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Author: Dr Damian Harper (Founder of Human Braking Performance) The ability to rapidly decelerate horizontal momentum is a critical locomotor skill required for athletes competing in multi-directional sports. In previous blogs I have highlighted the unique force demands associated with intense braking when decelerating rapidly and the implications this can have for performance enhancement, neuromuscular fatigue and injury-risk. One notable unique demand associated with deceleration and braking is the necessity to skilfully generate and attenuate forces throughout the lower limbs (see video 1). This can place substantial force demands on muscles and connective tissues to generate the high internal joint extensor moments required to control joint flexion and to mechanically buffer and absorb energy with minimal damage, which could be caused through fast eccentric muscle action (i.e., active muscle fibre fascicle lengthening/strain). As illustration, when required to decelerate horizontal momentum rapidly, ankle and knee joint flexion velocities can be around 380 and 470 degrees per second, respectively (1). https://humanbrakingperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Basketball-brake.mov Video 1. Basketball player braking to perform a rapid horizontal deceleration. Necessitates ability to skilfully generate and attenuate forces throughout the lower limbs! Given the significance of horizontal deceleration to athletes competing in multi-directional sports, there should be special interest devoted by sports science and medicine practitioners on how to optimally enhance their athlete’s horizontal deceleration ability (i.e., we want to improve our athlete’s ability to perform and be resilient to one of the most mechanically demanding tasks they will be exposed to during competition – deceleration). We have previously highlighted that this could be done by enhancing two key modifiable factors: 1) horizontal deceleration skill and 2) horizontal deceleration specific strength qualities – both of which interact to enhance horizontal deceleration ability (2). One notable strength quality that is critical for horizontal deceleration is eccentric strength (3). This is primarily due to eccentric strength being associated with the generation and control of joint motions when braking centre of mass momentum (i.e., velocity x mass) in any movement plane, and secondly, due to eccentric muscle actions being capable of generating much higher forces than those observed when performing concentric muscle actions (see Figure 1A). This may explain why athletes are able to generate greater rate of change in velocity when performing horizontal decelerations compared to horizontal accelerations during competitive match play (4), thus enabling them to rapidly reduce their momentum in very short distances and times. The Role of Flywheel Eccentric Strength Training? Whilst there are many training modalities and techniques to enhance eccentric strength (Figure 1B), the use of flywheel training devices could be particularly beneficial for enhancing horizontal deceleration and braking capabilities. I first purchased an Exxcentric flywheel training device back in 2016, realising at first hand the unique stimulus that this training modality could provide for enhancing deceleration and braking performance capabilities. An example of this, was the potential to use a flywheel exercise within a warm-up to achieve superior horizontal deceleration performance compared to a warm-up without inclusion of a flywheel exercise (5). Figure 1. Eccentric strength training for enhanced horizontal deceleration. (A) Force-velocity curve for dynamic eccentric and concentric muscle actions. Intense horizontal decelerations demand high eccentric strength capabilities across a range of eccentric velocities. Red arrows indicate need to increase eccentric force across a range of eccentric velocities to enhance horizontal deceleration ability. (B) Eccentric strength training modalities that can be used to enhance horizontal deceleration with equipment options and training methods. Adapted from Franchi & Maffiuletti (6). Specifically, when using a flywheel training device, inertia generated in the concentric propulsive phase of the movement must be subsequently decelerated with a high braking action during the eccentric phase on every repetition of the set (7). This is not possible with traditional (isoweight) resistance training, where muscle activation is submaximal throughout the entire eccentric phase of a set, and up to the “sticking-point” during the concentric phase of a set (8). Therefore, traditional resistance training can be prone to ‘underloading’ the eccentric braking phase (9), which is not favourable for developing the braking and eccentric strength qualities required to rapidly decelerate horizontal momentum, such as when ‘pressing’ and changing direction repeatedly in multi-directional sports! Traditional resistance training can be prone to ‘underloading’ the eccentric braking phase, which is not favourable for developing the braking and eccentric strength qualities required to rapidly decelerate horizontal momentum, such as when ‘pressing’ and changing direction repeatedly in multi-directional sports! Damian Harper This is in agreement with professional soccer practitioners, where there is a high consensus that when flywheel training is implemented regularly into soccer training regimes it can have a profound effect on enhancing a player’s change of direction (COD) performance capabilities (10). These perceptions are also evident in experimental data, where just one session per week of flywheel parallel squats (inertia: 0.11 kg.ms-2) performed over a 10-week period elicited significantly greater increases (effect size = moderate-to-large) in COD speed performance in comparison to a group who performed the same exercise with a traditional loading approach (i.e., 80% 1-RM) alongside routine soccer specific training (11). Interestingly, the flywheel training group had greater increases in eccentric quadriceps peak torque, whereas the traditional group had greater increases in concentric quadriceps peak torque, demonstrating adaptations specific to the training stimulus. Therefore, the authors concluded that training with flywheel squats likely led to greater braking abilities which transferred to enhanced deceleration and COD speed performance (see Videos 2-4). Indeed, systematic reviews examining the use of flywheel training all highlight beneficial responses of flywheel training on COD performance for athletes competing in multi-directional sports, with these findings further summarised in an umbrella review on the topic (12). Therefore, flywheel training seems a particularly effective training modality for facilitating enhanced eccentric braking capabilities that transfer to enhanced horizontal deceleration and COD performance. https://humanbrakingperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SDC-1.mov-Flywheel-incline-squat.movhttps://humanbrakingperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SDC-2.mov-Flywheel-incline-split-squat.movhttps://humanbrakingperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SDC-3.mov-Flywheel-Incline-SL-squat.mov Videos 2-4. Hand supported squat variations (parallel, split, and rear foot elevated) performed on the kBox Pro by Exxentric demonstrated by Chris Cervantes, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Houston Texans American football team. Hand supported squat variations provide greater stability, but also allow
Author: Dr Damian Harper (Founder of Human Braking Performance) Given the significance of horizontal deceleration to athletes competing in multi-directional sports, there should be special interest devoted by sports science and medicine practitioners on how to optimally enhance their athlete’s horizontal deceleration ability. In other words, we want to improve our athlete’s ability to perform and be resilient to one of the most mechanically demanding tasks they will be exposed to during competitive match play! The Braking Performance Framework was published in September 2024 in the International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, with the aim of providing practitioners with practical recommendations and guidelines on how to enhance horizontal deceleration (Harper et al., 2024). Within this blog I wanted to provide a short overview of the framework and the training solutions that can be used to optimise preparation of your athlete’s horizontal deceleration and braking capabilities. The Braking Performance Framework is illustrated below: The key goals of the Braking Performance Framework are to: 1. Increase Braking Force Control 2. Increase Braking Force Attenuation I have discussed the importance of these two goals in a previous blog where I define what horizontal deceleration ability is and the importance of this skill for sports performance and injury-risk reduction. It is also important to highlight that a key aim of the training solutions and targeted adaptations is to help protect the health of the athlete from the very high forces encountered when decelerating (i.e., help build damage resilience). This is why we have previously described deceleration as a ‘critical mediator’ that can moderate the athlete’s external movement behaviour and ability to perform other high-intensity actions such as sprinting, changing direction and jumping (Harper & Kiely, 2018). This aligns to the phrase “you will not speed up what you can’t slow down” and further highlights the importance of increasing your athlete’s horizontal deceleration ability for both performance and injury-risk reduction purposes. Another important aspect of the Braking Performance Framework is the use and illustration of a ‘mixed method’ training approach that integrates exercise categories and training solutions targeting both local (i.e., general structure and function) and global (i.e., braking co-ordination/skill) specificity. Therefore, the different exercise