs:

  • Students may pursue funded research with the assistance of a
    variety of campus research programs. Projects can be supported
    during the academic year or in the summer break, when students
    have the opportunity to focus full-time on research.
  • Students may also enroll in research courses that are offered in
    many departments that permit them to design a unique project,
    or participate in a broader project.
  • Students can take advantage of research opportunities outside
    of their major, or design interdisciplinary projects with their faculty
    mentors. The Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute supports
    such research via the Mayer Scholars.

    • View videos of previous SMU Research Day events:

    See Research Day winners from 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014.

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    GotScience.org: Can You Improve Your Running with Physics?

    The researchers studied the running mechanics of forty-two people ranging from recreational runners to Olympic medalists.

    GotScience.org reporter Emily Rhode covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand and the SMU Locomotor Laboratory. Weyand is the director of the Locomotor Lab.

    Other authors on the study were Laurence Ryan, a physicist and research engineer in the lab, and
    Kenneth Clark , previously with the lab and now an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at West Chester University in West Chester, Penn.

    The three have developed a concise approach to understanding the mechanics of human running. The research has immediate application for running performance, injury prevention, rehab and the individualized design of running shoes, orthotics and prostheses. The work integrates classic physics and human anatomy to link the motion of individual runners to their patterns of force application on the ground — during jogging, sprinting and at all speeds in between.

    The GotScience.org article, “Can You Improve Your Running with Physics?,” published March 27, 2017.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    An expert on human locomotion and the mechanics of running, Weyand has been widely interviewed about the controversy surrounding double-amputee South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius. Controversy has swirled around the sprinter over whether his light-weight, carbon-fiber prosthetic “Cheetah” legs give him a competitive advantage.

    Weyand helped lead a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Emily Rhode
    Gotscience.org
    Running is one of the simplest forms of exercise we can do. It requires no protective gear or fancy equipment. At its core, it just requires force. Runners are constantly searching for clues for how to improve their speed and prevent injury. But until now, there was no easy way to fully assess the way a runner moves. In a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, researchers at Southern Methodist University describe a new method that requires nothing more than a quality camera and basic laws of physics to predict how a runner and the ground will impact each other.

    Newton’s second law of motion says that force is mass multiplied by acceleration. A runner’s mechanics, or movement, can be represented by a simple waveform—a visual representation of force over time. The moment the runner’s foot hits the ground is represented by the beginning of the wave. As the mass of the runner’s body accelerates toward the ground, the amount of force increases and the wave climbs. The wave then slopes down as the runner begins the motion of lifting the leg again.

    Collecting the data to create this pattern of force between the runner’s body and the ground is normally a complicated process that requires knowing the masses and motion of as many as fourteen different variables. A team consisting of Dr. Kenneth P. Clark, Dr. Laurence J. Ryan, and Dr. Peter G. Weyand believed that they could simplify the process considerably by focusing on just two parts of the body: the lower leg and the foot.

    The researchers studied the running mechanics of forty-two people ranging from recreational runners to Olympic medalists. They measured each person’s body mass and used high-speed cameras to capture the motion of running. At the same time, a specialized treadmill recorded the force of the runners’ footfalls as they moved through their strides. The team then compared the real data to an algorithm, or set of mathematical steps, that they developed to predict an individual’s waveform pattern.

    Read the full story.

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    New York Times: Blade Runner Tests Limits of Prosthetics, Years After Oscar Pistorius

    Track-and-field rules regarding athletes with prosthetic limbs remain gray, even nonexistent.

    The New York Times reporter Filip Bondy interviewed SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand of the SMU Locomotor Laboratory, for a story about Hunter Woodhall, an 18-year-old athlete with prosthetic limbs competing against top scholastic stars in the United States.

    Weyand, who is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, is director of the Locomotor Lab.

    An expert on human locomotion and the mechanics of running, Weyand has been widely interviewed about the controversy surrounding double-amputee South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius. Controversy has swirled around the sprinter over whether his light-weight, carbon-fiber prosthetic “Cheetah” legs give him a competitive advantage.

    Weyand helped lead a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability.

    For his most recently published research, Weyand was part of a team that developed a concise approach to understanding the mechanics of human running. The research has immediate application for running performance, injury prevention, rehab and the individualized design of running shoes, orthotics and prostheses. The work integrates classic physics and human anatomy to link the motion of individual runners to their patterns of force application on the ground — during jogging, sprinting and at all speeds in between.

    The New York Times article, “Blade Runner Tests Limits of Prosthetics, Years After Oscar Pistorius,” published March 13, 2017.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Filip Bondy
    The New York Times
    A decade after Oscar Pistorius caused track-and-field officials to re-examine their rules regarding the use of prosthetic limbs at the Olympics, a high school amputee is running in open competition on similar carbon-fiber blades. And once again, guidelines are gray, even nonexistent.

    The athlete, Hunter Woodhall, 18, from Syracuse, Utah, is at the Armory track in Manhattan to run in an invitational, 400-meter heat on Saturday at the New Balance Nationals Indoor, competing against the top scholastic stars in the country.

    One of the youngest competitors at the Rio Paralympics, Woodhall won silver in the 200-meter competition at 21.12 seconds and bronze in the 400 with a personal-best 46.70. He also appeared to capture gold while anchoring the 4×100 relay, but the United States team was disqualified over an exchange violation on an earlier leg.

    Amid these successes, background grumbling appears to have increased in connection with his eligibility for open competitions.

    Woodhall has such a winsome personality, it is impossible to imagine anyone complaining to his face about anything. The meet directors are thrilled to have him participate. But there are no hard-and-fast rules regarding the eligibility of bladed runners at scholastic or collegiate levels, and the scientific debate has never been fully settled about whether the prosthetics offer a competitor some unfair advantage.

    “When something different comes along, people want an answer,” Woodall said. He added that “staying away’’ from the whole debate might be the best alternative.

    “Fighting this war is not going to go anywhere,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m not a scientist, they’re not a scientist, we’re not going to come to a consensus. I just put in the work.”

    A decade ago, long before he was convicted in the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, Pistorius was effectively banned from open competition by the International Association of Athletics Federations. The group in 2007 prohibited any device that “incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage.”

    After further testing at Sport University Cologne, in Germany, on behalf of the I.A.A.F., a report concluded that Pistorius’s legs were using 25 percent less energy than those of “able-bodied” runners. He was declared ineligible for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

    That ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, after further testing at Rice University resulted in a paper for the Journal of Applied Physiology contending that Pistorius was “mechanically dissimilar” to competitors racing on legs, moving his body differently.

    Even the scientists involved in the Rice study could not come to complete agreement, however. According to a report in Scientific American, Peter Weyand, a physiologist at Southern Methodist University, believed Pistorius had a mechanical edge. A biomechanics expert, Rodger Kram from the University of Colorado, contended that Pistorius’s artificial limbs created as many problems as advantages.

    The court ruled that the testing in Cologne had not factored in the disadvantages of Pistorius’s motion around a curve, or his problems at the start of a race. (These are also the elements of every competition that present the greatest challenges to Woodhall.) Pistorius was eventually selected to participate for South Africa in the 2012 Olympics in London.

    Read the full story.

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    Huffington Post: A New Physics Discovery Could Make You A Faster Runner

    It’s all about the force

    Reporter Sarah DiGiullo with the online news magazine The Huffington Post covered the research of Peter Weyand and the SMU Locomotor Laboratory. Weyand, who is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, is the director of the Locomotor Lab.

    Other authors on the study were Laurence Ryan, a physicist and research engineer in the lab, and
    Kenneth Clark , previously with the lab and now an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at West Chester University in West Chester, Penn.

    The three have developed a concise approach to understanding the mechanics of human running. The research has immediate application for running performance, injury prevention, rehab and the individualized design of running shoes, orthotics and prostheses. The work integrates classic physics and human anatomy to link the motion of individual runners to their patterns of force application on the ground — during jogging, sprinting and at all speeds in between.

    The Huffington Post article, “Researchers reveal the mechanics of running is simpler than thought – and it could revolutionize shoe design,” published Feb. 13, 2017.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Sarah DiGiullo
    The Huffington Post
    When it comes to race day, runners may have favorite moisture-wicking gear, a stopwatch and tunes to help get that coveted personal record.

    But physicists say running at your top speed may actually be a lot simpler. It all comes down to the force of your foot striking the ground ― and that’s about it.

    After studying the physics behind some of the world’s fastest runners, researchers came up with a new model they say could make anyone faster. It may help injured runners recover faster, too.

    The researchers developed an equation that calculates two forces: The total force of the shin, ankle and foot striking the ground, and the total force of the rest of the body striking the ground. The method, which they detailed in an article published recently in the Journal of Experimental Biology, can predict how fast an athlete will run.

    “We’ve known for quite some time that fast people are fast because they’re able to hit the ground harder in relation to how much they weigh,” explained the study’s co-author, Peter Weyand, director of the Locomotor Performance Laboratory at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

    But Weyand and his team were looking to better understand why it was that some people are able to hit the ground harder than others. The new equation makes the answer a lot clearer, with fewer measurements than previous models.

    Read the full story.

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    Dallas Innovates: SMU Study Finds Simpler Way to Explain Physics of Running

    The research could have implications on shoe design, rehabilitation practices, and running performance.

    Reporter Heather Noel with Dallas Innovates covered the research of Peter Weyand and the SMU Locomotor Laboratory. Weyand, who is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, is the director of the Locomotor Lab.

    Other authors on the study were Laurence Ryan, a physicist and research engineer in the lab, and
    Kenneth Clark , previously with the lab and now an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at West Chester University in West Chester, Penn.

    The three have developed a concise approach to understanding the mechanics of human running. The research has immediate application for running performance, injury prevention, rehab and the individualized design of running shoes, orthotics and prostheses. The work integrates classic physics and human anatomy to link the motion of individual runners to their patterns of force application on the ground — during jogging, sprinting and at all speeds in between.

    The Dallas Innovates article, “SMU Study Finds Simpler Way to Explain Physics of Running,” published Feb. 2, 2017.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Heather Noel
    Dallas Innovates
    Understanding the physics of running all comes down to the motion of two body parts, according to researchers at Southern Methodist University.

    Their findings published recently in the Journal of Experimental Biology, concluded that running can be explained in a lot simpler terms than scientists previously thought. After examining Olympic-caliber runners, they came up with a “two-mass model” that uses the lower leg that comes into contact with the ground and the sum total of the rest of the body to determine ground force.

    “The foot and the lower leg stop abruptly upon impact, and the rest of the body above the knee moves in a characteristic way,” said Kenneth Clark, SMU grad and assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at West Chester University, in a release.

    “This new simplified approach makes it possible to predict the entire pattern of force on the ground — from impact to toe-off — with very basic motion data.”

    The research could have implications on shoe design, injury prevention, rehabilitation practices, and running performance.

    “The approach opens up inexpensive ways to predict the ground reaction forces and tissue loading rates. Runners and other athletes can know the answer to the critical functional question of how they are contacting and applying force to the ground,” said Laurence Ryan, a physicist and research engineer at SMU’s Locomotor Performance Laboratory, in a release.

    Read the full story.

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    Daily Mail: Researchers reveal the mechanics of running is simpler than thought – and it could revolutionise shoe design

    New study: Pattern of force on the ground is due to the motion of two parts of the body

    Reporter Stacy Liberatore with London’s Daily Mail newspaper covered the research of Peter Weyand and the SMU Locomotor Laboratory. Weyand, who is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, is the director of the Locomotor Lab.

    Other authors on the study were Laurence Ryan, a physicist and research engineer in the lab, and
    Kenneth Clark , previously with the lab and now an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at West Chester University in West Chester, Penn.

    The three have developed a concise approach to understanding the mechanics of human running. The research has immediate application for running performance, injury prevention, rehab and the individualized design of running shoes, orthotics and prostheses. The work integrates classic physics and human anatomy to link the motion of individual runners to their patterns of force application on the ground — during jogging, sprinting and at all speeds in between.

    The Daily Mail article, “Researchers reveal the mechanics of running is simpler than thought – and it could revolutionise shoe design,” published Jan. 31, 2017.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Stacy Liberatore
    Daily Mail
    A study has found a new explanation for the basic mechanics of human running.

    While observing Olympic-caliber sprinters, researchers discovered that a runner’s pattern of force application on the ground is due to the motion of just two parts of the body: the contacting leg and the rest of the body.

    The new approach could help create new patterns to optimize the design of running shoes, orthoses and prosthetics, as experts are able to see exactly how a person runs.

    The Southern Methodist University (SMU) researchers explained that the basic concept of their ‘two-mass model’ is relatively simple — a runner’s pattern of force application on the ground is due to the motion of two parts of the body: the lower portion of the leg that is contacting the ground, and the sum total of the rest of the body.

    The force contributions of the two body parts are each predicted from their largely independent motions when they have foot-ground contact.

    And then combined to predict the overall pattern.

    The final prediction relies only upon classical physics and a characteristic link between the force and motion for the two body parts.

    ‘Our model inputs are limited to contact time on the ground, time in the air, and the motion of the ankle or lower limb.

    ‘From three basic stride variables we are able to predict the full pattern of ground-force application,’ said Laurence Ryan, who is a physicist and research engineer at SMU’s Locomotor Performance Laboratory.

    ‘The approach opens up inexpensive ways to predict the ground reaction forces and tissue loading rates.’

    Read the full story.

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    New study connects running motion to ground force, provides patterns for any runner

    New approach simplifies the physics of running, enabling scientists to predict ground force patterns; applies to rehab, shoe design and athletic performance.

    Researchers at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, have developed a concise approach to understanding the mechanics of human running. The research has immediate application for running performance, injury prevention, rehab and the individualized design of running shoes, orthotics and prostheses. The work integrates classic physics and human anatomy to link the motion of individual runners to their patterns of force application on the ground – during jogging, sprinting and at all speeds in between.

    Researchers at Southern Methodist University in Dallas have developed a concise new explanation for the basic mechanics involved in human running.

    The approach offers direct insight into the determinants of running performance and injuries, and could enable the use of individualized gait patterns to optimize the design of shoes, orthoses and prostheses according to biomechanics experts Kenneth Clark , Laurence Ryan and Peter Weyand, who authored the new study.

    The ground force-time patterns determine the body’s motion coming out of each step and therefore directly determine running performance. The impact portion of the pattern is also believed to be a critical factor for running injuries.

    “The human body is mechanically complex, but our new study indicates that the pattern of force on the ground can be accurately understood from the motion of just two body parts,” said Clark, first author on the study and currently an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

    “The foot and the lower leg stop abruptly upon impact, and the rest of the body above the knee moves in a characteristic way,” Clark said. “This new simplified approach makes it possible to predict the entire pattern of force on the ground — from impact to toe-off — with very basic motion data.”

    This new “two-mass model” from the SMU investigators substantially reduces the complexity of existing scientific explanations of the physics of running.

    Existing explanations have generally relied upon relatively elaborate “multi-mass spring models” to explain the physics of running, but this approach is known to have significant limitations. These complex models were developed to evaluate rear-foot impacts at jogging speeds and only predict the early portion of the force pattern. In addition, they are less clearly linked to the human body itself. They typically divide the body into four or more masses and include numerous other variables that are hard to link to the actual parts of a human body.

    The SMU model offers new insight by providing concise, accurate predictions of the ground force vs. time patterns throughout each instant of the contact period. It does so regardless of limb mechanics, foot-strike type and running speed.

    “Our model inputs are limited to contact time on the ground, time in the air, and the motion of the ankle or lower limb. From three basic stride variables we are able to predict the full pattern of ground-force application,” said Ryan, who is a physicist and research engineer at SMU’s Locomotor Performance Laboratory.

    “The approach opens up inexpensive ways to predict the ground reaction forces and tissue loading rates. Runners and other athletes can know the answer to the critical functional question of how they are contacting and applying force to the ground.” added Ryan.

    Current methods for assessing patterns of ground force application require expensive in-ground force platforms or force treadmills. Additionally, the links between the motions of an athlete’s body parts and ground forces have previously been difficult to reduce to basic and accurate explanations.

    The researchers describe their new two-mass model of the physics of running in the article, “A general relationship links gait mechanics and running ground reaction forces,” published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

    “From both a running performance and injury risk standpoint, many investigations over the last 15 years have focused on the link between limb motion and force application,” said Weyand, who is the director of SMU’s Locomotor Performance Laboratory. “We’re excited that this research can shed light on this basic relationship.”

    Overall force-time pattern is the sum of two parts
    Traditional scientific explanations of foot-ground forces have utilized different types of spring and mass models ranging from complex to very simple. However, the existing models have not been able to fully account for all of the variation present in the force-time patterns of different runners — particularly at speeds faster than jogging. Consequently, a comprehensive basis for assessing performance differences, injury risks and general running mechanics has not been previously available.

    The SMU researchers explain that the basic concept of the new approach is relatively simple — a runner’s pattern of force application on the ground is due to the motion of two parts of the body: the lower portion of the leg that is contacting the ground, and the sum total of the rest of the body.

    The force contributions of the two body parts are each predicted from their largely independent, respective motions during the foot-ground contact period. The two force contributions are then combined to predict the overall pattern. The final prediction relies only upon classical physics and a characteristic link between the force and motion for the two body parts.

    New approach can be applied accurately and inexpensively
    The application of the two-mass approach is direct and immediate.

    “Scientists, clinicians and performance specialists can directly apply the new information using the predictive approach provided in the manuscript,” Clark said. “The new science is well-suited to assessing patterns of ground-force application by athletes on running tracks and in performance training centers.”

