Eyestone kind of tried to downplay the missions-leading-to-older-age advantage that BYU has in NCAA cross, saying that basically the guys just get completely out of shape and gain a bunch of weight etc.
What's the real truth here? Are those guys still running while on mission?
Casey Clinger was a highschool senior in 2016. Not trying to be a hater. I'll let y'all do the math on that.
Eyestone kind of tried to downplay the missions-leading-to-older-age advantage that BYU has in NCAA cross, saying that basically the guys just get completely out of shape and gain a bunch of weight etc.
What's the real truth here? Are those guys still running while on mission?
Casey Clinger was a highschool senior in 2016. Not trying to be a hater. I'll let y'all do the math on that.
Discus.
Even if you're an NXN champion, you don't take 2 years off from the sport and gain a bunch of weight and then come back and run at NCAAs for XC 4 months later. They are running. They aren't doing daily intervals and double thresholds with the boys. But they are definitely working out and running.
Eyestone kind of tried to downplay the missions-leading-to-older-age advantage that BYU has in NCAA cross, saying that basically the guys just get completely out of shape and gain a bunch of weight etc.
What's the real truth here? Are those guys still running while on mission?
Casey Clinger was a highschool senior in 2016. Not trying to be a hater. I'll let y'all do the math on that.
Discus.
Even if you're an NXN champion, you don't take 2 years off from the sport and gain a bunch of weight and then come back and run at NCAAs for XC 4 months later. They are running. They aren't doing daily intervals and double thresholds with the boys. But they are definitely working out and running.
For reference, Casey Clinger took 2 years off and then gets 13th at NCAAs against a very good field? Casey isn't THAT kind of talent. He has been training 4 years since then and still hasn't been a champion. I call cap. He was running and getting workouts in during his mission.
Eyestone kind of tried to downplay the missions-leading-to-older-age advantage that BYU has in NCAA cross, saying that basically the guys just get completely out of shape and gain a bunch of weight etc.
What's the real truth here? Are those guys still running while on mission?
Casey Clinger was a highschool senior in 2016. Not trying to be a hater. I'll let y'all do the math on that.
Discus.
Built into their day is like 30 minute block for exercise every morning. This is good for 4-6 miles/day depending how fast or easy they go on any given day. They get a little free time one day a week as well. So if they wanted to run, 30-50 miles a week was pretty easy.
Also, Mormons I knew said they pretty much walked/biked/worked or studied all day and had 3 pretty modest meals so my old boss who was a larger guy said at the end of his mission he was in by far the best shape of his life (he was a bigger kid in high school and pretty large when I knew him but apparently in great shape after his mission).
On my mission i ran a total of 3 times. Ate a terrible diet. Never worked out. Walked a ton of mileage though(easily 5 miles a day).
Was exhausted physically and mentally at the end.
Less Than 1% chance and byu guy is getting in any mileage on the mission
I don’t believe this at all. Unless you weren’t obeying at all. The schedule has 30 minutes for exercise every morning. It was a pretty strict requirement. Maybe you didn’t run, but the morning exercise isn’t presented as optional, so if you ‘never worked out’ you definitely did not do a Mormon mission.
On my mission i ran a total of 3 times. Ate a terrible diet. Never worked out. Walked a ton of mileage though(easily 5 miles a day).
Was exhausted physically and mentally at the end.
Less Than 1% chance and byu guy is getting in any mileage on the mission
I don’t believe this at all. Unless you weren’t obeying at all. The schedule has 30 minutes for exercise every morning. It was a pretty strict requirement. Maybe you didn’t run, but the morning exercise isn’t presented as optional, so if you ‘never worked out’ you definitely did not do a Mormon mission.
It’s pretty easy to look this up so not sure why people lie. The exercise looks different for everyone, but even if your mission partner doesn’t want to run, you can do laps while he does burpees and push ups or whatever, but you are both exercising 30 minutes every morning.
Eyestone kind of tried to downplay the missions-leading-to-older-age advantage that BYU has in NCAA cross, saying that basically the guys just get completely out of shape and gain a bunch of weight etc.
What's the real truth here? Are those guys still running while on mission?
Casey Clinger was a highschool senior in 2016. Not trying to be a hater. I'll let y'all do the math on that.
Discus.
Built into their day is like 30 minute block for exercise every morning. This is good for 4-6 miles/day depending how fast or easy they go on any given day. They get a little free time one day a week as well. So if they wanted to run, 30-50 miles a week was pretty easy.
Also, Mormons I knew said they pretty much walked/biked/worked or studied all day and had 3 pretty modest meals so my old boss who was a larger guy said at the end of his mission he was in by far the best shape of his life (he was a bigger kid in high school and pretty large when I knew him but apparently in great shape after his mission).
Not a single missionary worked out regularly on my mission. Most used that time to lie in bed and rest. No energy to workout when you are walking insane miles everyday with crappy food no ac and third world infrastructure. Trust me. People are not working out on missions.
We are underestimating the kind of non-impact cardio gains you get from going door to door as a mormon missionary. HR easily 150+ every time somebody answers that door.
Built into their day is like 30 minute block for exercise every morning. This is good for 4-6 miles/day depending how fast or easy they go on any given day. They get a little free time one day a week as well. So if they wanted to run, 30-50 miles a week was pretty easy.
Also, Mormons I knew said they pretty much walked/biked/worked or studied all day and had 3 pretty modest meals so my old boss who was a larger guy said at the end of his mission he was in by far the best shape of his life (he was a bigger kid in high school and pretty large when I knew him but apparently in great shape after his mission).
Not a single missionary worked out regularly on my mission. Most used that time to lie in bed and rest. No energy to workout when you are walking insane miles everyday with crappy food no ac and third world infrastructure. Trust me. People are not working out on missions.
