Training for Aesthetics vs Training for Performance

Some of the best athletes in the world often do not resemble the chiseled stone from the fires that forged them.

The difference between training to look good and training for peak athletic performance illustrates a cataclysmic dichotomy in physical training. While many elite level athletes do display washboard abdominals and striated muscles, the shape, volume, and ratios of these muscles are varied; certain body types hold more potential for greater success in certain sports.

Let's look at the athletes who embody the big 4 sports in North America: American Football, Baseball, Basketball, and Hockey. There are 3 industry agreed upon body types, and everyone's body falls somewhere on the scale: Ectomorph, Mesomorph, and Endomorph.

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You have probably already begun to place the athletes in the big 4 sports in to certain categories. But wait a minute...the Mesomorph is widely regarded as the optimal physique. You know the Mesomorph: the friend who eats what they want, when they want. They have abs all year long, and hit the gym once per month, where their muscles explode with growth. These are the people you both love and hate, all at the same time. And these are the people who make the best bodybuilders. They grow muscle easily, maintain a small waist and joints, and are irritatingly symmetrical.

You can't change your body-type, but you can maximize it's potential. The real point of interest, is that when you examine both the average body type for each sport, and the peak performers, you rarely find a true mesomorph. This is because the extremes, (Ecto- & Endo-) provide distinct advantages when maximally potentiated, while true mesomorphs...are nice to look at.

Football (M)/Rugby (W)
Football and rugby (women's equivalent, given there is no professional women's football league) are difficult to establish a prototypical athlete body type. Unlike the other sports, the demands of each position differ greatly. For instance a defensive lineman may be a 6'6, 290 lb Endomorph, a halfback might be a 6'2, 230 lb Meso-endo, and a quarterback may be a 6'4, 220 lb Meso-ecto. Conversely, a 5'5, 190 lb Endomorph prop, a 6'0, 160 lb Ecto-meso hooker, and a 5'8, 155 lb Meso-endo inside-centre are ideal for women's rugby. For our purposes, I will highlight the bodies of the 2 more athletic positions: Line-backer and Flanker.

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Football

Average body:
Linebacker - 6'2, 240 lbs

Peak Performer's body:
Ray Lewis - 6'1, 240 lbs

Ray Lewis is a football legend.
Ray Lewis has a thick neck & waist and
broad muscle bellies.
Ray Lewis is most certainly an Endomorph.





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Rugby

Average body:
Flanker - 5'5, 155 lbs

Peak Performer's body:
Marlie Packer - 5'5, 161 lbs

Marlie Packer is the starting Flank for England.
Marlie Packer has broad shoulders & joints
& also has broad muscle bellies.
Marlie Packer is an Endomorph.








In games like American Football and Rugby, speed and power are valued, but given that they are both games which revolve around physical contact, the athlete's body must be built to absorb punishment. Thus, thick joints and a robust torso are ideal, most closely reflected by the Endomorph body-type.

Baseball (M)/Softball (W)
Baseball and softball are also sports where position dictates stature. For instance, pitchers are generally taller and leaner (so their stride takes them closer to the plate, giving the batter less reaction time), middle infielders (SS & 2B) are smaller because they need to be agile, and catchers and first basemen are often the biggest. Outfielders, often present the best combination of power, speed and athleticism, and so we will examine the bodies of Centre-Fielder, Ken Griffey Jr. and Outfielder Jessica Mendoza.



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Baseball

Average body:
Outfielder - 6'2, 220 lbs

Peak Performer's body:
Ken Griffey Jr. - 6'3, 215 lbs

Ken Griffey Jr is a baseball legend.
Ken Griffey Jr has a narrow waist, broad shoulders,
tall, and is lean.
Ken Griffey Jr is a Meso-ecto.









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Softball

Average body:
Outfielder - 5'7, 145 lbs

Peak Performer's body:
Jessica Mendoza - 5'9, 146 lbs

Jessica Mendoza is a softball star.
Jessica Mendoza has broad shoulders, small joints, is tall, but
well muscled.
Jessica Mendoza is a Mesomorph.








Baseball and Softball are non-contact sports that require the ability to go from zero to maximal effort in the blink of an eye. They require speed and reflexes and cater more to the Mesomorphic body-type.

Basketball
In Basketball, height and quickness are king. While there have been those that have had successful careers, while maintaining mass (Shaquille O'Neal, at 7'0, 300lbs comes to mind), the majority of the All-Stars, Hall of Famers, and GOAT's are tall, lean, and quick. We can't examine basketball bodies without Michael Jordan and Tamika Catchings.



