Arm movement and running speed: Is the partnership overrated?:
The findings, published in the journal Gait & Posture, offer additional fundamental insights regarding limb synchronization during sprint performance.
"Our findings suggest the classic view that arm swing directly drives leg motion to affect performance is not well-supported," said Peter Weyand, an expert in human speed who leads SMU's Locomotor Performance Lab.
[...] The study examined the velocity of participants first sprinting 30 meters with regular arm motion, then again with restricted arm motion. When study participants sprinted with restricted arm motion, their 30-meter sprint time slowed down by only 0.08 seconds on average, a 1.6 percent difference from when the participants sprinted while moving their arms.
"We were surprised by the small magnitude of difference between the two experimental conditions. It is generally believed that the arms substantially influence the movement of the legs, and therefore running speed, which clearly is not the case," Brooks said.
[...] "The compensatory torso twisting movements we observed during arm motion restriction indicate that runners swing their arms as the simplest and most natural strategy to prevent undesirable bodily rotations," Clark said.
[...] "Virtually all runners choose to swing their arms to maintain a forward-facing position," Weyand said. "The classic studies on the 'why' of arm motion during human locomotion are 40 or more years old and focused primarily on walking and jogging. So, performance effects were largely unknown," he said.
Journal Reference:
Lance C.Brooks, Peter G.Weyand, and Kenneth P.Clark, Does restricting arm motion compromise short sprint running performance?, Gait & Posture, 94, 2022
DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2022.03.001
(Score: 3, Touché) by ikanreed on Thursday April 21 2022, @03:09PM (2 children)
I mean how is Naruto so fast?
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by looorg on Thursday April 21 2022, @04:12PM (1 child)
I would say it's a bit unclear at the moment if the Naruto-style of running will or won't make you run faster into Area51? But as far as I can recall the Naruto style is running with your arms extended backwards-ish so they are not really moving all that much either. I guess it creates a wedge shape of sorts with your body as the point but wouldn't it in that regard then be just as or more beneficial to extend your arms forward to sort of create a wedge with a sharper point then your body? Even tho it will probably be utterly insignificant unless you can achieve extraordinary speed. Also balance might be an issue.
But still so we mainly appear to move our arms a bit to sort of preserve balance, and possibly some kind of forward momentum, then? Not for any gain of 1.6% difference , or 0.08 second. A number so small it's probably not even large enough to be significant. Also isn't it more like if you arms are just flailing all about it just looks weird and funny? So if you have to run at least you could try and do it with some kind of dignity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 21 2022, @04:34PM
Using
F = force due to air resistance, or drag (N)
k = a constant that collects the effects of density, drag, and area (kg/m)
v = the velocity of the moving object (m/s)
ρ = the density of the air the object moves through (kg/m3)
CD = the drag coefficient, includes hard-to-measure effects (unitless)
A = the area of the object the air presses on (m2)
We come to the conclusion that Naruto is running with the least possible wind resistance.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 21 2022, @03:30PM
What matters is how expensive your running shoes are.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hendrikboom on Thursday April 21 2022, @03:52PM (4 children)
1.6 percent is more than enough to affect the outcome of a top-level foot race.
And what are the statistical error bounds?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by looorg on Thursday April 21 2022, @04:22PM (3 children)
For short distances it probably won't matter as much if it amounts to just 0.0x seconds. The difference between first and second is usually at least more or double then that or so. So you would have to be a bit faster then that. Or it might be a matter of technique or there might be individual differences and that this 1.6% is some kind of average and not all runners are created equal. But still over longer distances it might or should add up to some kind of significant time. That said if you move your arms about you expend energy that you might want to preserve on a longer race since then it might not all be about speed but also endurance.
Still it would be kind of funny if turned into a thing and olympic athletes are or would be flailing their arms all about cause it might give them that tiny little edge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 21 2022, @06:14PM (2 children)
How can you even think that? 0.08 seconds is significant for short races e.g. 100m races. Could be the difference between getting a medal and not getting a medal.
