The headline reads “Report: Smoking may be beneficial to long distance runners”. Some of the reasons presented?

-Serum hemoglobin is related to endurance running performance. Smoking is known to enhance serum hemoglobin levels and (added bonus), alcohol may further enhance this beneficial adaptation.
-Lung volume also correlates with running performance, and training increases lung volume. Guess what else increases lung volume? Smoking.
-Running is a weight-bearing sport, and therefore lighter distance runners are typically faster runners. Smoking is associated with reduced body weight, especially in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (these folks require so much energy just to breath that they often lose weight).

In the discussion, [author Ken Myers] goes on to point out that:

Cigarette smoking has been shown to increase serum hemoglobin, increase total lung capacity and stimulate weight loss, factors that all contribute to enhanced performance in endurance sports. Despite this scientific evidence, the prevalence of smoking in elite athletes is actually many times lower than in the general population. The reasons for this are unclear; however, there has been little to no effort made on the part of national governing bodies to encourage smoking among athletes.

Disclaimer: This study was posted in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, so it could be completely wrong. You know how they are in Canada. Don’t start smoking and send me an angry e-mail when you’re on your knees in the middle of the hurdles throwing up your guts.

Of course, when you dig a little deeper you find out that this was written less to advocate smoking for runners and more to prove that you can prove anything with a review article. I’ve been arguing this for years. Eventually you learn that everything in recorded history is wrong and the science we’ve been raised to believe as fact has been erased and rewritten every hundred years. And people are always like, “oh, no, this is true, I proved it with a bunsen burner” and I’m like “RAHHH PEOPLE USED TO PROVE THE EARTH WAS FLAT WITH A BUNSEN BURNER SHUT UP”.

Regardless, it’s a compelling argument. Next, he should prove how eating more will boost your metabolism and help you be skinny. Yeah f**king right.

Scientists from SMU, Rice, and the University of Wyoming have discovered that humans have potential to run at a rate exceeding 35-40+ MILES PER HOUR.  They were inspired by Usain Bolt’s near-28 mph achievements to see just how far the human body could be pushed.

“If one considers that elite sprinters can apply peak forces of 800 to 1,000 pounds with a single limb during each sprinting step, it’s easy to believe that runners are probably operating at or near the force limits of their muscles and limbs,” he said. “However, our new data clearly show that this is not the case. Despite how large the running forces can be, we found that the limbs are capable of applying much greater ground forces than those present during top-speed forward running.” …

According to Matthew Bundle, an assistant professor of biomechanics at the University of Wyoming, “The very close agreement in the briefest periods of foot-ground contact at top speed in these two very different gaits points to a biological limit on how quickly the active muscle fibers can generate the forces necessary to get the runner back up off the ground during each step.”

The researchers said the new work shows that running speed limits are set by the contractile speed limits of the muscle fibers themselves, with fiber contractile speeds setting the limit on how quickly the runner’s limb can apply force to the running surface.–Science Daily

But why?  Why do people need to run this fast or push themselves to these limits?  As far as the article is concerned, they present no predictions of long-term effects on the human body.  Athletes today operate under great amounts of pressure to perform at higher and higher levels.  The stress they put on their bodies is great, and can even be fatal.  At what point is it too much?  They endure massive amounts of training, and even resort to steroids and HGH, in order to achieve peak physical fitness and ultimately peak performance.  However, this can be a bit myopic and the long-term effects are far greater than the short term results.  Is it worth it?  Maybe pushing the human limits and enduring all of the pain is part of the evolution and innovation process, but at what cost?

I think having the bloodflow temporarily cut off to my brain is a small price to pay for waking up in the lap of MMA vixen Gina Carano. As almost a bit of one-ups-person-ship on Cyborg Santos, Carano made an appearance on Sport Science, the greatest TV show ever, to illustrate what a sexy killing machine she can be. I’m more of a grappler myself. It’s hard to rub up against someone when they’re kicking you in the ribs with 800 pounds of force. And this is her job. I shudder to think of what she does for fun.

Video’s after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »