Hey guys, it's JP Gloria and today we're gonna go over the running form of
Su Bingtian, who is currently the fastest Asian to have ever run the 60
meter and 100 meter race!!! Recently, I've been making running videos looking
at long distance runners, who's running mechanics are more predicated toward
efficiency. This time we are looking at sprinting... where the main focus is
to improve power and speed!!! Now, let's look at Su Bingtian's running form and
see a little bit of what makes him one of the FASTEST men in the world! This
time, we will be analyzing his running as he runs the 60 meter race. Before, we get
into looking at specific parts of his body, I want you guys to take a look at
Su's start. Su is known for his great starts in his races. As you guys know,
during sprints, the start is a very important part of the race. Now ,as you
watch this clip, you can see a few key points to his great start!! The first we will
talk about is his cadence as he pushes off from the blocks... which is basically
based on how fast he can take steps. As noted in a research study, looking at
biomechanical differences in faster and slower high level sprinters, in the
Journal of Human Kinetics, the findings suggest that faster sprinters during the
block start have higher force magnitude which is comprised of rear block total
force and vertical rear block force as well as increased rate of force
development. Now, we can't exactly measure the amount of force they are applying
through the blocks during the race but we can look at the rate at which they
apply the force, which is through the steps they take. When you compare Su to
Perez, you can see that Su presents with a slightly higher rate of steps compared
to him. This supports the findings seen in the research study as I stated before.
Obviously, there are more factors to the starting block performance leading to
improve speeds because Collins also presents with basically the same cadence
as Su during the start... Well, there is another factor of the starting block
performance that we can see. A noticeable difference when looking at Collins and
Su's start is the path deviation, which basically shows how well they can run in
a straight path. Looking at Collins and Perez, you can see there is a path deviation
to the right as they push off the blocks. Su presents with very little
path deviation and maintains a relatively straight path which means
improved efficiency of force application toward the desired direction leading to
improved speeds! Another thing I'll briefly mention about
Su's start is how smoothly and quickly transitions from starting position to
upright position. To visually see this, I'll rerun the clip again. As you can see
here, he has successfully transitioned to an upright position, while the other
sprinters around him are still in this kind of flexed posture. Being able to do
this quickly and smoothly is key to faster times in these races. Now, let's
look more closely at different components of the body. This time, instead
of looking at the side view of the foot, I want you guys to take a look at the
front of his body as this will better illustrate one of the key things I want
to point out, which is ankle stabilization. When landing on the foot,
there's a little bit of an inward collapse that naturally occurs known as
foot pronation. This allows for some force absoprtion to prevent excessive
stress on the foot. Now, too much pronation can lead to increased stress
on the ligaments, but what this also does is cause slower leg turnover, leading to
decreased speeds during a race. This is because if excessive pronation occurs, it
will take a slightly increased time to get out of this collapsed position and
into what we call a supinated position to allow for efficient push off from the
foot. Now, I'm not saying that these sprinters go into excessive pronation,
but if you notice their feet go into a slightly more collapsed position compared to
Su. Looking at Su's feet more closely as he runs... he does not go into a
pronated position as much, which leads to quicker turnover causing improved speed
and performance during the sprint. To do this, it takes a tremendous amount of
strength and control in the legs, especially in sprinting ,as there is so
much force going through the legs as it touches the ground. When the muscles of
the legs, especially the hips and ankles, are not strong enough. This force will
usually drive the foot into a collapsed position causing decreased leg turnover
as stated before. Now, let's take a look at his knees,
specifically his knee drive. This type of knee drive is commonly seen with high
level sprinters. As I've mentioned in previous videos, this knee drive allows
for improved cyclic motion to occur to allow for improved utilization of the
elastic properties of the hip and knee muscles... but this time, I'll visually
depict what I mean by this. As you can see, Su's knees bend completely and is
about to swing forward. What you see is the quad muscles and hip flexors being
stretched and are under tension. This is similar to the tension applied when you
stretch an elastic band. Now, as he swings the leg forward, not only does hip muscle
activation occur, but just like when you release tension from an elastic band,
the elastic properties of the hip and knee muscles previously tension aid in
swinging the leg forward, leading to improved leg turnover and quicker speeds.
The next thing we will look at is the trunk. At first glance, it may look like
he is bending forward at the trunk, but actually he's not. He actually keeps his
trunk in almost a neutral position. He doesn't extend his trunk too far back
or too far forward and collapse into a flexed posture... besides for the very end
to just quickly get a part of his body past the finish line for the quickest
time possible. Similar to other great sprinters, like
Usain Bolt, his whole body leans forward, which aids in forward momentum as he
runs. This also aids in a way similar to what I talked about with knee drive. When
you are bending forward from the ankles where your whole body actually leans
forward, you'll notice that your legs go into more hip extension. This will
increase the amount of tension applied to the hip flexors increasing
elastic energy, which will improve ability to propel forward. The last thing
we will talk about is positioning of the head. He does present with forward head
posture with his neck very slightly extended; however, Su's ability to main
this neck position in a more neutral position throughout the race has
improved throughout the year. He actually does a better job of doing this in this
race compared to some of the other sprinters as you see here. Keeping the
neck in more of a neutral position allows for improved ability to stabilize
the neck, allowing for improved ability to maintain core engagement throughout
the race. This is important especially in sprinting as force output as
see from the legs is significantly increased. If the core isn't strong
enough to counter these forces, it won't be able to help stabilize the pelvis,
which can cause excessive movement to occur. This can cause energy leakage to
occur throughout the entire body... leading to decreased force generation in the
desired direction as you move forward. And... that's all for the quick analysis on
the way Su runs!!! I pointed out just a few parts of Su's biomechanics, but there
are definitely more variables that make Su Bingtian one of the fastest men in
the world! I really hope you guys enjoyed this video and will subscribe for future
videos! Also feel free to leave a comment below about Su Bingtian or any runner
who would want me to analyze next!!! And as always.. THANK YOU FOR WATCHING!