Sprinters Physique

[paddylast]

Just a quick question, someone may be able to shed some light.

Sprinters always have a serious physique, very strong, in the upper body in particular.
Why do they focus on this? Is that strength required for physical endurance or something? One might think its in their legs that they want that strength.

Anyway the reason i'm asking is because, well it makes sense to me that this would translate well for a kickboxer, the athlete powerful upper body physique.
Not for power in the punches necessarily but rather that physical endurance to keep going.

Even with very good cardio I find sometimes I can loose momentum in a bout when it starts to get tough and I really feel it around the upper body. What steps would I take to improve this?
Cheers

[Keerin]

To the first - sprinters and their coaches think that the short, stocky frame is the best for running really fast - or did until usain bolt and his tall lanky frame. A short stocky frame is thought to be needed to add weight to the "take-off" since F=ma (Newton's 2nd law), force = mass times by acceleration. Most of the sprint is force from the initial thrust and the additional body weight ansd the arms are used as counterbalance for the motion of the legs.

I'm afraid I can't answer the rest of your question, hope I helped you a bit though. My opinion would be that you are in the right mindset, I've not seen a lot of kickboxers or thai fighters with huge legs. Saying that, not seen many pumped thai's either aside from Yod (not claiming anything!) but maybe that's because Yod earns a lot more and most thai's can't afford the protein input to be much bigger.

In MMA, this also seems to be the case, where leg muscles are toned but not really huge.

[1inchPonch]

It stands to reason that the strength, speed and power needed for sprinting translate well to combat sports but you seem to be having an endurance problem if you're gassing during a round.

A sprinter only has to exert maximum effort for around 10 seconds (no idea what the actual figures are for 100m but that can't be far off). Don't get me wrong, I know sprinters don't just train in high intensity 10 second bursts. But as rounds in kickboxing, muay thai, mma, BJJ etc last from 2 minutes to 6 minutes I can't see that sprinter specific training would be as beneficial as a more sport specific programme.

In saying that it could definitely improve your performance as part of a properly structured strength and conditioning programme. Just look at some of the training GSP does, stationery hurdle jumps etc. People would probably have classed that as strange not so long ago.

You also seem to be basing things purely on physique. Look at Roy Nelson who won the last TUF final. He was a fat bastard but you couldn't question his gas tank or his strength.

Sorry if i've missed the point of your question.

[briant_gumble]

Not really related to the original post but you also have to bear in mind that sprinter Dwain chambers admitted to taking; THG, epitestosterone, EPO, HGH, insulin lispro, modafinil and liothyronine.

Thats in sprinting too a sport much more rigorously drug tested than mma.

[Grizzly.]

Being muscley is proven the best physique for a runner, the more muscle you have the more fast twitch muscle fibres combined with a correctly trained ATP system you should in theory run faster. Usain Bolt is a freak of nature, he was trained from a very young boy to fit running around his frame and he has become something not human lol.

[Keerin]

Being muscley is proven the best physique for a runner, the more muscle you have the more fast twitch muscle fibres combined with a correctly trained ATP system you should in theory run faster. Usain Bolt is a freak of nature, he was trained from a very young boy to fit running around his frame and he has become something not human lol.

That's true, but I'm just referencing Bolt to show that not being the desired body type doesn't mean you can't compete. Academically speaking, the body type hypothesis (as it were) has been falsified, it doesn't make it unprobable, just shows that it isn't true 100% of the time. I was trying to make an off-hand point about body types in mma - just because something works for most people doesn't mean you should automatically go for it.

And I forgot about the fast twitch fibres! I only know that stuff from playing death metal drums. lol

[Wiegieboard]

Samatotyping is a very interesting subject.

This is an ace book about it if you are able to go into the complexities of the subject. I got mine second hand for 34 quid.
Best not bought at full price.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Somatotyping.../dp/0521351170

[briant_gumble]

Does having fast twitch muscle fibres help for playing the drums?

[Wiegieboard]

Does having fast twitch muscle fibres help for playing the drums?

Good question. I believe that muscular endurance would benefit drumming better.
Calves are made up of mostly slow twitch I believe but can still be trained to produce awesome power (See Kolias)

I think that forearms are similar to calves in makeup so I'd have to say that they're the same.

This is just a guess however. You'd best ask that question on http://www.georgekollias.com/forum/

This forum would be most relevant for that question.

[Keerin]

development of fast twitch in the fingers results in hyper blasts (above 250bpm with one hand, for those unfamiliar with this parlance). a lot of drummers play with their arms (looks awesome on top of the pops), good drummers play with their wrists as this requires less effort for the same effect. speed and force can be generated to blinding effect with the fingers however. I've had to research all this on t'internet because i'm too cheap to get a proper instructor!

As for the kick drum, Kollias uses an ankle swivelling technique which is quite interesting but most folk push from the hip flexor in order to keep things sounding consistently fast and hard in the absence of a trigger. I don't think fast twitch muscle fibres help with fast double kick.