Forums >General Running>Why study ostriches?
Biomimeticist
Of course, it isn't your typical running topic, which is why so many of you call me crazy rather than ever think that something with two legs and can reach 40+MPH could ever teach you anything about improving how you run. But if I truly were off my rocker, then why am I not the only ones studying them?
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/210/8/i.1.full?etoc=
I’ve said all along that I’m not the only one studying animal biomechanics for human mimicry, I’m merely the first to successfully figure out what they teach that we can use to our benefit. And that's the point of this, while you may be ignorant to their anatomy or running skill, they offer incredible insight as a species for how we can better run as humans.
In open contrast they expend far less muscular energy per step for the same amount of weight we do.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21030429
Of course, the biggest difference is that they have no counterbalance limb function in their upper bodies as do humans with arms. Given arm swing consumes 12%-15% of your total energy expenditure, its in your best interest to understand how much energy per step can be saved by gaining better biomechanic control of why you swing your arms and the energy that saves you.
If you don't get it, ask a Soldier or Marine what it means how to be taught better running techniques for running with a rifle in their hands. Once again, I don't expect you to understand, but those in military medicine have a very different perspective than any of you here...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18484397
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17337189
The most important connection, in studying ostriches, is that they’re a primary food source for African Pygmies. While I posted studies documenting their improved VO2 function, it’s because having to chase such fast prey was the primary catalyst for why Pygmies mimic ostrich running mechanics…
the biology of improving arm swing reduction for Pygmies is that with a weapon in hand, the greater energy expenditure required with arm swing directly impacted their throwing or bow and arrow accuracy. It was in their survival interest to learn how to run with as minimal arm swing possible. Why wouldn't you want to figure out how they do it?
The other factor is what they accomplish better than we do. Humans slow down in the curves of a track. Ostriches are documented to increase in speed through the curves of a track. Why would you ignore that obvious speed advantage over any opponent regardless of sport?
So you can laugh at me, but you can't laugh at a legitimate model of running skill to improve your running speed. So why ignore it?
Experts said the world is flat
Experts said that man would never fly
Experts said we'd never go to the moon
Name me one of those "experts"...
History never remembers the name of experts; just the innovators who had the guts to challenge and prove the "experts" wrong
Actually, what you said was that pygmies are fast, which they're not. You apparently went back and actually read the abstract,which said something about VO2 max. What it said was that pygmies have terrible low VO2 max and yet, although they are slow, are not as slow as might be expected, which may mean the have better efficiency than caucasians.
Ostriches are not a primary food source of pygmies. Most pygmies, like the Cameroon Pygmies in the study you posted, are central African forest people who live in places where ostriches don't. Surely some pygmies have hunted ostriches now and then in the few places they overlap, even more likely get some eggs, but pygmies mostly eat roots and vegetables and their hunting is by net for small animals. I have yet to see any evidence than any pygmy ever mimicked ostrich running mechanics.
Other than that, spot on.
Proof is in the pudding. Since there is no proof of radical improvements in human running performance, there is no pudding. Just another sad internet expert.
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
Old , Ugly and slow
Sport jester where can I start sending you money to coach me?
first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007
2019 goals 1000 miles , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes
i'm very proud to say i haven't read a word of his since the first jumbled post he posted sometime ago and was duped into reading (but not finishing). The nonsense of the title herein furthers confirms my previous opinion.
Got better things to do with my time.
One day at a time
I saw two ostriches running aside a red van next to the ocean at the Cape of Good Hope in June.
i'm very proud to say i haven't read a word of his since the first jumbled post he posted sometime ago and was duped into reading (but not finishing). The nonsense of the title herein furthers confirms my previous opinion. Got better things to do with my time.
The first?
Oh dear.
I found a video of a Pygmy runner:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2814086/Bionic-boots-let-run-fast-CAR-Springy-shoes-mimic-ostrich-s-gait-let-wearers-travel-25-miles-hour.html
Ostrich running with cyclists:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kotWv4MCxNI
Sport Jester,
I have a question that requires your help. I am an ornithological taxidermy restoration specialist and have in my possession a sample which just so happens to have been the fastest ostrich ever clocked. A little known fact about ostrich carcasses is that they do not preserve well. This sample is, in fact, nearly a century old and I am particularly attached to it, but every once in a while, a bit of it deteriorates too much and must be replaced. Over the years, I believe that I have replaced nearly every part of the ostrich, save one: the left foot. Unfortunately, the left foot is in poor shape and needs to be replaced soon. Once I have replaced the foot, is this still a sample of the fastest recorded ostrich in history? I look forward to your response and apologize for interrupting this running thread - I myself have never seen the point in the activity as humans are far too foolish to accept that the humble ostrich has so much to teach us about locomotion.
