Where You Look Can Affect How You Look: Running Mechanics and Gaze Control
– Derek M. Hansen –
Back in the summer of 2008, I was teaching a sport biomechanics course to a group of coaches. I was presenting a model for teaching running technique and how to use the concept of vision to elicit a desired postural response. When teaching an athlete to accelerate from a static start, particularly a non-track athlete (i.e. football), it is very common for them to pop their head up immediately after their first step. Therefore, much of the initial acceleration instruction involves teaching them to keep their head down by focusing on a specific point on the ground in front of them. By making them look at a specific area (usually, three to five meters ahead of them on the ground), you can teach them to keep their head in the correct position – in line with their spine.
The same concept of identifying visual focal points applies to weightlifting movements such as the power clean or power snatch. Keeping your head up is very important, as your head position affects your ability to extend the hips. A common cue for athletes is to look at a high point in front of them (i.e. a mark on the gym wall). Athletes who keep their gaze in a downward direction will tend to rotate forward, with less extension at the hips and less optimal balance in the catch phase.
I have also been given visual cues for learning how to operate a motorcycle. I once took and extensive motorcycle safety course and the instructors were constantly telling the students to keep their heads up looking toward the horizon. When making a turn, they would tell us to look well past the turn so that our bodies (and the motorcycle) would follow the direction of our head and vision. In many cases, you were looking 50-100 yards past where you were traveling at that moment. It was initially very difficult to look only past the front wheel. However, as you got the hang of it, you would look well beyond where you wanted to go and it worked much more smoothly.
Once I finished describing my examples of vision-directed instruction, one of the coaches informed me that there was a lot of good research on the concept of vision and sport performance. He mentioned the work of University of Calgary Kinesiology Professor, Joan Vickers, in the area of eye-tracking and performance. He also mentioned that she had a recent book on the subject titled, “Perception, Cognition and Decision Training: The Quiet Eye in Action.” Of course, the whole concept of vision and sport intrigued me and I had to find out more. So I bought the book.
Background on Eye-Tracking and Gaze Control
Once I delved into the science behind gaze control, it all made very good common sense. Elite athletes tend to have significantly different eye movements, attention and decision making than non-elite athletes. According to Professor Joan Vickers, expert performers:
- have superior recall and recognition of sport-specific patterns of play.
- are faster in detecting and recognizing objects, such as a ball within the visual field.
- are more efficient and use more appropriate visual-search behaviours.
- have an enhanced ability to effectively pick-up advance (pre-event) visual cues, particularly from an opponent’s postural orientation.
- have greater attunement to relative motion information when presented in the form of point-light displays.
- have more accurate expectations of likely events based on the refined use of situational probabilities. (Vickers, 2007)
Using special monitoring equipment, researchers can observe where an athlete’s eyes are fixated during sports performances. In some cases, athletes are performing the actual sport and, in other cases, they are watching others performing their sport. In both cases, experts have different eye-tracking patterns than non-experts. Examples of studies that have looked at eye-tracking over the years include:
- Ice hockey goaltending
- Basketball shooting
- Baseball hitting
- Pistol shooting
- Golf putting
- Speed skating
The speed skating example is useful for applying to other methods of locomotion. When negotiating a high speed turn, elite speed skaters will fixate on the tangent or reverse point. This point is often called the apex of the turn and represents the location where the body must be positioned over the skates to ensure the exit from the turn can be properly controlled. According to Vickers, elite speed skaters focus their gaze in this way to counter the forces of gravity that pull them off the track. This would be no different than the elite 200m sprinter focusing on the tangent point when running a curve at high speed. Their gaze would be directed well ahead of their position toward the inside of the track. Novices would tend to look straight ahead or track their vision in their own lane, thus experiencing more difficulty staying on the inside of their lane throughout the turn.
Running, Gaze and Visuomotor Control
In situations where sprinting athletes are accelerating from a static start, you are teaching them to keep their head in line with their spine. Depending on their acceleration power, you are having them focus on keeping their vision on a point on the track surface anywhere from three to ten meters ahead of their current position. I often tell athletes to imagine that we have strapped a laser pointer onto their forehead and a red dot should be visible on the track ahead of them. If their gaze and head position are too low, the laser dot will be right in front of their feet. If their vision and head come up too quickly, the laser dot will not even be visible on the track surface. As the athlete transitions up to top speed, between 30 and 60 meters, the laser dot will slowly move well ahead of their current position and off the track.
