Usain Bolt's Bio Mechanics explained by Michael Johnson 

Imagine having the natural gift of speed where you can have imperfect form, clown around at the finish and STILL smoke a field of elite sprinters

That 2008 Beijing 100m still drops my jaw. Guy looks around, pounds his chest, opens his arms, slows down a bit to look at the crowd and still breaks the WR. This dude was an absolute power house

Bolt is a once in a lifetime athlete. I am privileged to have watched him perform.

I swear, Michael Johnson is a lower toned Morgan Freeman

Michael Jonson seems like a good and classy guy.

That awkward leg bend is what gives him the ability to stay with the group initially. It decreases the length of travel required to meet the track until he gets into stride.

I'm a 6'5 100m sprinter as well. I run the same way, loads of lateral movement and driving the legs inwards like he does at the start. It's how taller guys generate their power. Moving laterally allows me to to have to move less vertically, thus I can keep up with shorter guys at the start. Bolts does about 41 strides in a 100m, I do about 41.5 at the moment. Granted he runs the 100m like 0.7 seconds faster than me, but that's because of his higher cadence.

people believed men could never run 100m below 10 seconds. people believed men could never run 100m below 9.70 seconds. scientists said it's impossible for a human to run 100m in under 9.60 seconds. Usian Bolt doesn't know that. He just runs

Bolt's bio mechanics is that he's a freak... Once in a lifetime.

this is one of the coolest things ive ever seen. where is the rest???

When Usain ran 9.58 he was still clowning around, he was looking around the field, checking where everyone else were. Imagine if he decided to go for 100%

Michael Johnson in his day had the best style just pure power for 200m he was amazing to watch

What people don't understand about Usain is, the lateral motion in the explosive state allows him to achieve the same positon as the shorter guys. It is the most efficient movement for his height and muscle density. If he wanted to explode straight light the other runners and be just as fast he'd have to gain muscle mass which would slow him down at his best part of the race the stride and stretch. Usain is at or very near his maximum potential. I double he will ever see 9.54 in the 100m however his potential for the 200m is still high due to him not finishing most of his races. He is definitely a lane 4-6 runner as the curve need not be too high so he can make the most of his acceleration.

This is what sports science should be. Amazing analyses. Fascinating. I've become a huge fan of Michael Johnson in his days as an analyst because he truly has a mind and passion for the sport. I highly recommend watching him as a commentator during Usain Bolt's races in Berlin. Michael has such passion for the sport that he stands in awe and is gracious to see Bolt break Mike's long-standing 200m world record.

good to see in this vid that Michael acknowledges that Usain could be faster than what he is!

5:15,, omfg that separation is unreal

Bolt hit the genetic lottery. All men are not created equal.

More Michael Johnson! Articulate, experienced, and considered. Love hearing his analysis!

People spoke of his inefficient form but maybe just maybe it was the inefficiency of it that worked well for him to give him that crazy advantage with his body type. Everyone is different. To say that one technique works for everyone is wrong. Maybe its over emphasis on those common techniques all pro use that made him slower later on. Who's to say? Since he came out unpolished with a time he never could reproduce again or even beat after years of technique refinement for efficiency.

no matter what ... some one faster than bolt will come

That's scary. To achieve these kinds of speeds and multiple world records with chunks in technique. Who knows how far he can go if he can push himself further. Extraordinary athlete.

This video is fantastic,wonderful. "Bio Mechanics" what?? did you say? Michael Johnson. Boi Mechanics. I had no idea that USAIN did all that technical body changes because he is so tall. To complete his races. USAIN is simply Brilliant!! Micheal Johnson,you are Brilliant for this informative video. Your deep beautiful voice makes the whole video intriguing.Your crew with you very talented men. The Bio LAB. Wow!!! What will we do without Usain!!

thank you for postin this

Bolt just has it...God given ability...one of those rare athletes who's technique can be imperfect yet they're still the best

I loved watching Usain run.

AMAZING video! I love sport and science. Hearing the legend Michael Johnson commenting on a technical level Bolt's performance is pure candy.

Great video,thanks for the upload

My sprint coach in college figured based on footage in bolts prime he could have maxed out at sub 9.5 given wind conditions and a perfect start. That is mind blowing!

Amazing! Athleticism at its finest!👊

Thanks for this video, i had no idea about Bolt's technique and how unique it seems

The knowledge michael johnson has is amazing

I think Bolt’s turnover is amazingly quick for his height. He is matching the much shorter runners, stride for stride, but with a much greater stride length. By the time he gets upright, the race is over. He is a genetic anomaly!

the 10 people who did not like this video probably have never done track and field before

Imperfect perfection - that is Usain Bolt.

I recon his incredible stride length comes into play as well. There's no questioning his supreme ability as an athlete, but his stride length is from another planet.

Here we can see him pushing his foot against the ground, we are going to use that strategy in our nice meet.

Breaking records without top technique.... Wow.. props!

