We’re working on some new biomechanics projects at the moment. As regular readers may be aware, we’ve been interested in Gu Bongil as a beautiful example of how to move efficiently.

While we were digging around for data, we found this.

LOOK AT THIS ACTION. LOOK AT IT. LOOK AT HIS FEET.

We had a chat with visiting biomechanics expert Kevin C. Moore about what’s going on here. Surprisingly, it’s not all done with magnets.

FC: Kevin, is this incontrovertible proof that the Korean sabre program has developed an anti-gravity device?

KM: Maybe not anti-grav, but certainly a method of getting pretty epic energy return. What blows my mind the most about this is how the gait-like behaviour in the leading foot (the natural dorsi/plantar flexion cycle) is feeding entirely off the energy transfer of the the back leg. Not even tapping the floor with that right foot means that his abdominal wall and spinal column are absorbing enough functional reaction force to momentarily replace the acceleration of freaking gravity as the source of forward momentum. The internal relationships are so clean, in fact, that on landing he even manages to load all his initial impact in that dominant glute, which is hard enough to do well when you run, much less when you’re fencing and can’t cross your feet.

So not so much magnets a series of coiling springs. Which, after all, is what the musculoskeletal system is.

Either that or the rumours are true, and we’ve just proved that Mr Gu is a space alien.

All in all, a pretty astonishing demonstration.

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