categories and training solutions should be used interconnectedly to best promote transfer to enhancement of horizontal deceleration ability. Horizontal Deceleration Ability“A players ability to proficiently reduce whole body momentum, within the constraints, and in accordance with the specific objectives of the task (braking force control), whilst skilfully attenuating and distributing the forces associated with braking (braking force attenuation)“Harper et al. (2022) The Braking Performance Framework contains 3 main exercise categories, each comprising key goals (Table 1). Table 1. Exercise categories within the Braking Performance Framework and key goals. Exercise Category Training Solutions Key Goals Braking Elementary Exercises (BEE) · High eccentric loading · Eccentric Yielding-Isometrics/Holding Isometric Muscle Actions (HIMA). · Pre-planned horizontal decelerations (no COD). · Assisted horizontal braking steps. · Eccentric landing control · Target specific adaptations to muscle-tendon neuromechanical structural properties to enable players to produce and tolerate higher horizontal braking forces. · Increase ability to attenuate shock through lower limbs. · Enhance limb and trunk sensorimotor control (i.e., dynamic stabilisation). Braking Developmental Exercises (BDE) · Fast eccentric loading · Fast concentric loading · Overcoming isometrics/Pushing-pulling isometric muscle actions (PIMA) · Oscillatory isometrics · Pre-planned horizontal decelerations with COD · Assisted horizontal decelerations · Increase ability to produce high net braking forces in less time (i.e., braking impulse/braking rate of force development). Braking Performance Exercises (BPE) · Unanticipated horizontal decelerations · Contextual horizontal decelerations · Game-specific horizontal decelerations (i.e., small-medium-large-sided games). · Enhance braking skills under constraints specific to the competitive environment (i.e., game-representative braking). Within each exercise category practitioners can choose a range of training solutions to target the required adaptations underpinning enhanced horizontal deceleration ability. For more detailed coverage of these training solutions and programming considerations readers should consult the full Braking Performance Framework article that can be accessed here. Also, in future blogs (keep tuned) I am going to focus in on some of these specific training solutions and how they help to enhance your athlete’s horizontal deceleration and braking capabilities. However, for now here is an example of a couple of exercises demonstrated by Chris Cervantes (Assistant S&C Coach, Houston Texans NFL) that are included in the Braking Performance Framework article. Here you can see assisted braking steps from the Braking Elementary exercise category (Video 1) and fast eccentric loading from the Braking Developmental exercise category (Video 2). Video 1: Assisted 2-step braking sequence with use of 1080 Sprint. Video 2: Fast eccentric hand supported rear foot elevated split squat with band assistance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4my_r_nzOo In conclusion, unlike horizontal acceleration and maximum sprinting speed capabilities little attention has been directed towards training strategies aimed at improving an athlete’s horizontal deceleration and braking performance capabilities. The Braking Performance Framework provides practitioners with a selection of evidence-informed training methods to optimize the preparation of an athlete’s ability to perform and tolerate repeated horizontal decelerations during match play. Dr Damian Harper is the founder of Human Braking Performance. He has consulted with many high-performance organisations and technology companies around the assessment and training of horizontal deceleration and braking performance. For enquires around consultancy, speaking or individual and group staff CPD please enquire through the Human Braking Performance website here. References Harper, D. J., Cervantes, C., Van Dyke, M., Evans, M., McBurnie, A., Dos’ Santos, T., Eriksrud, O., Cohen, D., Rhodes, D., Carling, C., & Kiely, J. (2024). The Braking Performance Framework: Practical recommendations and guidelines to enhance horizontal deceleration ability in multi-directional sports. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, 4(1), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.47206/ijsc.v4i1.351 Harper, D. J., & Kiely, J. (2018). Damaging nature of decelerations: Do we adequately prepare players? BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 4, e000379. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000379 Harper, D. J., McBurnie, A. J., Santos, T. D., Eriksrud, O., Evans, M., Cohen, D. D., Rhodes, D., Carling, C., & Kiely, J. (2022). Biomechanical and neuromuscular performance requirements of horizontal deceleration: A review with implications for random intermittent multi-directional sports. Sports Medicine, 52(10), 2321–2354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-022-01693-0
