Today’s episode features biomechanist and inventor David Weck.  No stranger to new ideas and insight in human locomotion and athletic movement, this episode breaks a few molds that the human body has been put into over the years.

David’s original appearance on episode 107 made significant waves, as David spoke on why bracing against a transverse force doesn’t happen in athletic movement, and how training this way in the weightroom is not conducive to proper motor patterns.

Now, David gets to a topic that is on the forefront of his system, which is the role of the pulsing and spiraling action of the arms (and the human body as a whole) in being as fast as possible.  Our current paradigms of movements (and coaching them) often rely on looking at endpoints, without regards for what happens “in between”, and the resultant timing and mechanisms that power those positions.  Or, many times experts look at the world’s fastest competitors, and list what they are doing right as “wrong”. As a community, we also tend to frown on frontal and transverse plane movement in things such as straight-line running, while this coiling movement is actually essential to success.

Sub topics include the “pulse” action of the arms in running, principles of utilizing the fascial system in locomotion, pressurization in movement, as well as how to use asymmetry rather than destroy it.   This podcast is huge for anyone who wants a deeper look at how the body actually operates while sprinting, and common traits of the fastest athletes on earth in this regard in both team sports and track & field. 

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.  

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Key Points:

How the arms impact the “jolt” action of running, and the importance of the “double down pulse” technique

The impact of the fascial system on the connectedness of the human body, speed and running technique

Importance of pressurization in the “jolt and pulse” system of locomotion

Implications of pronation and supination in muscle length and shortening, and body rotation

Asymmetry in the body and locomotion, as well as how to take advantage of that asymmetry

Quotes:

“(Speaking of prehistoric man) Carrying a long stick of functional capacity, you cannot swing the arms”

“It’s the cascade of frontal plane first (in running) that turns the spinal engine on”

“The instant before maximum ground loading, the hands stop their downward movement, not by a muscular effort, but by a fascial, connective tissue effort”

“Jog across the room and pay attention to what your hands want to do”

“(In regards to the jolt or pulse of the arms) We are dealing in microseconds, but the body is naturally geared to find it… this is happening faster than the speed of thought.. it is a sensation you are going to feel”

“You can’t run with a neutral pelvis and expect to be fast at all”

“It’s an alternating… lordotic, kyphotic, then it switches.  And the fastest people have a big lordotic”

“If you apply the mechanical force to the fascia, then you don’t even need to send the signal to the spinal cord, to send back to the fascia…. so it’s faster than the electrical current that goes through your body”

“If you are born with the big muscles, it’s very different than if you had to pump up to build the muscles (from a fascia perspective)”

“You want to think of the muscles as a pressure system… you are a pneumatic system”

“Look at the animals… it’s just a pulse of force and they’re gone”

“(In running) It’s underhand figure 8’s with the shoulders, overhand with the hips”

“Supination is the “short” and pronation is the “long””

“Just the very act of supinating your right hand will coil your right lat to some extent”

“Asymmetry is the rule… not the exception but the rule”