The Perfection Point: Sport Science Predicts the Fastest Man, the Highest Jump, and the Limits of Athletic Performance
The Perfection Point: Sport Science Predicts the Fastest Man, the Highest Jump, and the Limits of Athletic Performance
What’s the fastest a human can run the 100-meter sprint?
What’s the longest a human can hold his breath?
What are the limits of human performance?
Welcome to The Perfection Point. Until 1954, common wisdom and scientific knowledge considered a sub-four-minute mile an impossible feat for a human. But then Roger Bannister broke that mark, followed quickly by a host of other athletes. Today the world record stands at 3 minutes, 43 seconds, yet even that number doesn’t tell the fu
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Review by Ex-pat Brit for The Perfection Point: Sport Science Predicts the Fastest Man, the Highest Jump, and the Limits of Athletic Performance
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My 14-year old science-loving son enjoys watching “Sport Science” clips on YouTube, plus he constantly asks questions about the limits of human performance. What is the highest possible dunk? The fastest possible 100m? The mightiest possible power lift? I thought that this book would be a definite hit for him. We pre-ordered the book and it arrived yesterday. I got a chance to read it before my son got home and knew that he would really enjoy it. When he saw the book he immediately rushed to read it. Of course, he wanted to just get to The Numbers at first:) John Brenkus (who is the host of Sport Science) does a wonderful job of making this topic fun and interesting, plus he does a nice job on the analytical bits where he explains how he (or rather the experts he quotes) actually get to The Numbers.
One quibble: The book keeps on going on about what we could theoretically eventually achieve in time, but – hey – we will be a different species by then given our rate of evolution. Huh? According to one expert, we are a different species than we were 200 years ago and we will certainly be a different species in a 1000 years. Hmmm. Strange.
Remember this book is full of statistical models about theoretical maximums. [Note: I am a statistician by training so I appreciate statistical models for what they are.] There is certainly no guarantee that humans will reach these theoretical maximums, but remember these are just that – theoretical maximums. A human will NEVER run a 100m faster than 8.99 seconds. Will he ever reach the theoretical maximum? Maybe, maybe not. He will approach the theoretical maximum, but he never will surpass it because he never can surpass it due to human limitations. (This is where the different species stuff comes in; a different species of human – one more “evolved” – would have different limitations, and, thus, different theoretical maximums and all that).
Now that man has goals to aim for, he will certainly have a better shot at reaching the theoretical maximums. Thank you, John Brenkus, and good luck, mankind!
Review by Mariusz Skonieczny for The Perfection Point: Sport Science Predicts the Fastest Man, the Highest Jump, and the Limits of Athletic Performance
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Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1B28135WTQFQV This is a video review about The Perfection Point.
Review by Charles A. Boyer for The Perfection Point: Sport Science Predicts the Fastest Man, the Highest Jump, and the Limits of Athletic Performance
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Records are made to be broken, or so it is said. At some point, however, one can run into the limits of physics and human physiology. It’s probably not possible for a baseball player to hit a home run that travels a mile, for example. Why? Because the momentum the baseball would needed to overcome the air resistance over the course of a 5,280 foot home run could not be produced by a human, whether on steroids or not. That would simply exceed what we are designed to do.
We can do the math, if you like, but I’ll warn you, your eyes would glaze over, so I will skip it for now.
Or, alternatively, we can let someone else do the math and we can look at their results.
John Brenkus, the host and executive producer of ESPN’s Sport Science did just that to provide a hard look at the absolute limits of human performance. In a new book, Brenkus finds the “Perfection Point” for several sports, golf included, by determining the speeds, heights, distances that mark the limits of human performance. To do this, he used statistics, physics, and physiology to uncover the limits for the longest golf drive, among other sports, such as the longest home run, the fastest time for a mile in track and field, the heaviest bench press in weightlifting, etc.
Brenkus results are not a dry math and physics lesson suitable only for a university lecture to engineering students, instead, his illustrations are not only informative, they are quite entertaining and easily understandable.
In the world of golf, Brenkus’s examination for driving the ball found a 543 yard theoretical limit, a 23% increase (125 yards) from the current record of 418 yards held by current long-drive champion Jamie Sadlowski. Brenkus states that Sadlowski has slight technical flaws in his swing, and that correcting them would add another 17 yards to the 418 yard record. He also notes that with more flexibility, added height and yes, more muscle, more yards can be added to reach his calculated limit.