I agree that the proper comparison group for AJ would be the 70s-90s boxers, not the sprinters. This random conversion app between 100 yard and 100 meter times puts Joshua at the equivalent of 10.54 seconds for a 100 yard dash. https://m.convert-me.com/en/convert...1-to-secper100m_1.html?u=secper100m_1&v=11.53 If accurate, that's faster than Evander, both Fraziers, Conteh, Shavers, Quarry, Norton, Weaver, Foster, and Coopman. It would be the fastest actual recorded sprint time we have for any heavyweight boxer.
In regards to the whole "functional strength" thing...it absolutely is real. It hasn't been an area of study likely because it isn't flashy or draws interests from the weigh lifting or sports communities. Get a dude whose spent years loading trucks, handling pallet jacks, farm work, laying down bricks, etc and they're going to embarrass a lot of pure weight lifters in a wrestling match. Now take that same manual laborer and have them compete to see who can simply lift the most dead weight from 0-100 in a weight lifting competition, obviously the lifter would win 9/10 unless the laborer does traditional strength training himself or is freakishly naturally strong. Point being, just as there's different types of muscle (fast twitch vs slow twitch) there's different types of strength. This isn't up for debate. I have wrestled/arm wrestler/sparred with all of the above, men who are just freaks, guys who do labor, guys who wrestle, lift, dabble in all the above, etc. When you shake their hands or grapple with them you can feel the difference right away and it's obvious. As for boxing/striking, weight lifting can help but it must be done in moderation. You can become too stiff and lose stamina if you get too bulky. The opposite is also true, another poster mentioned how muscles get weaker if you don't train them with regularity. So you have to have balance. In my experience, when it comes to combat sports and sports in general, it's crucial that you maintain your flexibility and nimbleness for maximum efficiency. A lot of guys underestimate the value of stretching and being loose relying more on lean muscle than just big bulky muscle. It also depends on your weight class and sport. If you're a big brawler in a heavy division, then maybe it is better to focus on being as big and as strong as possible to overwhelm opponents. If you're more of a counter puncher or a lighter guy maybe don't focus too much on being huge and focus more on speed and timing. At the end of the day, the most important thing is technique, strategy, and form. Some guys spend far too much time focusing on the obvious surface level stuff and not the intangibles.
I'll take your word for it. Lighter highschoolers who specialize in those events should be able to beat Joshua in a sprint, yes. Are you getting at a deeper point with this observation?
No. Just laughing at the fact a pro athlete would embarrass himself by lining up for a 100 meters and being so slow. I believe the term is, Stay in your lane. Since my 100 time is so much faster, I'm thinking I could stop Joshua pretty quickly.
Running, lifting, etc. are still valuable for gauging physical fitness in athletes who don't specialize in those events, though. All kinds of sports have athletes doing power cleans, bench presses, squats, etc. and believe that performances in those lifts give an idea of the athlete's strength or explosiveness. The response usually isn't, "Ha! That guy lifts less than the 11th ranked female powerlifting/Olympic lifting competitor of comparable weight. What a wimp." Unless you are saying that there aren't any generalizable physical abilities across sports. Which I suppose would be an interesting claim, if pursued seriously.
Good stuff CT. I’ve always been mindful to note when it’s 100 yards (converts to 91.44 metres) as opposed to 100 metres. Not sure how these apps treat it - basic pro rata? Yep, that’s how they did it, just did the simple calc myself. They should also consider a sprinter’s acceleration phase, plateau phase (constant max. velocity = no acceleration) and deceleration phase. Suffice to say, given 100 m vs 100 yd the acceleration phase and plateau phase aren’t impacted but obviously, applying simple pro rata disadvantages the 100 metre sprinter (by however much) due to their deceleration phase being longer due to the extra distance run. Put simply, if AJ was clocked exactly at the 100 yd point (91.44 metre) just prior to his time for 100 metre (109.36 yard) it would be better than the apps pro rata calc by whatever margin
Yeah & that is pretty good-easily better than most men will ever do. And if he actually trained for it & got more efficent in his technique, he would beat plenty more grrrls!
I am not sure. If I had to guess, maybe he mistook being lighter with being fitter, trained guys who had to make maximum weights, & certainly he did not realize the necessity of Full Hydration.
Floyd Patterson thought that dehydrating before a bout -- under the supervision of a coach, admittedly -- was a good idea as well, so this odd custom wasn't just limited to Foreman.
I remember this show when I was a kid, and loved it! I was surprised at Joe’s struggle at such a light weight but it was obvious he never trained with weights, at least not this exercise. Like anything else, you get better with practice. I’m sure if he wanted to, Joe could have improved his ability to hoist more weight above his head. I’m even more sure that Joe could have sparked out every guy in the competition without breaking a sweat. You will never see this type of show again. Pro athletes are paid too much and they would never risk injury in a rinkydink TV show. My favorite competitor was Brian Oldfield! He was a huge dude, track and field, and was crazy strong. He was also jacked on roids and passed away at a young age. Ultimately, this show was fun to watch (especially to a ten year old version of me) but it didn’t prove much. Pro athletes have specialized skills and its understanding they would not do well in events outside their area of expertise. I noticed at this year’s TDF how skinny upper bodies are getting, especially with GC riders. Sprinters still have relatively normal upper body muscle development but many GC riders have very little muscle in their arms, shoulders and chest. This is by design because upper body muscle is extra weight to lug around so less muscle weight has advantages. I just can’t imagine some of the top racers competing in a weight lifting competition. Average teenage girls could probably out-lift them. They are specialized machines, designed to go fast on a bike for long distances and up steep hills. I miss that show!
Yes those were great competitions! It should be held again for the pure fun & "sport" of it, we should pressure professional sports to allow athletes reasonable risks. Remember the strongman competitions where they did things like lift irregular shaped rocks over their heads-where it could have slipped & brained them-& threw massive heavy things behind them after pendulum swings, then needed to get out of the way in case it id not clear the barrier? Those were arguably too risky, but surely we should have the other events. I know how endurance athletes have relatively little muscle mass, especially or at least in the upper body. But I severely doubt that an average teenage girl-or an average woman-is stronger than a typical long distance cyclist.
