Posts by stevemagness
The Sole of the Shoe: Looking at inside the midsole
The sole of the shoe: With this whole barefoot/minimalist/running mechanics thing exploding right now, one fo the more productive outcomes in science is the realization that the body is smarter than we give it credit for. All those old biomechanical models that presented the body as rigid mechanical body don’t quite accurately reflect what’s going…
Read MoreTraining to Kick
How to train a kick: In the last post, we took a look at the physiology behind the kick. That’s all well and good but it’s pretty much useless unless we can translate that knowledge into something practical. So let’s give that a go based on theory and practical experience. Here’s my guide to creating…
Read MoreThe Science of the finishing kick
Kicking it into gear. I’ve explored the phenomenon of the kick a little before but with recent research and with the fact worlds has just happened, let’s explore the kick phenomenon a bit more. First, let’s look at what actually happens physiologically, and then what we can do about it. The Physiology of the Kick…
Read MoreFactors affecting distance running performance: A literature review
Free Lit Review on the Science of Running and performance! I’ve decided to make my literature review for grad school available to all because I’m too busy to do anything with it at the moment and it’s better to allow others to get some useful info out of it then sit on my computer. This…
Read MoreEuropean Travels- High Speed race video
While I’ve been doing this little new job I have which includes bouncing around Europe for a while, I’ve kind of neglected this blog a little bit. Before I write anything substantial, I figured I’d fill the gap with some high speed video I took of a couple of professional 800m races that took place…
Read MoreStress Fractures in Runners: Risk Factors and Prevention
I thought I’d pass along a journal article I wrote back in grad school that just got published in the July issue of the International Journal of Athletic Therapy and Training. It’s a quick practical article looking at tibial stress fractures and runners. In particular, what the possible causes may be and some potential things…
Read MoreHow to spot bad science and fads- Determining whether an idea is worthwhile:
This is a blog straight from email requests. It’s not exactly about training, but one of the most frequent and perhaps most important question I get asked is how the heck do you spot the good stuff from the crap… A while back I read the book Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks,…
Read MoreHigh Speed Video from the Stanford Payton Jordan Invite
I was down in Palo Alto this weekend for Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invite. While I was there, I took some quick high speed video (210fps) of several of the races. Below you’ll see video from the fast heats of the Women’s 5k, the Women’s 1500m, and the men’s 1500m (heat 1 and 2). Enjoy! Women’s…
Read MoreHydration- A lesson in interpretation
I’ve used the example of hydration during running to demonstrate the natural cycle of under/over emphasizing until we kind of naturally move towards the sweet spot. What I’d like to do now is use hydration as a way to show error in interpretation. When we rely on scientific data, we tend to look at the…
Read MoreMotivation in Elite and High School Runners
Here’s a quick “study” I had to do for a sports psychology class in grad school. It was just a quick thing I had to put together for class, but it’s kind of interesting because I got to look at elite runners, which no one ever does. So I figured I’d share it for those…
Read More