Posted On: Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 10:26 am
While many people in this society are interested in losing weight for cosmetic reasons, improved sports performance and for health reasons, some people want to gain weight.
# They feel they would look better and feel better weighing more. Also, in some sports, being large is considered an advantage. However, most people instinctively feel there is an inverse proportion between weight and speed. How the change in weight affects performance depends on many factors. Which sport does the athlete practice?
# What is the initial size and physical condition of the athlete?
# How much weight has been gained and how fast was it gained?
# How much of the increased weight is muscle and how much is fat?
# Did the athlete continue to practice his or her sport?
# Was strength training performed, if so was the program sport specific?
# Was endurance and flexibility training included in the program?
While all sports depend to some extent on delivery of force to an object, an opponent, the ground, or the weight of the athlete’s own body, some depend less on strength and power and more on speed, endurance or agility as determining factors of the winner. Sports such as the marathon, badminton, lawn bowling, Long distance swimming, tennis and archery are all considered events where size and strength are not a major factor. Indeed, many would argue that large size is a handicap in those sports rather than an asset.
Everyone has seen an athlete who had taken time off from training and ate or drank too much, gained weight and lost speed. People always attribute the decreased performance to the weight being gained. Actually the relationship between body weight (mass) and speed (velocity) is more complicated then that.
Decrements in performance can be related to decreased conditioning and strength, and inadequate practice of the skills of the sport. In this case, the weight gained was fat and the athlete had suspended the training program. Try to gain only muscle unless your bodyfat is very low.
The final speed attained by any object, expressed as vf, is dependent on its initial speed and direction (vi), acceleration, and how long the acceleration is applied (t = time), as expressed in the equation vf=vi + t(Dv/t) or as vf=vi + t(a). Acceleration (a), the increase in speed over time, is also expressed as Dv/t. Acceleration requires force to be applied to the object in the direction the object is desired to travel. F is the force applied to the object. The equation F = ma expresses the relationship between the force applied, the mass of the object and the acceleration. If one divides both sides of the equation by the mass, it is shown that, acceleration is equal to the force divided by the mass of the object (F/m = a). If the same amount of force is used on objects of unequal weight, the heavier object will have less acceleration. That is why an athlete who gains weight without gaining strength will experience less acceleration and have a slower final speed. It would seem obvious that more bodyweight results in less speed. However, if one could increase the force applied to a greater extent than the increase in weight, there would be an increase in speed.
In sports where collisions are part of the game, momentum will carry the day over pure speed. If M is momentum, m is mass and speed is v, than M = mv. As you can see, there are many variables in determining performance. Momentum also plays a part in the jostling that occurs under the net in basketball or in the pack during a marathon.
Finding Your Optimum Weight For Performance
The trick to finding the best weight for speed is strength to weight ratio. That is one reason many athletes endeavor to reduce their level of bodyfat. Fat is excess baggage that reduces speed and increases drag. However, losing too much weight, or losing it too fast results in loss of muscle mass, functional strength and speed.
However, if strength increased the same amount for every pound of muscle gained, and that strength increase could be converted directly to increased speed, the worlds’ best sprinters would all be very large and muscular. Anyone who has watched the Olympics can see that is not the case.
Is there a point of diminishing returns for strength gained versus the increase in muscle mass? Force needs to be applied where and when needed and in the amount required to optimally perform the function desired. Undirected force simply is wasted or even counterproductive. If the strength and flexibility of the muscles performing a function are out of balance with the muscles performing the opposite movements, injuries will occur. If the muscles that stabilize the body for a particular function can occur are weak, the strength is poorly translated into speed and is often misdirected. All strength training must take this into account. In addition, changes in body mechanics occur with increasing muscle size and at some point become less optimal. It is also important to continue practicing the skills of your sport when increasing strength and size so the neurological system can adapt to the changes.
What is the optimal amount of muscle mass for a given sport? That depends on the sport and on each individual athlete. Every sport has different requirements for strength, speed, endurance and coordination. In addition, each athlete has individual variations in the physical parameters that make up an athlete’s suitability for a particular athletic event. These include; height, body proportions, joint flexibility, joint stability, muscle fiber ratio’s, neuromuscular efficiency, insertion points for muscle attachment to the bones, lung capacity, body fat percentage just to name a few.
Weight Classes, Performance And Health
Some sports have weight classes or weight limits, such as boxing, wrestling, martial arts, and rowing (crew). For the most part, athletes strive to have a fairly low level of fat and high level of muscle, while making weight for these sports. Unfortunately, some athletes and coaches seem to believe that the lower the weight class, the greater will be the advantage for the athlete. Sometimes an athlete may be more effective in a higher weight class then they are currently competing in. At a certain point, too much muscle or water is lost and performance suffers. The proof of the suitability of a particular weight class for an individual is in comparing the performances and overall health between the different weight classes.
Even in Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting, there is a limit to the effectiveness of more muscle mass and more strength. At a certain point, going up another weight class will result in placing lower in competition, even though the athlete is lifting more weight.
Athletes will use extreme measures to gain weight or lose weight. Wrestling is notorious for fast weight loss using dietary and fluid restriction, diuretics, laxatives, saunas and “Sauna Suits”. On the other side, people trying to gain weight will overeat, restrict aerobic exercise and take Anabolic Steroids to gain weight. These practices can damage your health or even kill you. In the case of Steroid use, they are also illegal and will disqualify you from further competition.
In most non-weight class sports, the process is the same, although less formalized. These comparisons should also take into account any other variables such as differences in training, nutrition, stress and injuries.
A proper strength-training program is essential to most athletic pursuits and is especially important when gaining weight. Each sport places a different emphasis on strength, speed and endurance for particular areas of the body.
Excess muscle mass in areas not central to the functions of an athlete’s sport may reduce speed. The areas that require extra strength need to be trained harder than other areas, which should receive only enough work to enhance overall fitness improve balance.
Athletes in power and speed events need to produce more force per contraction and greater speed of contraction than endurance athletes do, but for shorter periods of time. The type of contractions and the period of time that must be performed in their event will determine what type of training should predominate.
Weightlifters, Track and Field Jumpers and throwers need to contract rapidly and powerfully, but only for a few seconds. However, the shot-putters and javelin throwers do not need to propel their own bodyweight, there is no weight limitation. The High Jumpers and long Jumpers need to find an optimum strength to weight ratio to achieve the best possible height or distance.
Short distance runners, swimmers and football players need to contract rapidly and powerfully repeatedly for less than one minute. Middle distance runners 400 to 1500 meters need to contract less rapidly, but for several minutes. Football lineman, Wrestlers and practitioners of Judo and Jiu-Jitsu need to contract both rapidly and maintain near static contractions for multiple bouts of time ranging from 10 seconds to 2 minutes.
to be continued…
Tags: gain weight, muscle mass, Sports