3 ms·

I don’t think the title is accurate. And this isn’t about biology. The biology is there and the author dismisses it in Introduction and proceeds to go down the

I don’t think the title is accurate. And this isn’t about biology. The biology is there and the author dismisses it in Introduction and proceeds to go down the statistics rabbit hole. A golden opportunity to discuss how we can obtain limits of locomotion while adhering to thermodynamics was lost. There’s no physiology in here. Instead, we have plots of past competitions and silly predictions to go along with it. I suppose I’m asking too much of the author to write the “Tire & Vehicle Dynamics” book applied to the human body but, one can dream I suppose.

Mathnerd314 2y ago
Yeah, I was hoping for something building on this kind of work: https://simtk.org/projects/runningsim https://simtk.org/projects/runningsim There is definitely a speed at which your muscles would have to exert more force than bones/tendons can handle, for example. And then there is probably a muscle/weight tradeoff.
- BobaFloutist 2y ago
  > And then there is probably a muscle/weight tradeoff For sprinting I don't know that there is, given that muscles are capable of exerting more force than their weight.
- AlbertCory 2y ago
  if you're a data guy, then that's what you do. If there are absolute limits, they are probably in the ligaments. See my answer above about baseball pitchers.
  - Someone 2y ago
    > If there are absolute limits, they are probably in the ligaments. Maybe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulnar_collateral_ligament_reconstruction#Misconceptions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulnar_collateral_ligament_reco...: “Some baseball pitchers believe that they can throw harder after ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction than they did beforehand. As a result, orthopedic surgeons have reported that parents of young pitchers have asked them to perform the procedure on their uninjured sons in the hope that it will increase performance. However, many people, including Frank Jobe, believe that any postsurgical increases in performance are most likely the result of the increased stability of the elbow joint and pitchers' increased attention to their fitness and conditioning. Jobe believed that rather than allowing pitchers to gain speed, the surgery and rehab protocols merely allow pitchers to return to their pre-injury levels of performance.” (I don’t see that header “misconceptions” follow from that paragraph, which says “some people believe A, others believe not-A”) Also, even if ligaments can’t be trained to be stronger and can’t be replaced by something stronger, longer arms should lead to faster throws for the same forces on those ligaments, wouldn’t it?
    - AlbertCory 2y ago
      well, there's always surgery, isn't there? Bionic pitchers. Longer arms: maybe. The tallest pitchers aren't the fastest, though. And there will probably never be a human with a 10 foot wingspan. There have always been pitchers with unhittable fastballs, but often they can't control them and they walk too many batters.

Mathnerd314 2y ago

Yeah, I was hoping for something building on this kind of work: https://simtk.org/projects/runningsim https://simtk.org/projects/runningsim There is definitely a speed at which your muscles would have to exert more force than bones/tendons can handle, for example. And then there is probably a muscle/weight tradeoff.

BobaFloutist 2y ago
> And then there is probably a muscle/weight tradeoff For sprinting I don't know that there is, given that muscles are capable of exerting more force than their weight.
AlbertCory 2y ago
if you're a data guy, then that's what you do. If there are absolute limits, they are probably in the ligaments. See my answer above about baseball pitchers.
- Someone 2y ago
  > If there are absolute limits, they are probably in the ligaments. Maybe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulnar_collateral_ligament_reconstruction#Misconceptions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulnar_collateral_ligament_reco...: “Some baseball pitchers believe that they can throw harder after ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction than they did beforehand. As a result, orthopedic surgeons have reported that parents of young pitchers have asked them to perform the procedure on their uninjured sons in the hope that it will increase performance. However, many people, including Frank Jobe, believe that any postsurgical increases in performance are most likely the result of the increased stability of the elbow joint and pitchers' increased attention to their fitness and conditioning. Jobe believed that rather than allowing pitchers to gain speed, the surgery and rehab protocols merely allow pitchers to return to their pre-injury levels of performance.” (I don’t see that header “misconceptions” follow from that paragraph, which says “some people believe A, others believe not-A”) Also, even if ligaments can’t be trained to be stronger and can’t be replaced by something stronger, longer arms should lead to faster throws for the same forces on those ligaments, wouldn’t it?
  - AlbertCory 2y ago
    well, there's always surgery, isn't there? Bionic pitchers. Longer arms: maybe. The tallest pitchers aren't the fastest, though. And there will probably never be a human with a 10 foot wingspan. There have always been pitchers with unhittable fastballs, but often they can't control them and they walk too many batters.