Science questions not worth a thread I: I'm a moron!

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I don't think lactic acid will matter in a short sprint. It's only 100m.
Its about the your muscle fibres. Some people have more "fast twitch muscles" then others, particularly if your of west african extraction.


As I understand it, fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fiber is also, at least to a large degree, a training issue. You have to develop the muscles through use. Some people may be more predisposed to certain athletic abilities, but ultimately you don't get it without the work.
 
Frankly, genetics play a part in athletic performance but if you're talking world-class sprinters, conditioning and training would be far more important. Yeah their kid would have a good shot at having a phenomenal physique but he'd still need to train as hard as Bolt has. You never see that part of athletics. Athletes like Bolt have a full time career of working out and balancing a diet and staying as focused as a coke head while not actually being a coke head.
 
If you compare all the olympic events 100m sprint is probably the one which requires the least training and time. There is no technique to master. All you have to do is have the best body you can, very lean but with tons of muscle. Add a good start which does require training but it is bloody easy, it's just reflexes and your natural talent will take you the rest of the way (i'm mean seriously, training somebody to lift there knees up and down?! thats a natural thing).
It was like at school nobody practiced sprinting but there was 1 fella who absolutely blitzed 100m and could easily beat anybody. I think he managed it in 11-12 seconds on a terrible grass track - no amount of training could bring me or anybody else to that level. It's all natural talent.

..but sure lets say my Bolt Baby will have a good attitude and will work out and eat healthily (didn't bolt eat chicken nuggets for morning, noon and night @ beijing? :mischief:) - and also hit the track to get a feel for it often. Thats my control for "nurture" how about nature? How many babies will Mrs Bolt need to make to guarantee our sprinter?
 
Yeah but you're talking about a 2/10ths of a second difference between 1st and 4th. Sure, muscles and raw physical ability gets you to a sub 11 second race, but the difference between 11 seconds and 9.63 seconds is entirely down to training, diet, and so on.

We are talking about the absolute margins of human physical ability; every tiny little thing has a huge impact on whether the child is a 100m world champion or just a really fast bloke.
 
I'm not sure that a school kid blitzing it from a field of say, 100 kids is evidence that sprinting requires "no technique to master" considering that none of his opponents were likely to have technique training either.

As Mise has said, technique, diet, training etc is vital if you want to even have a chance at being Olympic champion, not just fastest kid at De Grassi junior high.

And besides, I've seen way too many training montages in movies to know this to be true
 
I disagree. Bolt admits he hates training and he barely trains - yet he is the Olympic champion in three events. Sprinting is 95% genetics and 5% training.
 
He hates to train and he rarely does it. He eats macdonalds chicken nuggets during the beijing olympics where he smashed the world record - it's all in his DNA.
 
We really need to move past the nugget thing. It's not like he is sitting on his backside smashing Maccas in Kingstontown 365 days a year for 4 years then his neighbor sticks his head over the fence and says "Usain, get your fat ass to London and bring back the gold"

Ok sure, he may not be the hardest trainer and I agree he must be a genetic freak or he would never have achieved what he has. But I'd guess that the Olympic 100m champions of the past have certainly spent a lot of time on technique, diet etc. Usually the race is won by hundredths of a second, not the margins he wins by. Training would often be a part of the difference.

Oh and finally, if all the hard work has been done, I doubt a few nuggets, fries and a coke in the Olympic village is gonna undo it all.
 
I disagree. Bolt admits he hates training and he barely trains - yet he is the Olympic champion in three events. Sprinting is 95% genetics and 5% training.

Agree and disagree. Some people are just inherently fast. Maybe 1% of the population.

Then there's 5% of the population that are genetically fast, but must train to get up to Bolt's level.

And finally the 90% of us that won't ever be that fast no matter how hard we train.


And the 4% that just absolutely suck at everything. :mischief:
 
Besides temperature, what's the difference between the Sun's plasma and the plasma in our blood?

The Sun's plasma is chemically made up of mostly hydrogen and a bit of helium. The plasma in our blood is chemically mostly water.
 
They're terms describing very different things. Plasma is a form of matter, distinct from liquids, solids and gases. It's kinda gas-like though.

Blood plasma is the fluid that red and white blood cells float around in.
 
They're terms describing very different things. Plasma is a form of matter, distinct from liquids, solids and gases. It's kinda gas-like though.

Blood plasma is the fluid that red and white blood cells float around in.
Cool. Thanks! :)
 
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