Sincerely yours,
Earl E. Byrrd
GC100: that's probably some of the "evidence" that has led someone to believe that humans can and should run like ostriches. Personally, I think humans should run like cheetahs, with all four limbs on the ground and the core contracting and expanding in concert with limb motion and lung function. Humans can run 268% faster, ask me how! (cheetah 75, human 28mph)
Speaking of ostriches; sometime in the late 1980's I was driving home from a logging site way up Big Fall Creek road (East of Eugene, OR). A few miles above the dam, I saw something out of the corner of my eye come out of the brush on top of the slope next to the road. I just assumed it was a deer, but when I looked over, it was freakin' ostrich running along the slope! Kind of like seeing Bigfoot, or Bigfoots, no one believed me. It must have escaped a top secret Navy SEAL ostrich running study compound hidden in the forest near there. That makes a lot more sense than it coming from the ostrich farm that no one knew about that was there. I was vindicated several years later when the existence of said farm became known to the people I told. The Navy ostrich study compound still remains secret.
Speaking of ostriches; sometime in the late 1980's ... the ostrich farm that no one knew about that was there.
That was in the early years of the ostrich bubble. In the 90s I'd see ostrich farms in rural Arkansas. For awhile there everybody thought they were going to get rich on ostriches.
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/mar/31/features11.g21
Of course, it isn't your typical running topic, which is why so many of you call me crazy rather than ever think that something with two legs and can reach 40+MPH could ever teach you anything about improving how you run. But if I truly were off my rocker, then why am I not the only ones studying them? http://jeb.biologists.org/content/210/8/i.1.full?etoc= I’ve said all along that I’m not the only one studying animal biomechanics for human mimicry, I’m merely the first to successfully figure out what they teach that we can use to our benefit. And that's the point of this, while you may be ignorant to their anatomy or running skill, they offer incredible insight as a species for how we can better run as humans. In open contrast they expend far less muscular energy per step for the same amount of weight we do. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21030429 Of course, the biggest difference is that they have no counterbalance limb function in their upper bodies as do humans with arms. Given arm swing consumes 12%-15% of your total energy expenditure, its in your best interest to understand how much energy per step can be saved by gaining better biomechanic control of why you swing your arms and the energy that saves you. If you don't get it, ask a Soldier or Marine what it means how to be taught better running techniques for running with a rifle in their hands. Once again, I don't expect you to understand, but those in military medicine have a very different perspective than any of you here... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18484397 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17337189 The most important connection, in studying ostriches, is that they’re a primary food source for African Pygmies. While I posted studies documenting their improved VO2 function, it’s because having to chase such fast prey was the primary catalyst for why Pygmies mimic ostrich running mechanics… the biology of improving arm swing reduction for Pygmies is that with a weapon in hand, the greater energy expenditure required with arm swing directly impacted their throwing or bow and arrow accuracy. It was in their survival interest to learn how to run with as minimal arm swing possible. Why wouldn't you want to figure out how they do it? The other factor is what they accomplish better than we do. Humans slow down in the curves of a track. Ostriches are documented to increase in speed through the curves of a track. Why would you ignore that obvious speed advantage over any opponent regardless of sport? So you can laugh at me, but you can't laugh at a legitimate model of running skill to improve your running speed. So why ignore it?
Plenty of people attempted alchemy, not the least being Isaac Newton. Didn't make it right.
All, and I mean ALL, of you are missing *the* key point. Ostriches have their knees BACKWARD. Humans can run try to like an ostrich by running backward, but then our feet are backward. In order to properly run like an ostrich, we need surgical assistance to turn our legs around.
I just do not understand why no professional athlete has done this. Considering all the effort they go through to get one second faster, you would think that a little surgery to get minutes faster would be a no brainer. Somebody like sport jester should be able to run a three minute mile.
not bad for mile 25
All, and I mean ALL, of you are missing *the* key point. Ostriches have their knees BACKWARD. Humans can run try to like an ostrich by running backward, but then our feet are backward. In order to properly run like an ostrich, we need surgical assistance to turn our legs around. I just do not understand why no professional athlete has done this. Considering all the effort they go through to get one second faster, you would think that a little surgery to get minutes faster would be a no brainer. Somebody like sport jester should be able to run a three minute mile.
You can debate whether you're talking about knees or ankles, but I know a procedure that can make you go 200% faster. Put a couple of wheels between your legs connected to your feet by a system of chain and sprockets.
- Cyclomimeticist
be curious; not judgmental