For long periods of time throughout the year, I will train sprint athletes in indoor environments to escape the cold and inclement weather. However, I find it is easier to get them to adopt proper posture in outdoor training situations. With indoor facilities, athletes will often see a wall in front of them when performing sprint repetitions. Even if they are not in danger of colliding with the wall, athletes will still change their posture and mechanics in anticipation of stopping prematurely. The body will tend to ‘rear-up’, impacting proper acceleration and/or maximum velocity mechanics. When training outdoors, I find that athletes do not feel the same confinement issues and tend to run more freely. I attribute this tendency to the power of vision and gaze. Almost innately, our bodies respond to not only ‘where’ we look, but also ‘what’ we see and take the necessary steps to change our posture and mechanics to anticipate a potential course of action. Some athletes are more sensitive to these environmental issues and coaches need to be aware of the impact of facilities on visuomotor control and athletic performances.
For runners who are performing over longer distances, I always emphasize the importance of training their gaze to track well ahead of their current position. In open areas, I would have them focus on the horizon. However, in more confined areas (i.e. track stadium, wooded trail), I would have them look as far as they could focusing on a point that sits roughly at the height of their head. Focusing your gaze on points that are in close proximity to your current position will result in greater stress and mental fatigue. Your running mechanics will also subtly suffer and you will find that you are less smooth with your running. When an athlete focuses on points in close proximity, their eye movements will tend to move quickly from one fixated location to another in numerous saccades. Vickers describes saccades as rapid eye movements that bring the point of maximal visual acuity onto the fovea so that it can be seen with clarity. When focusing or “fixating” on a point much further away, you will find that you will run more easily and freely, and feel as though you are being pulled toward that point. It is similar to the concept of not focusing too much on the finish line in a race. From a significant distance (i.e. greater than 50-100 meters), looking at the finish line may work. However, as you get closer to the finish line, it is better to focus beyond the finish line to elicit the best performance. Fixating your vision at the finish line may terminate your velocity prematurely.
Closing Remarks
The more I work with athletes, the more I have found that I focus on ‘where’ they look to improve ‘how’ they look. When instructing, I do not go into the science behind eye-tracking and visuomotor control. I simply tell them where I want them to look when executing technique. I also record video of their performance and often show them that their technique broke down due to where they were looking. Like any skill, getting an athlete to adopt appropriate gaze control takes an accumulation of quality repetitions. However, once they get the hang of it, they easily retain this new skill and it goes a long way to refining their technical ability when running. All I can say to athletes and coaches wanting to improve posture and technique is, “Look into this stuff!”
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The Reality of Sprinting in the Age of Usain Bolt
Posted by Derek Hansen on August 19, 2009 · 1 Comment
– Derek M. Hansen –
With recent losses suffered by sporting greats such as Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, it seems that there are very few “sure-things” in the world of elite sports. Enter Usain Bolt, who not only is untouchable in competition, but also able to produce world record performances on demand in major championships. His recent 9.58 second 100 meter performance in the 12th World Championships in Athletics held in Berlin, Germany even left sprint great Michael Johnson speechless during a broadcast of the event.
There are many questions that arise from the coming of Usain Bolt. The breathtaking performances from last year in Beijing were not a flash in the pan, but the beginning of a new era of sprinting dominance. His results are shocking, but becoming almost expected every time he steps on the track. Key questions that I have for the next few years include:
What is left for those who are competing against Usain Bolt? Are they relegated to fighting it out for second place for the next few years?
Tyson Gay put together a great performance and an apparently injured Asafa Powell still managed to run 9.84 seconds, but both do not seem equipped to adequately challenge Bolt. Usain has shown no weak areas in his game and even manages to rise to greater levels during major events such as the Olympics and World Championships. One could draw parallels to Mike Tyson when he was at the top of his game. Challengers were brought forth so that the Champion could simply exhibit is talent and dominance en route to dismantling them. The only consolation for Gay and Powell was that they were not physically knocked unconscious by Bolt – just metaphorically.
Last year’s runner-ups, Richard Thompson and Walter Dix, are now further away from Bolt than they were last year. And this year, it seems that trying to run as fast as Bolt will leave you with a groin injury (not what I would call a common sprint injury) as both Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell have found out. With both Gay and Powell running as fast as they do and still coming up way short, it probably seems like a symbolic kick in the groin. It may become a revolving door of supporting cast members. Unless Bolt drives another BMW off the road or suffers an injury on the track, I see no change in the winner’s circle.
