he sport world is littered with individuals who have impressive physical attributes,

such as a huge anaerobic capacity or formidable

lower-body strength. Some have become world
champions. Others have never made the leap to
stardom because, despite these qualities, the poor
postures and movement strategies they adopt
compromise their ability to apply force effi ciently
and repeatedly. Essentially, they leak energy,
making the metabolic cost of performing at high
intensities or over long durations expensive and
performance limiting.
Athletes don’t just need to be strong; they
also need to be effi cient. This concept applies to
power-based sports as well as to endurance sports.
Ineffi cient movement is metabolically costly, which
means that onset of fatigue will be quicker, and
subsequent performance decay will be larger. It
is easy to see this in swimming. An ineffi cient
swimmer who has a costly technique will become
fatigued after just a few laps of a pool, whereas a
similarly conditioned swimmer using an effi cient
stroke can continue at high pace, lap after lap.
Although other significant variables—such
as technical and tactical awareness, mental and
emotional resiliency, dedication and professionalism—interact to determine sport success, it is
the aim of this chapter is to discuss the impact
of human movement effi ciency on performance.
This discussion seeks to provide strategies for
assessment and optimisation of motion competencies that can be used by coaches, therapists
and athletes.
Attaining Movement
Effi ciency
Sport commentators often describe athletes as
being effi cient performers. When the word efficiency is pared back to its physical roots, it describes
the output relative to the cost of the input. Therefore, an ineffi cient mover is one whose output,
whether it is during running, cycling, rowing
or swimming, is less than his or her input. The
two critical variables to consider when assessing
movement effi ciency are the force generated and
the force applied. These are not always the same,
and if inequalities exist, so does ineffi ciency.
Effective Force Generation
Sport provides a graphic demonstration of physics
in action. Within athletic pursuits, force is applied
to the ground (such as during running, jumping
and skating), to water (such as during swimming
and rowing), to an object (such as a shot-put or bicycle) or to another person (such as through a martial
arts kick or when a footballer has to fend off an
opponent). Clearly, it is an advantage to be able
to generate greater forces, and yet it is not always
the case that the athlete with the greatest strength
emerges the victor. This observation extends from
sports traditionally regarded as power sports, such
as weightlifting and track cycling, to endurance
sports, such as marathon running or triathlon, as
well as to team sports, such as soccer and handball