(no subject)

[telophase]

Awesome art reference via little_details: Photos of athletes, showcasing the vast range of different body types.

I am absolutely fascinated by how the sprinters have worked on developing their upper bodies in addition to their lower bodies, while the marathoners remain as slender as possible. I suspect that as a marathoner, you want as little mass weighing you down as possible*, but I don't know how adding muscle mass to the upper body would help sprinters. Anyone know?




*And I'm actually getting this thought from Top Gear, where I learned that to make your car go faster, you rip out as much as possible to get it as light as possible, leading the guys to rip out seats, doors they don't happen to be using, etc. when engaged in silly challenges. :D

Comments

[rydra_wong]

*wanders by belatedly*

Oh, thanks for the link -- I've seen bits of that before, but never the whole thing together.

I suspect that as a marathoner, you want as little mass weighing you down as possible*, but I don't know how adding muscle mass to the upper body would help sprinters.

For the marathoners, it may be a side-effect as much as a goal: extreme endurance activities like marathon running tend to have a "catabolic" effect on muscle tissue, so you pretty much can't put in the volume of training that an elite marathon runner does and maintain any muscle bulk in the lower or upper body.

Some Googling suggests that elite sprinters do tend to train their upper bodies, though -- this article gives an idea of the rationale:

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0185.htm

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Anyone know?

Not I, but I can pull wild speculation out of my ass: Maybe upper body mass is not a goal but a side effect of goals to build up lung capacity and the ability to tap into bursts of energy.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Hm. Dunno. At the moment, anything sounds plausible to me.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I'm struck by the difference between the weightlifters, who have a huge range of body shapes, from wiry to big but relatively undefined, and the bodybuilders, who have every muscle outlined, sometimes to an unnatural-looking degree.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The difference between people whose sport is based on how the muscles work and those whose is based on how the muscles look. XD

[barbaraa.livejournal.com]

Watch a sprinter. He uses his upper body more (actually the whole body is used in running...try running with your arms at your side some time). It counter balances and allows for more speed. I remember someone on tv I think talking about the pumping action of the arms being important.