[Josh Hurlebaus]

Josh Hurlebaus on August 21, 2009 at 6:35 am #16097

I posted this in the WC thread but I want a conversation about Bolt’s mechanics.

Watching the head on and top down views of the 100 and 200, Bolt has slightly more side to side head swaying than everyone else when at top speed.

Is this just his personal running style and I’m looking too far into it? Or does it possibly have to do with him have greater hip oscillation/projection resulting in a more powerful step down and stiffer toe off, and the head sway is just the result of that… or possibly its a cue he uses in order to create greater oscillation?

In the HPC MaxV DVD, Mike talks about hip projection and how the hip has to roll up and over the support side hip. Would this slight head sway be a sign of him achieving this, either through actively using his non-support side oblique muscle to raise and roll the hip (which would cause the head to sway in that direction) or through some other cue?

[JeremyRichmond]

JeremyRichmond on August 21, 2009 at 11:41 am #88075

I posted this in the WC thread but I want a conversation about Bolt’s mechanics.

Watching the head on and top down views of the 100 and 200, Bolt has slightly more side to side head swaying than everyone else when at top speed.

Is this just his personal running style and I’m looking too far into it? Or does it possibly have to do with him have greater hip oscillation/projection resulting in a more powerful step down and stiffer toe off, and the head sway is just the result of that… or possibly its a cue he uses in order to create greater oscillation?

In the HPC MaxV DVD, Mike talks about hip projection and how the hip has to roll up and over the support side hip. Would this slight head sway be a sign of him achieving this, either through actively using his non-support side oblique muscle to raise and roll the hip (which would cause the head to sway in that direction) or through some other cue?

I’m on the track tomorrow. I’ll give the head sway thing a try and keep you posted on any outcomes.

[Josh Hurlebaus]

Josh Hurlebaus on August 21, 2009 at 12:05 pm #88076

The main reason I bring it up is because as he is getting faster it seems to be getting more pronounced. The 2007 and earlier videos of him I have aren’t nearly as good as the HD quality ones from the last two years due to youtube upgrading, however it definitely does not seem to be as prevalent then as it is now.

[Derrick Brito]

Derrick Brito on August 21, 2009 at 2:54 pm #88091

The main reason I bring it up is because as he is getting faster it seems to be getting more pronounced. The 2007 and earlier videos of him I have aren’t nearly as good as the HD quality ones from the last two years due to youtube upgrading, however it definitely does not seem to be as prevalent then as it is now.

I don’t think excessive head sway is a good thing. Getting better while your mechanics get worse is called pulling a Gatlin. I would say he normally looks pretty good though.

[Josh Hurlebaus]

Josh Hurlebaus on August 21, 2009 at 3:03 pm #88093

I’m not saying that excessive head swaying is good, and I wouldn’t say bolt currently has excessive head swaying. But he does have a more pronounced sway than he used to and given how he has dramatically improved since 2007 I figured I’d give it a look.

The more I look at the video and experiment here, it definitely seems like a more pronounced hip projection and oscillation creates that style of swaying.

[davan]

davan on August 21, 2009 at 3:11 pm #88094

Look at his headsway from his jr years–even more pronounced than it is now.

[Josh Hurlebaus]

Josh Hurlebaus on August 21, 2009 at 3:25 pm #88096

Come on, quit ruining my argument Davan

Unless it comes out that he is dirty (which I’m not ruling out) I’m going to keep grasping at straws and trying to figure out whats changed to make him this much quicker. I didn’t look at his junior year vids honestly, only his 2006/2007 vids and the ones I had didn’t have as much in them.

[Mike Young]

Mike Young on August 21, 2009 at 3:45 pm #88105

I don’t think anything other than sagital plane vertical oscillation of the head is desirable. The head is about 16 lbs (essentially a bowling ball). Excessive movement with respect to the spine can have serious (bad) outcomes on posture. This is especially true in someone as tall as Bolt where the lever arm that is his legs, trunk and neck create an even more exaggerated effect when deviations of head position with respect to the spin occur.

ELITETRACK Founder

[Derrick Brito]

Derrick Brito on August 21, 2009 at 5:04 pm #88117

Come on, quit ruining my argument Davan

Unless it comes out that he is dirty (which I’m not ruling out) I’m going to keep grasping at straws and trying to figure out whats changed to make him this much quicker. I didn’t look at his junior year vids honestly, only his 2006/2007 vids and the ones I had didn’t have as much in them.

I don’t think anything in his mechanics is responsible. I haven’t seen many of his races, but I doubt anybody who is working with a sprinter for more than a couple years will still be making technical changes. It is probably a maturation factor, a training factor, or PEDs. And of course, none of those are visible to us in races. 😛

[Mike Young]

Mike Young on August 21, 2009 at 5:17 pm #88118

On a related note to my previous post, when Bolt is viewed from above, the absolute lateral movement of his head would be expected to be larger than his peers because of his size. The body kind of operates like an inverted pendulum in 2 planes and his ‘pendulum’ would be longer so even if the angular displacement were the same the lateral linear displacement would be greater.

ELITETRACK Founder

[flow]

flow on August 21, 2009 at 6:01 pm #88121

I posted this in the WC thread but I want a conversation about Bolt’s mechanics.

Watching the head on and top down views of the 100 and 200, Bolt has slightly more side to side head swaying than everyone else when at top speed.

Is this just his personal running style and I’m looking too far into it? Or does it possibly have to do with him have greater hip oscillation/projection resulting in a more powerful step down and stiffer toe off, and the head sway is just the result of that… or possibly its a cue he uses in order to create greater oscillation?

isnt that cause of his size?

[JeremyRichmond]

JeremyRichmond on August 21, 2009 at 8:17 pm #88125

Yeah on second thoughts I won’t experiment with head swaying. My instincts tell me that I’ll just end up with a very sore neck.

He probably sways his head to balance himself. He does seem like an asynchronous runner. I noticed (I think) when he entered the straight he kicks his left knee higher and for the next few steps seems to have a slightly higher left knee then right. In any case he must have very good glute strength to drive from a knee that high at that speed. I can’t get any drive from that position.