[quote]legendaryblaze wrote:
[quote]Shadowzz4 wrote:
[quote]legendaryblaze wrote:
[quote]Shadowzz4 wrote:
I guess this is a thread only for people who love running, so this may get me kicked out but here I go. Running is the worst type of activity most people can do. Just like most things, I say this because I’m not any good at it. Well, thats not the only reason, but that definitely is a big one.
Just the basic premise doesn’t seem to work. Take an animal weighing between 100 and 250lbs made of soft tissue and take one stride on stone. Repeat several hundred thousand times. What would the logical result of such an activity be? Now being honest I have trained and I have seen some people who can run marathons, and pretty decent mileage per week while still having a body that works pretty damn well.
I’ve seen dozens more with serious soft tissue problems, recruitment issues, that have reached the point where you can say, their body really does not work properly anymore, and its close to a chronic condition. Many runners say there’s just nothing like it, and I guess I can understand that to a certain degree, being out there, on the road, just yourself and a pair of shoes.
But in that same vein, I think you have a be a realist in saying, humans or any other animal did not evolve to run for long distances on stone. The most natural movement that could be turned into effective exercise is hiking, which may come with its issues as well, but it seems to be alot better for alot of people including myself.
Lastly, I remember I had Mike Boyle for a class when I was getting my Ex Phys degree and this was his take on a marathon which I think sums it up pretty well. “Hundreds of years ago a man ran 26 miles during a war to save his friends and dropped stone-cold dead upon arrival. Now its a fitness event.”
You could also open and close your refrigerator 10,000 times and get rotator cuff surgery to be able to keep it up. GPP is the way to go.[/quote]
Well, you are definitely a dumbass and i will tell you why.
Our physiology points to endurance running.
We are one of the few animals in this world that stands on two legs/feet (bipedal).
Most animals that stand on two feet need some way to stay balanced.
Usually this is done via either a long tail to counter balance (see monkeys and kangaroos) or you must directly support yourself (see other great apes like gorillas and chimps who use their hands).
So basically the only way for us to remain upright is to have some sort of counter weight.
We have this: a huge ass. Kangaroos have long tails but we have a large ass. If you haven’t noticed, most animals have a small or non existent ass (see: gorilla or any other animal).
Also, the way our legs are built make them extremely efficient for long distance running.
The Achilles’ tendon points to this. As does the foot. The arch in the foot (among other things) bends and unbends depending on how you apply pressure.
All these components come together to work like a spring. They are basically shock absorbers.
(Fyi, we are meant to run barefoot, not with shitty high heeled shoes).
Our flatter faces and less protruding features (short forearms, no snout, etc compared to chimps or gorillas) also made it easier for us to balance.
This makes us extremely efficient. Add to the fact that the largest muscles on our body are the glutes and hamstrings, which are the main muscles in running, and you have a pretty solid case for us being geared towards running.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
We, unlike many other animals, have the ability to sweat. This allows us to do much work and remain cool. Actually our perspiration is unique to us. Our lack of hair would probably account for something. If it wasn’t for our sweat capabilities, we’d die from over heating (brain generates a lot of heat).
This means in equatorial climate, we’d be fine.
Our anatomy also makes us very efficient at counter rotation via arm movement, which is key in running for bipedals. Our trapezius muscles also allow our head to remain more stable, which makes us…again…more efficient. Other apes have extremely small traps.
Our large shoulders and muscled core allow us to stabilize our body very well (also as i mentioned before, the counter rotation helps).
Add our long legs, and yes, we are built to run. Not sprints, but endurance.
It has been recorded that humans can outrun horses.
That’s how the 100 mile western race came to existence. Western States Endurance Run - Wikipedia
As for your thing about some man running 26 miles to only drop dead, that was a greek messenger who was running from the battle of marathon (name of a greek city, and that’s where the name of the event comes from) to declare that they had won the battle. At this point, it would mean he had ran non stop from a battle in which he had fought in.
So yea, maybe if you fight for a few days with little sleep, food or otherwise and then run 26 miles non stop, you might die.