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Author: Dr Damian Harper (Founder of Human Braking Performance). In this short blog, I wanted to provide a quick overview of the chapter I wrote titled ‘Deceleration in Sport: Incidence, Demands and Implications for Training?’ which features in the book edited by Paul Jones and Tom Dos Santos titled ‘Multi-Directional Speed in Sport: Research to Application’. In this chapter and this blog ‘deceleration’ is referring to whole body horizontal deceleration that occurs prior to the many changes of direction that players perform in multi-directional sports. As I highlight in the opening paragraph of the chapter, deceleration has been largely overlooked in comparison to acceleration and maximum velocity sprint running capabilities, and this was the first chapter in the myriad of sports performance books purely devoted to deceleration! Deceleration is a highly complex movement skill requiring athletes to generate and tolerate high impact braking forces. The chapter commences by highlighting a definition of deceleration ability, which is a “players ability to proficiently reduce whole body momentum, within the constraints, and in accordance with the specific objectives of the task (i.e., braking force control), whilst skilfully attenuating and distributing the forces associated with braking (i.e., braking force attenuation)” (Harper et al., 2022). In my previous blog I go into more detail of the two key components of horizontal deceleration ability highlighted in this definition, including: 1) Braking Force Control 2) Braking Force Attenuation The chapter then covers the incidence of decelerations in some of the most popular multi-directional sports, providing an overview of the frequency of high-intensity decelerations compared to accelerations. Interestingly, this latest data (mainly from GPS devices) continues to show greater frequency of high-intensity decelerations compared to accelerations in most multi-directional sports, which was a trend first reported in a review paper published by myself, Chris Carling and John Kiely back in 2019 (Harper et al., 2019). Understanding the demands of deceleration in competitive matches is a very important area of future work. There is a need to better understanding the context to why high-intensity decelerations are occurring, and opportunity for advancements in technology to provide more in-depth insights into the unique biomechanical and physiological demands of deceleration and braking. Insights into the biomechanical and physiological demands of deceleration are discussed, with the performance and injury-risk reduction implications summarised from our publication titled ‘deceleration training in team sports: another potential ‘vaccine’ for sports-related injury?’ (McBurnie et al., 2022). Figure 1 illustrates the potential performance and injury-risk reduction implications of deceleration training, highlighting why deceleration is so important for players involved in multi-directional sports. Figure 1. Potential performance and injury-risk reduction (‘vaccine’) implications fromdeceleration training in multi-directional sports. To ensure players are prepared for these demands the chapter concludes by highlighting the physical and technical determinants of deceleration and the training solutions that could be implemented to target improvements in an athlete’s horizontal deceleration ability. The chapter proposes the use of a braking performance framework (BPF) that could be used by practitioners to help guide selection of training methods and exercises to enhance an athlete’s horizontal deceleration ability (more on this in future blogs). Finally, the chapter encourages future research into the effectiveness of training interventions that can be used to enhance player deceleration ability and reduce susceptibility to injury and fatigue that can be caused from deceleration activities. The book ‘Multidirectional Speed in Sport: Research to Application’ can be purchased here. Hope you enjoy the read! References Harper, D.J. (2023). Chapter 5: Deceleration in sport: Incidence, demands and implications for training? In: Jones, P.A. & Dos’Santos, T. Multi-Directional Speed in Sport: Research to Application. (pp74-103). Routledge. Harper, D. J., Carling, C., & Kiely, J. (2019). High-intensity acceleration and deceleration demands in elite team sports competitive match play: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Sports Medicine, 49(12), 1923–1947. Harper, D. J., McBurnie, A. J., Santos, T. D., Eriksrud, O., Evans, M., Cohen, D. D., Rhodes, D., Carling, C., & Kiely, J. (2022). Biomechanical and neuromuscular performance requirements of horizontal deceleration: A review with implications for random intermittent multi-directional sports. Sports Medicine, 52(10), 2321–2354. McBurnie, A. J., Harper, D. J., Jones, P. A., & Dos’Santos, T. (2022). Deceleration Training in Team Sports: Another Potential “Vaccine” for Sports-Related Injury? Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 52(1), 1–12.
