Quote:
Originally Posted by
Trenditional 
Sprinters don't put in the same total mileage a distance runner puts in each week. More importantly, sprinters do resistence training in addition to running. For a sprinter, they use that upper body strength to help push them in a race. Marathoners "lean" out as much as possible because they want to carry the least amount of body mass through 26.2 miles.
Look at cyclists. Sprinters and those who race on the track can be "bigger," but those like Lance Armstrong do little to no upper body training because extra size is extra weight. A professional cyclist like those of the calibre of Miguel Indurain, and Marco Pantani are amazingly "small" during the racing season. The current "big" man of professional cycling is Magnus Backstedt. He has amazing power on the flats, but as soon as the road goes up hill he is usually the first popped out the back. On the other hand check out Michael Rasmussen for an example of "emaciated" during the racing season.
http://www.professionalcycling.info/.../rasmussen.jpg
Well, if the 40 minute mark is where fat-burning begins, and sprinters never run more than 40 minutes (hell, they never run more than 2 minutes), how do they get so lean? Lifting weights has nothing to do with being lean. Lean doesn't mean muscular, Lean = low % of bodyfat. Look at pictures of Bruce Lee. He was a very small man, but his very low % of BF made him look much bigger. The runner on the left has no real definition to speak of; I'm certain his BF% is much higher than the sprinter, yet traditional thought is that LSD is the way to be lean. A lot is genetics, a lot is diet, and a lot is training. I've seen a few distance runners with lean definition, but most are scrawny with a bit of a gut. I fully understand that when competing at the highest levels, a distance runner would want to carry as little weight as possible, but for your average joe, there might be better ways to get lean w/o looking so scrawny.
