Exercise Physiology

The Science of Performance

Power Running^sm

Part 9: Bodyweight

The prognosis was bad.  The cancer had spread from his testicles up to his abdomen, lungs, and brain.  The survival rate from this particular type of cancer was dismal.  The doctors told him he had about a 50% chance of survival, but they were lying to him.  Truthfully, he had a 10% chance of living.  It was 1996 and world class cyclist Lance Armstrong had just started the fight of and for his life.

He did survive though.  And more than survive, Lance went on to win the most grueling and prestigious bike race in the world – the Tour de France – an amazing and unprecedented 6 consecutive times as of this writing.  His story is one of the most inspirational stories you will ever encounter.

Interestingly, Lance credits the cancer with doing something to him that dramatically improved his cycling ability.  The chemotherapy he underwent caused him to lose 15 pounds of upper body mass.  When he finally recovered from cancer and returned to racing, his leg power returned to pre-cancer levels, but his overall body weight was down 15 pounds.  That 15 lb loss was instrumental in catapulting Lance from a world class cyclist into one of the best cyclist of all time.  Anything that significant deserves some scrutiny, don’t you think?

I started this series by stating that muscle contractility limits performance and that you should focus on increasing muscle power in order to improve performance.  The other side of the coin, in terms of muscle power, is decreasing bodyweight.  What we are really talking about is power-to-weight ratio.  How much power are you capable of generating and how much resistance are you working against?

If you increase the power output of your muscles your performance will improve.  If you decrease the resistance you are working against while keeping your power output at the same level, you will also improve.  What determines the amount of resistance you are working against?  The answer is the weight of your body.

Consider this.  Motorcycles do not generate anywhere near the same amount of horsepower as a high performance automobile.  However, most modern street legal motorcycles can easily beat a high performance automobile in a drag race.  Why?  The answer is that the power-to-weight ratio of the motorcycle is so much greater than that of the automobile.  The automobile engine generates considerably more horsepower, but the automobile weighs so much more than the motorcycle that it gives up all of its horsepower advantage.  The horsepower of the motorcycle in relation to its weight gives it a significant advantage over the more powerful, but heavier, automobile.

Your body works the same way.  Your muscles produce the power for propulsion.  The resistance against which that power works is determined by your total bodyweight.  Reduce your bodyweight while maintaining the same level of power output, and your power-to-weight ratio improves, resulting in improved performance.

Have you ever noticed how lean elite runners are and how little muscle they carry on their upper bodies?  Form follows function.  As a rule, most elite runners run relatively high weekly mileages.  This provides a powerful stimulus to the body to shed both bodyfat and upper body mass.  The body will shed as much mass as it can in order to meet the demands placed on it by running high mileages.  As long as power output is maintained, the reduced body mass results in an improved power-to-weight ratio and improved performance. 

My personal bias is that this one fact accounts for much of the improved performance many runners experience from increasing their weekly mileages.  Bodyweight drops from the increased mileage while power output remains the same, resulting in improved performance.

However, there are more efficient and less stressful ways of reducing both bodyweight and bodyfat than by running high weekly mileages.  There are numerous programs available that can help you safely reduce your bodyweight and improve performance.  I highly recommend the approach advocated by champion bodybuilder Clarence Bass.  He has written several books on his nutrition program that are just excellent.  You can learn more or order his books from his web site at www.cbass.com.

If you want to maximize your performance I recommend you work as hard on your bodyweight as you do on your running. 

Power-to-weight ratio: it transformed Lance Armstrong from a great cyclist into arguably the best of all time.  Imagine what it can do for you. 

Till next time, keep on running.