I came to an interesting realization lately. Now, I know I look much different now that I do weight training vs how I looked years ago when I ran 5-10 miles several times a week, but I was recently looking at people who run a lot.
Sure most of the real marathoners look especially lean, and don’t have a lot of muscle, but I’ve also noticed good number of ‘runners’, or people who are always doing marathons (or even always in aerobics classes, we’re talking 2+ hours of aerobics a day here), and are not lean at all. In fact, I’ve noticed that a lot of them are downright chubby.
When I used to run all the time, I was sickly skinny. I couldn’t eat enough food to put on any weight at all, it would just burn off. How is it possible to do so much calorie burning and still have a constant pudgy appearance?!??
If its just the stomach it could be from breathing, this could be completely wrong but I heard that practicing deep breathing can give you the appearance of a little gut.
[quote]shizen wrote:
If its just the stomach it could be from breathing, this could be completely wrong but I heard that practicing deep breathing can give you the appearance of a little gut. [/quote]
Excessive running is catabolic and increases cortisol, especially when most of the people doing it have no idea about those conditions/how to maintain anabolism (and shock horror, the world anabolism would probably make them ‘run a mile’!) Elevated cortisol is also going to specifically increase belly fat.
Most people who ‘run’ are also the same people who think that fat will kill them and breakfast cereals and fruit juice will make them lose weight. I mean come one, everyone knows that jogging burns fat!
These people never bother to wonder why sprinters are so damn lean and if you give them that example, they’re like, ‘oh isn’t that strange’.
[quote]evo2008 wrote:
Excessive running is catabolic and increases cortisol, especially when most of the people doing it have no idea about those conditions/how to maintain anabolism (and shock horror, the world anabolism would probably make them ‘run a mile’!) Elevated cortisol is also going to specifically increase belly fat.
Most people who ‘run’ are also the same people who think that fat will kill them and breakfast cereals and fruit juice will make them lose weight. I mean come one, everyone knows that jogging burns fat!
These people never bother to wonder why sprinters are so damn lean and if you give them that example, they’re like, ‘oh isn’t that strange’.
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Also, as the body works to achieve status and becomes more efficent the metabolic gains of aerobic exercise decrease. Most people run for runnings sake and seldom have the ability or desire to become faster. (Markedly faster mind you.)
They are just happen when they show up at the field. After all everyone gets a T-Shirst for showing up.
With the two examples you gave (yourself and the fatties), it becomes obvious that running is fantastic exercise if your goal is to increase aerobic capacity while looking exactly the same.
People naturally eat at maintenance levels, so if their activity level goes up, their appetite will adjust itself accordingly to balance things out. So if Mr. Pudgy runs a couple miles, his body is going to want an extra scoop of ice cream that night. His mind will agree, thinking that he deserves it for the work he put in.
That has to be about the most annoying thing to me. Yes OLYMPIC sprinters are lean, they are OLYMPIC athletes, How many Olympic athletes are not lean? Extremely fast sprinters are lean because naturally having a low body fat will help you run faster. But if you take some fat guy and have him do a few extra sprints with some insane 5 minutes rest in between he is not going to be come some lean ass adonis. Go ask the 300lb football players with stomachs bigger than your whole body, how much sprinting has helped them. Warren Sapp in his prime ran a 4.5 faster than 90% of your lean friends. and He did a ton more sprints than even many track and field athletes.
Just because you run doesn’t mean your running to lose weight. Alot of people run day in and day out with no kind of intensity, they would rather run for a longer period of time than right slightly harder. Running can be a training tool or it can be just something else that a person does. I doubt you will see somebody who can run a sub 6 minute mile being chubby unless they are extremely short.
