Introduction
In sports, the applicable mechanical principles are various rules that are used for the purpose of governing the proper execution of sporting skills. In the process of using these skills as the sports guidelines, it means that athletes can have the ability of building excellent techniques as well as gain the best mechanical advantage. Nevertheless, Newton’s laws of motion are perceived to be the main basis for formulating these mechanical rules that should be applied together with other sports training principles for the purpose of achieving higher or efficient sport performance.
Analysis
Traditionally, biomechanics in sports is divided into two, namely kinematics and kinetics. Kinematics, as a branch of mechanics is a science that is concerned with the geometry of body motions, including acceleration, velocity, and displacement, without considering the forces that generates it. On the other hand, kinetics deals with the generated force and the effect it has on a body. Taking that into account, muscular, neurological, and skeletal movement are to be taken into considerations in the process of describing biomechanics (Bloomfield et al., 2009 p. 211).
Biomechanical principles, laws and equations that govern long jump
The following are some of the biomechanical principles and terms that are used when it comes to the need of elucidating the role biomechanics in long jump.
Forces and Torques _ Force is a pull or a push that has the ability of changing the motion of stationary or moving object. Motion is produced and modified by the muscle forces as well as through the external forces of the environment. Therefore, when the racket or a body segment is rotated by a force, the resulting effect is termed as force of movement or torque. For instance, in tennis strokes, torque is created by muscles to aid in rotating the body segment of the athlete. During long jump activity, the swinging of the upper limb internally is basically as a result of the internal rotation torque that is produced by the muscle actions. On the other hand, it is important for the young long jumper to ensure that he or she has applied extra upper limp muscle force so as to assist propel him or her with more energy (Bloomfield et al., 2009 p.287).
Newton’s laws of motion
- a) Newton’s first law: The law of inertia – according to this law, unless an object is acted upon by a force, it will stay in motion or at rest if that was the case. For instance, unless muscular force of the arms of the athlete will not try to overcome his or her inertia, his or her body will tend to retain his or her motion in the process of sprinting down the field (Mcginnis, 2005 p.81).
- b) Newton’s second law: The law of acceleration – this law is used for the purpose of explaining the amount of motion that is created by a force. Acceleration is basically the tendency of a body to change direction and speed. According to this law, the force acting on a body is directly proportional to its acceleration. Thus, the sprinting acceleration to be gained by the long jumper will ultimately directly proportional to the force he or she will produce in the process of swinging his or her hands. It is computed as follows
Force (f) = Mass (m) x Acceleration (a)
For Instance, in case an athlete improves his or her leg performance or strength via thorough training while preserving his or her body mass, he or she will have an increased propensity to accelerate his or her body using the legs. This, then, will result in improved agility and speed. Accordingly, the same case relates to the potential of rotating a segment as stated above.
- c) Newton’s third law: Action and reaction law _ According to this law, for each individual action force action and reaction forces are equal and opposite. This implies that both the action and the reaction force do not act in isolation. For colliding bodies, they always take place in an opposite direction and with equal magnitude. For instance, the force that is produced by the young long jumper’s legs, in the process of ‘pushing’ against the ground, lead to the production of reaction force. Because of the pushing back of the ground by the generated reaction force, the long jumper is able to sprint in a straight line without sliding. This also enables him to cover a longer distance in the process of jumping (Ben & Jasen, 2011 p.80).
Momentum
Momentum is typically the product of velocity (the speed at which the body is moving) and the mass of that body, that is (F=ma). It is thus the total amount of motion the athlete will be possessing during the process of engaging in such sporting activity. Colliding bodies also have the ability of transferring momentum between each other. Different types of moment also results to the production of various impacts during sport and exercise.
- a) Linear momentum – this is a momentum that is attained when an object or a body is on a straight line. It, therefore, implies that it vital to understand that linear momentum is generated when the long jumper sprints down a straight line. It is computed as follows;
L=mv where m= mass of the body and v=velocity
- a) Angular momentum – being a rotational momentum, it is generated by bodies moving in a circular motion. It is computed as follows;
H=I where H= angular momentum, I = inertia and =angular velocity
For example, the open posture of the forehand mainly utilizes significant rotational momentum. Likewise, the remarkable increase in the utilization of rotational momentum in serves and ground stokes induces a significant impact during the game of tennis. Thus, the integration of rotational momentum into ground strokes and serves methodologies is what act as the main basis of increasing the power of the tennis game today. The angular momentum that is produced as a result of coordinating the action of the body segment translates to the racket’s linear momentum at impact (Mcginnis, 2005 p.189).
In the process of rotating, increasing the radius end up slowing down rotation while decreasing the radius increases rotation. For instance, a diver will increase his or her rotation whenever the truck is more tightened hence creating short body radius. Likewise, Because of the lightening of the radius, a pike will generate slower rotation.
In order to be in the position of achieving skilled or improved movements, a player should effectively combine angular and linear momentum. For instance, a discus thrower should ensure that his or her body has moved in a straight line from front to the back of the ring in the process of rotating with increased velocity.
Centre of gravity (COG)
This is an imaginary point that aid in ensuring the even distribution of the weight of a body. For the human body, the center of gravity can keep on changing significantly because the segments or the parts of the body can continue to move their masses because of combined rotations. This idea is important because it assist a player to understand balance and stability as well as how gravity has the ability of affecting sport techniques (Paul, 2014 p.154).
The direction of gravitational force via an object is directed downward towards the earth’s centre and through the centre of gravity. The importance of this line of gravity is that it assists a player to visualize his propensity of successfully sustain balance. In case this line is not maintained within the base of support, reaction will be required so as to ensure that the body has remained in balance. For example, the COG of a squash racket is one of the simpler processes and can be found through dandifying its point of balance using a narrow object or a finger.
When it comes to long jump, it is important for the athlete to understand that both walking and running are similar in terms of their locomotive activities. Despite that being able to walk is not the same as a player’s ability to run. Shock absorption is relatively larger as compared to walking. There it is important for the young long jumper to maintain their balance so as to avoid injuries (Bloomfield et al., 2009 p.155).
Recommendations
There are various means that can be used to enhance human movement performance because effective movement takes into account cognitive, physiological, and neuromuscular abilities, as well as other anatomical factors. Biomechanics is one of the movement techniques that are extensively used in sporting activities. The reason for that is because technique is one of the significant factors that improve the performance of an athlete. With the utilization of sport biomechanics, it is vital for the young long jumper to ensure that he or she has analyzed his or her body loading so as to determine the best means for performing that task. This also takes into account the determination of the best or the safest sport equipment to use so as to reduce injuries or enhance sport performance (Mcginnis, 2005 p.130)
Conclusion
Running biomechanics is science used to explain how the human body moves during sports and the reason for that. In sports biomechanics end up incorporating concrete analysis of sport movements so as to aid in minimizing the risks of injury hence improving their sport performance. The reason for that is because research indicates that sports and exercise biomechanics takes into consideration the detailed analysis of all the mechanisms that are involved during body movements in the process of enhancing better sporting activities. In long jump, it is also important to take into consideration the interactions that exist between the athlete, their environment, and the equipment.
References
BEN, S & JASEN, R. (2011). Aerospace Engineering: From the Ground Up. Cengage Learning
BLOOMFIELD, J., ACKLAND, T. R., & ELLIOT, B. C. (2009). Applied anatomy and biomechanics in sport. Champaign, IL., Human Kinetics.
MCGINNIS, P. M. (2005). Biomechanics of sport and exercise. Champaign, Human Kinetics.
PAUL, E. R. (2014). Foundations of Sports Coaching: second edition. Routledge Press
