Physics may not be the first thing people think about when it comes to fitness, but it may actually be the most important aspect of exercise.
Joe Perez, physics department head, said its important for athletes to use physics to their advantage if they want to win.
"If you watch sprinters now, they run with their hands in a very special place with a special rhythm and everything," Perez said. "All that is to get this last little bit out of themselves, and that has to do with the biomechanics, weight distribution and wind resistance."
Wendy Weimar, director of the Sport Biomechanics Laboratory, said she's studied everything from the physics of flip-flops to the biomechanics of Auburn's athletic teams.
"When you watch the gymnastics team do flips or the diving team do flips and twists and things like that, it's really the application of Newton's laws which allows them to exercise those movements," Weimar said.
The data gathered from Weimar's research with athletes is relayed to coaches who use the information to improve the athletes' performance.
"We believe that coaching is an art and a science," Weimar said. "We know how to watch the athletes and identify things, but they know how to talk to their athletes."
The study of biomechanics can be applied to individual fitness as well.
"Exercising incorrectly is just as dangerous as not exercising at all, maybe more," Weimar said. "Our goal is to teach people to train appropriately and effectively so they enjoy it, and it becomes a lifestyle for them."
Joey Young, owner of World Gym, said he sees many people lifting weights incorrectly in the gym.
"When you see people slinging weight that is obviously momentum-driven, that momentum can take you further than what you might be able to bend or what your muscles might be able to stand," Young said. "When you're swinging weights, you're inviting injury."
Young said a priority for World Gym is to make sure clients exercise safely.
"One of the things we do is help anyone who seems to need it or asks for it," Young said. "Everyone who works here has a pretty good idea on how to stay safe in the gym."
The flip of a gymnast or the brick-breaking of a martial artist can all be explained by physics and the study of biomechanics, and Weimar said she never ceases to wonder at the results of her research.
"We study those things, and that's why we think we have a really cool job," Weimar said, "because we're stunned by the capability of the human body and what it can do."
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