Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger?

are you going to explain how something of larger mass can be faster, or just hide behind blanket statements?

 

I saw a long drive contest with the big hitters of today that nail it 427 yards with todays equipment using the old persimmon woods of the 1960's. They were hitting distances of 265 to 298 with a long of 308. When told that Jack Nicklaus still held the longest drive in one tourney even today an uphill shot of 338 with an old Balatta ball they were stunned. Todays athletes are amazing, but they are not better fighters.

 

Do you want an answer specifically from Mendoza, or would you like others to take a stab at this?

 

sure thing bob, prove that an increase in size wont impede acceleration.

 

I'm not going to argue against physics.

However, I think your question is assuming that force remains the same. Weight training increases the force the muscles can bring to bear. The question is whether force is increasing faster than mass is.

 

not forgetting excessive muscle also restrict the fluidity of punches.

 

To keep it simple for you, the population is much larger today, therefore you are getting more people who are both faster and bigger.

 

True. But I think you have to be pretty darn muscular before that happens.

 

No need for all that. Just compare today's NFL players to their predecessors: they're both bigger and faster.

 

Right. But they're not faster *because* they're bigger.

I think that's what HerolGee was getting at.

 

It’s the best experiment we have and he ran close full second slower then Owens.

Your imagination is less realistic imo.

You can be a fan of today’s athletes all you want to be but that don’t mean the pitchers today threw harder then Nolan Ryan.

 

no. mass is at the cost of speed, and you keep ducking it by pretending you are keeping it simple.

 

no they havent improved acceleration in arm and leg movment.

 

which is true of course, more often they will have put on fat instead.

and fat does increase your speed exponentially.

 

Greases the air, in fact.

I read it once on a reliable Men's Health forum.