Morphology of Runners. Why?

Robert said:

It commonly known that the typical long distance runner
has a slim body type. Is this because they have run on a
regular basis for years or is it that this type of body
shape lends itself to running or is it a combination of
both? Does anyone know of any scientific studies on this
question?

Define long distance? If you toe the line at an ultra race
the runners are far from thin and svelt. If your asking
about world class runners at some distance then I'm sure
there are some data points on height/weight.

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" [email hidden]

If joggers have stopped evolving, I'd say it's a safe bet
that they're not morphing either.

In article said:

It commonly known that the typical long distance runner
has a slim body type.

Depends on what you mean by "typical".

Quoted message said:

Is this because they have run on a regular basis for years

Running on a regular basis for years will help you maintain
fairly low body fat but won't add lean mass, so if "the
average person" runs and does no other training, they will
have low body fat and average muscular development, which
means they will look "slim" compared to others. Someone who
is misinformed might even erroneously conclude that they're
"naturally slim", "have a fast metabolism", etc.

Quoted message said:

or is it that this type of body shape lends itself to
running or is it a combination of both?

It appears that being reasonably light is a performance
advantage. Most elite distance runners have a BMI under 21.
The taller runners tend to have a BMI much lower than 21.

There are other biomechanical factors that could be
important, such as leg length compared to height.

Quoted message said:

Does anyone know of any scientific studies on this
question?

Not that I can think of. The Noakes book has a scatter plot
of the BMI of Boston Marathon winners. Most of them are
fairly light, but not all of them.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi pegasus.rutgers.edu~elflordOpen ↗

Robert said:

It commonly known that the typical long distance runner
has a slim body type. Is this because they have run on a
regular basis for years or is it that this type of body
shape lends itself to running or is it a combination of
both? Does anyone know of any scientific studies on this
question?

I don't know. But from the quotable macelroy, it must be
because they do a "liposuction training and diet phaze"
after every winter layoff.

--
ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,-
,ø¤º eNo "If you can't go fast, go long." ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°-
`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º°`°º¤ø¤º°`°º¤ø,,,,ø¤º

Let's put it this way, you will not find any good long
distance runners who are not slim. All good long distance
runners have extremely low body fat or they wouldn't be able
to run as fast as they
do. Melting all that fat away has come from consistant long
hard workouts. There are no lab tests I know of that
have measured the difference in performance but tests
with my own athletes and weighing them all the time have
shown significant difference in performance when their
body fat was cut down and many pounds were lost. When
any of these athletes stop running they can never ever
maintain the same body weight they have before. I don't
even recognize some of the runners I trained who have
stopped running because they have put on so much weight.
That is why I have now put so much emphasis on my
athletes not gaining weight, keeping a diet and bringing
their body fat ratios down to as low as possible. I have
seen an absolute direct correlation between that and
their training times and performances.

[email hidden] (Robert) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

It commonly known that the typical long distance runner
has a slim body type. Is this because they have run on a
regular basis for years or is it that this type of body
shape lends itself to running or is it a combination of
both? Does anyone know of any scientific studies on this
question?

In article <[email hidden]>,

Robert said:

It commonly known that the typical long distance runner has
a slim body type. Is this because they have run on a
regular basis for years or is it that this type of body
shape lends itself to running or is it a combination of
both? Does anyone know of any scientific studies on this
question?

I don't think any studies are necessary. Just compare the
physique of the average finisher at the next nearby college
cross country meet with those of the athletes at their next
football game or basketball game.

As for the cause and effect question, it's quite a stretch
(so to speak) to believe that playing basketball all those
years made the players tall. I'd guess the same goes for
competitive running -- those who have a physical advantage
in the sport tend to gravitate there.

All I know is that in school cross country was one of the
few sports where little squirrely guys with geeky
personalities could kick some butt. (It's debatable whether
a geeky personality is an advatage too, but the debate might
be interesting.)

--
***********************************************************-
*************
Terry R. McConnell Mathematics/215 Carnegie/Syracuse, N.Y.
13244-1150 [email hidden] 229B Physics Bldg
barnyard.syr.edu~tmcOpen ↗
***********************************************************-
*************

The size of ultra runners (at least the good ones) was
surprising to me. But being bigger (at least compared to the
100 pound African) does have some advantages in that more
energy can be stored and since most ultras seem to be run on
trails, the impact forces are reduced.

I would say that skinny fellows are attracted to the sport
because they are successful at it. At some point they
realize that while they may lose a 40yard dash, when the
distance gets out to 600y (a common run in US grade
schools at one time as part of fitness assessments) they
did much better.

Being small has advantages in terms of reduced impact forces
and better heat dissipation.

"Doug Freese" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Robert said:

It commonly known that the typical long distance runner
has a slim body type. Is this because they have run on a
regular basis for years or is it that this type of body
shape lends itself to running or is it a combination of
both? Does anyone know of any scientific studies on this
question?

Define long distance? If you toe the line at an ultra race
the runners are far from thin and svelt. If your asking
about world class runners at some distance then I'm sure
there are some data points on height/weight.

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" [email hidden]

"Donovan Rebbechi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Robert said:

It commonly known that the typical long distance runner
has a slim body type.

Depends on what you mean by "typical".

Quoted message said:

Is this because they have run on a regular basis
for years

Running on a regular basis for years will help you
maintain fairly low

body fat

Quoted message said:

but won't add lean mass, so if "the average person" runs
and does no other training, they will have low body fat
and average muscular development,

which

Quoted message said:

means they will look "slim" compared to others. Someone
who is misinformed might even erroneously conclude that
they're "naturally slim", "have a

fast

Quoted message said:

metabolism", etc.

Quoted message said:

or is it that this type of body shape lends itself to
running or is it a combination of both?

It appears that being reasonably light is a performance
advantage. Most elite distance runners have a BMI under
21. The taller runners tend to

have a

Quoted message said:

BMI much lower than 21.

There are other biomechanical factors that could be
important, such as leg length compared to height.

Quoted message said:

Does anyone know of any scientific studies on this
question?

Not that I can think of. The Noakes book has a scatter
plot of the BMI of Boston Marathon winners. Most of them
are fairly light, but not all of

them.

Quoted message said:

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi pegasus.rutgers.edu~elflordOpen ↗

I better the larger runners are either from the early days
or from the period of time where Boston was not offering
money and other marathons were. Those times also are among
the slowest to win the race. I will check out the
scattergram. Love a good scattergram.

Robert said:

It commonly known that the typical long distance runner
has a slim body type. Is this because they have run on a
regular basis for years or is it that this type of body
shape lends itself to running or is it a combination of
both? Does anyone know of any scientific studies on this
question?

It's well known that the elites are always skinny. To know
why this is so, just ask whether they would still win if
they had to carry a 5kg weight the length of the course.

However, if you look at the men coming in around 2:30
onwards for a marathon you will notice that there are a lot
with perfectly 'normal' builds. You don't have to be skinny
to be fast - but it helps.