Law of Action-Reaction for Easy Sports Analysis

People with a lot to lose will tell you that sports analytics relies on academic knowledge that most people don't have. NOT TRUE!

Using simple physics concepts, anyone who has spent time in gyms and plays or enjoys watching sports can do it and learn to predict outcomes.

The Law of Action-Reaction simply states that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

What that means in sports is that the body is constantly seeking to balance the forces that act on it - if not, athletes stumble, fall, collapse, tilt, drop, waiver, can't shift directions, execute key skills with poor form, lose strength and power, and basically look weak and awkward.

Luckily, most athletes are highly skilled at balancing the forces that act on them from the ground, players, contact, balls, and their own muscles; however, when you do spot an athlete struggling to balance the forces that on him or her during competition you might be onto something that will change the player's performance OR better, the game outcome.

Amy Ashmore, Ph.D. holds a doctorate in Kinesiology from the University of Texas at Austin. She is an educator focused on resistance training and performance analytics located in Las Vegas, NV.

To explore the latest RT methods, earn CEUs for physical therapy, AND explore performance analytics for sports, click here.