Your weight should be twice your height in inches?

That's a good rule for the average non-running Joe, but for an elite runner, no way. Way too heavy unless you're built like Solinsky.

I'm 5'11" 155 lbs, def on the 'heavy' side for a runner

But 5'11" 142 lbs seems pretty light to me!

nope nope wrote:

That's a good rule for the average non-running Joe, but for an elite runner, no way. Way too heavy unless you're built like Solinsky.

So what would you consider to be an appropriate weight for a 5'6" distance runner if 132 is "way too heavy?" I don't really keep track of elite runners weights, but I'd imagine that most 5'6" pros are right around that range. I doubt many are "way" under.

if you were 7ft tall, you could only weigh 168#

but if you are 4ft tall you can be a chunky 96#.

what a stupid rule. weight grows exponentially with height. you don't just grow in one dimension.

Where did you learn math? I'll make sure my kids don't go there

Well lets see here:

4ft is 48inches x2 is 96#!

7ft is 84inches x2 is 168#!

LC wrote:

nope nope wrote:

That's a good rule for the average non-running Joe, but for an elite runner, no way. Way too heavy unless you're built like Solinsky.

So what would you consider to be an appropriate weight for a 5'6" distance runner if 132 is "way too heavy?" I don't really keep track of elite runners weights, but I'd imagine that most 5'6" pros are right around that range. I doubt many are "way" under.

Years ago I ran best at 5'6" at 118-120 right after college. 132 would have been sluggish.

Personally, I've found I run best at (height in inches times 2) - 10%. Unfortunately, I have to go into near starvation mode for months at a time to reach that weight.

Heres a chart, top is distance bottom is mid-distance.

Distance average is actually 1.89 lbs/inch mid-distance is 2.26 lbs/inch

Name Weight Height Lbs/Inch

Abdi Abdirahman 130 71.00 1.83

Alan Culpepper 130 73.00 1.78

A. Famiglietti 127 69.00 1.84

Adam Goucher 138 70.00 1.97

Ryan Hall 130 70.00 1.86

Meb Keflezighi 127 67.00 1.90

Khalid Khannouchi 125 65.00 1.92

Bernard Legat 134 68.00 1.97

Dathan Ritzenhein 117 68.00 1.72

Galen Rupp 138 70.00 1.97

Brian Sell 140 71.00 1.97

Matt Tegenkamp 145 73.00 1.99

Averages 131.75 69.58 1.89

Gabe Jennings 154 71.00 2.17

Alan Webb 145 69.00 2.10

Nick Symmonds 165 70.00 2.36

Jorge Torres 145 67.00 2.16

Andrew Wheating 175 77.00 2.27

Duane Solomon 190 75.00 2.53

Chris Solinsky 165 73.00 2.26

Christian Smith 170 74.00 2.30

Khadevis Robinson 160 72.00 2.22

Averages 163.22 72.00 2.26

a name wrote:

Personally, I've found I run best at (height in inches times 2) - 10%. Unfortunately, I have to go into near starvation mode for months at a time to reach that weight.

I've found this to be true for me, too. I hear you on the starvation thing. For me, the hardest part of peaking for a big race is not the training. It's the extremely strict dieting necessary to get my weight to the optimal level. I can't wait for the race to be over so I can start eating like a normal person again.

I think it depends where you fall on the height and body type distribution of runners, you could be a little more muscular and then this wont work.

Uh oh. I'm 5'9" and 170 lbs. But I only have about 13 lbs of fat and I don't do any strength training. So what now, geniuses?

This 2 to 1 rule sounds like it is probably meant for guys who are about average (american) height. At 5'9-5'11 this rule would put you at 138-142. That sounds about right. Once you get away from this average range, as the 4ft and 7ft examples demonstrate, this rule gets more and more inappropriate.

place your bets wrote:

Uh oh. I'm 5'9" and 170 lbs. But I only have about 13 lbs of fat and I don't do any strength training. So what now, geniuses?

So lose some muscle.

Bodybuilders have less body fat % than you do, but they hardly have the ideal runners build. What would your advice to them be if they wanted to run a fast 5k or mile? Lose some muscle.

obvious guy wrote:

place your bets wrote:

Uh oh. I'm 5'9" and 170 lbs. But I only have about 13 lbs of fat and I don't do any strength training. So what now, geniuses?

So lose some muscle.

Bodybuilders have less body fat % than you do, but they hardly have the ideal runners build. What would your advice to them be if they wanted to run a fast 5k or mile? Lose some muscle.

But how do I do that? I already don't do any strength training.

place your bets wrote:

But how do I do that? I already don't do any strength training.

How do you think?

obvious guy wrote:

How do you think?

I think by letting my brain work. So far, I can either starve myself and in the meantime exhaust my body of it's needed fat for brain function or I could find the nearest muscle bank to make a donation.

How do you answer a question, enlightened one?

dylan383 wrote:What do people think about this?

It's just a rule of thumb. By this I should be 15' tall but I'm not. NO, really I'm not!!