    These capabilities have not been possible previously, much less in the inexpensive and accurate manner that the new approach allows for with existing technology.

    “The only requirement is a quality high-speed camera or decent motion sensor and our force-motion algorithms,” Clark said. “It’s conceivable that even shoe stores would benefit by implementing basic treadmill assessments to guide footwear selection from customer’s gait mechanics using the approach.”

    A critical breakthrough for the SMU researchers was recognition that the mass contribution of the lower leg did not vary for heel vs. forefoot strikes and was directly quantifiable. Their efforts lead them to recognize the initial force contribution results from the quick stopping of the lower part of the leg — the shin, ankle and foot — which all come down and stop together when the foot hits the ground.

    Olympic sprinters were a clue to discovery
    The SMU team discovered a general way to quantify the impact forces from the large impacts observed from Olympic-caliber sprinters. Like heel strikers, the patterns of Olympic sprinters exhibit a sharp rising edge peak that results from an abrupt deceleration of the foot and lower leg. However, sprinters accomplish this with forefoot impacts rather than the heel-first landing that most joggers use.

    “The world-class sprinters gave us a big signal to figure out the critical determinants of the shape of the waveform,” said Weyand. “Without their big impact forces, we would probably have not been able to recognize that the ground-force patterns of all runners, regardless of their foot-strike mechanics and running speed, have two basic parts.”

    When the researchers first began to analyze the seemingly complicated force waveform signals, they found that they were actually composed of two very simple overlapping waveforms, Ryan said.

    “Our computer generated the best pattern predictions when the timing of the first waveform coincided with the high-speed video of the ankle stopping on impact. This was true to within a millisecond, every single time. And we did it hundreds of times,” he said. “So we knew we had a direct physical relationship between force and motion that provided a critical insight.”

    New approach has potential to diagnose injury, rehab
    The SMU team’s new concise waveforms potentially have diagnostic possibilities, Weyand said.

    For example, a runner’s pre-injury waveforms could be compared to their post-injury and post-rehab waveforms.

    “You could potentially identify the asymmetries of runners with tibial stress fractures, Achilles tendonitis or other injuries by comparing the force patterns of their injured and healthy legs,” he said.

    And while medical images could suggest the injury has healed, their waveforms might tell a different story.

    “The waveform patterns might show the athlete continues to run with less force on the injured limb. So it may offer an inexpensive diagnostic tool that was not previously available,” Weyand said.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Professor of Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

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    How Stuff Works: Could Humans Break the Two-hour Marathon Barrier?

    How Stuff Works reporter Julia Layton tapped the expertise of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand for a news story about the burning question of the limits of human speed and whether — or when — runners will break the two-hour marathon barrier. Weyand explained the biomechanics of human locomotion, particularly as it pertains to fast runners.

    The article “Could Humans Break the Two-hour Marathon Barrier?” published Nov. 16, 2016.

    Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on runners, specifically world-class sprinters, looks at the importance of ground forces for running speed, and has established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Centennial Chair in Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Could Humans Break the Two-hour Marathon Barrier?.

    EXCERPT:

    By Julia Layton
    How Stuff Works
    The New York City Marathon saw some impressive finishes in 2016. In the Nov. 6 race, women’s winner Mary Keitany of Kenya crossed the finish line in 2:24:26, and Eritrea’s Ghirmay Ghebreslassie took the men’s division with 2:07:51. Ghebreslassie earned a $25,000 bonus for breaking the 2:08:00 mark.

    The world records, however, were perfectly safe. No woman has come within three minutes of Paula Radcliffe’s 2:15:25 at the London Marathon in 2003 (Radcliffe is British). In the 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) stretch that is the marathon, a minute is an “exceptionally long time,” writes Noah Davis on Pacific Standard. “Losing by five minutes to a 2:15 marathoner,” he explains, “is to be almost a mile [1.6 kilometer] behind when she crosses the finish line.”

    The men’s marathon record of 2:02:57, established by Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto at the 2014 Berlin Marathon, may be approaching the limits of human physiology.

    The Two-hour Barrier
    In marathon science, two hours is the “golden ticket.” It’s really just the next-lowest round number in marathon times, explains Dr. Peter Weyand, professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, but “[t]he progression toward the [two-hour] barrier has for some time marked it as a milestone in the history of athletics and human performance — one of great symbolic and functional significance.”

    Marathon times have plummeted in the last few decades. The men’s record fell by almost four minutes between 1998 and 2014, and the women’s dropped by more than five minutes. At this point, most experts predict a runner will eventually break the two-hour-hour mark. When and how it will happen is more controversial.

    “The number of variables involved that will need to align simultaneously to break the two-hour barrier are numerous,” writes Weyand, “making specific predictions highly uncertain.” However, he says five years is “not unrealistic.”

    Could Humans Break the Two-hour Marathon Barrier?.

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    KERA News: The Biomechanical Breakdown Of Back Flips On Pogo Sticks

    KERA news reporter Courtney Collins tapped the expertise of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand for a news story about the extreme pogo stick performers that have captivated fair goers this year at the Texas State Fair. Weyand explained the biomechanics of the high-flying backflips and stunts of the pogo stick gymnasts.

    The article “The Biomechanical Breakdown Of Back Flips On Pogo Sticks” aired on Oct. 17, 2016.

    Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on runners, specifically world-class sprinters, looks at the importance of ground forces for running speed, and has established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Centennial Chair in Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Watch the video and listen to the broadcast.

    EXCERPT:

    By Courtney Collins
    KERA News
    There’s a lot to gawk at at the State Fair of Texas. A 55 foot tall cowboy, towering cones of cotton candy, flashing midway rides that defy gravity. This year, a handful of guys on pogo sticks do that too.

    Three times a day, the Xpogo demo team does everything from back flips to 7-foot bounds over a limbo pole. It looks cool, sure. The biomechanical breakdown of what these athletes are actually doing is even cooler.
    The Xpogo athletes can pull off tricks most of us would never attempt. Jumps with no hands, jumps with no feet. Black flips, front flips and sky-high leaps over obstacles.

    Bryan Pognant has been involved in extreme pogo-sticking for 15 years. He says the key to getting tricks down isn’t strength, it’s…

    “Balance, always balance,” he says. “We have 13 year olds jumping like 10 feet, and that’s only because they know how to balance.”

    Watch Pognant perform a trick called the ‘no foot peg grab’ with scientific analysis from SMU professor of physiology and biomechanics Peter Weyand.

    Watch the video and listen to the broadcast.

    Categories
    Health & Medicine Mind & Brain Researcher news SMU In The News

    The Guardian: How fast can we go? The science of the 100m sprint

    “Newton figured out the laws of motion centuries ago but when we apply them to the human body it gets really complex, really quickly.” — Peter Weyand

    Book a live interview

    Peter Weyand, SMUTo book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News and Communications, at 214-768-7654, or email news@smu.edu.

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    Journalist Simon Usborne tapped the human-speed expertise of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand for an article in the London newspaper The Guardian. The article examines the potential for humans to continue improving strength and speed beyond what has already been achieved.

    Usborne interviewed Weyand for his expertise on the mechanics of running and speed of world-class sprinters like Usain Bolt. The article “How fast can we go? The science of the 100m sprint” published Oct. 3, 2016.

    Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on runners, specifically world-class sprinters, looks at the importance of ground forces for running speed, and has established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, Weyand’s finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread belief. Rather, Weyand and his colleagues have demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Centennial Chair in Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Simon Usborne
    The Guardian
    The greatest race in the Olympics is the simplest. Eight runners, eight straight lines. A bang, an explosion of muscle and, less than ten seconds later, a winner. And all they do is run. No bikes, boats, vaults or horses — just one foot in front of the other. Yet, in those three dozen blinks of an eye, sprinters in the 100m perform physical feats so advanced that scientists are still trying to understand them.

    “On one level you’d think we would have pieced it together a long time ago,” says Peter Weyand, one of the world’s leading students of running and professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at South Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. “Newton figured out the laws of motion centuries ago but when we when we apply them to the human body it gets really complex, really quickly.”

    Simply analysing the extreme motion and exertions of a sprinter is challenging. Weyand and his team have a large treadmill in their lab capable of rolling at 90mph. In the punishing max test, athletes straddle the moving belt and hop on for a few seconds at a time. They start slow, with rests in between. “We increase the speed until the athlete can’t maintain it,” the professor says. “We need eight steps without moving backwards for a good trial.”

    The tests are a safer version of jumping off the back of an old Routemaster bus and staying upright for eight paces – athletes wear harnesses in case they trip – but how fast is the bus going? “The unofficial record on our treadmill is 11.72 metres per second,” Weyand says. That’s 26.7mph, or not far off a city speed limit, or Bolt’s peak speed during his 2009 world record run of 27.8mph. “When we have elite athletes do the test, the whole office comes over to watch.”

    High-speed treadmills, slow-motion imaging and pressure sensors have allowed scientists to study aspects of elite sprinting that were largely unknown as recently as 15 years ago. “If you asked a coach in the late 1990s what they were doing it was all very much based on form,” Weyand says. “But when we started this work back at that time, the first thing we figured out is that what makes these guys fast is how forcefully they can hit the ground in relation to their body weight.”

    When Usain Bolt looks like he’s floating over the track, he’s really not. That extreme rippling in the face that slow motion footage reveals in some runners demonstrates the forces that transfer from foot to floor. “We know that Bolt will peak out with each step at about five times his weight, while non-sprinting athletes will peak at about 3.5 times,” Weyand explains. “The science is clear: the top athletes are specialised to deliver the most force to the ground and that’s what makes them fast. But even now I think we’re still in the formative phase — it hasn’t yet translated into broad practices in training.”

    Read the full story.

    Follow SMU Research on Twitter, @smuresearch.

    For more SMU research see www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information, www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Science.mic: Usain Bolt’s Winning Race at the Rio Olympics, Explained by Science

    “His foot and ankle mechanics into the ground (which are crucial variable for force application and speed) seem excellent based on the available information, but could potentially be more forceful with modest adjustments,” Weyand said.

    For more information

    Peter Weyand, SMUTo book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News and Communications, at 214-768-7654, or email news@smu.edu.

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    Journalist Kelly Dickerson referenced the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand for an article in the news blog Science.Mic examining the potential for humans to continue improving strength and speed beyond what has already been achieved.

    Dickerson quotes Weyand for his expertise on the mechanics of running and speed of world-class sprinters like Usain Bolt. The article “Usain Bolt’s Winning Race at the Rio Olympics, Explained by Science” published Aug. 15, 2016.

    Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on runners, specifically world-class sprinters, looks at the importance of ground forces for running speed, and has established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, Weyand’s finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread belief. Rather, Weyand and his colleagues have demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Centennial Chair in Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Kelly Dickerson
    Science.mic
    Sprinter Usain Bolt of Jamaica just made history by winning his third straight gold medal in the men’s 100-meter dash — something no runner has done before.

    How does Bolt keep doing it?

    Bolt doesn’t win by moving his legs faster than everyone else. At the Olympic level, there are much more important factors that contribute to speed, and Bolt has figured out how to capitalize on them.

    The key to sprinting isn’t a quicker stride, according to research by Peter Weyand, a professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at Southern Methodist University. It comes down to the amount of force a runner can apply to the ground, as well as how long they leave their feet on the ground per step.

    Case in point: Studies have found the average runner applies about 500 to 600 pounds per step. An Olympic runner applies upward of 1,000 pounds. The average runner has their foot on the ground for 0.12 seconds per step, according to the Post Game. An Olympic runner has it there for less than a tenth of a second.

    Bolt is really tall — he stands at 6 feet, 5 inches. Normally, that height would be a disadvantage, Weyand explained.

    “Shorter individuals are advantaged coming out of the blocks and over the initial 5 to about 15 meters of the race,” Weyand said in an email. “Shorter runners have less mass to move, so the ground force needed to accelerate the body is not as great. So although Bolt is not the best starter in the world, he loses relatively little ground versus what science indicates he should.”

    “Although Bolt is not the best starter in the world, he loses relatively little ground versus what science indicates he should.”

    After the start of the race, Bolt’s height becomes a major advantage for two reasons, according to Weyand:

    Read the full story.

    Follow SMU Research on Twitter, @smuresearch.

    For more SMU research see www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information, www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    The Globe and Mail: In perfect asymmetry

    “Weyand says there’s no ideal weight or height for sprinting fast, but that the world’s best have something in common — they apply greater ground force, a rapid punch to the ground, when their feet contact the track.” — The Globe and Mail

    For more information

    Peter Weyand, SMUTo book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News and Communications, at 214-768-7654, or email news@smu.edu.

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    Journalist Rachel Brady referenced the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand for an article in the news blog The Roar examining the potential for humans to continue improving strength and speed beyond what has already been achieved.

    Porter quotes Weyand for his expertise on the mechanics of running and speed of world-class sprinters like Usain Bolt. The article “In perfect asymmetry” published Aug. 18, 2016.

    Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on runners, specifically world-class sprinters, looks at the importance of ground forces for running speed, and has established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, Weyand’s finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread belief. Rather, Weyand and his colleagues have demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Centennial Chair in Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Rachel Brady
    The Globe and Mail
    It’s hard to explain, but experts would love to try. Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse, at 5-foot-9 and 154 pounds and with a running style that has his right arm flying behind him, doesn’t fit the conventional mold of a world class sprinter, reports Rachel Brady. So why’s he so fast?

    Some experts in the biomechanics of sport have been watching Canada’s rising track star, Andre De Grasse, with fascination, dreaming of what it would be like to get the speedy phenom into their labs to find out how the first-time Olympian with the unconventional style runs so fast.

    The 5-foot-9, 154-pound sprinter is shorter and less muscular than most of his opponents. He doesn’t start races out of the blocks particularly well, and as he flies down the track, his right arm swings backward in a quirky sort of way. To boot, the 21-year-old youngster took up sprinting less than four years ago. Yet De Grasse, who ran the 100-metre dash in 9.91 seconds to capture an Olympic bronze medal on Sunday, is defying many conventional beliefs about how a world-class sprinter should look and move.

    The youngster from Markham, Ont., repeatedly pumps his outstretched right arm behind him when hitting his top speed during a race; meanwhile his left arm is bent and pumping in a more typical way.

    The asymmetry is in sharp contrast to most of his opponents, who typically pump bent arms at both sides. De Grasse told a reporter from the International Association of Athletics Federations website last year that he attributes that extended right arm swing to an imbalance in his hips caused by a minor basketball injury in his childhood.

    The experts say it’s no surprise that De Grasse is being left to run the way he’s most comfortable.

    … One expert with experience testing world-class sprinters in a locomotor performance lab says arms have little effect on what is most important to elite sprinting – ground-reaction forces.

    “His arm swing is not at all consequential to performance,” said Peter Weyand, professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. “The arms are light pendulums that allow runners to stay balanced as they execute strides. Differences in the arm’s motion and how it’s angled at the elbow really doesn’t matter to the sprinter’s velocity and the interaction between the feet and the ground. Some of the old guard still think arm motion really matters, but most today realize it’s not that consequential. The old guard might have tried to bend a sprinter’s elbow into place, but they wouldn’t have been able to offer much scientific data about why they were doing it.”

    Read the full story.

    Follow SMU Research on Twitter, @smuresearch.

    For more SMU research see www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information, www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    The Roar: Humans can’t bolt much faster than Usain — What science says about the 100m world record

    Record-breaking has slowed, but science could find new ways to make us keep getting stronger and faster

    For more information

    Peter Weyand, SMUTo book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News and Communications, at 214-768-7654, or email news@smu.edu.

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    Sports writer Matt Porter referenced the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand for an article in the news blog The Roar examining the potential for humans to continue improving strength and speed beyond what has already been achieved.

    Porter quotes Weyand for his expertise on the mechanics of running and speed of world-class sprinters like Usain Bolt. The article “Humans can’t bolt much faster than Usain: What science says about the 100m world record” published Aug. 15, 2016.

    Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on runners, specifically world-class sprinters, looks at the importance of ground forces for running speed, and has established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, Weyand’s finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread belief. Rather, Weyand and his colleagues have demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Centennial Chair in Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Matt Porter
    The Roar
    We’ve just watched the incomparable Usain Bolt ensure his immortality as the greatest sprinter of all time with his third successive 100m Olympic Gold medal in Rio.

The world rejoiced and the embattled Rio Olympics organisers and IAAF breathed a sigh of relief as the Great Jamaican ran down twice convicted doping cheat Justin Gatlin to claim his rightful place in the Olympic pantheon.

    The triumph came barely half an hour after South African Wayde van Niekerk smashed Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old 400m world record to beat home a star-studded field in the final of that event to scorch the lap in 43.03s, a whopping 0.15s faster than the old mark.

    What an hour for the fastest humans on the planet. 

The 100m final is my favourite nine and a bit seconds of any Olympic Games. So primal. So raw. No other modes of transport involved. No distance to endure, water to splash through or bends in the track to negotiate. No racquets, bats, clubs or balls. Just the fastest of a land-based mammal species attempting to out-run one another from start to finish over a very short distance in a straight line.

    …Peter Weyand, a biomechanics professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas is a leading expert in human locomotion. He reckons the primary factor influencing speed is how much force sprinters hit the ground with their feet.

    When athletes run at a constant speed they use their limbs like pogo sticks, Weyand says. Once a sprinter hits the ground, his limb compresses and gets him ready to rebound. When he’s in the air, the feet get ready to hit the ground again.

    Every time a runner hits the ground, 90 per cent of the force goes vertically to push him or her up again, while only 5 per cent propels him or her horizontally. In that regard, sprinters behave a lot like one of those super bouncy balls you play with as a kid, Weyand says. “They bounce a lot.” 