All that the competition can do is simply keep working on their own game. If I felt I had an athlete within striking distance, I would purposely keep them out of races with Bolt. It would be a way to build their confidence and their technique against more manageable competition. Obviously, you would be forgoing the possibility of big paydays – particularly if you are Powell or Gay. However, if these individuals still have the hope of being number one, they will have to take drastic measures to develop their abilities to a comparable level.
How fast can Bolt run?
It is clear that Bolt left something in the tank during his 2008 Beijing Olympics 100m win. There is even the belief that he could have run harder through the line in the recent 9.58 second run. Additionally, the environmental conditions in Berlin were good, but not optimal. If Bolt had a 1.9 m/s tailwind with warm conditions and wasn’t required to run three rounds of qualifying heats, what time would he be able to produce? One must also factor in additional training and experience over the next few years, as many of the past top sprinters did not peak until their late twenties.
Assuming an optimal tail wind, warm-weather, good track surface and only one race to worry about, I would think that Bolt would be able to achieve a run of 9.49 seconds this year depending on what meets he plans to run. (The temperature at Berlin was 26 degrees celsius, and the tailwind was 0.9 m/s.) Beyond that, I firmly believe that he would only be able to chisel off a few more hundredths of a second. The mediocre start and reaction time that he was believed to possess last year looks as though it has improved, so potential areas of improvement will not yield as big a return. If he does take another chunk off the 100m record, he may recognize that perhaps it will be easier to knock down other records such as the 200m and 400m. Given his speed and stature, I’d say he would even have a shot at the long jump record. How about other events? However, it is no different than a top boxer not giving a UFC fight opportunity the time of day: the payday is not even in the same universe!
Can he stay healthy and continue to improve?
A number sprint champions have seen their careers ended by nagging injuries. Names such as Linford Christie and Donovan Bailey come to mind. Others have had their careers ended by drug suspensions. It is a sport where longevity at the top is difficult to achieve. Although sprinting is not a contact sport, the intensity of the forces produced during the sub-10 second duration result in significant stress and trauma on the lower extremities. The elite sprinters are running much faster, more frequently than ever before. Just over 10 years ago, running under 10 seconds a few times in a year was considered a significant feat. These days, you have to run under 9.80 seconds to gain even a slight ‘ooohhh’ or ‘ aaaahh’ from the track audience. Bolt, Gay and Powell have all been under 9.80 seconds on numerous occasions. It is now expected of them.
Based on the recent groin injuries of both Powell and Gay, one has to wonder if the limits of human performance are not just limited to propulsive power and energy system requirements, but also connective tissue integrity. At some point, Usain Bolt will be running so fast that his muscles, tendons and skeleton may not be able to support the performance. Where this will occur, no one knows. Perhaps it is at 9.50 seconds, 9.40 seconds or 9.30 seconds. In order to run such times in a competition, Bolt has to be producing massively fast times in training as well. Even though Bolt is only 22 years old, this wear and tear will begin to add up. When I was a youngster, I remember seeing a kung-fu movie where the hero was hit with the “one hundred pace palm”. After taking 100 paces, he would drop dead. (He ended up only taking 99 paces, and then got some super-acupuncture treatment – go figure). What is Bolt’s magic number? The combination of both super-intensity and volume will catch up at some point.
Another consideration are the demands of being a super sports celebrity. At some point (as we witnessed by Mike Tyson), the special appearances, sponsors, agents, fans and women can create fatigue and distractions than can topple the once untouchable sports heroes. Add on top of that the super-fast sports cars and you have the potential for career ending incidents. (Note: All sports celebrities should be required to take a significant performance driving and safety course before they are allowed to drive). We have also seen Bolt competing in adverse conditions (i.e rain, cold, headwinds) because of meet commitments and contracts. The pressure to run fast times even in poor conditions could lead to serious injury. It becomes a situation where one wonders if Bolt will be beaten by another competitor or simply by himself. In the short term, it seems like the latter is more possible than any competitor stepping up to the plate and serving him a loss.
Until the time a weakness appears in Bolt’s game, whether by accident or folly, I anticipate that we will see more of the same for at least the rest of this season. I look forward to his assault on his own 200m world record in Berlin. Based on his most recent runs, I could see him easily running 19.00-19.10. A sub-19 second performance is surely within his ability. However, having to produce that time at the end of numerous races required in the 100m and 200m at a major competition will be tough. Much will depend on how the wind treats Bolt. At this point in his career, I will not be surprised by another record shattering run. He has proven that he is the GOAT (greatest of all time) at the ripe old age of 22 years, but also the SHPP (super human performance pioneer).
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