Skinny runners?

How runners are so skinny, is it because of their diet and your faster if your more lighter weight or because of the energy consumption?

Depends on the runner.  Mo Farah - as skinny as you like: he's a distance runner.

Usain Bolt?  Big man, very muscular - he's a sprinter.

Sadly you just dont get guys with stocky bodybuilder physiques running competent distance races.

Body's are very adaptable in the young.......and we respond very quickly to our training. If we run plenty of miles, we simply metabolise the fat and unnecessary muscle.

One of my friends at school took up bodybuilding at 17 and got upto around 14.5-15 stone of pretty solid muscle, then got into rugby. After university he took up distance running......and the weight simply flew off him. He must weigh 10 stone now and has run sub 31 min 10ks in his early 30s.

Distance competence seems to go hand in hand with sensible weight loss and a good training plan.

Whenever I have attended a race, there is a huge cross section of body shapes / sizes, from skinny to obese. I think all the people class themselves as runners. Yes the elites will run slower with excess body fat and muscle, but you are just as likely to see skinny people running relatively slowly. I'm skinny and plenty of people of a more chunky disposition shoot past me. I was skinny before taking up running - I've managed to put 2Kg on by running 50+ miles per week

A bit of both, some will manage their weight to turn into lightweight little racing snakes, but a lot of others don't do this consciously, but have over the years acquired very fast metabolisms and/or are in an unintentional calorie deficit because of the amount of training that they are doing.

Hi Tikuyjgh Tobey,

And your point is?

Also-ran wrote (see)

Whenever I have attended a race, there is a huge cross section of body shapes / sizes, from skinny to obese. I think all the people class themselves as runners. Yes the elites will run slower with excess body fat and muscle, but you are just as likely to see skinny people running relatively slowly. I'm skinny and plenty of people of a more chunky disposition shoot past me. I was skinny before taking up running - I've managed to put 2Kg on by running 50+ miles per week

What - just by running? 

I weighed a lot less before I started running (and cycling again). I've seen skinny whippets at races and thought, well they're going to whip my arse but they don't.

Jess Ennis is larger than me but she'd still be home and having her tea before I was mid way through a race.

Hi JKBV vdggrhh - are you of the Cheshire vdggrhhs ?  I went to school with someone of that name. 

RoadRunner76 wrote (see)

Also-ran wrote (see)

Whenever I have attended a race, there is a huge cross section of body shapes / sizes, from skinny to obese. I think all the people class themselves as runners. Yes the elites will run slower with excess body fat and muscle, but you are just as likely to see skinny people running relatively slowly. I'm skinny and plenty of people of a more chunky disposition shoot past me. I was skinny before taking up running - I've managed to put 2Kg on by running 50+ miles per week

What - just by running? 

I couldn't swear by it - I don't have the scientific evidence. All i know is that I have maintained a consistent diet, upping my portions pre /post long runs for 18 - 22 miles but not in excess of calories burn't.  I've seen a gradual fall off in body fat %

No - your post says you put on  2kg - not lost it. 

RoadRunner76 wrote (see)

No - your post says you put on  2kg - not lost it. 

 

Yes, Roadrunner  I have put 2Kg on in weight. I haven't said I have lost weight. What I indicated in the last post is that % body composition of fat has changed. This is based on domestic scales - not the most accurate, but good for trends

Body fat% has fallen. Muscle mass is up, but thats according to 'domestic' scales .

How accurate do you think those scales are - the ones that read fat % and so on?  Last month, mine was reading a 2% reduction.

Well, I've been doing tons of cardio and I've made drastic changes to my diet - so I hope to see results before too long.   Of course, the annoying thing is the last place the fat went on is the first place it comes off, so my main target area (stomach) wil probably be the most stubborn.

I went from 88Kg to 63Kg - this came from a big change in diet, and quite a bit of walking. I got my body back to my former weight after 25 years of inactivity. Most of my weight was on the stomach (and a bit on multiple chins ) - it will go, stick at it. After my weight being stable, I started running this year and had a mini panic when the weight started rising - it plateued again a few months later. The extra 2 Kg seems to have stopped the family asking if I am ill! Don't think they liked the look of a normal BMI

l think it's normal to drop weight initially but then see a small increase also after a few months when the additional muscle mass kicks in.

At my most cuddly l was 13st 4lb and im now down to 11st 7lb but at one point l was hovering around 11st.

l started weight training about 6 or 7 month ago and that helped no end.