Our body naturally adjusts to how fast we run by changing how hard we hit the ground. The harder we hit the ground, the faster we go.

    So just how hard can humans hit the ground while they run?

    Read the full story.

    Follow SMU Research on Twitter, @smuresearch.

    For more SMU research see www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information, www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Inverse: There is no limit to human speed — Fast, faster, fastest, and fastest-er.

    “Weyand doesn’t see a future where records stop being broken; there are just too many different ways to legally influence performance through better training and better technology.”

    For more information

    Peter Weyand, SMUTo book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News and Communications, at 214-768-7654, or email news@smu.edu.

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    Science writer Jacqueline Ronson tapped the expertise of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand for an article on the news web site Inverse.com that examines the possibility for humans to continue running faster and faster — and faster.

    Ronson cites physiologist Weyand’s numerous research findings, which have explored the mechanics of how sprinters like Usain Bolt and other world-class athletes are able to run so fast that they continually break speed records. The article “There is no limit to human speed” published Aug. 11, 2016.

    Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on runners, specifically world-class sprinters, looks at the importance of ground forces for running speed, and has established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, Weyand’s finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread belief. Rather, Weyand and his colleagues have demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Centennial Chair in Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology & Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Jacqueline Ronson
    Inverse.com
    Usain Bolt seems to run impossibly fast: His record time of 9.58 seconds in the 100-meter sprint seems unbeatable — yet that’s what was said about so many of the record holders before.

    But surely there must be a hard limit to human speed, after which no more records will be broken? Humans, after all, cannot run infinitely fast.

    Peter Weyand, a physiologist who has studied the biomechanics of running for two decades, says no.

    “You can always be confident, no matter how fast somebody runs, it’s possible to go faster,” he tells Inverse. “You’re never going to have absolutely perfect conditions and an absolutely perfect person and an absolutely perfect race all come together at the same time.”

    Here’s a neat fact: If you can sprint, you can be as fast as Usain Bolt. Back in the late 1990s, Weyand and a team of researchers measured a bunch of different people running at their top speed, and they had something in common: Within a very small margin, they all took the same amount of time to swing a leg through the stride from back to front. “Whether you’re fast, slow, or in between, the repositioning time for the limb at top speed is basically the same,” he says.

    Read the full story.

    Follow SMU Research on Twitter, @smuresearch.

    For more SMU research see www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information, www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Scientific American: Blade Runners — Do High-Tech Prostheses Give Runners an Unfair Advantage?

    Four years after Oscar Pistorius made history at the London Olympics, the question remains unanswered

    Science writer Larry Greenemeier cited the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand for an article in Scientific American that examines the pros and cons of carbon-fiber blade prosthetics used by athlete amputees.

    Greenemeier cites Weyand’s research findings from a study of Olympic blade-runner Oscar Pistorius to determine whether the double-amputee had a competitive advantage from his carbon-fiber prosthetic legs. The article “Blade Runners: Do High-Tech Prostheses Give Runners an Unfair Advantage?” published Aug. 5, 2016.

    Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on runners, specifically world-class sprinters, looks at the importance of ground forces for running speed, and has established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, Weyand’s finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread belief. Rather, Weyand and his colleagues have demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Centennial Chair in Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Larry Greenemeier
    Scientific American
    Paralympic long jump champ Markus Rehm’s bid to compete in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics fell short in July when he could not prove that his carbon-fiber “blade” prosthesis didn’t give him an advantage. His baffling case serves as a reminder that four years after South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius propelled himself into history as the first amputee Olympic athlete to compete using blade prostheses, the technology’s impact on performance remains unclear despite ongoing research.

    Blade prostheses, like Rehm uses on his right leg and Pistorius used on both, share some characteristics with biological limbs. The blades store energy as they bear the runner’s weight and then release it as the runner pushes off the ground, much the way a leg’s calf muscles and Achilles’ tendons spring and recoil. But an important difference is the foot, which on a blade prosthetic does not pivot or generate its own energy. A biological foot has muscle fibers that help it push off the ground in a way that creates “metabolic efficiency so your muscles don’t have to put all of the work back in with every step as you’re running,” says David Morgenroth, an assistant professor in the University of Washington’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine…

    …Shortly after track and field’s governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), banned Pistorius in 2008 from competing against so-called “able-bodied” competitors, he underwent a series of tests at Rice University’s Locomotion Laboratory in an attempt to be reinstated. The researchers concluded that Pistorius used 17 percent less energy than that of elite sprinters on intact limbs. The tests also revealed that it took the South African 21 percent less time to reposition, or swing, his legs between strides. Big disagreements arose over how to interpret the research.

    Southern Methodist University’s Peter Weyand and Matt Bundle from the University of Montana saw a clear overall advantage in Pistorius’s faster leg swings and more energy-efficient stride, which they said could create up to a seven-second advantage in the 400-meter race. “The more mass you have closer to the axis—in this case, your hips—the easier it is to stop the rotation and then turn it around,” Bundle says. “Whereas if you had that same amount of mass located a long way away from the axis—in your lower legs and feet—it becomes much more difficult to stop it and get it going in the opposite direction.”

    Read the full story.

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    Scientific American: Have We Reached the Athletic Limits of the Human Body?

    Record-breaking has slowed, but science could find new ways to make us keep getting stronger and faster

    Science writer Bret Stetka tapped the expertise of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand for an article in Scientific American examining the potential for humans to continue improving strength and speed beyond what has already been achieved.

    Stetka quotes Weyand for his expertise on the mechanics of running and speed of world-class sprinters like Usain Bolt. The article “Have We Reached the Athletic Limits of the Human Body?” published Aug. 5, 2016.

    Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on runners, specifically world-class sprinters, looks at the importance of ground forces for running speed, and has established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, Weyand’s finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread belief. Rather, Weyand and his colleagues have demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Centennial Chair in Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Bret Stetka
    Scientific American
    At this month’s summer’s Olympic Games in Rio, the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt—a six-foot-five Jamaican with six gold medals and the sinewy stride of a gazelle—will try to beat his own world record of 9.58 seconds in the 100-meter dash.

    If he does, some scientists believe he may close the record books for good.

    Whereas myriad training techniques and technologies continue to push the boundaries of athletics, and although strength, speed and other physical traits have steadily improved since humans began cataloguing such things, the slowing pace at which sporting records are now broken has researchers speculating that perhaps we’re approaching our collective physiological limit—that athletic achievement is hitting a biological brick wall.

    Common sense tells us that of course there are limits to athletic achievement: Barring some drastic amendment to the laws of physics, no human will ever run at the speed of sound. And physiologically speaking there’s only so much calcium that can flood into a muscle cell causing it to contract; there’s only so much oxygen our red blood cells can shuttle around.

    In this vein, in 2008 running enthusiast and Stanford University biologist Mark Denny published a study attempting to determine if there are absolute limits to the speeds animals can run. To do so he analyzed the records of three racing sports with long histories of documentation: track and field and horse racing in the U.S., along with English greyhound racing…

    …Bolt may be comforted to know that for Southern Methodist University physiology professor Peter Weyand, one of the leading experts on the biology of performance, we humans haven’t quite reached our athletic ceiling. Weyand explains that when considering endurance, for example, there are two paths to improvement: either increasing the amount of blood being pumped out of the heart or increasing the oxygen concentration in the blood itself, as is the case with blood doping. “I don’t think we’ve hit our limits yet,” he believes, “I think people will find ways to enhance oxygen delivery through the body and squeeze more performance out of humans. The only question is will these approaches be considered legal.”

    Read the full story.

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    The Wall Street Journal: The Science Behind Sprinter Usain Bolt’s Speed

    Usain Bolt, the fastest-ever human, appears to have an extra gear that propels him ahead of other sprinters. But that’s not what’s going on.

    For more information

    Peter Weyand, SMUTo book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News and Communications, at 214-768-7654, or email news@smu.edu.

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    Science writer Matthew Futterman tapped the expertise of SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand for an article about the world’s fastest-ever human, Usain Bolt.

    Reporting in The Wall Street Journal, Futterman quotes Weyand for his expertise on the mechanics of Usain Bolt’s unusual speed. The article “The Science Behind Sprinter Usain Bolt’s Speed,” published July 28, 2016.

    Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on runners, specifically world-class sprinters, looks at the importance of ground forces for running speed, and has established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, Weyand’s finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread belief. Rather, Weyand and his colleagues have demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Centennial Chair in Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Matthew Futterman
    The Wall Street Journal
    Sprinters who have taken on Usain Bolt in the 100-meter dash often describe a moment in the second half of the race when the world’s fastest-ever human just runs away from them.

    One minute they are shoulder-to-shoulder with Bolt, believing that this will be the night the legend will be toppled. The next they are staring at his back, watching him raise his hands in triumph, sometimes many meters before he crosses the finish line.

    Last week Bolt expressed his usual, unflappable confidence, even though a hamstring injury kept him from Jamaica’s track and field trials. Granted a medical exemption by the country’s athletics federation, he was named to the team even though he couldn’t qualify at the national trials.

    “My chances are always the same: Great!” he said. “If everything goes smoothly the rest of the time and the training goes well, I’m going to be really confident going to the championship.” …

    …However, a 2012 study by Matthew Bundle of the University of Montana in Missoula and Peter Weyand at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, showed that the greatest decrease in muscular performance occurs within the first seconds of a sprint when runners are still accelerating, which would suggest that deceleration in a race as short as 100 meters may not be related to how sprinters metabolize glycogen.

    “Muscle fatigue happens contraction by contraction,” Weyand said. He argues that the biological process that causes the fatigue is still a mystery. It also is very hard to measure, because it is difficult to examine what is happening to an incredibly fast person’s muscles when he can only run at full speed for roughly three seconds.

    Still, the idea that muscle fatigue begins instantaneously and with each muscle contraction may say plenty about why Bolt is so hard to beat.

    Read the full story.

    Follow SMU Research on Twitter, @smuresearch.

    For more SMU research see www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information, www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Scientific American: The Secret to Human Speed — “To sprint like a pro, think like a piston.”

    “Weyand has conducted what many researchers consider to be some of the best science to date on the biomechanics of sprinting and how these elite athletes achieve their record-breaking speeds.” — Scientific American

    Peter Weyand, human speed, Scientific American, SMU, elite sprinters, speed, biomechanics

    The work of SMU biomechanics researcher Peter G. Weyand is featured in the August 2016 issue of the science news magazine Scientific American.

    Science writer and associate editor Dina Fine Maron reports on Weyand’s leading-edge research about the key to human speed for sprinters in the article “The Secret to Human Speed” and the video report “How Elite Sprinters Run So Fast.” Hint: “Think like a piston,” says Maron.

    Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on runners, specifically world-class sprinters, looks at the importance of ground forces for running speed, and has established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    For more information

    Peter Weyand, SMUTo book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News and Communications, at 214-768-7654, or email news@smu.edu.

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    In particular, Weyand’s finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread belief. Rather, Weyand and his colleagues have demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    Weyand is Glenn Simmons Centennial Chair in Applied Physiology and professor of biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Watch the Scientific American video on “How Elite Sprinters Run So Fast” showing how SMU’s Weyand and his lab study the stride of Olympic athlete Mike Rodgers.

    The full story is available from Scientific American behind a paywall.

    EXCERPT:

    By Dina Fine Marone
    Scientific American
    … Before (Weyand’s) investigations, the prevailing wisdom about great sprinters was that they are particularly adept at quickly repositioning their limbs for their next step while their feet are in the air … Weyand was the first to test this idea scientifically — and his findings indicate that it is wrong …

    … In subsequent work, Weyand further determined that at top speeds the best runners landed with a peak force up to five times their body weight, compared with 3.5 times among the average runner … Recently Weyand’s team additionally figured out how the best sprinters are able to generate those higher forces — and in so doing forced a revision of another central tenet of the running world.

    The full story is available from Scientific American behind a paywall.

    Follow SMU Research on Twitter, @smuresearch.

    For more SMU research see www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information, www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Good news! You’re likely burning more calories than you thought

    Leading standardized equations used to predict or estimate walking energy expenditure — calories burned — count too few calories in nearly all cases on level surfaces, study finds. New method improves accuracy.

    Jennifer Nollkamper and Dr. Lindsay Ludlow assist Dr. Takeshi Fujii in a treadmill test that captures volume of oxygen, volume of expired air and the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide, all variables that help measure energy expenditure during walking. (Hillsman Jackson, SMU)
    Jennifer Nollkamper and Dr. Lindsay Ludlow assist Dr. Takeshi Fujii in a treadmill test that captures volume of oxygen, volume of expired air and the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide, all variables that help measure energy expenditure during walking. (Hillsman Jackson, SMU)

    Walking is the most common exercise, and many walkers like to count how many calories are burned.

    Little known, however, is that the leading standardized equations used to predict or estimate walking energy expenditure — the number of calories burned — assume that one size fits all. The equations have been in place for close to half a century and were based on data from a limited number of people.

    A new study at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, found that under firm, level ground conditions, the leading standards are relatively inaccurate and have significant bias. The standards predicted too few calories burned in 97 percent of the cases researchers examined, said SMU physiologist Lindsay Ludlow.

    For more information

    Lindsay Ludlow, SMU, Weyand, Locomotor LabTo book a live or taped interview with Lindsay Ludlow in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News and Communications, at 214-768-7654, or email news@smu.edu.
    Peter Weyand, SMUTo book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News and Communications, at 214-768-7654, or email news@smu.edu.

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    A new standardized equation developed by SMU scientists is about four times more accurate for adults and kids together, and about two to three times more accurate for adults only, Ludlow said.

    “Our new equation is formulated to apply regardless of the height, weight and speed of the walker,” said Ludlow, a researcher in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory of biomechanics expert Peter Weyand. “And it’s appreciably more accurate.”

    Ludlow and her colleagues report the new equation in the Journal of Applied Physiology, “Energy expenditure during level human walking: seeking a simple and accurate predictive solution.” The article is published in the March 1, 2016 issue, and available online at this link.

    “The economy of level walking is a lot like shipping packages – there is an economy of scale,” said Weyand, a co-author on the paper. “Big people get better gas mileage when fuel economy is expressed on a per-pound basis.”

    The SMU equation predicts the calories burned as a person walks on a firm, level surface. Ongoing research is expanding the algorithm to predict the calories burned while walking up- and downhill, and while carrying loads, Ludlow said.

    SMU’s research is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense Medical Research and Materiel Command. The grant is part of a larger DOD effort to develop load-carriage decision-aid tools to assist foot soldiers.

    The research comes at a time when greater accuracy combined with mobile technology, such as wearable sensors like Fitbit, is increasingly being used in real time to monitor the body’s status. The researchers note that some devices use the old standardized equations, while others use a different method to estimate the calories burned.

    New equation considers different-sized people
    To provide a comprehensive test of the leading standards, SMU researchers compiled a database using the extensive walking metabolism data available in the existing scientific literature to evaluate the leading equations for walking on level ground.

    “The SMU approach improves upon the existing standards by including different-sized individuals and drawing on a larger database for equation formulation,” Weyand said.

    The new equation achieves greater accuracy by better incorporating the influence of body size, and by specifically incorporating the influence of height on gait mechanics. Specifically:

    • Bigger people burn fewer calories on a per pound basis of their body weight to walk at a given speed or to cover a fixed distance;
    • The older standardized equations don’t account for size differences well, assuming roughly that one size fits all.

    Accuracy of standardized equations had not previously undergone comprehensive evaluation
    The exact dates are a bit murky, but the leading standardized equations, known by their shorthand as the “ACSM” and “Pandolf” equations, were developed about 40 years ago for the American College of Sports Medicine and for the military, Ludlow said.

    The Pandolf method, for example, draws on walking metabolism data from six U.S. soldiers, she said. Both the Pandolf and ACSM equations were developed on a small number of adult males of average height.

    The new more accurate equation will prove useful. Predicting energy expenditure is common in many fields, including those focused on health, weight loss, exercise, military and defense, and professional and amateur physical training.

    “Burning calories is of major importance to health, fitness and the body’s physiological status,” Weyand said. “But it hasn’t been really clear just how accurate the existing standards are under level conditions because previous assessments by other researchers were more limited in scope.”

    Energy expenditure estimates could assist with monitoring the body’s physiological status
    Accurate estimations of the rate at which calories are burned could potentially help predict a person’s aerobic power and likelihood for executing a task, such as training for an athletic competition or carrying out a military objective.

    In general, the new metabolic estimates can be combined with other physiological signals such as body heat, core temperature and heart rate to improve predictions of fatigue, overheating, dehydration, the aerobic power available, and whether a person can sustain a given intensity of exercise.

    Military seeks solutions to overburdened soldier problem
    The military has a major interest in more accurate techniques to help address their problem of over-burdened soldiers.

    “These soldiers carry incredible loads — up to 150 pounds, but they often need to be mobile to successfully carry out their missions,” said Weyand, a professor of Applied Physiology and Wellness in the SMU Simmons School of Education.

    Accurately predicting how many calories a person expends while walking could supply information that can help soldiers avoid thermal stress and fatigue in the field, especially troops deployed to challenging environments.

    “Soldiers incur a variety of physiological and musculoskeletal stresses in the field,” Weyand said. “Our metabolic modeling work is part of a broader effort to provide the Department of Defense with quantitative tools to help soldiers.” — Margaret Allen

    Follow SMUResearch.com on twitter at @smuresearch.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    HuffPo: Cheating in Sports — Where Do We Go From Here?