That has to be about the most annoying thing to me. Yes OLYMPIC SPRINTERS are lean, they are OLYMPIC athletes, How many Olympic athletes are not lean? Extremely fast sprinters are lean because naturally having a low body fat will help you run faster. But if you take some fat guy and have him do a few extra sprints with some insane 5 minutes rest in between he is not going to become some lean ass adonis. Go ask the 300lb football players with stomachs bigger than your whole body, how much sprinting has helped them. Warren Sapp in his prime ran a 4.5 faster than 90% of your lean friends. and He did a ton more sprints than even many track and field athletes.
Just because you run doesn’t mean your running to lose weight. Alot of people run day in and day out with no kind of intensity, they would rather run for a longer period of time than right slightly harder. Running can be a training tool or it can be just something else that a person does. I doubt you will see somebody who can run a sub 6 minute mile being chubby unless they are extremely short.
I guess that’s the simple answer. LIke I mentioned earlier, When I ran a lot, I could never seem to eat enough. Now, I’m not one of those naturally lean guys, in fact, I was a chubby kid, and even now, knowing more about nutrition, I still have to be a little careful not to put on a little pudge.
It just baffles me that people who seemingly burn thousands of calories each day can look like such crap.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I guess that’s the simple answer. LIke I mentioned earlier, When I ran a lot, I could never seem to eat enough. Now, I’m not one of those naturally lean guys, in fact, I was a chubby kid, and even now, knowing more about nutrition, I still have to be a little careful not to put on a little pudge.
It just baffles me that people who seemingly burn thousands of calories each day can look like such crap.
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I suppose it depends on how active they are otherwise. If they run five miles every day, but spend the rest of the time sitting on the couch eating junk food, I imagine they would look like crap. As someone else mentioned, they probably justify their poor nutriton through their running. Couple that with no weight training and the catabolic properties of lots of running, and you get the skinny-fat look. I would also assume that most of these ‘fitness’ types aren’t eating much protein, whihc would, again, contribute. It seems that it would be accumulation of many poor habits.
If a weight-training, nutritionally solid, non-vegetable T-Nation type were to run five miles a day, I bet he would look pretty damn good. Care to try it out, Stu?
[quote]Airtruth wrote:
SPRINTERS ARE NOT FUCKING LEAN!!!
That has to be about the most annoying thing to me. Yes OLYMPIC sprinters are lean, they are OLYMPIC athletes, How many Olympic athletes are not lean? Extremely fast sprinters are lean because naturally having a low body fat will help you run faster. But if you take some fat guy and have him do a few extra sprints with some insane 5 minutes rest in between he is not going to be come some lean ass adonis. Go ask the 300lb football players with stomachs bigger than your whole body, how much sprinting has helped them. Warren Sapp in his prime ran a 4.5 faster than 90% of your lean friends. and He did a ton more sprints than even many track and field athletes.
Just because you run doesn’t mean your running to lose weight. Alot of people run day in and day out with no kind of intensity, they would rather run for a longer period of time than right slightly harder. Running can be a training tool or it can be just something else that a person does. I doubt you will see somebody who can run a sub 6 minute mile being chubby unless they are extremely short.[/quote]
People who consistently sprint are lean. I play football too, but the biggest problem with comparing sprinters to linemen is that linemen do not sprint, they push for a very short distance. Some fullbacks are also fat, but they don’t run to be fast, they run to be powerful. Now, look at the receivers. They actually do sprint (not as much as Olympians), but they are lean.
The whole lean is depends on the diet and person. Consistent sprinters, people who practice it like we do with weight lifting, are lean, especially if there diets are in check. Sprinting assists in becoming lean, if the diet is good. Remember, diet is the main they are lean though.
i did muaythai for 7 years,got the fat off but i wasnt bulked,than did swimming for another 2 years,and than i realized that swimmers tend to have more fat than other athletes due to temperture drop from swimming.
nothing beats weight lifting and i do thai boxing twice a week as my cardio
Running, like lifting, requires progression to stimulate body change. If you keep plodding along at the same 10 minute mile pace for 3 miles a day, month after month, your body will figure out it doesn’t need fat as energy, it will just use the existing glycogen stores.