About the Book
Force 2: The Biomechanics of Sprinting is a practical guide to the mechanics that shape high-speed running. It explains how athletes produce force, how that force changes with velocity, and why vertical impulse sits at the heart of sprint performance. The book takes complex biomechanics and grounds them in the realities of coaching. Every concept appears because it helps you understand what actually happens on the track.
Rather than offering tricks or fashionable models, the book builds a coherent picture of how speed is created. It shows why contact time matters, why vertical force dominates at top speed, and why horizontal mechanics play a different role during acceleration. Throughout, the aim is clarity: to give coaches and athletes a framework that makes sense of sprinting without myth or mystique.
What You'll Learn
You will learn how force, impulse, and contact time interact to limit and improve speed. You will understand why faster running demands higher forces in shorter time windows, and why athletes hit a ceiling when they can no longer produce the required impulse. The book unpacks the biological, mechanical and technical limits to speed and shows how each part of the running cycle contributes to performance.
You will also learn how acceleration really works, how vertical and horizontal impulses evolve step by step, and how the spring-mass behaviour of the leg changes as velocity climbs. By the end, you will be able to read force-time patterns, interpret flight times, recognise limiting factors in athletes, and link training choices to the underlying mechanics that govern sprint performance.
Who the Book Is For
This book is for sprint coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, sport scientists, therapists and athletes who want a deeper, more precise understanding of speed. You do not need a physics background. The explanations are clear and grounded in coaching practice, with enough detail for those who want to go further.
If you work with athletes who need to run fast, or you want to understand how the best sprinters produce and manage force, this book gives you the tools to do that with confidence.