    Definitions and standards for what constitutes cheating vs. fairness have never been so needed or consequential. — Weyand

    2015-09-13-1442168688-1501438-HuffPoFairnessFinalpic-thumb

    SMU physiologist and biomechanics researcher Peter G. Weyand contributed a piece on cheating in sports to the U.S. online news magazine and blog the Huffington Post.

    The piece addresses how modern cheating controversies in sports indicate the need for a new approach to judge fairness that encompasses a broader range of possibilities.

    Weyand leads the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory and is recognized worldwide as an expert in human running performance.

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    An expert in the locomotion of humans and other terrestrial animals, Weyand’s broad research interests focus on the relationships between muscle function, metabolic energy expenditure, whole body mechanics and performance.

    Weyand’s Huffington Post article, “Cheating in Sports — Where Do We Go From Here?” published Sept. 14, 2015.

    EXCERPT:

    By Peter Weyand
    in the Huffington Post
    “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.” — U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Potter Stewart on pornography in Jacobellis v. Ohio, 1964

    Consider some of the current controversies in organized sport: football inflation pressures, “flopping” and “diving” to deceive basketball and soccer officials, performance-enhancing drug (PEDs) cases, possible techno-doping via streamlined suits and artificial limbs, and the potential for genetic doping.

    These and other contemporary issues pose unprecedented challenges to the integrity of organized sport. Accordingly, definitions and standards for what constitutes cheating vs. fairness have never been so needed or consequential.

    History provides us with clear instances of cheating in sport: Chicago’s “Black Sox” conspiring to intentionally lose baseball games in the 1919 World Series, pitcher Gaylord Perry throwing spitballs in the 1970s, or sprinter Ben Johnson taking banned steroids leading into the 1988 Olympics.

    However, many contemporary sport “cheating” controversies simply cannot be evaluated in an equivalently black and white framework.

    Consider the ethical dilemmas the following situations pose for modern athletes and athletics: Is it cheating to take a new “designer drug” if: a) it is not banned, b) it enhances performance, and c) many of your competitors take it, and d) you are disadvantaged if you do not?

    Is it cheating to fake a fall to induce a referee to call a foul on an opponent?

    Is it cheating for an athlete seeking enhanced endurance to sleep in an altitude tent to boost red blood cell production when: a) the practice is not illegal, and b) other athletes do not have the means to do the same.

    Is it cheating to use genetic techniques (rather than physical training) to activate dormant portions of one’s DNA to improve muscle performance?

    Three of the preceding scenarios presented themselves years ago, the fourth may or may not have yet occurred, but has been a credible threat for some time. All four pose major challenges to the health and integrity of sport.

    Yet, while the integrity of sport depends on fairness, the commitment needed to provide it in a viable contemporary form does not seem to be in place. Hence, what is perhaps the greatest threat to both the integrity and health of modern sport – an onslaught of sophisticated techniques to gain advantage by any means possible – is under-recognized, under-resourced and inadequately addressed.

    Even a cursory look at the problem makes clear that performance enhancement techniques have raced ahead while standards and policies have not. Athletes and coaches have acknowledged and openly complained that outcomes are unfairly determined by technology rather than ability. Leagues have implemented new policies only to quickly acknowledge they fail to remedy the fairness problems they address (see the NBA’s flopping fines). Instructional videos for inducing foul calls on opponents have been published featuring leading players. “Dirty” athletes, like Lance Armstrong, pass hundreds of doping tests while “clean” athletes are implicated.

    Read the full article.

    Follow SMUResearch.com on twitter at @smuresearch.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    ESPN: How have players become so big and so fast?

    Blame a former pole-vaulter who in 1969 was weight training the Nebraska Cornhusker’s injured players

    Boyd Epley changed the way Nebraska approached strength training, and soon after other programs followed their lead. (Courtesy Nebraska athletics)
    Boyd Epley changed the way Nebraska approached strength training, and soon after other programs followed their lead. (Courtesy Nebraska athletics)

    SMU physiologist and biomechanics researcher Peter G. Weyand was quoted by ESPN reporter Josh Moyer in his Big Ten Blog for an article about the evolution of the speed and size of college football players.

    Weyand leads the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory and is recognized worldwide as an expert in human running performance. An expert in the locomotion of humans and other terrestrial animals, Weyand’s broad research interests focus on the relationships between muscle function, metabolic energy expenditure, whole body mechanics and performance.

    Moyer’s ESPN article, “How have players become so big and so fast? Blame a former pole-vaulter” published July 1, 2015.

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    Weyand’s research on the limits of human and animal performance has led to featured appearances on the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CNN, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, NHK Television Japan, National Public Radio and others.

    Read the full article, “How have players become so big and so fast? Blame a former pole-vaulter.”

    EXCERPT:

    By Josh Moyer
    ESPN Staff Writer

    Nebraska’s Boyd Epley can still remember the weight-room phone call during a warm August afternoon in 1969. He didn’t know the brief talk would forever alter the college football landscape.

    For months Epley, a no-name pole-vaulter from a no-name Arizona junior college, had trained — almost inadvertently — the Huskers’ injured football players. Epley lifted weights to strengthen his injured back — using techniques he picked up from a body-building friend in high school — and the Huskers’ football players mimicked him.

    Tom Osborne, then a first-year offensive coordinator at Nebraska, noticed that those injured players returned to the gridiron even better than before, so he wondered what kind of impact strength training would have on healthy players. Why couldn’t Epley work his magic on the entire Huskers team? Why not call down to the weight room and hire him as the nation’s first full-time strength and conditioning coach?

    “If you’re looking for the most impactful change, in terms of progression, Nebraska’s coaches coming onto the scene like that — that was probably the single most important event,” said Dr. Peter Weyand, an SMU professor of applied physiology and biomechanics, and one of the nation’s foremost experts on human performance.

    Read the full article, “How have players become so big and so fast? Blame a former pole-vaulter.”

    Follow SMUResearch.com on twitter at @smuresearch.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Outside Magazine: Inside the Effort to Crack the Sub-Two Hour Marathon

    A bold, scientist-backed effort to achieve the impossible within the next five years may benefit all runners—even if the goal remains a moonshot.

    Weyand, SMU, sub two-hour marathon

    The work of SMU physiologist and biomechanics researcher Peter G. Weyand was featured in an article in Outside Magazine about an international scientific collaboration’s effort to crack the sub-two hour marathon.

    Weyand leads the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory and is recognized worldwide as an expert in human running performance. An expert in the locomotion of humans and other terrestrial animals, Weyand’s broad research interests focus on the relationships between muscle function, metabolic energy expenditure, whole body mechanics and performance.

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    An associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, Weyand is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on the importance of ground forces for running speed established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, his finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread, but baseless belief. Rather, Weyand and colleagues demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    This work provided the understanding that enabled Weyand and colleagues to investigate the influence of prosthetic limbs on sprint running performance.

    Weyand’s research on the limits of human and animal performance has led to featured appearances on the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CNN, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, NHK Television Japan, National Public Radio and others.

    The article published April 10, 2015.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Brian Alexander
    Outside Magazine
    Last year, when University of Brighton professor Yannis Pitsiladis announced Sub2-Hrs, an organized effort to break the two-hour marathon barrier within five years—a milestone akin to the four-minute mile or the ten-second 100 meters—a chorus of naysayers sprang to their feet in protest. Exercise physiologist Ross Tucker even called the effort “disingenuous” on his sports science blog.

    Any number of theories have been floated as to why the Sub2-Hrs effort will fail, but all of them may be missing the point. The object of the exercise, according to team member Peter Weyand, a professor of applied physiology at Southern Methodist University, is to assemble a team of experts in various segments of human performance including genetics, physiology, training, nutrition, medicine, biomechanics and see what happens.

    The exact details of the Sub2-Hrs project aren’t yet available. It’s unknown at this point, for example, if there will be some compound where athletes will train and live together under the supervision of clipboard-carrying scientists. Weyand said the plan is to screen runners who have dominated distance running (likely East Africans), for genetic variants that might predispose them to success, then apply the skills of other experts toward improving those elite athletes’ running efficiency, diet, avoiding injuries, and so on, so that one of them may break that two hour barrier within the next five years.

    “There are a number of basic questions about why people run the way they do,” Weyand explained. “What movement patterns are best for performance? Are they the same patterns that prevent injuries? There is a sea of unanswered questions.”

    Read the full story.

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    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Wall Street Journal: March’s True Madness — Flopping

    As in the NBA, the art of embellishing contact has become widespread in college basketball

    Peter Weyand, flopping, Mark Cuban, NCAA

    As the 2015 NCAA tournament gets into gear, Wall Street Journal sports reporter Brian Costa quoted SMU locomotor expert Peter Weyand for an article on flopping among college basketball athletes.

    The article, “March’s True Madness: Flopping,” quotes Weyand and other experts on the prevalence of flopping in college basketball and the ability of referees to detect it.

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    The article published March 17, 2015.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Brian Costa
    Wall Street Journal
    At some point during every NCAA tournament game, a player with the ball will bump into a defender. The defender will fall to the floor, seemingly blown backward by the overwhelming force of his opponent. And referees will be faced with a question that is becoming increasingly difficult to answer: Was it a foul or a flop?

    Mimicking the NBA, where the practice has become widespread, college players are becoming ever more proficient in the art of flopping—embellishing or outright faking blows to their bodies to convince referees to call a foul.

    The most flagrant histrionics have attracted widespread attention. In February, a video clip of St. John’s swingman Sir’Dominic Pointer flailing his arms in an apocalyptic tumble became a viral hit. But the savviest actors aren’t nearly as obvious about it.

    “I’ve had countless games this year where you say, ‘That’s a flop,’ ” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said. “There’s no way that amount of force caused that amount of physical reaction from the defender. You’d have to be shot in the chest with a bazooka to fall like that.”

    Although the frequency of such plays is unclear—the NCAA doesn’t track offensive fouls—the powers that be in college basketball believe there is a problem. Belmont coach Rick Byrd, who chairs the NCAA men’s basketball rules committee, said flopping is becoming prevalent enough that he wants to address it at the committee’s next meeting in May. And it isn’t only happening with players trying to draw a charge. [….]

    [….]Part of the issue for any league is the uncertainty surrounding an essential question: what amount of physical reaction should be expected on a given play?

    “How much force does it really take in a typical basketball encounter to knock someone off balance?” said Peter Weyand, a physiologist and biomechanist at Southern Methodist University. “That information is not out there.”

    With funding from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Weyand is leading a study to find out. Using people of various heights and weights, the study simulated typical basketball collisions and measured both the forces involved and the subjects’ natural reactions.

    Read the full story.

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    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

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    ESPN: SMU Locomotor Performance Lab spotlighted during SMU-Texas A&M football game

    Weyand’s research on the limits of human and animal performance has led to featured appearances on the BBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CNN, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, NHK Television Japan, NPR and others.

    The SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory saw a few minutes of play during the SMU-Texas A&M football game Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014.

    ESPN’s broadcast team stopped by to see the reigning U.S. national 400-meter champion Gil Roberts on the lab’s high-tech treadmill.

    SMU physiologist and biomechanics expert Peter Weyand and his team at the lab study human performance and the boundaries of human speed.

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    Weyand, recognized worldwide as an expert in human running performance, worked with Roberts on the lab’s specially equipped treadmill — it can go up to 90 miles an hour — which can measure how forcefully an athlete’s feet hit the ground.

    As an athlete runs, the lab’s ultra high-speed video system (normally used in the entertainment-animation-video game design industry) can capture 1,000 frames a second, delivering accurate and detailed data about a runner’s biomechanics.

    In the lab’s most recent published study, “Key to speed? Elite sprinters are unlike other athletes — deliver forceful punch to ground,” the scientists found that the key to speed is how forcefully athletes hit the ground — not how quickly they reposition their legs. They found that at top speed the world’s fastest runners take just as long to reposition their legs as an average Joe.

    Weyand is an expert in the locomotion of humans and other terrestrial animals with broad research interests that focus on the relationships between muscle function, metabolic energy expenditure, whole body mechanics and performance.

    His research draws on the largely distinct traditions of human exercise physiology and comparative biomechanics to consider basic functional issues.

    Weyand’s research on the limits of human and animal performance has led to featured appearances on the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CNN, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, NHK Television Japan, National Public Radio and others.

    The lab is part of the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

    Follow SMUResearch.com on twitter at @smuresearch.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Shape: How to Run Like an Elite Sprinter

    Sprinters lift their knees higher before driving their foot down, like a hammer striking a nail, says Clark.

    elite sprinters, Shape, SMU, Weyand, Clark

    Shape magazine reporter Amanda MacMillan has covered the research of SMU researcher Ken Clark, a doctoral student and researcher in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory. The lab and research are under the direction of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics.

    Clark’s and Weyand’s new research found that the world’s fastest sprinters have unique gait features that account for their ability to achieve fast speeds.

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    The new findings indicate that the secret to elite sprinting speeds lies in the distinct limb dynamics sprinters use to elevate ground forces upon foot-ground impact.

    The Shape article, “How to run like an elite sprinter,” published Aug. 26.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Amanda MacMillan
    Shape
    Scientists say they’ve figured out why elite sprinters are so much faster than the rest of us mere mortals, and surprisingly, it has nothing to do with the donuts we ate for breakfast. The world’s fastest runners have a significantly different gait pattern than other athletes, according to a new study from Southern Methodist University—and it’s one that we can train our own bodies to emulate.

    When researchers studied the running patterns of competitive 100- and 200-meter dash athletes versus competitive soccer, lacrosse, and football players, they found that the sprinters run with a more upright posture, and lift their knees higher before driving their foot down. Their feet and ankles remain stiff upon making contact with the ground too—”like a hammer striking a nail,” says study co-author Ken Clark, “which caused them to have short ground contact times, large vertical forces, and elite top speeds.”

    Most athletes, on the other hand, act more like a spring when they run, says Clark: “Their foot strikes aren’t as aggressive, and their landings are a little more soft and loose,” causing much of their potential power to be absorbed rather than expended. This “normal” technique is effective for endurance running, when runners need to conserve their energy (and go easier on their joints) over longer time periods. But for short distances, says Clark, moving more like an elite sprinter may help even normal runners pick up explosive speed.

    Read the full story.

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    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

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    Key to speed? Elite sprinters are unlike other athletes — deliver forceful punch to ground

    New research finds that world-class sprinters attack the ground to maximize impact forces and speed

    The world’s fastest sprinters have unique gait features that account for their ability to achieve fast speeds, according to two new studies from Southern Methodist University, Dallas.

    The new findings indicate that the secret to elite sprinting speeds lies in the distinct limb dynamics sprinters use to elevate ground forces upon foot-ground impact.

    “Our new studies show that these elite sprinters don’t use their legs to just bounce off the ground as most other runners do,” said human biomechanics expert and lead author on the studies Ken Clark, a researcher in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory. “The top sprinters have developed a wind-up and delivery mechanism to augment impact forces. Other runners do not do so.”

    The new findings address a major performance question that has remained unanswered for more than a decade.

    Previous studies had established that faster runners attain faster speeds by hitting the ground more forcefully than other runners do in relation to their body weight. However, how faster runners are able to do this was fully unknown. That sparked considerable debate and uncertainty about the best strategies for athletes to enhance ground-force application and speed.

    “Elite speed athletes have a running pattern that is distinct,” Clark said. “Our data indicate the fastest sprinters each have identified the same solution for maximizing speed, which strongly implies that when you put the physics and the biology together, there’s only one way to sprint really fast.”

    The critical and distinctive gait features identified by the study’s authors occur as the lower limb approaches and impacts the ground, said study co-author and running mechanics expert Peter Weyand, director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Lab.

    “We found that the fastest athletes all do the same thing to apply the greater forces needed to attain faster speeds,” Weyand said. “They cock the knee high before driving the foot into the ground, while maintaining a stiff ankle. These actions elevate ground forces by stopping the lower leg abruptly upon impact.”

    The new research indicates that the fastest runners decelerate their foot and ankle in just over two-hundredths of a second after initial contact with the ground.

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    The researchers reported their findings with co-author and physicist Laurence J. Ryan, research engineer for the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

    The finding that elite sprinters apply greater ground forces with a distinctive impact pattern is reported in the Journal of Applied Physiology in the article, “Are running speeds maximized with simple-spring stance mechanics?” It appears online at http://bit.ly/1Be92Mk in advance of appearing in the print journal.

    The finding that faster athletes deliver a firm, rapid punch to the ground upon contact is reported in The Journal of Experimental Biology, in the article “Foot speed, foot-strike and footwear: linking gait mechanics and running ground reaction forces.” It appears online at http://bit.ly/1uskM9v.

    Studies compared data from competitive sprinters to other athletes
    The tests conducted at SMU’s Locomotor Performance Lab compared competitive sprinters to other fast-running athletes.

    The competitive sprinting group included track athletes who specialized in the 100- and 200-meter events. More than half had international experience and had participated in the Olympics and Track and Field World Championships.

    They were compared to a group of athletes that included competitive soccer, lacrosse and football players.

    All the athletes in both groups had mid- and fore-foot strike patterns. Their running mechanics were tested on a custom, high-speed force treadmill that allowed the researchers to capture and analyze hundreds of footfalls at precisely controlled speeds. Video captured for the studies is posted to the SMU Locomotor Performance Lab Youtube channel. Images on flickr are at http://bit.ly/YKwAtB.

    The researchers measured ground-force patterns over a full range of running speeds for each athlete from a jog to top sprinting speed.

    “We looked at running speeds ranging from 3 to 11 meters per second,” Clark said. “Earlier studies in the field of biomechanics have examined ground reaction force patterns, but focused primarily on jogging speeds between 3 and 5 meters per second. The differences we found became identifiable largely because of the broad range of speeds we examined and the caliber of the sprinters who participated in the study.”

