QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online July 6, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 2625-2631 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01609

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Weyand, P. G. Articles by Davis, J. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Weyand, P. G. Articles by Davis, J. A. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Running performance has a structural basis

Peter G. Weyand^1,2,* and J. Adam Davis¹

¹ Locomotion Laboratory, Kinesiology Department, MS–545, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005, USA
² Center for Human Performance, Texas Medical Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: pweyand{at}rice.edu)

Accepted 17 March 2005

The body sizes of highly adapted human and other mammalian runners vary in accordance with specific performance needs. Sprint specialists are relatively massive and muscular while endurance specialists are conspicuously limited both in body and in muscle mass. We hypothesized that the greater body masses of faster specialists are directly related to the greater ground support forces required to attain faster running speeds. Using human runners as a test case, we obtained mean values for body mass, stature and racing speed for the world's fastest 45 male and female specialists, respectively, over the past 14 years (1990–2003) at each of eight standard track racing distances from 100 to 10,000 m. Mass-specific ground support force requirements were estimated from racing speeds using generalized support force–speed relationships derived from 18 athletic subjects. We find a single relationship between mass, stature and event-specific ground support force requirements that spans the entire continuum of specializations and applies both to male and to female runners [body mass (kg)=mass-specific support force x stature² (m) x a constant; N=16 group means, R²=0.97; where the ideal mass constant, D=10 kg m^–2]. We conclude that running performance has a common structural basis.

Key words: locomotion, mechanics, ground support forces, muscle, tendon, bone, body mass index

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. W. Denny Limits to running speed in dogs, horses and humans J. Exp. Biol., December 15, 2008; 211(24): 3836 - 3849. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. C. Jayne and M. A. Riley Scaling of the axial morphology and gap-bridging ability of the brown tree snake, Boiga irregularis J. Exp. Biol., April 1, 2007; 210(7): 1148 - 1160. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]