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 21 2022, @06:48PM (1 child)
TFA actually covers this and states the difference between gold and bronze medal times in the last Olympic 100m was 0.09s and as a result it seems unlikely that we'll see rigid-arm runners in competition.
The 0.08s difference reported by TFS wasn't even for 100m, but just 30m so we might extrapolate that to ~0.25s for a 100m.
But the researchers were obviously expecting a much more significant difference than what was measured, hence "our findings suggest the classic view that arm swing directly drives leg motion to affect performance is not well-supported," instead hypothesizing that the arm motion helped with maintaining a forward orientation rather than anything directly to do with leg movement.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 24 2022, @11:23AM
And there's also a medal between gold and bronze (hint it starts with s). So how can you use that as evidence that 0.08s is insignificant?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 21 2022, @04:15PM
Thermians demonstated this decades ago.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 21 2022, @04:22PM (2 children)
0.08 seconds is the difference between a world record and million dollar endorsements and scrubbing toilets at mcdonald's.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 21 2022, @08:24PM (1 child)
So you're saying an investment in expensive running shoes is worthwhile?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday April 21 2022, @08:53PM
It's the only thing that separates you and the NBA-stars. For sure! Buy now! You could be the next Jordan!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by istartedi on Thursday April 21 2022, @10:53PM (4 children)
If you had asked me out of the blue why runners swing their arms, I would have assumed it was something like tuned mass damping, so that the un-even power of leg propulsion wouldn't cause the whole body to oscillate until it wobbled out of control and fell down.
Running on two legs is like a V-twin Harley, just not as loud and shaky. Even V-8s can be a little bit rough and mechanics on high-end racing engines pay careful attention to balancing the crank. I saw a video not that long ago of an old Cadillac, from back in the days when Cadillac was truly a grand car for the wealthy. I think it might have had 12 cylinders. I don't recall if it was V or inline, but it was balanced to perfection and you didn't hear any noise until the guy walked around to the exhaust, where you heard a gentle rhythmic puffing. That thing must have been very well maintained, and balanced to perfection right from the beginning.
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(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 22 2022, @01:27AM
If you google arm motion for sprinting, you'll find TONS of stuff out there about how important arm pumping is for sprinting. A former Olympic sprinter says the some people think the arms follow the legs, like your tuned mass damping (and this does appear to be the case for walking and jogging), but actually the legs follow the arms and if you move your arms faster, your legs will move faster too. Others say the arms are important for creating downward force. Coaching and high performance training has never really been about studies and data as much as anecdote and rumors. But I wouldn't bet that this is the definitive statement on this topic. I think sprinting has a lot to do with rhythm and coordination of the moving parts in addition to power and speed, and I would think that pumping the arms is a very important factor in establishing and/or maintaining that rhythm of motion.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Friday April 22 2022, @03:26AM
In days of yore I had a '63 Olds with a V-8. It was like that -- very quiet, and entirely devoid of vibration. Lay your hand on the hood and feel... nothing. Just about had to look under the hood to tell if it was running.
Mechanic had the valve covers off for some maintenance or other, and long-faced told me the valves were not in sync so the crankshaft was worn and needed replacing. Then he went back and stared at it as it ran for half an hour, and changed his mind -- he said nope, it must be designed that way. Mind you this guy was a master mechanic and fussy as all hell, but hadn't seen this particular oddity before.
Wore out the rest of the car, but the engine wound up in an airplane, still good as new.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday April 22 2022, @07:57AM (1 child)
I get the idea this is very similar as to how a jockey rides a horse.
Ever noticed how a jockey synchronizes with his horse and contributes his own energy to his horse by inertial transfer?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Friday April 22 2022, @05:26PM
Yes, and on my one and only riding experience we were mostly at a slow pace. They got us up to a gallop briefly on one section of the trail and I was scared to death I'd bounce out of the saddle. I'm sure I would have gotten the hang of it and been more comfortable with more lessons.
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