Affect of Weight on Performance

EFFECT of weight on performance.

Wow...it looks like according to some of you I should be called lardass, at 6'3", and 175, I should go down to 150???

The simple law of physics will tell you that faster running will occur at lighter weights--but, at what cost and for how long? Would you rather be a little heavier, run slower, and never experience injury or illness or be in the sub 17.5 BMI club and run faster for 2 months, get mono or a stress fracture, and be out of the sport for six months? I have played with fire before and suffered ten-fold. It is not fun always having to come back from an injury. Once you get on the injury cycle, it is extremely hard to get off--not to mention building a base.

To each their own.

I'm old school on this one, you gotta make things happen. Retsricting intake in the offseason, in a sensible manner, can create healthy, slow weight loss over a period of time which can lead to HUGE improvements in performance. This doesnt mean starving, it does mean eating less and better. Its funny how runners are always completely gung ho about pounding out 110 a week, but tend to neglect the other components of the sport, which are equally, if not more, important. my .02.

can you pass 2nd grade math wrote:

wow you are a total idiot. you are saying i, at 6'4", should be 152 pounds while someone 5'4" should be 128? if i was 152 i would be extremely skinny, someone 5'4" 128 would be approaching chubbiness.

Yes, I probably can pass 2nd-grade math, as my multiplication was correct.

The 2 lbs. per inch thing is an old rule-of-thumb. I didn't make it up. It obviously was not intended to be "exact" or "scientific", and obviously makes more sense for elite male runners closer to average height (say, 5'6" - 6'2").

However, I disagree with you that a 5'4" 128 lb. man would necessarily be "approaching chubbiness", it all depends on body composition.

Regardless, you did not understand my post at all. I did not say anything about what YOU should weigh, in fact I pretty clearly suggested that it was a bad idea to starve oneself down to some notion of an "ideal" running weight.

I've got a BMI of 17.72, didn't realise it was quite as low as that until I just checked using the calculator.

That's my natural weight, I eat very substantially even when not training very much. Although I tend to lose a bit of muscle tone I don't get any heavier. You can be skinny and healthy it just depends on the person.

I am 5'9.5" (69.5 inches) and 158lbs, according to the 2lbs/inch calculation I should be 139lbs, my body type is between an ectomorph and mesomorph, to lose 19lbs would more than likely impossible for me, I would like to lose 10lbs but find it difficult to do so, I seem to be always hungry, my diet is good but the weight stays about the same, any suggestions on how to curb your appetite and lose some weight