Advantage? Long legs or short legs for distance running?

How about that black guy who almost messed up Michael Phelps relay team in 2008 olympics

[quote]Tinfoil wrote:

Ha, what are you a follower of POSE? What a fraud you reveal yourself to be.quote]

No Im going the study retard. And I am pretty sure everyone knows there is some degree of falling in each step you take.

tall vs short wrote:

Are there any research studies that look into biomechanical advantages with leg lengths? Lever arm systems and such...

I know Geb and a few other world class Kenyans are no taller than 5'8, while Paul Tergat is well over 6'3.

The purpose of this thread is to see if there are any actual studies that form any sort of conclusion on this.

This is such a silly question and thread. We can pull out examples of super short men and women who are world class and tall ones too. Pretty clear that not one is necessarily better than the other...WAAAAAAY more important things to a distance runner than their height (or leg length). It's all about the engine brother.

Now, the non-runner generally believes that tall=faster (which is stupid beyond belief). I've seen that several times, especially as a youth when people would say something to me like "You won't be able to beat so and so...he's a head taller than you!" WTF! Where does that even come from? I've even had a non-runner comment to me about my son (who if all goes according to what the doctor says won't be any taller than about 5'7") that "he'll have to be a lot taller than you to do well as a runner".

Again, WTF! Where do people get this idea? Man if tall = fast, then why wasn't Manute Bol running the 100 meters in the Olympics?

My PT told me that research shows better results for lower leg length (ankle to knee)

The Kenyans tend to have long legs for their size

Cynical. wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height#Average_height_around_the_world

6'0.5"

Not sure why I am defending this issue so fervently, but where on that link does it say 6'0.5"?

Out of all of the countries listed, all are under 6'0" As I stated earlier, The Netherlands is listed at 5'11" for males 20 and older.

Most countries, if you research the data on your links, are under 5'7".

The whole point of this argument is BigFella claiming 6'3" "isn't that tall." On the world stage, 6'3" is a very tall.

I have been to the Netherlands. There are some tall folks there, as there are in most Nordic countries. I agree with you on that one. 6'3" is tall though, no matter where you are from.

BigFella, how tall are you? Out of curiosity, I wonder if you are tall or short, based on your comment...

Another Dad wrote:

BigFella, how tall are you? Out of curiosity, I wonder if you are tall or short, based on your comment...

6'5" with rather long legs, which probably explains why I am/was a decent runner despite the obvious disadvantage with weight that comes with height and the required cooling of the body.

I have traveled through Europe, North America and Asia. Here is the people's reaction when they first see me.

Asia: giggling, jaw-dropping, shocked.

North America: wow, he is really tall for a white guy.

Netherlands: nothing

Believe me, the difference in terms of height between Netherlands and USA is HUGE.

When I am in the US, I can immediately point out who is northern European and who not. With that I mean born/raised there. Specifically, Scandinavian, Dutch, German.

BigFella wrote:

6'5" with rather long legs, which probably explains why I am/was a decent runner despite the obvious disadvantage with weight that comes with height and the required cooling of the body.

I have traveled through Europe, North America and Asia. Here is the people's reaction when they first see me.

Asia: giggling, jaw-dropping, shocked.

North America: wow, he is really tall for a white guy.

Netherlands: nothing

Believe me, the difference in terms of height between Netherlands and USA is HUGE.

When I am in the US, I can immediately point out who is northern European and who not. With that I mean born/raised there. Specifically, Scandinavian, Dutch, German.

Interesting. Now I can see why you think 6'3" is not so tall. If you were to travel around South America, Mid/Southern Europe and even most of Africa, I imagine you'd get a similar reaction as Asia. I am super tall in most of Europe at 4 inches under you.

I hear you on the USA v. Netherlands thing, though.

There is an optimum leg proportion - manute bol was not fast.

??? I don't think anyone has said that "leg length alone is enough."

What does seem to be true is that certain physical characteristics give an advantage. That's just obvious.

Well actually, science has a lot to say about this. So does anecdotal evidence. For example, shorter, lighter runners tend to do better in distance events. Contrary to what you said, it is pretty clear that this is true. Granted, there are exceptions--but they are exceptions.