    Classic spring model of running does not explain the unique gait features of top sprinters
    The contemporary view of running mechanics has been heavily influenced by the simple spring-mass model, a theory first formulated in the late 1980s. The spring-mass model assumes the legs work essentially like the compression spring of a pogo stick when in contact with the ground.

    In this theory, during running at a constant speed on level ground, the body falls down out of the air. Upon landing, the support leg acts like a pogo stick to catch the body and pop it back up in the air for the next step.

    It’s been generally assumed that this classic spring model applies to faster running speeds and faster athletes as well as to slower ones.

    Elite sprinters do not conform to widely accepted theories of running mechanics
    Clark, Ryan and Weyand questioned whether such a passive catch-and-rebound explanation could account for the greater ground forces widely understood as the reason why sprinters achieve faster speeds.

    After the researchers gathered ground reaction force waveform data, they found that sprinters differed from other athletes. From there they compared the waveforms to those predicted by the simple spring in the classic model.

    “The elite sprinters did not conform to the spring-model predictions,” said Clark. “They deviated a lot, specifically during the first half of the ground-contact phase. Our athlete non-sprinters, on the other hand, conformed fairly closely to the spring-model predictions, even at their top speeds.”

    Weyand said the new findings indicate that the classic spring model is not sufficient for understanding the mechanical basis of sprint running performance.

    “We found all the fastest athletes applied greater ground forces with a common and apparently characteristic pattern that resulted from the same basic gait features,” he said. “What these sprinters do differently is in their wind up and delivery mechanics. The motion of their limbs in the air is distinct; so even though the duration of their limb-swing phase at top speed does not differ from other runners, the force delivery mechanism differs markedly.”

    Sprinters have a common mechanical solution for speed — one that athletes who aren’t as fast do not execute.

    “This provides scientific information so coaches and athletes can fully identify what to train,” Clark said. “It is our hope that our results can translate into advances in evidence-based approaches to training speed.”

    The research was funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development. — Margaret Allen

    Follow SMUResearch.com on twitter at @smuresearch.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    WFAA: ‘Flopping’ research could lead to changes in the NBA

    Peter Weyand and his team set out nine months ago on a research project dubbed “The Physics of Flopping: Blowing the Whistle on a Foul Practice.”

    WFAA TV journalist Jason Wheeler covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    The coverage, “‘Flopping’ research could lead to changes in the NBA,” was published Dec. 15.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    Ken Clark, a fourth year doctoral student in biomechanics at SMU, uses a push bar to simulate "flopping" with SMU student volunteer D'Marquis Allen. (Photo: WFAA)
    Ken Clark, a fourth year doctoral student in biomechanics at SMU, uses a push bar to simulate “flopping” with SMU student volunteer D’Marquis Allen. (Photo: WFAA)
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    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping.

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU. Weyand is associate professor and director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory at the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Read the full story

    EXCERPT:

    By Jason Wheeler
    WFAA
    A dramatic gesture is sometimes all it takes to get your opponent in trouble on the basketball court.

    Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s real.

    But with money from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, a research team in Dallas is doing a scientific study on the difference between “fouls” and “flops.”

    There are entire pages of compilation videos on YouTube showing the best (or worst, depending on your point of view) examples of “flopping” in the NBA — pro basketball players suspected of embellishing the extent of contact with other players to persuade the ref to blow the whistle.

    But how can you really tell — even with a replay — when an athlete is, in fact, faking a foul?

    With more than $100,000 in funding from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, SMU professor Peter Weyand and his team set out nine months ago on a research project dubbed “The Physics of Flopping: Blowing the Whistle on a Foul Practice.”

    It’s a whimsical name for a study, but one that could change the way the game is played — or at least officiated.

    “We try to have fun doing the science,” Weyand said. “If we are successful with it, there is a lot of potential application.”

    This research could change the outcomes of games and even lead to new rules and penalties.

    So far, here’s what the SMU researchers have come up with:

    Read the full story

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

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    Sports on Earth: The Science of the Flop

    “And so, for the first time in the history of mankind, and this looks like a one-time thing, flopping is being dissected like a laboratory frog.” — Shaun Powell

    The flopping study at SMU
    The flopping study at SMU will operate in two phases, first to stuy the force required to knock someone off balance, second to study two players drawing contact from one another. (AP)

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    Sports on Earth journalist Shaun Powell covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    The coverage, “The science of the flop,” was published Dec. 13.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping.

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU. Weyand is associate professor and director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory at the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Read the full story

    EXCERPT:

    By Shaun Powell
    Sports on Earth
    Billionaires are different than the rest of us. They have money to burn, and in the case of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, money to learn. In the past year Cuban shelled out 100 large to fund a scientific study on flopping in the NBA, just because he was smitten by players faking fouls, so in this case you might argue his money is both burning and learning.

    Seriously, now: A hundred grand to understand the complexities and biomechanical execution from the combustible result of forceful contact between a moving mass of human flesh and a stationary being, and whether a healthy degree of chicanery and tomfoolery is being utilized to trigger a favorable response from an impartial and faulty bystander with a whistle, who must make a snap judgment based on the electrodes produced by his eyes?

    All for that?

    Well.

    Maybe in the past, when he was a bit new to the NBA ownership game, Cuban mishandled a buck or two. Paying millions to Erick Dampier and Shawn Bradley, 14 feet worth of stiff centers, immediately comes to mind. Hey, we’ve all thrown away money before, mainly on a cheap pair of socks that sprouted holes after three washings; it’s all relative. But Cuban has a better grip now, and has always been a brilliant and cutting-edge guy, and is even richer than ever, so why not part ways with 1/500,000,000 (or so) of your net worth to get to the bottom of an act that’s the scourge of the NBA? How can anyone insist, for one second, this isn’t money well spent?

    And so, for the first time in the history of mankind, and this looks like a one-time thing, flopping is being dissected like a laboratory frog (who, by the way, does a fair amount of flopping once he’s violently sliced by a scalpel). It’s happening inside a nondescript building just off the Southern Methodist University campus, and being conducted by Peter Weyand, an associate professor for applied physiology and biomechanics. But for this particular study, we’ll just call him the Professor of Flopology.

    “This is unexplored territory,” he said. “There’s little to no information on how much force it takes to knock someone off balance, and how much someone can control their resistance. Most of the balance research is done on the elderly, not young and healthy people.”

    Weyand was a bit surprised to get an email from Cuban a little more than a year ago, asking if the he’d have any interest in conducting a study. Weyand once played collegiately at Bates College where, he said — and he swears — he never flopped. Not once.

    “Not to my recollection, although that was a long time ago,” he added.

    Weyand discovered no study had ever been done on flopping — what a surprise — and saw it as an opportunity for ground-breaking research on what is a good foul and what’s a fake, and the merits of force.

    Read the full story

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    DMN: The physics of flopping — SMU researcher studies mechanics of NBA fakery

    Weyand, an associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at SMU, is using technology to determine how much force is necessary to knock an athlete off his or her feet.

    (From left) Researcher Ken Clark pushes student D'Marquis Allen as Peter Weyand waits to catch Allen during a demonstration on the physics of "flopping." Weyand, an associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at Southern Methodist University, is using technology to help understand how much force is necessary to knock an athlete off his or her feet. (Photo Dallas Morning News)
    (From left) Researcher Ken Clark pushes student D’Marquis Allen as Peter Weyand waits to catch Allen during a demonstration on the physics of “flopping.” Weyand, an associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at Southern Methodist University, is using technology to help understand how much force is necessary to knock an athlete off his or her feet. (Photo Dallas Morning News)

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    Dallas Morning News science reporter Anna Kuchment covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    The coverage, “The physics of flopping: SMU researcher studies mechanics of NBA fakery,” was published Dec. 13.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials.

    Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping.

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU. Weyand is associate professor and director of the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory at the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Read the full story

    EXCERPT:

    By Anna Kuchment
    Dallas Morning News
    Was it a flop or not?

    Last summer, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban gave Southern Methodist University more than $100,000 to try to answer that question scientifically. On Thursday, SMU biomechanics expert Peter Weyand demonstrated the early stages of his flopping research to a small group of journalists.

    Flopping is when an athlete fakes a fall to trick referees into calling a foul on an opponent. The behavior is prevalent in sports such as basketball and soccer.

    It’s an especially sore point with fans.

    “In regular life, people tend to dislike dishonest people, and the same thing goes for basketball,” said Jeff Lenchiner, editor of the NBA news site InsideHoops.com. “It’s dishonesty expressed physically, and it’s considered an insult to the game.”

    In one compilation of flops posted to YouTube involving Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs, an outraged spectator calls the behavior “a disease” and a mark of cowardice, “bad sportsmanship and horrible acting.”

    Flopping also costs players money. Last year, the National Basketball Association cracked down on the practice. Players now receive a warning after their first flop, followed by a series of escalating fines, from $5,000 for two flops to $30,000 for five violations.

    Weyand says there is plenty of good science that can come from studying flopping. “This is uncharted territory,” he says. Scientists lack even a basic understanding of how much force is required to topple someone.

    That is one of the experiments Weyand demonstrated Thursday. D’Marquis Allen, an SMU sophomore, stood on a treadmill-like platform. Wearing black spandex shorts, a black cycling T-shirt and reflective sensors stuck to his skin, he braced himself for a shove. Soon a lab volunteer pushed him in the chest with a device called a “flop-buster”: a padded yellow bar embedded with sensors. Allen took several steps back.

    “That was definitely a foul,” Weyand said later, after measuring the force of the collision.

    The research team was surrounded by gadgets that will help it measure the mechanics of basketball collisions. High-speed cameras recorded motion in three-dimensional space. Force plates beneath the platform on which Allen was standing marked his center of gravity. And motion sensors measured Allen’s position, velocity and acceleration.

    The goal: to help officials tell flop from foul by simply looking at a video.

    “I feel strongly about introducing science and data to situations in business and sports where there previously had been none,” Cuban said by email. “I love to challenge conventional wisdom with” research.

    But at this stage, it’s unclear whether flopping can be measured scientifically.

    Read the full story

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Performance Enhancing Legs Race Toward the Track Record Book

    This article by Dr. Peter Weyand, SMU biomechanics associate professor, originally published Aug. 27, 2013, on the Huffington Post. Co-authors are Matthew Bundle, Director of the Biomechanics Laboratory at the University of Montana, and SMU researchers Kenneth Clark and Laurence Ryan

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    By Peter Weyand
    SMU Associate Professor &
    Director, SMU Locomotor Performance Lab
    An intriguing, technological watershed is fast approaching for athletics — that defining moment when an athlete with artificial limbs shatters an “able-bodied” world record.

    Brazilian, double-limb, amputee sprinter Alan Oliveira is certainly not a household name, but he has quietly become much faster than some better known amputee runners. Earlier this summer, the 21-year-old lowered the Paralympic 100- and 200-meter world records by time margins two to five greater than those by which Usain Bolt eclipsed the able-bodied records for the same events in recent years. Oliveira’s current 200-meter mark is only 0.01 and 0.11 seconds shy, respectively, of the most recent B and A qualifying standards for the Olympic Games.

    Yet, what is most intriguing about Alan Oliveira’s performances in the short sprints is what they portend for a slightly longer sprint event. His 200-meter record of 20.66 seconds was achieved with the characteristically slow start and blazing finish of a double, lower-limb amputee athlete. His time, and the manner in which he achieved it, indicates that in the longest sprint event of 400-meters, for which the start is relatively unimportant, he is currently capable of running world-class times of 45 seconds or less.

    Vertical forces of double-limb amputee runner.
    The vertical forces applied to the ground and stride time patterns of a double-limb amputee runner (upper panel illustration and black line) and an elite track athlete (not illustrated, grey line) sprinting at 24.3 miles per hour (10.8 meters per second).

    Moreover, projections that fully consider the advantages that double artificial limbs can provide indicate that he could conceivably break the able-bodied 400 meter world record as soon as he chooses to concentrate on the longer event.

    The physics of sprint running with biological limbs
    The top sprinting speeds runners can achieve depend upon: 1) how quickly the limbs can be repositioned in the air between steps, and 2) how forcefully the foot can strike the surface (in relation to body weight) while on the ground.

    While these physical limits are not surprising, the temporal manner in which they are imposed upon runners with biological limbs is. First, and contrary to intuition, at top speed, the fastest runners do not reposition their limbs appreciably more rapidly than slow runners do. Fast and slow athletes alike take just over one-third of a second to reposition, or swing their limbs during an all-out sprint. Second, fast and slow runners also spend the same amount of time airborne between steps at just over one-tenth of a second. Third, at any given speed, the time a runner’s foot is in contact with the ground is predominantly set by leg length. All runners, regardless of athleticism, spend progressively less time on the ground as they run faster.

    Because of the time requirements nature imposes on the human running stride, the predominant differentiating factor for sprinting speed is how forcefully a runner’s foot can strike the ground in the limited time available at high speeds. World-class sprinters will typically apply peak ground forces that are four to five times their body weight during foot-ground contact periods that last less than one-tenth of a second. Average athletes hit the running surface with peak forces of roughly three times body weight during foot-ground contact times that last appreciably longer than one-tenth of a second.

    Double artificial limbs break down the biological barriers to performance
    Double, artificial lower limbs enhance speed in the same way that classic devices like ice skates and cross-country skis do; they allow athletes to circumvent the intrinsic time limits on the human running stride. Skates and skis prolong the time on the ground when the skate or ski applies force while simultaneously reducing or eliminating the time in the air. With these critical timing alterations to the gait cycle, the ground forces needed to attain any speed are greatly reduced, and the maximum speeds possible for human-powered travel become considerably greater.

    Extremely lightweight carbon-fibre lower limbs enhance human performance by exploiting the same basic mechanism to a lesser degree. Reduced mass shortens the time needed for limb repositioning by one fifth and the airborne period between steps by one third, while enhanced limb compliance prolongs the duration of those critically short periods during which force is applied to the ground. The net result of these timing alterations is that double-limb amputee athletes can reach world-class sprinting speeds with the ground forces and athleticism of an average high-school athlete. Moreover, double-limb amputee athletes can now engineer increases in speed with basic blade alterations, like reducing mass or increasing length.

    No technological advantage for single-limb amputee sprinters
    As one might imagine, the design choices available to single-limb amputees for limb lengths, masses, compliances are comparatively quite narrow. Even moderate between-leg disparities in lengths or other limb properties would hinder rather than help their performance due to the asymmetries introduced. Consequently, single-leg amputees cannot operate outside the timing constraints of runners with biological limbs as double-limb amputees can. The presence of their biological limb constrains swing, aerial and contact times to biological values and leaves them with the same force-based requirement for speed that non-amputees have.

    Certainly, the approaching watershed of a double-limb amputee athlete eclipsing the able-bodied world record will intensify policy issues for athletics. How the scientifically apparent performance disparities described here ultimately translate into specific policy is difficult to predict given the dynamics of the administrative, legal and scientific processes involved. However, broader consideration of the numerous pharmaceutical, technical and other interventions in our midst makes one conclusion clear. The growing number of enhancement options available will deliver a sporting future in which performance limits will be determined progressively more by regulatory policy — and progressively less by the traditional limits of human biology.

    Peter Weyand is Associate Professor and Director, the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory at the Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    See the Huffington Post article.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    BioNewsTexas: SMU Dallas Speed Scientist Featured in PBS NOVA Series Segment

    Peter Weyand (right) trackside at SMU

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    BioNewsTexas covered the research of SMU biomechanics researcher Peter G. Weyand, who was featured on an episode of the PBS series “NOVA.” NOVA host David Pogue explored the biological and physical limits of speed on the Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 broadcast, “Making Stuff: Faster.”

    Weyand, associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on the importance of ground forces for running speed established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, his finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread, but baseless belief. Rather, Weyand and colleagues demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    This work provided the understanding that enabled Weyand and colleagues to investigate the influence of prosthetic limbs on sprint running performance.

    “The NOVA segment demonstrates the power of science to identify and improve performance capabilities. This is particularly exciting in an era in which electronic technologies allow discoveries to be applied quickly, broadly and on mobile platforms,” Weyand says. “I believe we are on the cusp of an unprecedented opportunity to responsibly and effectively advance performance training tools and practices.”

    Read the article.

    EXCERPT:

    By Charles Moore
    BioNewsTexas
    What amazing new inventions will revolutionize our lives in the near future — how we compute, commute, and tackle health & safety? What is is the cutting-edge “stuff” powering the next wave of science and tech innovation?

    Will it be levitating trains; self-driving cars; wing-flapping hummingbird drones; supercomputing machines; fish slime stronger than bulletproof Kevlar, ultra-fast sailboats; bomb-sniffing plants; firefighting goo; swarms of flying robots? Civilization is built on the human ability to invent — to create new materials and technologies from the raw materials of the earth.

    So what will the stuff of the future be made of? New York Times technology correspondent and best-selling author David Pogue will guide viewers through a new generation of cutting-edge materials that is powering a next wave of scientific and technological innovation in a four-part NOVA series: “MAKING STUFF: Faster, Wilder, Colder, Safer” premiering on consecutive Wednesday nights on October 16, 23, 30 and November 6, at 9pm ET/8c on PBS (check local listings).

    In the premiere episode, “MAKING STUFF: Faster,” In “Making Stuff Faster,” Mr. Pogue wants to find out how much we can tweak physiology and engineering to move humans and machines even faster. He investigates everything from lightning-fast electric muscle cars to ultra-sleek sailboats to ultra-fast cameras and quantum teleportation. Mr. Pogue meets with Dr. Peter Weyand, Associate Professor of Applied Physiology and Biomechanics at Southern Methodist University in Dallas’s SMU Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development. Dr. Weyand, introduced as a professor of speed, explains how we can be faster. His lab at SMU (a high-tech facility equipped with superfast cameras) helps him on his singular mission: to make humans faster. Dr. Weyand’s work has led him to believe that the force of steps when we run is the key to human speed and, in a unique experiment, and he demonstrates to NOVA viewers how a complete and utter amateur like David Pogue can have off significant amounts of time off the clock by adjusting the way he runs. NOVA also explores important questions: Is it possible to go too fast? Have we hit a point where innovation outpaces our human ability to keep up?

    Read the article.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    LiveScience: Need for Speed: New Series Explores World’s Fastest Things

    Peter Weyand (right) trackside at SMU

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    LiveScience covered the research of SMU biomechanics researcher Peter G. Weyand, who was featured on an episode of the PBS series “NOVA.” NOVA host David Pogue explored the biological and physical limits of speed on the Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 broadcast, “Making Stuff: Faster.”

    Weyand, associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on the importance of ground forces for running speed established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, his finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread, but baseless belief. Rather, Weyand and colleagues demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    This work provided the understanding that enabled Weyand and colleagues to investigate the influence of prosthetic limbs on sprint running performance.

    “The NOVA segment demonstrates the power of science to identify and improve performance capabilities. This is particularly exciting in an era in which electronic technologies allow discoveries to be applied quickly, broadly and on mobile platforms,” Weyand says. “I believe we are on the cusp of an unprecedented opportunity to responsibly and effectively advance performance training tools and practices.”

    Read the article.

    EXCERPT:

    By Tanya Lewis
    LiveScience

    From building the world’s fastest cars, trucks and boats to rooting for Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, humans are obsessed with speed.

    In the premiere of the new NOVA series “Making Stuff,” which airs tonight at 9 p.m. EDT/8 p.m. CDT on PBS, host and technology columnist David Pogue takes viewers on a whirlwind tour of the world’s fastest things.

    In the show, Pogue burns rubber in a souped-up electric car, zooms from house to house delivering packages and flies above the waves on the sailboat that won this year’s America’s Cup. […]

    […] Next, Pogue journeys to Southern Methodist University in Dallas to test out his sprinting chops. In the lab of physiologist Peter Weyand, researchers study the biomechanics of running and other sports. With the world’s fastest treadmill, a multidimensional force sensor and top-of-the-line motion-capture video systems, Weyand and his colleagues study what makes people run fast. Surprisingly, fast runners aren’t distinguished by their leg movements, Weyand said, but rather how hard they hit the ground. “Elite sprinters will hit with forces four to five times their body weight,” he told LiveScience. […]

    Read the article.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    KERA, NOVA: SMU researcher Peter Weyand discusses the upper limits of human speed

    The work of SMU biomechanics researcher Peter G. Weyand (at right in photo) was featured on an episode of the PBS series “NOVA.” Host David Pogue explored the biological and physical limits of speed on the Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 broadcast, “Making Stuff: Faster.”

    Weyand and NOVA producer Anna Lee Strachan will discuss the research at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, at a screening of the program in the first floor pavilion of Simmons Hall, 3101 University. Weyand also will appear on KERA Radio’s program “Think” with host Krys Boyd on Monday, Oct. 14.

    Weyand, associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, is one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research on the importance of ground forces for running speed established a contemporary understanding that spans the scientific and athletic communities.

    In particular, his finding that speed athletes are not able to reposition their legs more rapidly than non-athletes debunked a widespread, but baseless belief. Rather, Weyand and colleagues demonstrated sprinting performance is largely set by the force with which one presses against the ground and how long one applies that force.

    This work provided the understanding that enabled Weyand and colleagues to investigate the influence of prosthetic limbs on sprint running performance.

    “The NOVA segment demonstrates the power of science to identify and improve performance capabilities. This is particularly exciting in an era in which electronic technologies allow discoveries to be applied quickly, broadly and on mobile platforms,” Weyand says. “I believe we are on the cusp of an unprecedented opportunity to responsibly and effectively advance performance training tools and practices.” — Nancy George

    DETAILS

    “Think” – Monday, Oct. 14, Noon to 1 p.m. KERA Radio

    • Peter Weyand discusses the scientific future of human performance with host Krys Boyd.

    “NOVA” – Wednesday, Oct. 16, 8 p.m. CST, PBS

    • Peter Weyand is featured with host David Pogue on NOVA segment, “Making Stuff: Faster.”

    Screening of “Making Stuff: Faster” and discussion with Peter Weyand – Friday, Oct, 18, 5:30 p.m., first floor pavilion, Simmons Hall, 3101 University Blvd., Dallas

    • Q and A with Peter Weyand and NOVA producer Anna Lee Strachan after “Making Stuff: Faster” screening, moderated by KERA science reporter Lauren Silverman. Free and open to public, reservations at smu.edu/reply/nova

    Video from SMU’s Performance Lab:

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    Lexington Herald-Leader: Cuban asks scientist to study physics of flopping

    1d8VDM.AuSt.79

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    Kentucky’s Lexington Herald-Leader covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    Herald-Leader Journalist Jerry Tipton quoted Weyand in his June 15 UK basketball column on the flopping research, “Cuban asks scientist to study physics of flopping.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:
    By Jerry Tipton
    Herald-Leader
    The defender might be a foot taller and 75 pounds heavier. Yet, contact with the smaller player sends him flying backward. When the referee calls charging, even a casual basketball fan senses injustice.

    The illogic of these kiddie car-demolishes-pickup truck collisions moved Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to take action. He commissioned a scientific study of basketball’s all-too-common lapse into kabuki theatre: the offensive foul. Cuban, an unabashed critic of NBA officiating, had his company, Radical Hoops Ltd, donate $100,000 to Southern Methodist University to study the physics involved in these collisions, it was announced last week.

    Peter Weyand, an associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at SMU, will lead what’s being billed as an 18-month investigation into mass, force and acceleration in baggy shorts. Sir Isaac Newton meets C.M. Newton.

    Weyand and his team will try to determine how much force is required to “legitimately” knock a defender off his feet. They also hope to develop a metric to determine if such a force existed in any particular block/charge incident. In theory, a video review using this metric would lead to punishment for flopping.

    Meanwhile, referees roll their eyes.

    “Basketball officiating is an art,” said John Hampton, Kentucky native and Southeastern Conference official. “It is not a science. I am extremely skeptical of the whole project.”

    Read the full story.

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    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    HuffPost: Mark Cuban donates $100,000 to research NBA flopping

    markcuban

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    News blog Huffington Post picked up the video coverage by KDAF’s CW33 Nightcap News of the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    Huffington Post reposted the Nightcap News video at “Mark Cuban Gives $100K to SMU to Fight NBA Flopping

    KDAF’s CW33 Nightcap News coverage, Mark Cuban Gives $100K to SMU to Fight NBA Flopping, was posted June 7.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.

    Watch the video at Nightcap News.

    EXCERPT:
    By Barry Carpenter
    Nightcap News
    The NBA–full of the biggest, fastest athletes in the world and all too often some of the worst actors. Witness flopping.
    “This first play is an example that will be penalized.” The narrator on the video said.

    The video shows the small player fighting through a pick and sending the much larger player flying.

    As explained by the narrator, impossible.

    “However the contact of the player is inconsistent with the grossly embellished fall to the floor.”

    It happens all the time in the NBA and that’s apparently why the league issued this “What’s a flop and What’s not” training video for the 2012-2013 season.

    Technically–flopping is defined by the as a physical act that appears to have been intended to cause the referees to call a foul on another player.

    For those who don’t like basketball–let’s take it from the hardwood to the hallway.

    Robert and Claire are both heading for the Nightcap coffee pot–at the same time–when all of the sudden the two make contact. Robert is jolted back, he stumbles and falls–looking for a little help.

    That is a classic flop–and if Robert was in the NBA he could be fined $5,000.00.

    Speaking of money—Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wants to understand the dynamics of flopping and is giving SMU biomechanics experts a $100,000.00 grant to see how much contact is needed for a player to really flop.

    SMU officials say their findings may lead to video reviews of flopping.

    Watch the video at Nightcap News.

    Follow SMUResearch.com on Twitter.

    For more information, www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Star Telegram: Eliminate flopping? Godspeed, Mark Cuban

    Big Mac Blog

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    Fort Worth Star Telegram sports writer Mac Engel covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    The coverage in Engel’s The Big Mac Blog, “Eliminate flopping? Godspeed, Mark Cuban,” was posted June 11.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.

    Read the full story

    EXCERPT:
    By Mac Engel
    Star Telegram
    Must be great to have Mark Cuban cash.

    In front of Mark is a pile of $100,000 that he can:
    a.) Burn
    b.) Issue a research grant on NBA players flopping.

    The obvious choice is B, all the way. This is the definition of money well spent.

    Since Cuban bought the Mavs no one in the NBA has leaned on the league for a better product, from the fan experience to the refs to now – no flopping. Refs in the NBA have sucked for years, they still do, because it’s an impossible job and the only good ref is the one you don’t notice.

    It’s odd – when the Mavs won the NBA title in 2011, the refs were incredible. Probably just a coincidence.

    Now Cuban is working on the widespread epidemic of NBA flopping by granting $100K to SMU to solve this massive crisis.

    Only there is no solution, even the best player Cuban agrees this is a fruitless exercise.

    “I think we’re trying; you’re never going to get rid of it but you have to limit it,” Dirk Nowitzki told a small group of reporters on Monday at a Dallas YMCA. “I think it’s also part of sports. In any sports, it’s a part. It’s part of winning. Some people are smart; some people do a little extra thing to sell a call. To me, that’s part of sports. You don’t want to be obvious; the really, really bad ones you’d love to get rid of those.

    Read more here: http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/mac-engel/2013/06/eliminate-flopping-godspeed-mark-cuban.html#storylink=cpy

    Read the full story

    Follow SMUResearch.com on Twitter.

    For more information, www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    KERA: Fed Up With ‘Flopping,’ Mark Cuban Funds SMU Study

    flop

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    KERA journalist Lauren Silverman covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    The coverage, “Fed Up With ‘Flopping,’ Mark Cuban Funds SMU Study,” was posted June 7.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.

    Read the full story

    EXCERPT:
    By Lauren Silverman
    KERA
    Phony falls in basketball just got serious. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has teamed up with biomechanics experts at Southern Methodist University to study “flopping” — when a player deliberately falls to deceive referees into thinking there’s been a foul.

    Flopping is considered a widespread problem in basketball. In 2012, the NBA began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping. In fact, the league implemented a special anti-flopping fine system for the current playoffs. (Watch out, Tim Duncan!) Now, NBA commissioner David Stern is considering increasing the penalties.

    Right now, the first violation results in a $5,000 fine (check out the full breakdown at NBA.com). If a player violates the anti-flopping rule five times or more, “he will be subject to discipline that is reasonable under the circumstances, including an increased fine and/or suspension.”

    The problem is, it can be hard to tell whether a player is faking a fall or really got knocked off balance. That’s why Cuban has spent more than $100,000 to fund a research study at SMU in Dallas. Biomechanics expert Peter Weyand, who leads the research team, says, “There has been a lot of research into balance and falls in the elderly, but relatively little on active adults and athletes.”

    Read the full story

    Follow SMUResearch.com on Twitter.

    For more information, www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    WSJ: Physics of Flopping — Cuban Backs a Study

    WSJ Cuban flopping 400x300

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    To book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News at 214-768-7650 or email news@smu.edu.

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    Journalist Ben Cohen with The Wall Street Journal covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    The coverage, “Physics of Flopping: Cuban Backs a Study,” was posted June 7.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.

    Read the full story

    EXCERPT:
    By Ben Cohen
    The Wall Street Journal
    A big name in the NBA is backing a team of biomechanics researchers interested in a modern sports phenomenon: flopping.

    Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban not only inspired the Southern Methodist University project, which was announced Friday, but also invested more than $100,000 in what is thought to be the first study of its kind. Cuban said he was curious about the physics of flopping—how and why a 250-pound player, for example, crashes when he runs into someone under 200 pounds.

    “If you look at a high-contact sport like football, you see few pancakes, where guys end up on their behinds,” Cuban wrote in an email. “Yet in our sport, guys end up on their backsides all the time.”

    SMU biomechanics professor Peter Weyand expects the study will combine video techniques with collisions measuring force. One tricky part is the lack of prior work in the field of flopology. “A lot of scientific experiments follow on the heels of prior experiments,” he said. “This is a novel scientific venture.”

    Cuban said the NBA, which introduced fines for floppers before this season, can benefit from “a template that defines some basic guidelines on what levels of force, speed and size” contribute to genuine falls. The goal is to “take out guessing and reduce the amount of judgment involved.”

    The study also could have personal benefits for the outspoken Cuban. “If we get great data we can learn from, it will save me a ton of money in fines,” he wrote with a smiley face.

    Read the full story

    Follow SMUResearch.com on Twitter.

    For more information, www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    New York Daily News: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban funds flopping study

    NY Daily News Cuban flopping 400x300

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    To book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News at 214-768-7650 or email news@smu.edu.

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    New York Daily News journalist Amara Grautski covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    The coverage, “Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban funds flopping study,” was posted June 7.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.

    Read the story

    EXCERPT:
    By Amara Grautski
    New York Daily News
    Instead of just wondering whether players like LeBron James or Lance Stephenson are intentionally hitting the hardwood, Mark Cuban is taking action by funding research that will delve into the fine art of flopping.

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to biomechanics experts at Southern Methodist University, so they can carry out an 18-month research study on the subject.

    On Friday, the Mavericks owner said on Twitter, “Is it a flop ? Let the scientists figure it out . im paying for the research to find out.”

    The NBA began fining players this year for trying to fool referees into calling fouls, and the league introduced an even stronger anti-flopping policy just before the 2013 playoffs. The postseason policy removes a warning for first-time offenders and now assesses fines immediately.

    James, Stephenson and the Pacers’ David West were all fined $5,000 by the NBA on May 30 for violating the league’s anti-flopping policy during the Eastern Conference finals. Grizzlies guard Tony Allen was also hit with a $5,000 fine during the Western Conference finals against the Spurs. But before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, commissioner David Stern said the penalties still aren’t enough.

    How could the research Cuban is funding help clear things up? In a statement, SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand said the “findings could conceivably contribute to video reviews of flopping and the subsequent assignment of fines.

    “It may be possible to enhance video reviews by adding a scientific element, but we won’t know this until we have the data from this study in hand.”

    Read the story

    Follow SMUResearch.com on Twitter.

    For more information, www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Yahoo! Sports: Mark Cuban’s $100K sponsors a university’s study on the mechanics and fallout of NBA flopping

    MCLL6713

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    Yahoo! Sports journalist Kelly Dwyer covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    The coverage, “Mark Cuban’s $100K sponsors a university’s study on the mechanics and fallout of NBA flopping,” was posted June 7.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.

    Read the full story

    EXCERPT:
    By Kelly Dwyer
    Yahoo! Sports
    Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban apparently agrees with about one hundred percent of basketball’s fandom when it comes to the practice of flopping to draw a foul call. In the years since he became Maverick owner in Jan. of 2000, Cuban has lightened his aggressive touch when it came to harassing refs from the sideline, or (if you’ll recall, from autumn of 2000) posting screenshots of a missed call on his team’s scoreboard following a loss for everyone to see.

    Cuban is shooting for a more well-heeled, and subsequently more well-researched route these days. He’s sponsoring a team of biomechanics experts at Southern Methodist University, as they research the forces behind and end-result bottom lines from all of this flippity-flopping. […]

    […] Good work, Mr. Cuban, professors, Peter, the elderly, Vlade.

    I can safely say that I’m just about all out of patience with the art around flopping. Not the art of flopping, that grew tiresome in the late 1990s even before the NBA put the semi-circle around the basket to make block/charge calls easier. Rather, the unending, eye-rolling amount of chatter from mainstream bloggers, on-air analysts, and chanting fans.

    Guys, we get it. NBA players flop. This is the end result of attempting to call a contest featuring the world’s greatest athletes properly.

    The NBA’s referees, in a reaction to the clutch-and-grab style that made so many mid-1990s NBA games so rough to watch, started to more aggressively call contact. That decision made the games infinitely more watchable, but as a result players learned that the occasional quick movement following implied contact, or overstated reaction to real contact (or, as SMU puts it, the “deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials”), could lead to a quick whistle from a ref that doesn’t know that he or she had been duped.

    That’s the price you pay for accurately called games. Refereeing in the NBA is impossibly tough, and refs are forced into making split-second decisions with their whistles that they’ll sometimes regret. And even if it’s obvious in real time that this particular move was a flop and not a foul-worthy bit of contact, it hardly matters – referees are human, and humans make mistakes. Especially when they’re asked by their bosses to make calls instantly and with no hesitation, with an emphasis on discouraging physical play.

    Read the full story

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    For more information, www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Dallas Observer: Mark Cuban and SMU Are Teaming Up for an Important Scientific Study of NBA Flopping

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    Journalist Eric Nicholson with the Dallas Observer covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    The coverage, “Mark Cuban and SMU Are Teaming Up for an Important Scientific Study of NBA Flopping,” was posted June 7.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:
    Eric Nicholson
    Dallas Observer
    Taking a charge in basketball is an art, and it has been for a long time. A not-insignificant portion of high school basketball practices — at least as of a decade ago — are dedicated to training players on coming to an abrupt stop, setting one’s feet just so, and falling as if they’ve been clothes-lined by a freight train. Taking a charge at the right moment can turn a game.

