A recent study compares the “bouncing behavior”—the underlying spring-like physics of running—in elite-level male runners (sub-four-minute milers) vs. highly trained but not elite runners.
Subjects ran on a treadmill instrumented with a pressure plate beneath the belt, so the researchers could see how much time they spent in the air and in contact with the ground.
When running, muscles and limbs coordinate to act like a giant pogo stick, and those muscles, tendons, and ligaments interact to recycle energy from step to step, says Geoff Burns, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan Exercise & Sport Science Initiative.
The researchers looked at the basic physics of the runners as pogo sticks—called a “spring-mass” system in biomechanics—to see how those giant springs differed between elite and highly trained runners, and found some interesting and surprising differences, as Burns explains here:
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