I am slightly bamboozled as to how diverse peoples physiques are.

Why? We live a ludicrously vast array of lifestyles, with an incredible range of diets, formed by two different people that themselves were formed from two different people, and so on. The room for variation is huge.

Chocolate mainly.

My mum seemed surprised at how tall and lean the high-jumpers were in the Olympics. Like, I said, it helps when you want to jump high. We’d been watching the rugby, so maybe the contrast provoked her to comment. Physique talk. its where its at.

Physiques can also change over time. Once I could see my six-pack now I cannot see my feet

I’m more bamboozled as to how diverse peoples intellects are.

Grammar too

Are tall people really any better than those of us of average height?

Are the high jumpers actually really tall, or do they just look tall because they’re the correct, healthy, weight?
Compared to the average biffer.

Oi, I resemble that comment.

Are tall people really any better than those of us of average height?

Yes we are. In every aspect of life really. That’s why there’s never any clothes, cars, bus seats or beds that fit us- average size people are too dumb to make them and us tall people have got better things to do. We’re a victim of our own success

In relation to the high jump – obviously the height of their jumps are measured. But it’s interesting to see how high some of the tiny gymnasts achieve in their floor routines but there’s no measure made. I wonder what height Simone Biles could clear.

Equally, it’s probably no co-incidence that so many swimmers have broad shoulders and freakinshly long arms / big hands.

I wonder what height Simone Biles could clear.

This is why we need to bring back Superstars ASAP.

Brian Jacks could probably beat them all in the high jump.

Something that I don’t understand; in most sports, the male and female athletes have pretty much the same build, as that’s the ideal build for the sport. So, cyclists are scrawny, long distance runners are scrawny (and often tall), sprinters are pretty ripped, high jumpers are tall and thin etc etc. Male decathletes are all-overly athletic like the female heptathletes.

However, in swimming, the men are all absolutely ripped and the women are not, they’re often kinda ‘big’. Why is that? Clearly, the body shape they have is the product of years and years of training to be at the peak of their sport, so why are the women not ripped like the men and/or conversely, why aren’t the men ‘big’ like the women?

** For the avoidance of doubt, I am NOT calling female swimmers fat **

The neat trick in high jump is the body goes over the bar but the centre of gravity does not. Having long limbs relative to torso means that the centre of gravity in the inverted Fosbury position will be lower and hence it’s an advantage. Height should be measured relative to body height. As per weight lifted to body weight. The lightest weightlifters are the stars.

I have spent many years diversifying my physique.

I tried to diversify my physique as a younger person,by sharing it with as many people of the opposite gender group as possible.

IHN
Full Member

Something that I don’t understand; in most sports, the male and female athletes have pretty much the same build, as that’s the ideal build for the sport. So, cyclists are scrawny, long distance runners are scrawny (and often tall), sprinters are pretty ripped, high jumpers are tall and thin etc etc. Male decathletes are all-overly athletic like the female heptathletes.

However, in swimming, the men are all absolutely ripped and the women are not, they’re often kinda ‘big’. Why is that? Clearly, the body shape they have is the product of years and years of training to be at the peak of their sport, so why are the women not ripped like the men and/or conversely, why aren’t the men ‘big’ like the women?

** For the avoidance of doubt, I am NOT calling female swimmers fat **

Yeah I noticed that, they’re obviously very muscular, but not anywhere near as low fat% as other female athletes.

I just googled it and apparently there’s an advantage for female swimmers to do with buoyancy/drag and where they tend to carry fat. Plausible I suppose.

A Woman’s Advantage in Fat Distribution

Women tend to carry excess fat in the hips, thighs and buttocks. Hormones associated with childbirth and breastfeeding drive this storage to support a fetus and newborn. This means the lower half of female swimmers float more readily, and this reduces drag, according to Dr. David Costill, writing for U.S. Masters Swimming. A more buoyant back end greatly reduces the amount of energy — in terms of calories per pound of weight — a woman uses to swim at the same speed compared to a thin man.

If male swimmers attempted to become more buoyant by adding fat, it would backfire, however. Men tend to gain weight in the belly, which would make their upper bodies float, but their legs sink, which would increase drag and slow them down.

sauce: https://healthfully.com/normal-body-fat-percentage-of-women-swimmers-6580193.html

That’s interesting. So the fastest female swimmers are the ones that naturally carry that fat I suppose, regardless of the amount of training they do (because I assume it’s not like they include eating cakes in their training plans)

In relation to the high jump – obviously the height of their jumps are measured. But it’s interesting to see how high some of the tiny gymnasts achieve in their floor routines but there’s no measure made. I wonder what height Simone Biles could clear.

Someone did suggest this, a gymnast in the long jump and a sumo wrestler in the ice hockey goal, probably do quite well

I’m psyched by the difference in people’s bamboo.

Good question. I noticed how male divers are very muscular with low body fat.

Presumably that is not from diving itself but other gym work, training and diet? Does it benefit them in diving or is it a vanity thing having to stand in front of millions of people.

Diving is essentially gymnastics*, except that you land in water not on a mat. So they have to be a) strong b) light c) flexible, which is why they look like they do.

*without quite the reliance on massive upper body strength that is a feature of men’s gymnastics, so they don’t have shoulders the size of footballs like male gymnasts do.

Out of interest does anyone know why the heavyweight weightlifters tend to be as big, majority of them with sizeable guts too?
Is it due to needing to make the weight cut or some other reason related to the sport

majority of them with sizeable guts too?

There is a lot, lot, lot of muscle behind that powerbelly, from years of squatting huge weights. There was a vid on YouTube with Eddie Hall (powerlifter and ex World’s Strongest Man) and a gymnast, and the gymnast poked his belly and it was rock solid. Hang on…

Don’t forget that the floor the gymnasts are bouncing off is slightly sprung….

Climbing is an interesting one. It’s one of the few sports where the performance gap is fairly small between women and men. As I understand it, it’s to do with strength to weight ratio rather than ability to build strength so the male muscle building advantage is negated somewhat.

https://mountainequipment.com/blogs/mountain-equipment-blog/women-crushers-is-there-a-gender-gap-in-climbing

Ihn – that was my suspicion. I didn’t think it was a full on beer belly

So they haven’t transferred across from darts then?