Fucking mental. Just watching a documentary about him and his apparently weak technique is being critiqued. Imagine if he sorts that shit out.
As a side, do any of you sprint? And what are your 100m/200m times etc?
The guy has smashed records so bad that he’s put them virtually out of reach from everyone else. He’s basically trying to beat his own times now, so I don’t understand why they want to fuck with his technique. The right way isn’t necessarilly the right way for everyone. Maybe it’ll catch up to him one day but for now he is straight up unbeatable.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
The guy has smashed records so bad that he’s put them virtually out of reach from everyone else. He’s basically trying to beat his own times now, so I don’t understand why they want to fuck with his technique. The right way isn’t necessarilly the right way for everyone. Maybe it’ll catch up to him one day but for now he is straight up unbeatable.[/quote]
I was going to say something like this, that perhaps because he isn’t the prototype sprinter build(6’5…) that ‘proper technique’ isn’t actually proper for him. Not a fantastic analogy but there are baseball players with awkward swings that do fine, pitchers with ‘bad mechanics’ that wreck lineups, qb’s that don’t throw over the top(Brett Favre)… sometimes you just don’t fuck with what works in athletics.
At the same time, sprint technique is based highly on physics and not just ‘what works for other dudes’ so there could be something to it.
[quote]red04 wrote:
At the same time, sprint technique is based highly on physics and not just ‘what works for other dudes’ so there could be something to it.[/quote]
Interesting. I’d love to see a physicist analyze his technique in a wind tunnel.
People have said that had Ben Johnson used “proper technique” (??) and not raised his arms near the end of the race that he would have run sub 9.68.
I would imagine it would be difficult to tell a world champion that his technique is “wrong”.
[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:
People have said that had Ben Johnson used “proper technique” (??) and not raised his arms near the end of the race that he would have run sub 9.68.
I would imagine it would be difficult to tell a world champion that his technique is “wrong”.[/quote]
Unless they’re bodybuilders and you do MMA.
What intrigued me was that it was Michael Johnson who was narrating the documentary, and it was he who was talking about the side-to-side motion in his running (and body collapsing), as well as the inward rotation of his legs out of the blocks.
So mainly it was the fact that he kept bringing it up which excited me. Because if it happens to be that these things might be able to affect Bolt’s running, then we’re in for a special run within the next two or three years.
This said, he’s a super-tall dude so perhaps it isn’t as easy (or as important) to those areas of his technique are altered.
Phenomenal though.
He also said in the interview that he’ll give the long-jump a go. He seemed to suggest that would be in a few years, but that he would “definitely” give it a try.
[quote]Magicpunch wrote:
Fucking mental. Just watching a documentary about him and his apparently weak technique is being critiqued. Imagine if he sorts that shit out.
As a side, do any of you sprint? And what are your 100m/200m times etc?[/quote]
The importance of “technique” is seriously exaggerated in sprinting circles. I’m not saying that Bolt can’t go any faster, but I don’t think he’s going to have any breakthroughs based on changing his technique.
[quote]Magicpunch wrote:
What intrigued me was that it was Michael Johnson who was narrating the documentary, and it was he who was talking about the side-to-side motion in his running (and body collapsing), as well as the inward rotation of his legs out of the blocks.
So mainly it was the fact that he kept bringing it up which excited me. Because if it happens to be that these things might be able to affect Bolt’s running, then we’re in for a special run within the next two or three years.
This said, he’s a super-tall dude so perhaps it isn’t as easy (or as important) to those areas of his technique are altered.
Phenomenal though.
He also said in the interview that he’ll give the long-jump a go. He seemed to suggest that would be in a few years, but that he would “definitely” give it a try.[/quote]
I’m not trying to be critical of this post, but I’m pretty sure we’ve already seen Bolt run “special runs”. The guy completely obliterated records that were once thought damn near untouchable.
I read an article around the time where a well respected track coach was talking about Bolts performance almost as if it were time travel 'cause he completely leapfrogged what was thought to be the next-in-line record times in the 100.
[quote]red04 wrote:
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
The guy has smashed records so bad that he’s put them virtually out of reach from everyone else. He’s basically trying to beat his own times now, so I don’t understand why they want to fuck with his technique. The right way isn’t necessarilly the right way for everyone. Maybe it’ll catch up to him one day but for now he is straight up unbeatable.[/quote]
I was going to say something like this, that perhaps because he isn’t the prototype sprinter build(6’5…) that ‘proper technique’ isn’t actually proper for him. Not a fantastic analogy but there are baseball players with awkward swings that do fine, pitchers with ‘bad mechanics’ that wreck lineups, qb’s that don’t throw over the top(Brett Favre)… sometimes you just don’t fuck with what works in athletics.
At the same time, sprint technique is based highly on physics and not just ‘what works for other dudes’ so there could be something to it.[/quote]
Good point. I was thinking of a basketball anology but came up empty, haha.
what is the name of the documentary?
