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Biomechanics of Usain Bolt
00:11 - 05:13
Usain Bolt holds the world record for being the fastest man alive. Runners require an incredible amount of strength because the stronger their muscles are the more strength they have to exert and push off the ground as they run.
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Video Transcript
0:12
it's a race people still talk about
0:16
Annalise
0:18
celebrate
0:22
the men's 100-meter Sprint at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
0:27
Jamaica's Usain Bolt tearing up the track as he sails over the Finish Line in world record time
0:34
round the world's fastest human
0:36
both betters his own Mark A year later at the world championships in Berlin
0:42
blazing to victory in nine point five eight seconds
0:47
how long
0:48
after the London Games people should say wow when in turn that TV off
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sit back in that chair for a minute
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think about what just happened
0:56
that's why I'm looking forward to I want to just wallpaper
1:01
while fans admire his speed and Showmanship it's the biomechanics of Usain Bolt that intrigues mechanical engineers like Annette Hosoi
1:09
a professor at MIT who has been supported by the National Science Foundation
1:14
Usain Bolt is unique in that somehow he is able to both get
1:18
the top acceleration and maintain
1:21
the top speed
1:25
bolt is amazing because someone his size isn't expected to move so well and so fast but the exceptional combination of his size and his strength makes
1:34
bolt unlike
1:35
any champion before him
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at 6 feet 5 inches bolt is several inches taller than most of his Rivals
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his longer legs give him a naturally longer stride other Elite Runners averaged 44 steps to run 100 meters
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bolt averages just 41 steps
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his stride length is
1:55
so every time he takes a step he covers a tremendous amount of ground
1:58
but because he is larger bolt has more mass than other sprinters and needs more strength more force to move his body
2:06
with each step bolt generates enormous Force against the ground
2:10
the ground Applause that Force back propelling bolt forward
2:14
bolt moves more mass than other Runners
2:16
and he moves it faster
2:17
the amount of force that you can give to the ground
2:20
depends
2:21
partially on your Technique but mostly on how much strength you in your muscles bigger muscles generate more Force so bolt like all sprinters trains hard
2:31
at the track and in the weight room or a pretty hard now because I'm not a real fan at the gym but you have to do it to get that strength more strength
2:40
that power you need to get out of blocks strength is it just how big is the bustle but it's how big is the muscle and how much force can it produce while
2:48
it's moving how the muscles function during motion is part of the research conducted by Samuel Hamner a mechanical engineer at Stanford University who
2:56
has also received support from the National Science Foundation Hamner collects data in a motion-capture room using infrared cameras and sensors and creates
3:05
Dynamic simulations information that can help treat movement disorders and also help athletes optimize their performance if we can understand what the
3:15
functional roles of these muscles are it might help Usain Bolt change his training or better understand how he can become faster Hamner explains that
3:24
is bolts prints down the track more than 30 muscles in each leg work together in complex coordination during the two phases of the running gait The Stance
3:33
phase
3:34
and the flight phase in The Stance phase
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both has at least one foot on the ground
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when your foot first hits the ground
3:42
you're actually slowing down you're breaking
3:44
your body
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and you're using
3:47
muscles in your thigh like your called your quadriceps
3:50
to actually
3:51
slow you down and support your weight while you're coming in too
3:54
contact with the ground
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in the second half of the stance phase you start then accelerating your body forward again
4:00
and
4:01
this time you using some different muscles your calf muscles
4:04
to push yourself up and accelerate you forward as you
4:07
then lift off into the flight face
4:10
in the flight phase bolt has both feet off the ground
4:13
his hamstring muscles on the back of the thigh pull the leg down before his foot hits the ground again
4:19
the flight phase showcases bolts Superior stride length
4:22
he's in the air longer
4:24
farther with each powerful step
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so there's actually
4:28
kind of very precise actuation
4:31
of each of the muscles
4:32
when you're running
4:33
if you're off by a few milliseconds when you're generating these forces
4:37
you know you'll fall over or you'll injure yourself so
4:40
it takes precise timing of the
4:42
electrical signal that comes from your brain to your muscle
4:45
to create that Force
4:49
if Usain Bolt is that is biomechanical best he could turn in another spectacular time in London's Olympic stadium
4:57
for me is just strength and the length of my stride everything comes together which
5:02
makes it look so
5:03
perfect
5:03
and when it all comes together it's a thrilling race to the finish line