All that being said, most “experts” (researchers with phds, experts in the field of human physiology and history) agree that humans are built for endurance.
Same tribes still hunt via endurance running.
The san bushmen still do this.
You can read some stuff here: http://discovermagazine.com/2006/may/tramps-like-us
I hope you have been enlightened.
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Haha, I was trying to be self-depricating in my response, but that wasn’t good enough huh… ahh…
There are things about the human body that do help it during long bouts of exercise sure, but there probably twice the amount of negatives. So we have all of these special attributes why can’t we outrun wolves, or dogs etc…? Whether it be from a power output/strength standpoint, or an endurance standpoint, humans are not very good at all when compared to other mammals. We all know without our brains we would have never risen above other species.
But you overlooked one very important point I made sure to make VERY clear. Sure there are native people who track animals for days running a good portion of the time. Do they do it on pavement? Answer is no. Do they do it in shoes with arch support? Answer is no. Those two differences right there are MASSIVE. Comparing some twig legged dipshit out running on the boulevard on the side of the road and people running barefoot on earth is night and day.
So scientists have found where humans are definitely made to run on pavement? Is that what your saying? Because thats what I was saying. Don’t change shit around you dumbass.[/quote]
Lol, cute.
“But in that same vein, I think you have a be a realist in saying, humans or any other animal did not evolve to run for long distances on stone.”
I apologize, i misread then. I thought you meant that we weren’t built for endurance running.
There are millions of people (or hundreds of thousands, at least) who run recreationally.
All of them use shitty over pronating high heeled running shoes. Many of them run on pavement and many of them are fine.
Fyi, i’ve ran hundreds of kilometers/miles on pavement both barefoot and with shoes on.
My knees are fine. You know, when you run, you don’t have to pound your feet into the “stone” like a retard. You can run softly and that is actually how you are supposed to run.
Like i said, our legs work as springs, so why would this change if the ground is hard or soft?
We can outrun wolves, if it’s on our own turf. If you take into account that we’re not supposed to be wear clothes (naturally) and that we are most comfortable naked near the equator (and not in bumfuck, canada), then yes, we can outrun wolves. The wolves would overheat and die on “our turf”. On their turd, they’d have the advantage.
I just showed you that we can outrun horses.
We can outrun many animals, but it doesn’t mean we run faster than them. We chase and chase and chase and eventually the animal wears out (due to over heating, which we have a great solution for) and we catch it.
You can outrun a cheetah but you can’t run faster.
"Whether it be from a power output/strength standpoint, or an endurance standpoint, humans are not very good at all when compared to other mammals. "
Please elaborate. What animals are you comparing too? You walk into any forest and you’d probably be able to kill all the animals you encounter except 1 or 2 (bear, wolf, mountain lion, etc).
Is that not good enough? With your bare hands you can kill most animals on this planet. We’re stronger and smarter than most animals, have the gift of endurance and we can manipulate things very well with our hands. What more do you want?
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Your being so bias about how physically superior humans are its ridiculous. As to your comment about other mammals, your right we probably could kill all the animals we encounter aside from almost any animal that is of similar size (the three you mentioned as well as any ungulate- deer, bison, antelope etc…) so that leaves what? Bats, mice, squirrels, rabbits. Go outside and catch a few of those and let me know how it goes. Don’t even bring the smarter aspect into this discussion because I’m obviously not disputing that for christ sake. We arent even stronger than our closely related primates that are substantially smaller.
The one attribute we DO have is that we can run, and have pretty good endurance as a whole relative to other species, but its not something we were made for doing, especially on pavement. You mention all the ways humans are made for running, most of which I agree with. Are you also saying that there are not serious flaws in the human biomechanical system that makes running a very poor activity, especially when done for years and years? Also, humans these days live a hell of alot longer and are a hell of alot larger than the native types you talk about. Most of those native types are much shorter with very small frames. I’m willing to talk about both sides of the coin, according to you the human body is close to perfect.
I know…I’m an asskisser.