[quote]UB07 wrote:
what is the name of the documentary?[/quote]
Usain Bolt: The Fastest Man Who Has Ever Lived
[quote]Magicpunch wrote:
Fucking mental. Just watching a documentary about him and his apparently weak technique is being critiqued. Imagine if he sorts that shit out.
As a side, do any of you sprint? And what are your 100m/200m times etc?[/quote]
I want to sprint but I’m a pussy. Nobody wanted a share, so I had the whole bukkit of lazy.
Height doesn’t affect your “technique” or the “angles” between your body segments. Consider similar triangles - the actual lengths of the sides is irrelevant with respect to the angles. What makes Bolt a freak is simply his unlikely combination of limb length and explosive power. Both traits are rare, and having both traits to the degree that he does is even more unlikely. Has nothing to do with “angles.”
[quote]iflyboats wrote:
Height doesn’t affect your “technique” and the guy in the video (Michael Johnson) doesn’t know the first thing about the “angles” he’s babbling at length about. Your height has no effect on the “angles” between your body segments (think of similar triangles - the actual length of the sides is irrelevant). Bolt just has an unlikely combination of limb length and explosive power. Both traits are rare, and having both traits to the degree that he does is even more unlikely. Has nothing to do with “angles.”[/quote]
from purely a physical analysis, if he leans forward and he is taller, then his CG is further forward, generating a greater moment around his contact with the ground. I dont know shit about running, so it might not matter at all.
[quote]Magicpunch wrote:
And what are your 100m/200m times etc?[/quote]
40 minutes.
I don’t agree that just because Bolt is smashing records he automatically doesn’t have anything to work on, or that working on those things won’t make a difference in his times.
The knock on Bolt a couple years back was that he was relatively weak off the start, but used his crazy speedy to catch and beat guys deeper in the race. And, sure enough, in the olympics you’d see him slightly behind the front runners during the first 1/3 of the race, after which he would turn it on and just blaze past them.
But at the world championships, after working on his start, he came out strong and was even with, if not ahead of, the front runners before dropping the hammer. That’s how a world record holder was able to become even faster.
So I don’t doubt that Bolt may have some form imperfections like collapsing or having too much side-to-side motion that, if corrected, could result in faster times. My question, though, is how often are sprinters able to completely iron out every wrinkle in their running form? I suspect that every top level sprinter still has two or three very subtle things that they could improve upon. In other words, after working on his start and adapting to the event, Bolt may now simply be at the point where he’s like every other world-class sprinter in terms of technique: Really fucking fast with some subtle form miscues that could, theoretically, shave seconds off his time if corrected, but will likely (and understandably) stick with him for the rest of his career.
If my theory is right, then the only reason to bring up these flaws with Bolt is for the effect of saying, “As fast as he is, amazingly it is [theoretically] possible for him to get even faster!”
It seems that especially in sport, performance precedes theory.
Someone does it, then others analyze it to see why it works. You have to figure, with his type of success, he might be on to something.
[quote]Kerley wrote:
[quote]Magicpunch wrote:
And what are your 100m/200m times etc?[/quote]
40 minutes. [/quote]
I once legitimately ran a 37 second 100m… but I did tear my hamstring off the starting blocks.
[quote]eic wrote:
I don’t agree that just because Bolt is smashing records he automatically doesn’t have anything to work on, or that working on those things won’t make a difference in his times.
The knock on Bolt a couple years back was that he was relatively weak off the start, but used his crazy speedy to catch and beat guys deeper in the race. And, sure enough, in the olympics you’d see him slightly behind the front runners during the first 1/3 of the race, after which he would turn it on and just blaze past them.
But at the world championships, after working on his start, he came out strong and was even with, if not ahead of, the front runners before dropping the hammer. That’s how a world record holder was able to become even faster.
So I don’t doubt that Bolt may have some form imperfections like collapsing or having too much side-to-side motion that, if corrected, could result in faster times. My question, though, is how often are sprinters able to completely iron out every wrinkle in their running form? I suspect that every top level sprinter still has two or three very subtle things that they could improve upon. In other words, after working on his start and adapting to the event, Bolt may now simply be at the point where he’s like every other world-class sprinter in terms of technique: Really fucking fast with some subtle form miscues that could, theoretically, shave seconds off his time if corrected, but will likely (and understandably) stick with him for the rest of his career.
If my theory is right, then the only reason to bring up these flaws with Bolt is for the effect of saying, “As fast as he is, amazingly it is [theoretically] possible for him to get even faster!” [/quote]
I think with just about any top level athlete there could be something to work on to make them better, I just feel like critiquing the form of the fastest human being the world has ever seen is being a little nit picky. Could he iron out his form to become even faster? Theoretically I’m sure the answer is yes. But, is the time it would take to focus on that worth putting what has worked for him so far on the back burner? It’s not like he needs to work on these things to be competetive. He’s pretty much competing against himself right now. He’ll get faster just from maturing and perfecting what has worked thus far. It just seems that if these technique flaws were that big a deal his coaches would’ve addressed them.