Quote:
Originally Posted by Broadsword2004
What about in terms of muscle mass? For example, would it be possible for say a marathoner to have a form of muscled physique, or do they have to be very lanky thin?
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A heavily muscled person can do plenty of endurance activities well.
They will actually have more
absolute endurance than they will with less muscle mass.
Racing against a clock (at a distance where endurance matters) is a function of
relative endurance, not absolute endurance.
Thinner people do it better because they are doing less work (carrying less weight), not because they have more endurance.
The limiting factor in an aerobic activity is how much oxygen you can process (heart and lungs).
The exact same person at a heavier weight has to process more oxygen to maintain the same speed they would at a lower weight.
In my father's experience, the correlation between his weight and running times (for longer distances) was almost 1 to 1.
His peers experienced similar correlations.