    Charges used to be much rarer than they are today, and it’s fairly widely acknowledged that the pendulum has swung too far in favor of the defensive player, who can draw a whistle by flailing wildly to the ground at the lightest touch.

    The NBA has been cracking down on flopping this season, and Commissioner David Stern hopes to increase the penalties against players who do so. The $5,000 fine recently laid on LeBron James isn’t much of a disincentive for someone making $33 million per year.

    Complicating matters is the fact that it isn’t always easy to discern who’s faking it and who’s really getting knocked on their ass. To help referees and league officials figure that out, SMU announced today that Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is chipping in $100,000 to fund an 18-month academic study on the biomechanics of flopping.

    “The issues of collisional forces, balance and control in these types of athletic settings are largely uninvestigated,” SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand says in a press release. “There has been a lot of research into balance and falls in the elderly, but relatively little on active adults and athletes.”

    Read the full story.

    Follow SMUResearch.com on Twitter.

    For more information, www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Business Insider: Mark Cuban Is Funding A Scientific Study To End Flopping In The NBA

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    Business Insider covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    The coverage, “Mark Cuban Is Funding A Scientific Study To End Flopping In The NBA,” was posted June 7.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:
    Business Insider
    Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is funding a scientific study into flopping in basketball.

    The study will be conducted by biomechanics experts at Southern Methodist University, and it will look into exactly what makes a flop, a flop.

    From the university website:

    “The researchers will look at how much force is required to cause a legitimate loss of balance. They’ll also examine to what extent players can influence the critical level of force via balance and body control. They will also explore techniques by which the forces involved in collisions might be estimated from video or other motion capture techniques.”

    Flopping has become an unseemly part of the NBA game.

    The league started fining and publicly shaming floppers this season, but it hasn’t stopped some high-profile flopping incidents in the playoffs.

    Right now, determining whether some is or isn’t a flop is largely subjective. It sounds like Cuban and SMU are trying to define the bounds of flopping with science.

    Cool!

    Read the full story.

    Follow SMUResearch.com on Twitter.

    For more information, www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    ESPN: Cuban funds flopping study

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    ESPN covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.

    The coverage, “Cuban funds flopping study,” was posted June 7.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU.

    Read the full story

    EXCERPT:
    ESPN
    While NBA commissioner David Stern says the league needs to expand its anti-flopping rules, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is funding a study on the practice.

    David Stern’s NBA has been aggressively progressive, moving early on everything from globalization, a number of race issues, women in sports, drug testing and many kinds of technology. And now it’s ready to lead the way again, writes Henry Abbott.

    One of Cuban’s companies has provided $100,000 to Southern Methodist University for an 18-month investigation of the forces involved in basketball collisions. The goal is to figure out whether video or other motion-capture techniques can distinguish between legitimate collisions and instances of flopping.

    “The research findings could conceivably contribute to video reviews of flopping and the subsequent assignment of fines,” SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who leads the research team, said in a statement.

    Cuban tweeted: “Is it a flop? Let the scientists figure it out . im paying for the research to find out.”

    Stern said Thursday that stronger flopping penalties will be on the agenda when the NBA’s competition committee meets next week in San Antonio.

    This season, the league instituted a video-review system that retroactively fined players for flopping. But only five players were fined $5,000 apiece in the regular season, and seven more have been fined that amount in the playoffs.

    Dirk Nowitzki joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett live in studio to discuss the moves he expects the Mavericks to make this summer, what his pitch would be to Dwight Howard and Chris Paul, and his upcoming Heroes Celebrity baseball game.

    Stern hinted at increasing the penalty for those found guilty of flopping.

    “It isn’t enough, it isn’t enough,” Stern said in his annual pre-NBA Finals news conference. “You’re not going to cause somebody to stop it for $5,000 when the average player’s salary is $5.5 million. And anyone who thought that was going to happen was allowing hope to prevail over reason.”

    Read the full story

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    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    SMU biomechanics experts team with Mark Cuban to research phony falls in basketball

    Study will investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data

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    Peter-Weyand SMU

    To book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News at 214-768-7650 or email news@smu.edu.

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    Biomechanics experts at Southern Methodist University have teamed with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to carry out a scientific study of the unsavory practice of player flopping in basketball and other sports.

    Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

    The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

    The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU, Dallas.

    “The issues of collisional forces, balance and control in these types of athletic settings are largely uninvestigated,” said SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who leads the research team. “There has been a lot of research into balance and falls in the elderly, but relatively little on active adults and athletes.”

    The objective of the research is to investigate the forces involved in typical basketball collisions, said Weyand, an associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the SMU Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.

    Study to look at force, motion in basketball collisions
    Other members of the SMU research team include: research engineer and physicist Laurence Ryan; Kenneth Clark, doctoral student in the SMU Locomotor Performance Laboratory; and mechanical engineer Geoffrey Brown.

    The researchers will look at how much force is required to cause a legitimate loss of balance. They’ll also examine to what extent players can influence the critical level of force via balance and body control. They will also explore techniques by which the forces involved in collisions might be estimated from video or other motion capture techniques.

    The research findings could conceivably contribute to video reviews of flopping and the subsequent assignment of fines, Weyand said. “It may be possible to enhance video reviews by adding a scientific element, but we won’t know this until we have the data from this study in hand.”

    Weyand is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars on the scientific basis of human performance. His research integrating the biomechanical and physiological basis of athletic performance has advanced scientific understanding and stimulated evidence-based approaches to performance and training practices across the globe.

    Follow SMUResearch.com on Twitter.

    For more information, www.smuresearch.com.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    DMN: Cowlishaw: Research by SMU professor shows blades give Pistorius edge

    SMU professor says ‘blade runners’ offer significant advantage

    Sports journalist Tim Cowlishaw with The Dallas Morning News has covered the long-running global controversy surrounding double-amputee South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius. Controversy has swirled around the sprinter over whether his light-weight, carbon-fiber prosthetic “Cheetah” legs give him a competitive advantage.

    Cowlishaw’s Aug. 12 column “Research by SMU professor shows blades give Pistorius edge” quotes SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert on human locomotion and on Pistorius’ competitive advantage.

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    Weyand helped lead a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability.

    Weyand is widely quoted in the press for his expertise on human speed. He is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Tim Cowlishaw
    Dallas Morning News
    Four years ago, Dr. Peter Weyand’s research at Rice University helped overturn a ban that kept Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee from South Africa, from using his “blade runners” to compete on the same track with the world’s finest athletes.

    Pistorius made history this past week in London where he reached the semifinals of the 400 meters and ran the anchor leg for the South African team in the men’s 4×400 relay.

    Today Weyand is an associate professor at SMU. His locomotor performance laboratory sits just off campus. And the man who helped make Pistorius’ barrier-breaking trip to the Olympics possible isn’t sure that’s such a good thing.

    Weyand contends that Pistorius has a significant advantage over “intact limb” runners. Former gold medal winner Michael Johnson made that statement before the London Games and was, essentially, laughed at.

    In Weyand’s case, he has years of data to support it.

    “The first order of business is to acknowledge his achievement — his Olympic qualification,” Weyand said. “We all like him. What he’s done is remarkable. It’s a story you couldn’t make up.

    “But there’s a legitimate performance question, and we got involved on a scientific level to evaluate that question.”

    In 2007, Pistorius was banned from standard competition by the IAAF (track’s governing body) because of German research that suggested Pistorius had an advantage based on lower oxygen consumption. Pistorius appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and Weyand’s team at Rice conducted the study that eventually cleared him to compete. […]

    Read the full story.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    The Economist: Faster, higher, no longer

    Is it time to update the Olympic credo?

    The Economist explores the question of whether the human body has maxed-out when it comes to breaking future Olympic athletic records.

    The Aug. 4 article “Faster, higher, no longer” quotes SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human speed and human locomotion.

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    Weyand helped lead a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on South African Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee whose artificial “Cheetah” legs have stirred controversy, and the mechanics of his racing ability.

    Weyand is widely quoted in the press for his expertise on human speed. He is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    The Economist
    ON AUGUST 5th millions of people will watch the 100-metre final at the London Olympics. Many will wonder if anyone can repeat Usain Bolt’s feat in Berlin in 2009, when the Jamaican clocked 9.58 seconds, lopping 0.11 seconds—aeons in a sprint—off the previous world record, which he set at the 2008 Beijing games.

    One person who thinks this unlikely is Mark Denny. Another 0.11 seconds would take the time below what Dr Denny, from Stanford University, reckons is the absolute limit of human athletic performance in the 100-metre dash.

    In 2008 Dr Denny published a paper in which he crunched through the highest speeds achieved each year in running events from sprints to the marathon, some dating back to 1900 (see chart). A statistical technique called extreme-value analysis discerned trends and the maximum possible deviations from them. For the 100 metres, the human speed limit is 10.55 metres per second. This translates to 9.48 seconds.

    Predicting the limits of human athletic prowess has been a popular parlour game among number crunchers. One study from 1992 had female marathon runners drawing level with men by 1998, to complete the 42.195km (26.2-mile) course in just under two hours and two minutes. (The current male record remains 1.5 minutes slower; for women it is 12 minutes slower still.) A more recent analysis from 2004 suggested that male and female 100-metre times will converge in 2156, at 8.08 seconds.

    Nowadays sport statisticians view such calculations as flawed because they relied on linear extrapolations. They prefer to fit data to variants of a “logistic” curve. This produces an S-shaped plot more in line with the intuition that performance starts off relatively flat. It then goes through a period of rapid improvement as more people take part and more systematic approaches to training and nutrition get more out of them. It finally levels off as athletes inch towards the most a body can manage. [ … ]

    [ … ] Statistics suggest that feats like those of Messrs Bolt and Beamon are increasingly improbable. But are they impossible? Peter Weyand, of Southern Methodist University in Texas, has shown that whereas the peak force which elite sprinters apply to the track is more than four times their body weight, they can squeeze even more out of their muscles. Dr Weyand found that the forces generated while athletes hopped on one leg as fast as they could on a high-speed treadmill were roughly twice as high as during running at top speed. This translated into 30% more ground force.

    Since ground force is the main determinant of sprinting speed, Dr Weyand’s results imply that human muscles are capable of producing enough oomph to propel sprinters one-third faster than Mr Bolt’s 2009 record. The reason they have not is that in the normal, two-legged gait the foot is in contact with the ground for only around one-tenth of a second, 0.05 seconds less than when hopping. As a consequence, muscle fibres do not have enough time to contract to their full potential. Although tapping all this force while sprinting seems biomechanically inconceivable, there may be scope for slight alterations in training and gait, focused on increasing the peak power available to sprinters. For his part, Dr Denny would be thrilled to see any athlete breach his limits, but he isn’t putting any money on it.

    Read the full story.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Sports Illustrated: Fair or foul? Experts split over whether Pistorius has advantage

    Scientists debate whether prosthetic legs give Pistorius an unfair advantage in the 400-meter race

    Sports journalist David Epstein at Sports Illustrated has written a comprehensive piece on the long-running global controversy surrounding double-amputee South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, the first amputee to compete in the Olympics.

    The Aug. 2 article “Fair or foul? Experts split over whether Pistorius has advantage” quotes SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion.

    Book a live interview

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    To book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News at 214-768-7650 or email news@smu.edu.

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    Human diabetes has new research tool: Overfed fruit flies that develop insulin resistance

    Observed! SMU’s LHC physicists confirm Higgs ‘God particle’
    DOE Award: advancing SMU’s link to the God particle
    Ancient tree-ring records from southwest U.S. suggest today’s megafires are truly unusual
    Modeling the human protein in search of cancer treatment: SMU Researcher Q&A
    Middle school boys who are reluctant readers value reading more after using e-readers
    Dark matter search may turn up evidence of WIMPS: SMU Researcher Q&A

    Controversy has swirled around Pistorius as the debate continues over the scientific advantage he enjoys as a result of his high-tech, carbon fiber artificial legs. Weyand helped lead a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability.

    Weyand is widely quoted in the press for his expertise on human speed. He is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By David Epstein
    Sports Illustrated
    LONDON — Before he changed into his racing legs, South African double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius made sure to greet each and every photographer who showed up to shoot his training session last Sunday at St. Mary’s University College in Twickenham, far in the south of London. At the very same time that one of his PR reps was insisting that he wouldn’t be talking at all today, Pistorius was busily talking to everyone he could see. He greeted every onlooker with a handshake, going back when he missed one person. “I think I forgot to greet you,” he said softly, and extended his hand. The display prompted a British photographer to remark: “I’ve never come across that. He doesn’t need any PR, does he?” And it’s all the more remarkable considering that such manners flowed from a man who is an A-list celebrity in South Africa. Pistorius has owned white tigers and racehorses, and the gossip pages recently reported that he’s dating a Russian supermodel. (Two days ago, a zealous fan showed him a photo of “Pistorius 2012” tattooed on her arm.)

    That Pistorius is charismatic is beyond questioning. Nor is there any doubt of the magnitude of the inspiration he engenders. Pistorius’s Twitter picture is a shot of him — in his crescent, carbon-fiber Cheetah Flex-Feet — leaning down and jogging beside a little blonde girl whose own Cheetah legs are protruding, adorably, from beneath her tiny yellow sun dress. Or how about this scene, which sounds like the Paralympic variation of a bad barroom joke: guy with no lower arms or legs walks up to a guy born with no fibulas and starts asking about sprinting. But that actually happened, last year, the day before Pistorius ran in a Diamond League meet in New York City. Pistorius was gracious and patient in giving advice to the man, Andre Lampkin, a 23-year-old former football player who had recently lost parts of all four limbs to bacterial meningitis, and was still extremely wobbly on his new Cheetahs.

    When the “Blade Runner” steps onto the track Saturday, it will be as South Africa’s top quarter-miler of 2012 and the first double-amputee (and first male Paralympian of any sort) to compete in the Olympics. And even though Pistorius — who had both lower legs amputated before he was a year old — is a veritable fount of inspiration, questions about his carbon fiber racing legs have followed him to London. Just before the Games began, Michael Johnson — Pistorius’s friend and the 400-meter world record holder — said that Pistorius should not be competing against able-bodied runners.

    “My position is that because we don’t know for sure whether he gets an advantage from the prosthetics that he wears, it is unfair to the able-bodied competitors,” Johnson said. “That is hard for a lot of people to take and to understand when you are talking about an athlete and an individual who has a disability.” [ … ]

    [ … ] Pistorius appealed the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). He went for more testing, this time in a lab at Rice University run by physiologist Peter Weyand. The data from that testing found that Pistorius fatigued at a normal rate. Not to mention that energy efficiency has about as much to do with sprint performance as fuel efficiency does with drag-racing performance. University of Colorado physiologist Rodger Kram and Hugh Herr, a professor at MIT and world-renowned designer of prosthetics — both members of the scientific team that did the second analysis of Pistorius — presented the data to the CAS.

    Herr, whose own designs have been commercialized by Össur, the company that makes the Cheetah Flex-Feet, has been Pistorius’s most vigorous supporter. And his life narrative bears an uncanny resemblance to that of Pistorius. Herr was a mountain-climbing prodigy, known as the “Boy Wonder,” until he suffered frostbite on a climbing trip as a 17-year-old in 1982 and lost both lower legs. Rather than accept the end of his climbing career, Herr immediately began designing climbing-specific prostheses that could change length mid-ascent and find purchase on nooks too small for human feet. And, almost as quickly, some of Herr’s competitors who saw a potentially unfair advantage called for him to be disqualified from competitive climbing. [ … ]

    Read the full story.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    New study: Running mechanics, not metabolism, are key to performance for elite sprinters

    Sprinting performance isn’t a factor of conserving energy; rather, forces applied by the foot hitting the ground maximize all-out bursts of sprinting

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    Sprinters competing in the 2012 Olympics might assume their championship performance is the result of their fuel-efficient physiology.

    But a new study disproves the classic scientific view that conserving energy maximizes performance in a sprinting event.

    The study by biomechanics researchers Matthew W. Bundle at the University of Montana and Peter G. Weyand at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, demonstrates that metabolic economy is not an important factor for performance in events lasting 60 seconds or less.

    In fact, just the opposite is true.

    “That prevailing view is no longer viable,” said Weyand. “Sprinters, if anything, are wasteful of energy. This is due to the biological trade-offs between faster muscle fibers that provide the large and rapid forces needed for sprinting, and slower muscle fibers that maximize metabolic economy.”

    Instead, the key to top-flight sprinting is to maximize how hard each foot hits the ground, which allows sprinters to translate musculoskeletal and ground reaction forces into swift motion, said Bundle.

    “Saving energy is critically important for endurance, but not for sprinting, which our findings indicate is not energy-limited,” Bundle said.

    Metabolic energy available from sustainable, aerobic sources predominantly determines performance during endurance events by setting the intensity of the musculoskeletal performance that can be sustained throughout the effort, the study found.

    For sprinters, Bundle and Weyand conclude the opposite is true.

    “The intensity of the mechanical activity that the musculoskeletal system can (for a very short time) achieve determines the quantities of metabolic energy released and the level of performance attained,” according to the study.

    The authors reported their findings in “Sprint Exercise Performance: Does Metabolic Power Matter?” in the July issue of Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews.

    Sprint performance variations are a function of external forces
    The authors write in their study that athletic performance can be analyzed considering either the input to, or the output from, the skeletal muscles that serve as biological engines. Input is the chemical energy that fuels muscular contraction. Output is the force or mechanical power the contractions produce.

    To analyze the mechanics of burst-type sprint activities, the authors said they drew on all-out running speeds and cycling power outputs of humans because of the abundance and quality of the data available and because the mechanical and metabolic contrasts between the two provide informative insights. The authors focused on durations of up to five minutes, particularly on efforts of less than a minute.

    For both exercises, differences in sprinting performance were predominantly a function of the magnitude of the external forces applied because running contact lengths and cycling down-stroke lengths, as well as stride and pedal frequency, exhibited limited variations. Additionally, for both cycling and running, external forces applied during sprinting are believed to be consistently related to the corresponding muscle forces, regardless of the intensity or duration of the effort.

    So what determines the maximum external forces the musculoskeletal system can apply during a brief, all-out sprint? And why do those forces decrease over the duration of the sprint?

    The researchers assessed neuromuscular activation using a diagnostic procedure called surface electromyography to measure electrical activity in the activated muscle fibers. That assessment showed that neuromuscular activation increases continuously during all-out sprint cycling and running trials. More rapid increases were typical for the briefest trials that required the greatest forces. That indicates that all-out sprinting performances are highly dependent on duration because of the speed of musculoskeletal fatigue during dynamic exercise requiring large force outputs, the authors reported.

    Sprint performance linked to mechanics of applying external force
    Bundle and Weyand altered three independent variables to maximize the variation observed in sprint performance: Subjects were individuals with large differences in their sprint performance capabilities; all-out sprint trials spanned a broad range of durations from 2 to 300 seconds; and performance was compared across different modes of sprinting, namely cycling and running.

    “The predictive success of our force application model, both within and across modes of sprint exercise, indicates that as efforts extend from a few seconds to a few minutes, the fractional reliance on anaerobic metabolism progressively impairs whole-body musculoskeletal performance, and does so with a rapid and remarkably consistent time course,” the authors wrote. “In this respect, the sprint portion of the performance-duration curve predominantly represents, not a limit on the rates of energy re-supply, but the progressive impairment of skeletal muscle force production that results from a reliance on anaerobic metabolism to fuel intense, sequential contractions.”

    Conclusion of study departs from prevailing physiological paradigm
    Since the muscular engines of humans and other animals are similar in terms of their metabolic and mechanical function, the findings likely apply to the burst performance capabilities of vertebrate animals in general, say the researchers.

    Bundle is an assistant professor of biomechanics at the University of Montana. Weyand is an associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development at SMU in Dallas.

    Funding for the study came from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Scientific American: Does Double Amputee Oscar Pistorius’s Prosthetic Legs Disqualify Him from the Olympics?

    Scientists debate whether prosthetic legs give Pistorius an unfair advantage in the 400-meter race

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    To book a live or taped interview with Peter Weyand in the SMU News Broadcast Studio call SMU News at 214-768-7650 or email news@smu.edu.

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    Human diabetes has new research tool: Overfed fruit flies that develop insulin resistance

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    DOE Award: advancing SMU’s link to the God particle

    Ancient tree-ring records from southwest U.S. suggest today’s megafires are truly unusual

    Modeling the human protein in search of cancer treatment: SMU Researcher Q&A

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    Dark matter search may turn up evidence of WIMPS: SMU Researcher Q&A

    Unconventional geothermal techniques a potential game changer for U.S. energy policy

    Study: Nearly two-thirds of EU citizens are marginalized by English-language dominance

    Scientific American has written a comprehensive piece on the long-running global controversy surrounding double-amputee South African runner Oscar Pistorius, the first amputee to compete in the Olympics.

    The July 24 article “Should Oscar Pistorius’s Prosthetic Legs Disqualify Him from the Olympics?” quotes SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion.

    Controversy has swirled around Pistorius as the debate continues over the scientific advantage he enjoys as a result of his high-tech, carbon fiber artificial legs. Weyand helped lead a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability.

    Weyand is widely quoted in the press for his expertise on human speed. He is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Rose Eveleth
    Scientific American
    Runners who’ve faced off against Oscar Pistorius say they know when the South African is closing in on them from behind. They hear a distinctive clicking noise growing louder, like a pair of scissors slicing through the air—the sound of Pistorius’s Flex-Foot Cheetah prosthetic legs.

    It’s those long, J-shaped, carbon-fiber lower legs—and the world-class race times that come with them—that have some people asking an unpopular question: Does Pistorius, the man who has overcome so much to be the first double amputee to run at an Olympic level, have an unfair advantage? Scientists are becoming entwined in a debate over whether Pistorius should be allowed to compete in the 2012 London Games.

    Pistorius was born without fibulas, one of the two long bones in the lower leg. He was unable to walk as a baby, and at 11 months old both of his legs were amputated below the knee. But the growing child didn’t let his disability slow him down. At age 12 he was playing rugby with the other boys, and in 2005, at age 18, he ran the 400-meter race in 47.34 seconds at the South African Championships, sixth best. Now 25, the man nicknamed the “Blade Runner” has qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, just three weeks before the games were to begin. But should he be allowed to compete?

    The question seems preposterous. How could someone without lower legs possibly have an advantage over athletes with natural legs? The debate took a scientific turn in 2007 when a German team reported that Pistorius used 25 percent less energy than natural runners. The conclusion was tied to the unusual prosthetic made by an Icelandic company called Össur. The Flex-Foot Cheetah has become the go-to running prosthetic for Paralympic (and, potentially Olympic) athletes. “When the user is running, the prosthesis’s J curve is compressed at impact, storing energy and absorbing high levels of stress that would otherwise be absorbed by a runner’s ankle, knee, hip and lower back,” explains Hilmar Janusson, executive vice president of research and development at Össur. The Cheetah’s carbon-fiber layers then rebound off the ground in response to the runner’s strides.

    After the German report was released, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned Pistorius from competing. Pistorius hired Jeffrey Kessler, a high-powered lawyer who’s represented athletes from the National Basketball Association and National Football League. It soon became clear that the IAAF’s study was very poorly designed, so when Pistorius’s team asked for a new study they got it. Soon scientists gathered at Rice University to figure out just what was going on with Pistorius’s body.

    The scientific team included Peter Weyand, a physiologist at Southern Methodist University who had the treadmills needed to measure the forces involved in sprinting. Rodger Kram, at the University of Colorado at Boulder, was a track and field fan who studied biomechanics. Hugh Herr, a double amputee himself, was a renowned biophysicist. The trio, and other experts, measured Pistorius’s oxygen consumption, his leg movements, the forces he exerted on the ground and his endurance. They also looked at leg-repositioning time—the amount of time it takes Pistorius to swing his leg from the back to the front. (…)

    Read the full story.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Discovery News: How Olympic ‘Blade Runner’ Sprints Without Feet

    Oscar Pistorius will be the first amputee to compete in the Olympics. Here’s a look at the mechanics of how he runs.

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    Discovery News has written a comprehensive piece on the running mechanics of double-amputee South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, the first amputee to compete in the Olympics.

    The July 20 article “How Olympic ‘Blade Runner’ Sprints Without Feet” quotes SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion.

    Controversy has swirled around Pistorius as the debate continues over the scientific advantage he enjoys as a result of his high-tech, carbon fiber artificial legs. Weyand helped lead a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability.

    Weyand is widely quoted in the press for his expertise on human speed. He is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Sheila Eldred
    Discovery News
    When the start gun goes off for the individual 400 and 4X400 relay at the 2012 London Olympics, double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius, the man known as the Blade Runner, will spring out of the blocks with the world’s best able-bodied athletes. It marks the first time an amputee will compete in the Olympics.

    Pistorius will be wearing carbon-fiber prosthetics designed for sprinting. While the debate over whether his flex-foot Cheetahs makes it harder or easier for him to sprint continues, there’s no doubt that the way his body covers 400 meters is different from his competitors.

    As the athletes explode from their starting blocks, the South African born without fibulas will likely get a slower start. Because he can’t flex an ankle or stiffen a leg, it takes slightly longer for Pistorius to start. As the athletes gain an upright position, however, Pistorius will be able to reposition his legs much more quickly than his competitors. It’s that repositioning speed that’s been the point of contention of much of the debate.

    In 2008, the International Association of Athletics Federations, track and field’s governing body, banned Pistorius from competing against able-bodied competitors, deeming his blades an advantage.

    Pistorius went to Rice University in Houston for what he hoped would be definitive testing that would prove he had no advantage. And at first, that appeared to be the case: using some of the data from the research, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban.

    But later, two of the scientists pointed to key findings — the repositioning data — that they believe make up at least a 7-second difference in the 400-meter dash. Researchers Peter Weyand, an exercise physiologist at Southern Methodist University, and Matt Bundle, an assistant professor at the University of Montana, presented their case in a point-counterpoint article in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 2009.

    The reason the data is so telling, says Weyand, is not just that it shows an advantage; it’s that the comparison between Pistorius and able-bodied world class sprinters is off the charts. (Weyand and Bundle released a statement that explains their science, hoping to clear up misconceptions.)

    “With the most generous assumptions, he still comes out seven seconds ahead in the 400,” Weyand said. “He’s a below-average high school runner without those limbs. A lot of people don’t want to hear that.” (…)

    Read the full story.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    Science: Live Chat — Science at the Olympics

    Live Chat: Science at the Olympics

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    Science magazine hosted a live chat with scientific experts about any competitive advantage provided by the cutting-edge, light-weight prosthetic legs of double-amputee South African runner Oscar Pistorius, the first amputee to compete in the Olympics.

    The July 18 chat “Science at the Olympics” included SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion.

    Controversy has swirled around Pistorius as the debate continues over the scientific advantage he enjoys as a result of his high-tech, carbon fiber artificial legs. Weyand helped lead a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability.

    Weyand is widely quoted in the press for his expertise on human speed. He is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

    Read the replay.

    EXCERPT:

    By Nicholas St. Fleur
    Science
    Every Olympic season brings new scientific innovations that help athletes earn the gold and break world records. This year’s London Games, for example, will see South African double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius make his debut on the 400-meter-dash while donning cutting edge, lightweight prosthetics. At the same time, Olympic officials will be cracking down on another innovation: new drugs that help athletes outcompete their rivals. Do prosthetic limbs offer an unfair advantage? What is being done to keep steroids and blood doping out of the games? And has scientific innovation become as important a player in the Olympics as the athletes themselves?

    Hello everyone and welcome to ScienceLive! As you know, the Olympics are just a week away, and today we’re discussing the role of science in the London Olympics from blood dopers to the ‘Blade Runner’ and whether scientific innovation has become as important a player in the games as the athletes themselves.

    Fleur: With us today is Don Catlin, a sports drug expert and professor emeritus at UCLA who founded the UCLA Olympic sport testing laboratory which is a national testing site for performance enhancing drugs in athletes.

    To comment on the use of prosthetics in this year’s games is Peter Weyand, an Associate Professor of Applied Physiology and Biomechanics at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, who has studied the mechanics, physiology and locomotor performance behind running for decades.

    Also on the biomechanics scene is J.L. McNitt-Gray, a Professor in the Departments of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California, who studies the dynamics of human movement.

    Let’s begin with a question for Peter and J.L. South African 400-meter-dash runner Oscar Pistorius will become the first amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes. What allows his prosthetic to help him keep up with the other athletes?

    Weyand: Modern lower limb prostheses, in many respects, mimic the mechanical function of a biological leg during running. Two properties of the prostheses are particularly important: weight and springiness.

    Excellent data is available to show that for single leg amputees, these limbs almost restore normal function, for double lower limb amputees, they enhance it due to the proerties above.

    Single leg amputees are limited by their biological legs. Double limb amputees can fully exploit the mechanical properties of the prostheses for sprint running performance.

    Weyand was asked whether the competitive advantage might prompt athletes to voluntarily have their legs amputated in order to have prosthetics.

    Weyand: How realistic a voluntary amputation scenario might be is difficult to project at this time. One limitedly recognized aspect of the Pistorius controversy is that reaping the competitve advantages of lower limb prostheses requires having and using two of them. The primary reason Oscar Pistorius is so much faster than other amputees who use the same blades is because double lower limb amputees are quite rare.

    Weyand was asked about the need for standardized prosthetics for the Olympics:

    Weyand: The standardization issue is a critical one that raises difficult questions for the governing bodies of sport that are not unlike the performance enhancing drug issues in some ways. As science and technology progress, more and more powerful the avenues of performance enhancement become available and the lines between “natural” and unenhanced vs. enhanced become increasingly blurred.

    Reasonable guidelines might be possible for prostheses, but the task of evaluating competitive fairness would be resource-intensive and probably never perfect. (…)

    Read the replay.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    The London Telegraph: Runner’s world: Usain Bolt and his entourage

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    The London Telegraph has written a comprehensive piece on Usain Bolt, the fastest sprinter on earth, as he is preparing for the London 2012 Olympic Games this summer.

    The April 27 article, “Runner’s world: Usain Bolt and his entourage,” quotes SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion.

    Weyand is widely quoted in the press for his expertise on human speed. He is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Mark Bailey
    The Telegraph
    The fastest man on earth is lying motionless on the spongy blue running track at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. He appears to be asleep. The elongated limbs of his 6ft 5in body stretch across the track like felled branches. Protruding from beneath his hitched-up T-shirt, a xylophone of abdominal muscles glistens in the midday sun. From a nearby festival the mellow patter of reggae floats along the warm Caribbean breeze. A contented smile melts across Usain Bolt’s face.

    This supine figure is surrounded by people in a hurry. A film crew, sponsors and PRs are scuttling around, planning, chattering. A photographer is preparing for his next shot, and wants Bolt in a horizontal position. Unbeknown to anyone, some teenage boys have clambered over a fence and are hiding behind an advertising banner. At intervals they pick up the banner and stealthily shuffle closer to their idol, like cartoon spies tiptoeing behind a cardboard bush. …

    … Research by Ethan Siegel, an American theoretical astrophysicist, suggests that Bolt represents a physiological leap forward. The men’s 100m world record has dropped by 0.05 seconds every 10 years since 1968 (when Jim Hines became the first man to break 10 seconds). But Bolt has been performing at a level three decades beyond what should be achievable in the present era, according to Siegel’s graphs. And Dr Peter Weyand, a leading physiologist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and an expert on the science of sprinting, says “Bolt is a freak – he defies the laws of biology.”

    Bolt is blessed with unique physical gifts. “He is such an unusual physical specimen and one need not look beyond that for an explanation of his speed,” Mark Denny, a Stanford University biology professor, tells me. With his long legs, Bolt takes 41 steps to complete the 100m. His rivals take 44. He has a high percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibres, which produce explosive speed, and he can channel more than 1,000lb of force through each stride – double the human norm, according to Dr Weyand. Professor Alan Nevill, a biostatistician at the University of Wolverhampton, suggests his superior height enables him to dissipate heat faster, so his muscles can work harder. …

    Read the full story.

    SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

    SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

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    The New York Times: The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius

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    The New York Times has written a comprehensive piece on the long-running global controversy surrounding double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius, the South African vying to compete in the Olympics.

    The Jan. 18 article, “The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius,” cites extensively the work of SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion. Controversy has swirled around Pistorius as the debate continues over the scientific advantage he enjoys as a result of his high-tech, carbon fiber artificial legs. Weyand helped lead a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability.

    Weyand is widely quoted in the press for his expertise on human speed. He is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

    Read the full story.

    EXCERPT:

    By Michael Sokolove
    The New York Times
    Oscar Pistorius trains inside a converted garage at the home of his personal trainer, a former professional rugby player. Iron pull-up bars and a variety of ropes and pulleys are bolted to brick walls. Free weights are lined up on the floor, along with hammered-together wooden boxes that serve as platforms for step-ups and standing jumps. Some of the equipment is clamped to an exterior wall of the garage, opposite an uncovered patio; when it rains, athletes just carry on and get soaked. “It’s old-school,” Pistorius said as we drove up to the place early one morning. “Some of the guys who train here, they bang it so hard, they often get sick in the garden. Nobody judges them.” [ … ]

    [ … ] Since the initial paper was published, Weyand has been vocal in stating that Pistorius is at an advantage, a substantial one. The reasons he puts forward were not part of the rationale behind the I.A.A.F.’s disqualification of Pistorius — in effect, not among the “charges” against him — so Pistorius’s legal and scientific team did not have to disprove them at his appeal. The basis of the argument made by Weyand is not hard to follow: The Cheetah blade and its hardware are light, about 5.4 pounds as opposed to the weight of an intact leg and foot for someone of Pistorius’s build, about 12.6 pounds. As a result, his “swing times” — how quickly he can reposition his limbs — are unnaturally fast, “quite literally off the biological charts,” as Weyand (who did not testify in Lausanne) put it in a point-counterpoint debate with Herr in The Journal of Applied Physiology.

    Weyand and a colleague, Matthew Bundle of the University of Montana (one of the seven authors listed on the initial journal article), expanded on this last year. “Mr. Pistorius can reposition his lightweight, artificial limbs in 0.28 seconds, and therefore 20 percent more rapidly than most intact-limb athletes,” they wrote. “To appreciate just how artificial Mr. Pistorius’s swing time is, consider that the average limb-repositioning time of five former 100-meter world-record holders (Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis, Maurice Greene, Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin) is 0.34 seconds. Mr. Pistorius’s limb-repositioning times are 15.7 percent more brief than five of the fastest male sprinters in recorded human history.”

    The most provocative aspect of Weyand and Bundle’s argument — and clearly the biggest affront to Pistorius — is their calculation that the Cheetah blades, over the length of 400 meters, or once around the track, give him an 11.9-second advantage. That would make him no better than an average high school runner. Herr has dismissed this as a “back of the envelope” calculation, and in his contribution to the point-counterpoint, signed by four other authors of the initial pap