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Artwork for Clown Cast
Clown Cast · Saturday · 14 min

Which Swing Numbers Are Real?

Miles Partain's viral kinetic chain analysis claims legs power 50-70 mph volleyball spikes. But what numbers can actually be verified? Joey investigates what data exists for beach volleyball—and discovers that for an Olympic sport, virtually none have been peer-reviewed. The hosts explore how to measure what matters, how cameras lie, and why you shouldn't pretend to measure what you can't. 00:00:00 - Miles Partain's kinetic chain and the fifty-to-seventy mph claim 00:01:41 - The discovery: beach volleyball has virtually no peer-reviewed spike data 00:03:28 - Why ball trajectory matters more than body mechanics 00:05:05 - Do acceleration patterns hold across all skill levels? 00:06:46 - The speedrun analogy: enablers vs. the fast split itself 00:08:19 - What net cameras actually capture—and miss 00:09:58 - The golden rule: don't pretend to measure what you can't 00:11:37 - Ball speed: what's actually measurable 00:13:19 - Clean signals over interpretation --- Sources & further reading: • Miles Partain — Armswing Kinetic Chain — Grounded Spike Flow — Hip Drive, Lead Leg Block, Hip Shoulder Separation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYL47HMqGVY • Coleman et al. (1993) — 3D film analysis of the international men's volleyball spike: https://arch.neicon.ru/xmlui/handle/123456789/3739451 • Guo and Li (ISBS) — 3D video analysis of men's international spikes in competition: https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/view/2174/2030 • Coleman — Jump serve kinematics of international players (ISBS): https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/view/3718 • Kuhlmann, Roemer and Milani — Contact height in the volleyball spike (ISBS 2009): https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/view/3164 • Fuchs et al. — Approach and spike jump in elite players (J Sports Sci 2019): https://iris.unicas.it/bitstream/11580/91401/1/02640414.2019.pdf • Wagner et al. — Spike jump height predictors (2009): https://www.sponet.de/sponet/Record/4017113 • Giatsis et al. — Jumping on sand vs rigid surface: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10443322/ • Wagner et al. — Proximal-to-distal sequence in overarm throws (2014): https://www.bisp-surf.de/Record/PU201307005343 • Tinmark et al. (2010) — Elite golfers' kinematic sequence in full-swing and partial-swing shots: https://europepmc.org/search?query=%22Elite%20golfers%27%20kinematic%20sequence%22 • Fleisig et al. (1999) — Kinematic and kinetic comparison of baseball pitching among various levels of development: https://europepmc.org/search?query=fleisig%201999%20pitching%20levels • Hip-shoulder separation and bat speed in 247 college batters (J Biomech, PMID 42710169): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42710169/ • TrackMan — 40 TrackMan parameters: https://www.trackman.com/blog/golf/40-trackman-parameters • Titleist Performance Institute — Kinematic sequence revisited: https://www.mytpi.com/articles/biomechanics/kinematic-sequence-revisited • IMU vs optical golf validation (36 golfers): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10611231/ • Blast Motion — What does a bat sensor actually measure: https://blastmotion.com/blog/what-does-a-bat-sensor-actually-measure/ • Uplift Labs: https://www.uplift.ai/ • University of the Pacific (conference abstract) — Kinematic sequence and exit velocity in youth hitters: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cop-facpres/1573 • Pitch kinematic sequence patterns: https://www.iat.uni-leipzig.de/datenbanken/iks/dbv-base-softball/Record/4064416 • Collegiate pitchers, separation at foot contact: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11835564/ • pitchAI validation (preprint): https://sportrxiv.org/index.php/server/preprint/view/101 • KinaTrax in-game normative pitching data: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11544755 This podcast episode was fully generated by AI — research, script, voices, and production. Built with Claude, Piper TTS, and automated pipeline tooling.

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Miles Partain's viral kinetic chain analysis claims legs power 50-70 mph volleyball spikes. But what numbers can actually be verified? Joey investigates what data exists for beach volleyball—and discovers that for an Olympic sport, virtually none have been peer-reviewed. The hosts explore how to measure what matters, how cameras lie, and why you shouldn't pretend to measure what you can't.

00:00:00 - Miles Partain's kinetic chain and the fifty-to-seventy mph claim
00:01:41 - The discovery: beach volleyball has virtually no peer-reviewed spike data
00:03:28 - Why ball trajectory matters more than body mechanics
00:05:05 - Do acceleration patterns hold across all skill levels?
00:06:46 - The speedrun analogy: enablers vs. the fast split itself
00:08:19 - What net cameras actually capture—and miss
00:09:58 - The golden rule: don't pretend to measure what you can't
00:11:37 - Ball speed: what's actually measurable
00:13:19 - Clean signals over interpretation

---
Sources & further reading:
• Miles Partain — Armswing Kinetic Chain — Grounded Spike Flow — Hip Drive, Lead Leg Block, Hip Shoulder Separation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYL47HMqGVY
• Coleman et al. (1993) — 3D film analysis of the international men's volleyball spike: https://arch.neicon.ru/xmlui/handle/123456789/3739451
• Guo and Li (ISBS) — 3D video analysis of men's international spikes in competition: https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/view/2174/2030
• Coleman — Jump serve kinematics of international players (ISBS): https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/view/3718
• Kuhlmann, Roemer and Milani — Contact height in the volleyball spike (ISBS 2009): https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/view/3164
• Fuchs et al. — Approach and spike jump in elite players (J Sports Sci 2019): https://iris.unicas.it/bitstream/11580/91401/1/02640414.2019.pdf
• Wagner et al. — Spike jump height predictors (2009): https://www.sponet.de/sponet/Record/4017113
• Giatsis et al. — Jumping on sand vs rigid surface: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10443322/
• Wagner et al. — Proximal-to-distal sequence in overarm throws (2014): https://www.bisp-surf.de/Record/PU201307005343
• Tinmark et al. (2010) — Elite golfers' kinematic sequence in full-swing and partial-swing shots: https://europepmc.org/search?query=%22Elite%20golfers%27%20kinematic%20sequence%22
• Fleisig et al. (1999) — Kinematic and kinetic comparison of baseball pitching among various levels of development: https://europepmc.org/search?query=fleisig%201999%20pitching%20levels
• Hip-shoulder separation and bat speed in 247 college batters (J Biomech, PMID 42710169): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42710169/
• TrackMan — 40 TrackMan parameters: https://www.trackman.com/blog/golf/40-trackman-parameters
• Titleist Performance Institute — Kinematic sequence revisited: https://www.mytpi.com/articles/biomechanics/kinematic-sequence-revisited
• IMU vs optical golf validation (36 golfers): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10611231/
• Blast Motion — What does a bat sensor actually measure: https://blastmotion.com/blog/what-does-a-bat-sensor-actually-measure/
• Uplift Labs: https://www.uplift.ai/
• University of the Pacific (conference abstract) — Kinematic sequence and exit velocity in youth hitters: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cop-facpres/1573
• Pitch kinematic sequence patterns: https://www.iat.uni-leipzig.de/datenbanken/iks/dbv-base-softball/Record/4064416
• Collegiate pitchers, separation at foot contact: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11835564/
• pitchAI validation (preprint): https://sportrxiv.org/index.php/server/preprint/view/101
• KinaTrax in-game normative pitching data: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11544755

This podcast episode was fully generated by AI — research, script, voices, and production. Built with Claude, Piper TTS, and automated pipeline tooling.

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