The Insane Ways Track and Field Transforms Your Body

Here is a brief summary of the key points from the transcript: The transcript discusses how track and field athletes push their bodies to the extreme limits of human performance. Different events require specialized training that transforms the body in incredible ways. For example, shot putters build massive strength and power to generate maximum force. Triple jumpers withstand extreme impact forces that thicken their leg bones. Elite distance runners increase blood volume and pain tolerance through intense endurance training. Sprinters optimize neuromuscular coordination to generate explosive power rather than just muscle strength. Intense sprint training also boosts BDNF levels, improving cognitive function and mood. Despite the extreme demands, research shows elite track and field athletes live longer lives on average. In summary, the transcript covers how track and field training induces remarkable bodily adaptations and can enhance both physical and mental performance.

Speaker A: No other sport tests the extremes of human performance like track and field. The physical demands of each event are so focused and singular that athletes must push their body and training to the very limits of what is possible. In the same arena, you'll see the pinnacle of human strength and power by a 320 pound behemoth, while a wiry runner half his size tests the limits of aerobic capacity. Just by looking at track and field athletes, you can see how their event shapes their bodies. Now, obviously, lifting heavy weights builds muscle, and running hundreds of miles sheds body fat. But the really fascinating adaptations are less apparent in the pursuit of faster, higher, farther. The body transforms in some incredible ways. Shop pudding demands maximum force production in an extremely short amount of time. To achieve this, throwers need mass and strength. So you do things like lifting insane amounts of weights and eating so much that you don't even like food anymore. But raw strength and mass is just half of the equation. To throw the shot at an elite level, you also need technique and power, power output and technical mastery. If you want to throw the shot but far, you have to have a very high power output. So this means you also train the body to be fast and explosive while spending countless hours refining your technique so you can channel every bit of that power into the hand that pushes a 16 pound ball. When you do this thousands of times, your hand will become less like a hand and more like a boxing glove, building a layer of armor around the nerves, muscles, and tendons underneath.

Speaker B: This is like normal. You can see knuckles. And then if you look at my right side, like, it's almost like a boxing glove. There's no knuckles, it's swollen. It's completely different in size. The shot put hand. Everybody wants to see the mitt.

Speaker A: Triple jumpers have to be able to generate and then withstand extreme forces to hop, step, and jump to greater distances. But it's a brief moment between the hop and the step that leads to an almost superhero level adaptation in a jumper's body. Here's how it happens. The first jump is called the hop, a drastic understatement, given that you'll actually leap around 19 and a half feet. The speed it takes to propel your body this distance, plus gravity pushing you back to earth, can equal forces to up to 22 times your body weight. This is like suddenly holding a rhino on your back while balancing on 1ft. In fact, if the force is not returned within milliseconds of contact through the next phase, called the step, your leg could break. No other intentional movement in sport subjects a human limb to more force. Take this impact over thousands of jumps and your shin and thigh bones will actually become substantially thicker and denser to withstand and return. The force of this seriously brutal step middle to long distance running, brings about several positive changes in the body. When you reach the elite level, these effects are significantly amplified. Take cardiac output, for example, which is the amount of blood the heart can pump. A study compared untrained individuals, non elite distance runners, and elite distance runners. During maximal sustained effort, untrained individuals could pump about 17 liters per minute. Non elite runners managed around 26 liters per minute. But elite distance runners, they reached an amazing 34 liters per minute. And other research suggests it could be as high as 40 liters per minute. In some athletes, which is an almost unfathomable ten gallons per minute, that amount of blood could fill an entire. Okay, so it's not that much, but it is five times what a shower puts out on maximum flow. Still pretty good. Part of why this is possible is because endurance training actually increases the amount of blood you have by quite a bit. The demand for oxygen becomes so intense that your body responds by creating about 37% more blood compared to an untrained person. So for an athlete weighing 180 pounds, this means your blood volume can increase from approximately six liters to more than eight. And endurance training changes more than just your physiology. It can also improve your pain tolerance. A study comparing elite endurance athletes, soccer players and non athletes found that endurance athletes had the highest tolerance for cold pain, enduring it significantly longer than the other groups. But just because you can tolerate the pain doesn't mean you don't feel it. Even if you're a 1500 meters gold medalist, Jakob Ingebrixson freely admits that the prospect of pain makes him really nervous before a race. To be among the fastest humans on the planet, you need to generate immense power in each stride, because sprinting isn't about moving your legs fast. In fact, elite sprinters don't swing their legs any faster than recreational runners. Research has shown that the average person needs 50 to 55 strides to complete a 100 meters dash, whereas elite sprinters only need around 45. Speed comes from longer and more powerful strides. But this power doesn't come from building muscle through regular weight training. The key lies in how particular muscles adapt and grow significantly larger, a subtle yet profound change that sets sprinters apart from other athletes. A study comparing elite sprinters and sub elite sprinters found that while there wasn't a big strength difference between the two, certain muscles were significantly larger in elite sprinters. So why are the muscles larger, but not necessarily stronger. Because sprinting is more than absolute strength. Optimized sprint training develops neuromuscular coordination and the rate of force production with very specific workouts that target these muscles and enhance their ability to rapidly contract and relax. This type of training translates into speed rather than just strength, enabling sprinters to generate explosive power with incredible efficiency. Sprint training also makes you smarter and happier, particularly at the elite level. A study found that intense sprint training dramatically increases levels of brain derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. Surprisingly, the more intense the training, the stronger this effect was. High BDNF levels are a very good thing because this protein supports neuron growth, enhances cognitive functions, improves your ability to manage stress, and can significantly elevate your mood. It's clear evidence that pushing your physical limits doesn't just transform your body, it supercharges your mind as well. And finally, there's a common belief that extreme exercise pushes the body too far and athletes pay the price with shorter lives. It turns out that the opposite is true. A study that looked at over 8000 US Olympic athletes found that they live five years longer on average. So ultimately, track and field not only improves your life, but gives you more of it.