Peter Weyand

Professor & Chair of Kinesiology; Director of the Locomotor Performance Lab Texas Christian University

  • Fort Worth TX

Peter Weyand is an internationally renowned biomechanist and physiologist.

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Texas Christian University

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Biography

Dr. Peter Weyand is a professor and chair of TCU’s Department of Kinesiology and the director of TCU’s Locomotor Performance Laboratory. Weyand received his formative training in the comparative physiology and biomechanics of locomotion at Harvard University’s Concord Field Station. His subsequent work has focused heavily on the scientific basis of high-intensity exercise performance in humans, particularly on sprint running performance. The international scientific community has recognized Weyand’s work in this area. It has been featured in media outlets ranging from Scientific American, PBS and The New York Times to ESPN and Sports Illustrated. He has often served as an expert in Olympic and World Athletics eligibility cases before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. His research subjects through the years have included antelope, emus, rodents and professional athletes with and without limb amputations.

Areas of Expertise

Human Speed
Human Performance
Physical Performance
Biomechanics
Locomotion
Paralympians

Accomplishments

Recipient, Jim Hay Memorial Award of the American Society of Biomechanics

2021

Glenn Simmons Endowed Professorship of Applied Physiology & Biomechanics

2016

United Methodist Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award

2014

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Education

University of Georgia

Ph.D.

Bridgewater State University

M.S.

Bates College

B.A.

Affiliations

  • American Society of Biomechanics
  • American Physiological Society
  • American College of Sports Medicine

Languages

  • English

Media Appearances

How much does arm swing affect running speed?

Canadian Running Magazine  online

2023-07-12

The study, published in the journal Gait and Posture, found that when athletes sprinted for 30 metres with their arms crossed over their chests, they were nearly as fast as when they were sprinting with their normal arm swing. On average, participants’ sprint time only slowed down by 0.08 seconds. “Our findings suggest the classic view that arm swing directly drives leg motion to affect performance is not well-supported,” said Peter Weyand, one of the researchers who published the findings.

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When Science Collides: The Blake Leeper Controversy Unpacked

The Real Science of Sport Podcast  online

2022-10-19

The question as to whether disabled athletes with prosthetic limbs can compete in able-bodied events has been steeped in controversy since the days of Oscar Pistorius in 2009. But since American Blake Leeper hit the headlines in 2019 the debate has been re-ignited with two groups of scientists on opposing sides. We speak to one of the world's foremost biomechanical experts - Dr Peter Weyand, Professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at Southern Methodist University in Dallas - to break down his side of an intriguing 15-year-old saga.

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How Fast Can Humans Go?

Discover Magazine  online

2018-07-02

Fast Factors: Sprinting Everyone takes the same amount of time between steps and the same amount of time to pick up their leg and put it back down again, but faster sprinters propel themselves farther in that time. “The difference in speed really comes down to what happens on the ground,” says Peter Weyand, a physiologist and biomechanist at Southern Methodist University in Texas.

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Event Appearances

Semi-annual meeting, keynote address

International Society of Biomechanics | August 2023  Fukuoka, Japan

Annual meeting, keynote address

British Association of Sport & Exercise Medicine| 2022  Brighton, United Kingdom

Hay Award Symposium, invited symposium lecture

American Society of Biomechanics | 2021  Atlanta, GA (virtual)

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Articles

Sex differences in human running performance: smaller gaps at shorter distances?

Journal of Applied Physiology

2022

Human, but not canine or equine running performance, is significantly stratified by sex. The degree of stratification has obvious implications for classification and regulation in athletics. However, whether the widely cited sex difference of 10%-12% applies equally to sprint and endurance running events is unknown. Here, different determining factors for sprint (ground force/body mass) versus endurance performance (energy supply and demand) and existing trends, led us to hypothesize that sex performance differences for sprint running would increase with distance and be relatively small. We quantified sex performance differences using: 1) the race times of the world's fastest males and females (n = 40 each) over a 15-year period (2003-2018) at nine standard racing distances (60-10,000 m), and 2) the 10-m segment times of male (n = 14) and female (n = 12) athletes in World Championship 100-m finals. Between-sex performance time differences increased with sprint event distance (60 m-8.6%, 100 m-9.6%, 200 m-11.0%, 400 m-11.7%) and were smaller than the relatively constant mean (12.4 ± 0.3%) observed across the five longer events from 800 to 10,000 m. Between-sex time differences for the 10-m segments within the 100-m dash event increased throughout spanning 5.6%-14.2% from the first to last segment.

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Artificially long legs directly enhance long sprint running performance

Royal Society Open Science

2022

This comment addresses the incomplete presentation and incorrect conclusion offered in the recent manuscript of Beck et al. (R. Soc. Open Sci. 9, 211799 (doi:10.1098/rsos.211799)). The manuscript introduces biomechanical and performance data on the fastest-ever, bilateral amputee 400 m runner. Using an advantage standard of not faster than the fastest non-amputee runner ever (i.e. performance superior to that of the intact-limb world record-holder), the Beck et al. manuscript concludes that sprint running performance on bilateral, lower-limb prostheses is not unequivocally advantageous compared to the biological limb condition. The manuscript acknowledges the long-standing support of the authors for the numerous eligibility applications of the bilateral-amputee athlete. However, it does not acknowledge that the athlete's anatomically disproportionate prosthetic limb lengths (+15 cm versus the World Para Athletics maximum) are ineligible in both Olympic and Paralympic track competition due to their performance-enhancing properties. Also not acknowledged are the slower sprint performances of the bilateral-amputee athlete on limbs of shorter length that directly refute their manuscript's primary conclusion. Our contribution here provides essential background information and data not included in the Beck et al. manuscript that make the correct empirical conclusion clear: artificially long legs artificially enhance long sprint running performance.

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Does restricting arm motion compromise short sprint running performance?

Gait & Posture

2022

Background: Synchronized arm and leg motion are characteristic of human running. Leg motion is an obvious gait requirement, but arm motion is not, and its functional contribution to running performance is not known. Because arm-leg coupling serves to reduce rotation about the body's vertical axis, arm motion may be necessary to achieve the body positions that optimize ground force application and performance.
Research question: Does restricting arm motion compromise performance in short sprints?
Methods: Sprint performance was measured in 17 athletes during normal and restricted arm motion conditions. Restriction was self-imposed via arm folding across the chest with each hand on the opposite shoulder. Track and field (TF, n = 7) and team sport (TS, n = 10) athletes completed habituation and performance test sessions that included six counterbalanced 30 m sprints: three each in normal and restricted arm conditions. TS participants performed standing starts in both conditions. TF participants performed block starts with extended arms for the normal condition and elevated platform support of the elbows for the crossed-arm, restricted condition. Instantaneous velocity was measured throughout each trial using a radar device. Average sprint performance times were compared using a Repeated Measures ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc tests for the entire group and for the TF and TS subgroups.

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