Michael Johnson is 100% wrong and confused about Bolt's lateral motion (as impossible as that may seem to some people). MJ was a turnover runner, but he knows nothing about getting max power and push for stride length because that's not his style and he wasn't very good at the 100 meters because of it. Lateral bend helps you get more power and stride length out of every step, that is a physiological fact, and it's why every Olympic long jumper lateral bends big time on his final step. And it's why Bolt has the longest most powerful stride length in track and field history. He's long jumping every step. It's a revolutionary technique that Johnson doesn't understand because he had short legs and a totally different style. So he is confused and thinks lateral bend is an inefficiency, when it's actually more efficient than anyone has ever been. If Bolt ran with his shoulders level he'd be way slower. Look at long time WR holder Maurice Green, a lot of lateral bend too.

The knowledge of a guy like Michael Johnson is such an amazing thing to have shared with us. I'm grateful for someone of his ability and expertise putting it out freely, and this channel for making it available. I'm 43. I've always been a pretty good athlete, but was never fast. I didn't know it was something you could learn. I'm faster now than I was when I was 18, and I'm only just getting started.

That 100 meters record will be very hard to beat .I am glad to have seen that in my life time .I remember the first 100 metres he broke in the Olympics and he slow down in the end off that race .then came along the world record

I enjoyed this.

This is fascinating

5:20 that moving camera locked on was epic

Spreading his arms of victory at approx. 70 meters was incredible !!!

Fascinating.

So fascinating

OMG just love it

great video

I cant imagine what Bolts time would've been if hed just kept running in this race without clowning 😩😩

As soon as I saw this race I wanted to see it again

I didn't even know this was a field. I respect this.

What is fascinating here is he is actually doing it right. He is using fascial slings in order to dive his movement. The lateral movement are his lateral lines moving, his legs are spiraling. Check out Functional Patterns or Thomas Myers if you want to learn more.

Sometimes science can’t explain things. Bolt is a freak of nature. I believe bolts running style is perfect for his height and body style. It allows him his explosiveness. We think he’ll be faster running like other track stars. But Bolt isn’t other track stars.

Amazing

Shit is epic. Gives me chills. I'm ready to go hit a PB right now son!

Bolt has to run his way....if ain't broke, etc.etc.etc.

A freak of evolution - the perfect athlete

Greatest track athlete of all time in my opinion!

No matter what some commenters here are saying about how Bolt' style with the lateral movement was best for him, biomechanics proves that they are wrong. Bolt had the potential to run much faster if he could have learned technique that had a higher percentage of his force applied in the direction of the track. It's just biomechanics and it can't be denied. But he had learned running technique as a teenager that he really couldn't undo, or he wasn't disciplined enough to change it. Having said that, he was just very strong and he did keep himself leaning enough in the early stages of the race that he had a lot of power pushing back toward the start propelling him down the track. Although we often saw him come from behind to win, in his world record in 2009 he actually ran the fastest first 30m in history ... even faster than the split by Ben Johnson in 1988, despite having a much slower reaction time by 0.03. He even ran the first 10 m faster than Johnson (believe it or not). When combined with his incredible top speed later in the race, that's why his WR won't be broken for a long, long time.

The greatest race we'll never be able to see.... Johnson v Bolt. I honestly feel like they'd push each other to sub 19

Biomechanics are fine and dandy, but I postulate that inherent traits to run and jump and climb, natural mechanics, are more important. You can either run like the wind or you can't, the science has some catching up to do

My favorite sprinter of all time MJ! Bolt is awesome too but I feel as though his height helps him a lot 6'7 guy has way longer strides then Johnson did.

Usain Bolt is so unique in so many ways...I am yet to find a 6'5 sprinter at any level

Usain Bolt was the most naturally gifted sprinter in history and Russia's Valeriy Borzov had the best sprinting technique in history. One day, a very rare sprinter will come along who has both Bolt's natural talent and Borzov's perfect technique and we'll see a sub 9-second 100 meters.

Like you said, we all probably are specially gifted in something. If Pele was born to a farmer in Costa Rica as opposed to a professional football father in Brazil, he wouldn't be the world's greatest soccer player, regardless of how "gifted" he was at birth. If Bolt was born in Ghana as opposed to Jamaica, he wouldn't be the world's fastest man. If you look at child prodigies across the board, they have amassed considerable practice, even within their short lifespan, because of environment.

That lateral movement is deliberate. He pretends to be short until it's time to use his superior stride to crush everyone

I think it's fascinating to hear Michael Johnson's perspective, and especially his explanation of his own running form. I *DO* wonder about some of the validity of what these guys are saying about Bolt's form though. It turns out the bipedal movement is a very complicated process to analyze mechanically. While we certainly can pick apart certain elements of efficient movement, I don't believe we have a great understanding of how to optimize this procedure across the board. This is especially true when analyzing some of the more explosive aspects like the start (which Bolt was criticized for generating too much lateral movement). Would it really be ideal, for instance, to tell an athlete like Bolt that his movement at this stage is wrong and he should try to focus on minimizing this "inefficient" movement? Keep in mind that a lot of what he's doing is the natural result of generating so much propulsive force. Quite simply, it's wrong to think that it's even possible for the human body to generate so much force in only one direction. I guess my point is that it's fine to say "if he did this or that, he would have been faster", but until someone can actually beat his times we might consider taking his results into our analysis of what constitutes the best form.

