dash times (track/ football) & body fat percentage

[madgame]

I noticed there were quite a few ppl on this board who play football and thus might be able to answer my question (maybe even some track athlete).

I'm wondering how much it'd help in my 40yard or 100m dash time if I could go from 15-17% bodyfat to like 8%. I thought that would have to get me MUCH faster than I am right now, but on the other hand there are guys who could drop way more body fat than me but were still known to be fast (some soccer players..and probably some football players, too). So I guess the universal laws of physics I can think of right now dont apply here lol and was wondering if anybody has done that..dropped bodyfat to boost their dash times?


Oh..plus I was wondering how much of a difference (timewise again) putting on track shoes with spikes made..compared to running a 100m dash (or 40yard dash for that matter) in ..well basketball shoes lol

I'm wondering if I should give track a try as I've always been fascinated with 100m dashes and because quickness is probably my best strength in basketball.

Oh and maybe...maybe somebody knows if hurdle runners are usually above average tall? Im between 6'3-6'4 and I know the best german hurdle runner is freakingly huge like 6'7'' so I figured maybe hurdle runners were usually above average tall (cause its easier to get over the hurdles that way?).

 

[Jay-X]

Originally posted by madgame

I'm wondering how much it'd help in my 40yard or 100m dash time if I could go from 15-17% bodyfat to like 8%. I thought that would have to get me MUCH faster than I am right now, but on the other hand there are guys who could drop way more body fat than me but were still known to be fast (some soccer players..and probably some football players, too). So I guess the universal laws of physics I can think of right now dont apply here lol and was wondering if anybody has done that..dropped bodyfat to boost their dash times?

lol if i ever see a good soccer player with a fat percentage over 12%... more than 15-17%? no way

 

[madgame]

ever heard of ailton or maradonna (after not being lean anymore)? Considering I'm around 15-17% when I'm going for mass and still look muscular and lean, these guys are/were EASILY over 20% bodyfat.

Could somebody move this to health & fitness tho? I just noticed this isnt the right board..

 

[Jay-X]

Originally posted by madgame
ever heard of ailton or maradonna (after not being lean anymore)? Considering I'm around 15-17% when I'm going for mass and still look muscular and lean, these guys are/were EASILY over 20% bodyfat.

Could somebody move this to health & fitness tho? I just noticed this isnt the right board..

man, have you ever seen them when they were still playing in the pros? maradona (not maradonna) looked stocky because was a short endomorph, but his bodyfat percentage was under 15%.

ailton over 20%? don't make me laugh and look at this pic of him:

http://i.wp.pl/a/f/pjpeg/8251/ailton_schalke_duze.jpg

he was under 14% for sure


p.s.: i can't get how you can look lean at 17%

 

[madgame]

How familiar are you with body fat percentages? I mean have you ever had yours tracked (with a body fat caliper..not with those scales)? I'm not trying to act like a wise-guy or anything, but most people who've never had their body fat checked exactly have a bad notion of how high their body fat % could be (there's fat in the organs or something that's usually 4-5% if I remember that right. If ppl claims they have a lower percentage than that they either had it checked wrong or have quite some muscle..so the percentage goes down).

And..well in that photo Ailton is in fairly good shape. There were times when he played for Weder Bremen where he wasnt in such good shape however :-D but was still fairly fast (Im from germany btw)

 

[madgame]

I was looking for a old thread of mine where I had posted a photo somewhere right after cutting down where I was in farily good shape and ppl estimated me to be at 13-14% bodyfat...when I'm at the end of a bulking cycle I'm probably more at like 15,16 maybe even 17%...and I still look as cut as Ailton looks in the Schalke picture..But then again maybe I'm just the one who's wrong..I mean its possible and that isnt even the point here..but just look at this photo..especially at his face..when he was playing for Bremen (at least during some time) you could really tell he had a not-so-slim-stomach also when he was wearing their jersey (I dont watch soccer too much but over here hes always been known as a fatty lol):

http://www.football-rumours.com/ailton.html

 

[diablo]

H&F...

 

[Jay-X]

Originally posted by madgame
How familiar are you with body fat percentages? I mean have you ever had yours tracked (with a body fat caliper..not with those scales)? I'm not trying to act like a wise-guy or anything, but most people who've never had their body fat checked exactly have a bad notion of how high their body fat % could be (there's fat in the organs or something that's usually 4-5% if I remember that right. If ppl claims they have a lower percentage than that they either had it checked wrong or have quite some muscle..so the percentage goes down).

And..well in that photo Ailton is in fairly good shape. There were times when he played for Weder Bremen where he wasnt in such good shape however :-D but was still fairly fast (Im from germany btw)

again, ailton is an endomorph, so he'll always look fatter than he really is. having a belly doesn't mean anything: i start to develop a gut when i get past 9-10%, but it's so solid that you can't even pinch it...

 

[madgame]

endomorph actually means a person that has more bodyfat than average by nature. And if he only looked like an endomorph tho he had little bodyfat his face wouldnt look that swollen. But let's stop discussing about that, because it'll probably lead nowhere other than the two of us wasting some time trying to convince the other person of our opinion .

Maybe some other opinions?

 

[Un-Aru]

My $3.50: Your typical muscle has two types of muscle fibres, type 1 and type 2 (actually there's type 2a and 2b as well but let's keep it simple). Most people have around a 50/50 mix. However you have your freaks of nature that have predominantly one or the other, and we all know them, they're the guys that don't train, they eat, drink and smoke all day and can still blitz you in a long distance run (type 1) or in a sprint (type 2). Then they decide to start taking their training seriously and end up in the pro's or at the olympics...

Anyways, if you are blessed with lots of type 2 fibres (called 'fast twitch') you're gonna be fast no matter how big you are. If you don't have many at all, you're gonna have to work your a$$ off to get those few fast twitch fibres you do possess to fire at an optimum level, but you're NEVER gonna have genuine pace. (The trade off is that you've got the potential do develop freakish endurance)

If, like most people, you've got a 50/50 mix then you can get a lot quicker through some perodic training phases:

1. Increase strength - don't confuse this with an increase in size, the two don't necessarily go together, although they can. There is a point where performance actually decreases because your skeletal frame can't EFFICIENTLY support the increase in mass - even if you are sitting at 8%.
2. Convert to power - this is where you get into some serious plyometrics to increase muscle power output.
3. Convert to speed - hit the track/field, increase your cadence work and ramp up the sprint training.

Behind this should also be a programme of technique drills to increase your sprinting efficiency.

To answer your original question then: Yes, you can get marginally faster by simply dropping bodyfat (cos there are physics at work), but I'll tell you now you'll probably get a LOT faster by going through the 3 phases I mentioned. And because this training is damn hard, you'll drop bodyfat anyway.