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Author: Dr Damian Harper (Founder of Human Braking Performance). In my previous blog I outlined why deceleration and braking have such significant implications for sports performance and injury-risk reduction for athletes participating in multi-directional sports. I highlighted that: Intense decelerations are highly frequent in match-play, and The braking steps associated with decelerating are characterised by a unique ground reaction force profile imposing high impact peaks and loading rates across very short time periods (I will go into more detail of these mechanical demands in the next post). It is therefore vitally important that athletes involved in multi directional sports are well prepared to tolerate these forces to reduce the potential risk of tissue damage and/or injury that could result from repeated exposure to these actions. To achieve this aim, myself, and John Kiely (@simplysportssci) highlighted in our editorial titled: ‘The damaging nature of decelerations: Are we adequately preparing players?’ that deceleration ability could be a critical mediator moderating the athlete’s risk to tissue damage/injury and could also help athletes maintain their performance of high-intensity activities that are integral to match play such as sprinting and rapid changes of direction. In this blog I want to highlight what horizontal deceleration ability is. First let’s cover some important scientific principles. From a purely mechanical perspective deceleration is defined by decreasing velocity with respect to time and is fundamental to decreasing whole body momentum (mass x velocity). In accordance with Newtonian’s laws of motion deceleration is directly proportional to the direction of force applied. Therefore, to manipulate the rate of horizontal deceleration an athlete must adjust either the magnitude or duration of force (i.e., impulse) applied in the horizontal direction. It is important to highlight here that the optimisation of braking impulse requires a high level of technical ability. Therefore, horizontal deceleration should be regarded as a skill where athletes capable of generating a greater horizontal component of the ground reaction force vector will have superior deceleration performance!! Another notable feature of decelerating, as we have already highlighted, is the necessity to generate very high ground reaction forces. Therefore, a critical requirement when braking is the necessity to be able to skilfully attenuate and distribute these forces throughout the muscles and connective tissue structures of the lower limbs. Accordingly, an athlete’s horizontal deceleration ability should consider not only the ability to rapidly reduce momentum, but also the ability to attenuate and distribute the high mechanical forces that are associated with braking. Based on these considerations, we recently proposed that horizontal deceleration ability should be defined as: “a player’s ability to proficiently reduce whole body momentum, within the constraints, and in accordance with the specific objectives of the task (i.e., braking force control), whilst skilfully attenuating and distributing the forces associated with braking (i.e., braking force attenuation)” (Harper et al., 2022). This definition highlights two key components: 1) Braking Force Control and 2) Braking Force Attenuation, both of which are illustrated in the figure below: As can be seen in the figure above braking force control requires the athlete to position the centre of mass posterior to the lead foot braking limb to ensure anterior foot placement and the required orientation of the braking force. This can be seen with a negative shin angle and forces directed opposite to the direction of motion. It must be stressed that the precise positioning of the lead limb braking foot requires a complex sequence of muscle activation and de-activation strategies to ensure optimal co-ordination between the trailing and lead foot braking limbs. A lower vertical and more posterior centre of mass position are also key to dynamic stabilisation and helping to maintain the centre of mass behind the lead limb braking foot, thereby prolonging the time in which horizontal braking forces can be applied (i.e., greater braking impulse and thus greater reduction of momentum, reflecting the impulse-momentum relationship). Another key aspect of braking force control reflected in our definition of horizontal deceleration ability is the requirement to decelerate, within the constraints, and in accordance with the objectives of the task. This reflects the perceptual demands of decelerating during competitive match play, whereby players are required to make rapid braking decisions based on a dynamic, emerging environment that takes into consideration their teammates and opponent’s actions. The braking force attenuation component of deceleration ability can be considered critical for helping to reduce soft-tissue damage and neuromuscular fatigue resulting from repeated intense horizontal decelerations that can impose high force eccentric (i.e., active muscle lengthening) braking and pseudo-isometric muscle actions. The figure illustrating braking force attenuation also highlights the potential critical role of tendons acting as force (power) attenuators upon ground contact. We often view tendons for their role in power amplification to enhance power output in jumping and running actions, however, the lengthening of the tendon (i.e., tendon compliance/elasticity) when performing intense braking actions also serves a vital function in helping to attenuate peak forces and rate of active lengthening of the muscle fascicles (Roberts & Konow, 2013). Therefore, tendons can help to protect muscles from damage when performing intense horizontal decelerations. As such, increasing the capacity of the muscle-tendon unit to withstand high eccentric braking forces logically serves to enhance deceleration ability and mitigate injury risk. So, to conclude this post the definition of horizontal deceleration ability helps us to conceptualise the importance of this skill for both sports performance and injury-risk reduction. Both braking force control and braking force attenuation are key components underpinning horizontal deceleration ability, both of which will interact to govern how much braking impulse the athlete can generate. On this note, I like to say, “an athlete will not speed up what they can’t slow down”!! ─ Improving horizontal deceleration ability is key for our athlete’s performance, health and wellbeing. Hope you enjoyed the read, please share your thoughts in the comments box below, or on social media platforms. Thanks, Damian Harper – Founder of Human Braking Performance References Harper, D.J., & Kiely J. (2018). Damaging nature of decelerations: Do we adequately