You got some lazy ass missionaries then.
I guess it depends on where you are sent then. I worked for a company with a big SLC presence and quite a few Mormon people. They served in South America, Israel, parts of Africa, the US, Asia, Europe. Many were in very western countries with similar amenities to what you’d expect in the US. Just based on the time a lot went to Eastern Europe post far of Soviet empire. All of them though exercised at the allotted time or lied about it.
My boss served in a not very developed area. They lived in a hut, ran or did circuits around a dirt track/loop (around a field mostly used for kids to play soccer). It was very much a situation where neither person would be the lazy one. The whole point of going in pairs was they held each other accountable and never completely trusted the other person wouldn’t rat them out if they didn’t follow the schedule.
I just find it hard to believe they all lied about keeping to the schedule. I guess a few could, and maybe you got lucky with another rule breaker. My point was though, if a top tier athlete committed to success was on a mission and valued training, they could easily get 30-50 mile/week in.
I’m on the BYU cross country, so I have a pretty good idea how much people worked out on their missions. I only know of one person that ran consistently on his mission. One other person ran consistently for the last third of his mission. Other than them, I can’t think of anyone that ran frequently.
During my two year mission, I averaged 0.8 miles a day. I basically ran 3-4 miles once a week for most of my mission, and it was almost always slower than 8:00 pace. I only had one companion that was willing to run with me every morning (my very first companion), and he got mad at me for running ahead and looping back for him. So I had to run slow with him to maintain the peace. Those runs were usually about 2.5 miles and we did that for about two months.
When I didn’t go running, I would have to stay in the apartment with my companion and find some way to work out. Honestly, there were a lot of times where I was too tired to work out so I would do a couple push ups, call it good enough, and move on with the rest of my day.
People don’t really believe that we, missionaries, follow all the super strict rules like always staying with our companion or following the schedule (30 minutes for exercise time), but the very large majority do. I never left my companion to go on a run by myself. That was against the rules, and I wanted to be obedient. Most of the guys on the team were very similar to me. They wanted to run, but their companion didn’t want to.
It took me about 6 months after coming home to return to my peak high school fitness. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me.
I’m on the BYU cross country, so I have a pretty good idea how much people worked out on their missions. I only know of one person that ran consistently on his mission. One other person ran consistently for the last third of his mission. Other than them, I can’t think of anyone that ran frequently.
During my two year mission, I averaged 0.8 miles a day. I basically ran 3-4 miles once a week for most of my mission, and it was almost always slower than 8:00 pace. I only had one companion that was willing to run with me every morning (my very first companion), and he got mad at me for running ahead and looping back for him. So I had to run slow with him to maintain the peace. Those runs were usually about 2.5 miles and we did that for about two months.
When I didn’t go running, I would have to stay in the apartment with my companion and find some way to work out. Honestly, there were a lot of times where I was too tired to work out so I would do a couple push ups, call it good enough, and move on with the rest of my day.
People don’t really believe that we, missionaries, follow all the super strict rules like always staying with our companion or following the schedule (30 minutes for exercise time), but the very large majority do. I never left my companion to go on a run by myself. That was against the rules, and I wanted to be obedient. Most of the guys on the team were very similar to me. They wanted to run, but their companion didn’t want to.
It took me about 6 months after coming home to return to my peak high school fitness. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me.
Thanks for responding! Any thoughts on how Clinger was able to get back into crazy good shape 4 months after getting back from his mission?
At one point in his mission, Clinger had a companion who was also a runner:
“Most days, they wake at 6:30 in the morning, stretch quickly, and attempt to scratch out 30 minutes of running on the icy streets near their apartment.”
The article also mentions him having companions who would bike with him as he ran.
I’ve coached kids who would go on to go on missions. Not every experience was the same. Some had motivated companions who would bike or try to jog with them, along with a leader in the area who encouraged them to work hard for college athletics, others had no support
Even if you're an NXN champion, you don't take 2 years off from the sport and gain a bunch of weight and then come back and run at NCAAs for XC 4 months later. They are running. They aren't doing daily intervals and double thresholds with the boys. But they are definitely working out and running.
For reference, Casey Clinger took 2 years off and then gets 13th at NCAAs against a very good field? Casey isn't THAT kind of talent. He has been training 4 years since then and still hasn't been a champion. I call cap. He was running and getting workouts in during his mission.
Clinger got back in December. Nationals was late November. Literally a year later.
Most Mormon missionaries follow the rules set out for them. Limited exercise time and have to stay with your "companion". Work too tiring to really train anyways, etc.
The question we should be asking is why don't the Mormons update their missions for the 21st century? 40 hours of missionary work a week and being able to go out and explore, integrate into the local culture, and keep fit would probably do better to spread their mission. The companions could be more like roommates instead of butt buddies. They have been really unsuccessful at getting converts for quite some time.
The Mormons are more active in Brazil than any other country, but despite that less than 2% of the population is Mormon (2% is Christian other than Protestant or Roman Catholic, a differentiation which Mormonism is lumped into).
Next up is the Philippines, less than 4% other Christian - again Mormonism isn't even big enough to be included seperately.
Nigeria? 0.6% other religions - a category that includes all non Abrahamic faiths and everything else.
Even in England, where there isn't much of a cultural barrier, they fail.
Instead of sending these young men out on missions and stunting their development for 2 years, they should be encouraged to use their own resources and supported by the church to spread their faith after college.
You are going to argue that missionaries do other work that benefits the community, not just proselytize. That's true, but the work could be better done by sending mormon professionals to teach the locals how to improve their communities and giving them the money to do so directly instead of supporting young people who have to give up 2 years of their lives.