That carl lewis run was crazy

"Now, this is where it's over" lol

Nobody talk about 400m's !!! The toughest race on earth!!!

I always thought and felt Bolt could run faster , and hearing the scientific breakdown of Bolts form , confirms that . There will be another Bolt , that will be FLASH faster !

I think maybe that side to side motion is helping bolt, it looks like an S type motion cutting through the air, similar to fish swimming in the water.

Michael Johnson my childhood hero

Usain is a hard worker and has a gift

Usain Bolt is a beautiful man.

1:00 "Efficiency makes you faster!"

His height (length of his legs) is what makes his record that much difficult to achieve. Men that big aren't supposed to move that fast! Insane. One day we will see a 7ft break 100m records EASY

Michael Johnson is my Coach to 5K virtual trainer. He was explaining how to breath with each leg but then he start counting and I am not sure.

Bolt looks like a gazelle running amazing human

1:00-1:06 look at the difference of the facial expressions. Bolt looks like he is straining versus Johnson who looks calm and collect on the back stretch.

Lets not forget that Usain bolt is extremely fast considering he has scoliosis. Imagine if he didn't have Scoliosis :O

Agreed. And yes, something better is out there.

I don't think being tall is bad for sprinting, I just think that tall people are more likely to get into sports in the first place, so you have more tall people of fairly average athletic ability getting timed for sprinting, making it look like being tall is a cause of being a slow runner. People who are really tall are also extremely rare, but Usain Bolt isn't the first super tall guy who was also a great sprinter, it's just that super tall guys who are great sprinters typically end up in some kind of team sport where there's probably more money to be made (like Basketball). Wilt Chamberlain, for example, was 7'1", and could have easily won medals for the US olympic track and field team (he was great at both track and field, even though he was 7'1", but he went into the NBA instead). His 40 yard dash was timed at an incredible 4.6 seconds, without even wearing proper track shoes XD. He was excellent at 40 yards all the way up to a half mile, with insane times recorded from his days as an amateur in high-school and college, as well as a bunch of impressive wins in high jump, shot-put, long-jump, etc.. If he had trained specifically with the olympic track and field team, it wouldn't have required that much improvement to get him up to a level where he'd be able to win medals. Michael Jordan or Lebron James probably also could have done really well in track and field as well, and there have been a few others. People have a hard time imagining that someone so enormous could be so fast and agile at the same time, but people like that are super extra rare because people that tall are already rare to begin with, and only a small percentage of people at a given height are going to be unusually fast / athletic as well.

Great analysis by Johnson. Training Bolt should be the easiest job in the world. Once he leaves the drive phase, he is the fastest man in the world, by a wide margin His weakness is getting up to that top speed, so he just need to work on getting through the first 20 meters as fast as possible. He's still not doing that, but his workaround is clearly good enough.....

Why is it assumed that a bit of laterality in the movement is a flaw?

"His lateral movement is horrible". - Michael Johnson speaking of the Greatest running ever.

i just realized my running kinda looks like bolt's (not implying im crazy fast) but ever since i started running the way i'm comfortable with, i became fastest in our university after a year in track and field. Lessons learned: get the basic principles, give it a twist that suits your own

In the stride, everyone else's lower legs are at 90 degrees to the track as the foot hits the ground, Bolt's are still forward at an angle. Stretchy hamstrings?

Bolt is a 6'5 tall guy with great running dynamics...very uncommon.

Why is this video in 480p? Did they use a camera from 2007?

In the manual for Nat'l Assoc. of Speed & Explosion, there is a saying: "Heredity only deals the cards. Environment and training plays the hand." Basically means that no matter what inherent physical traits you may or may not have been born with, anyone can improve on their current level of abilities. Genetics is only one factor in the equation, it's not the total sum of it.

Usain Bolt would of done 9.4 seconds in 100 metres that year of 2008

Wish the two athletes raced together!

Imagine how fast Bolt would be if he was technically perfect.

I would love to hear Bolt´s coach or even his own opinion on that weird knee angle. Perhaps its done on porpuse.

When I saw Bolt pull up and still set this record, my brain exploded. How can I still write? I got better.

I feel like the buckling of the thighs and everything works to help him get that lower angle in the start. Ya he could fix the lateral movement but I thinks his “mistakes” might be secretly aiding him .

Being predisposed to a certain talent does not make you elite, it just offers you a higher ceiling IF you putting in the time to work on the various facets of your craft. You find me an Olympic Gold Medalist who was so genetically gifted that he never/rarely practiced and won because of his genetics. Nobody is world class at anything without directly or indirectly practicing daily, over years of time, regardless of how genetically gifted they are.

you never want to get pulled off into another guys lane

Micheal Johnson could have a sweet career on the side as a narrator.