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Author: Dr Damian Harper (Founder of Human Braking Performance). Welcome to Human Braking Performance! My name is Dr Damian Harper and I am delighted to officially launch the Human Braking Performance website. This website is dedicated to generating and sharing new knowledge, insights and solutions to coaches, sport scientists and medical practitioners on how to optimise athlete performance and injury resilience by enhancing deceleration and braking performance capabilities. In this first post I wanted to start by discussing why deceleration and braking have such significant implications for sports performance and injury-risk reduction, particularly for athletes participating in multi-directional sports such as: soccer, American Football, basketball, rugby, tennis… to name but a few! So, let’s start by looking at why deceleration and braking are so important to sports performance and injury-risk reduction. I started my PhD journey back in 2014 and was fortunate to be supervised by John Kiely (@simplysportssci). Those who know John and have read his work (if not, I would highly recommend it), will know he is passionate about how to optimise human movement, is highly curious, and asks challenging questions about current practices! Hence, after many months of discussions, one of the topics we came to discuss was deceleration, and why it had been a so called “forgotten factor” in sports performance training (check out this article by Dr Mark Kovacs)! One of the first questions we posed was published as a short editorial in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Open: Sport and Exercise Medicine: Damaging nature of decelerations: Do we adequately prepare players? One of the problems we highlighted in this editorial was that, historically, most research and training practices had predominantly focused on acceleration and high-speed running and/or sprinting capacities. Much less focus was given to deceleration and the forces associated with braking. Our conclusion was that, while we have good knowledge relating to getting athletes faster, there was no research or general information on how to boost deceleration capacities and condition athletes to better tolerate the mechanical stressors imposed by intense braking activities. As we highlighted in the BMJ editorial, this could be problematic for two reasons: 1. INTENSE DECELERATIONS ARE HIGHLY FREQUENT: Beyond high-intensity thresholds (something to be discussed in a future post!) decelerations are more frequently performed during competitive match play in most multi-directional sports, when compared to equivalent intense accelerations. 2. DECELERATIONS IMPOSE HIGH MECHANICAL FORCES AND LOADING RATES: During intense decelerations high impact forces need to be generated and attenuated rapidly through eccentric and quasi-isometric muscle actions. When compared to more ‘concentrically-dependent’ accelerations, these muscle actions are capable of generating higher muscle tensions and therefore greater risk of fatigue and tissue damage. Consequently, the load per meter during soccer match-play has been reported to be up to 32% greater during deceleration compared to acceleration activities. Thanks to our partners, http://www.fakewatch.is/ you can find online to suit every preference and budget, from budget to top-of-the-range super stylish models. To summarise why deceleration is so important to sports performance and injury-risk, we developed the following figure to illustrate how deceleration could be a ‘critical mediator’ moderating the performers external movement behaviour and risk of tissue damage: From this figure there are 2 main take-aways: 1. Deceleration load carries a high risk of tissue damage. The risk of tissue damage can alter a players external movement behaviour. For example, they may self-regulate their movement speed to reduce the magnitude of any subsequent deceleration, they may decelerate over longer distances to reduce the magnitude of braking forces and risk to tissue damage, they may alter kinematic movement strategies that may increase likelihood of injury i.e., more extended limb posture upon ground contact. All these adjustments are likely driven by neural protective mechanisms seeking to protect from future damage and injury. 2. By increasing deceleration ability through the key modifiable factors –deceleration skill and deceleration specific strength qualities– (more on these in a future post) the athlete can reduce risk of tissue damage per deceleration and maintain more explosive (rapid rates of force application) capabilities i.e., they can maintain high-speed movement and dynamic change of direction, requiring rapid decelerations, and the ability to apply and attenuate high braking forces to reduce whole body momentum. With evolutionary data showing that multi-directional sports may require players to accelerate more frequently and cover more high-speed running distances, there is an increasing necessity for players to decelerate more frequently and attain higher deceleration intensities –check out our recent article on the Future of Elite Football HERE. I hope this opening post has provided a short introduction to why I came to form the Human Braking Performance website and the Human Braking Performance (HBP) research group (check out the HBP research group HERE). Having spent 6 years studying for a PhD examining the ‘Neuromuscular Determinants of Horizontal Deceleration Ability in Team Sport Athletes’ I am both fascinated by the topic and shocked with how little attention deceleration is typically afforded, in comparison to acceleration and high-speed running and/or sprinting capacities. We have serviced the engine, but not the brakes, and I feel we need to gain a more balanced understanding of how athletes slow down, in addition to speeding up!! I look forward to sharing more information with you through this website. Many thanks to John Kiely for reviewing this post.
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