CosmicComet
Senior Member
Originally posted by ctsketch
Not necessarily. I'm a runner and a lifter (I do races like Tough Mudder) and there are many women much lighter and faster than me and they can't lift much weight. my muscles make me a tad heavier and my lack of running experience makes the fast muscle less developed. The ability to dead lift hundreds of lbs does not develop the same kind of muscle and cardiovascular strength to run very fast...you don't become fast simply from developing muscle...you become fast by.....practicing.There was an absolutely beastly guy in a race I did last year and I ran circles around him. (Warrior Dash)
No. You're trying to apply a simplified model for a scale (humans), that lacks any large enough disparity in strength for other factors in speed to become non-factors.
However, lets look at broad strokes for a second to simplify this. Every sprinter out there, is jacked as hell. Not just lower body, but their entire physique. None of them are skin and bones the way Marathon runners are. The latter do not require heavy muscle mass because they don't focus on power, they focus on cardio, the former do because speed requires muscle power.
The reason NFL players tend to run faster and jump higher than NBA players (yes, NFL players have superior verticals), is because of better numbers in explosive lifts like the power clean.
Why are bodybuilders not going to be fast then? Simple. Partly because of diminishing returns because the bulk they start to gain can negate any speed benefits they may have gotten from increased muscle power, and partly because bodybuilders build for size, and not necessarily strength.
Powerlifters/Olympic lifters on the other hand? They are both strong and fast, because they work out their fast twitch muscles on a ridiculous level--there was some study out there that showed olympic lifters could compete with sprinters and jumpers of the same size despite being significantly heavier. And there are 400 lb powerlifters who can dunk a basketball--and jumping ability and running ability are definitely related, since they rely on the same muscle fibers.
Basically, if your leg muscles are powerful for your weight, then you are going to be fast period.
Cats, Horses, Bears, Bulls/Buffalo etc. All are extremely fast animals. All are extremely muscular animals as well.
Insects, are proportionately very fast, there are some beetles that go the equivalent of almost 500 mph when adjusted for size with a human. Why are insects proportionately very fast? Because they are proportionately very strong. Able to lift dozen to hundreds of times their own weight over their head.
Again, like I said, if there was some 200 lb man out there who could lift 20 tons (40,000 lbs) over his head, he would be fast as hell. Because he'd be lifting something hundreds of times his own weight, and that would take precedence over any other factors impacting speed, such as his limb length, girth/shape or even technique.
Basically, it doesn't really make sense for a guy like say Marvel Hercules to be slower than Spiderman (though it appears he is). Afterall, he's infinitely stronger, and only a hundred or so lbs heavier.