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Basketball (M)

Average body:
Shooting Guard - 6'6, 211 lbs

Peak Performer's body:
Michael Jordan - 6'6, 200 lbs

Michael Jordan is the greatest
basketball player of all time.
OF ALL TIME.
Michael Jordan is tall, has long arms, lean muscle bellies & a rectangular frame.
Michael Jordan is an Ectomorph.

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Basketball (W)

Average body:
Small Forward - 5'11, 165 lbs

Peak Performer's body:
Tamika Catchings - 6'1, 167 lbs

Tamika Catchings is widely regarded as one of the greatest female basketball players of all time.
Tamika Catchings is tall, has long arms, but exhibits more muscle tone that Jordan.
Tamika Catchings is an Ecto-meso







A basketball hoop measures 10 feet off the ground. The closer you are to the hoop, the easier it is to score (#becausescience). Basketball players need to be tall, and they need to be quick, while maintaining the endurance capacity to sprint the floor many times. Basketball players are, with very minor exceptions, Ectomorphs.

Hockey
Hockey requires lower body and trunk-related power, endurance, and the ability to deliver and endure contact. What makes it so unique from the other big 4 sports is that it does not require the primal motion of running, rather, the skating motion, and overall posture, requires development of muscles that are much different from field sports. For example, developing power from a "splay-foot" (toe turned out) position will tend to over develop external rotators like the glut med and vastus medialis while under-developing lateral hamstring muscles. While on the topic of "greatest of all time", we cannot ignore the body of work by Wayne Gretzky and Hayley Wickenheiser, however for relevance to today's audience (and for more access to body-revealing pictures (the old generation just doesn't do mirror selfies...), let us examine current greats, Sydney Crosby and Hailey Knight.



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Hockey (M)

Average body:
Forward - 5'11, 180 lbs

Peak Performer's body:
Sydney Crosby - 5'11, 200lbs

Sydney Crosiby is widely regarded as one of the best players in the game, if not the best.
Sydney Crosby is not tall, but possesses strong legs and core.
Sydney Crosby is a Mesomorph.









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Hockey (W)
Average body:
Forward - 5'7, 155 lbs

Peak Performer's body:
Hilary Knight - 5'11, 172 lbs

Hilary Knight the top forward
for the US women's Olympic
hockey team, and is a consensus top 5 player in the world.
Hilary Knight is tall but has muscle mass and muscle definition
Hilary Knight is a true Mesomorph.

Hockey is one of the sports where your body is trained to fit the sport. Not even in the sense that certain muscles grow more than others, but there is a posture that is typical of hockey players: feet turned out, big bum, rounded shoulders, head in forward position. In addition, due to the demands of the sport, the athlete's legs are usually more developed than their upper body, and visible abdominals and muscle striations are not as common-place, given a greater demand for energy stores (60 minute games in conjuncture with 3 or 4 games per week is common).

Across all sports, modern athletes are bigger, faster, and stronger than they once were. The average skill-level is higher, and because the athletes can now make a living playing their sport, they adapt their bodies specifically to its demands and train for maximal performance. However, one can also make the determination that certain body types are more likely to excel in certain sports, and that while our body can always be maximized for performance, in the end, you cannot escape the fact you are an Ectomorph, a Mesomorph, or an Endomorph.

*General Disclaimer: Steroids and Human Growth Hormone

@BrendanRolfe




Image credits
[1]http://cf067b.medialib.glogster.com/media/c4/c4517c3d1adb44bcbe989d8d6babeb81a70bb69bdac4eb1a3f70e563467ffa6e/ken-griffey-jr-mariners-jpg.jpg
[2]http://content.doyoueven.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/tumblr_muoal3AQzJ1sl9vjho1_1280-461x600.jpg
[3]http://www.bodybuilding.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ava-cowan-2011-figure-olympia.jpg
[4]http://www.trainerjack.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/body-types-male-and-female.jpg
[5]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/2b/80/08/2b800853d5af7860e04159662f8e34f5.jpg
[6]http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo/images/celeb-jordan_michael/jordan_large/jordan_001.jpg
[7]http://imavex.vo.llnwd.net/o18/clients/activelife/images/Cover_Models/Tamika_Catchings_pic1.jpg
[8]http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID14380/images/Sidney_Crosby_shirt_off_shirtless_pictures.jpg
[9]http://cdn.nextimpulsesports.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Screen-Shot-2014-07-08-at-10.14.10-AM.png
[10]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/50/35/3f/50353f8af27fc780ec2b04fa50268b8a.jpg
[11]http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Marlie+Packer+New+Zealand+v+England+Game+3+lvRalqMqjkkl.jpg

The Shermanation of Sport

                                          Image courtesy Richard Sherman/Instagram

In case you have been under a rock for the last week or are unfamiliar with the NFL world, Seattle Seahawks Pro-Bowl cornerback, Richard Sherman, had a post-game rant for the ages. In a nutshell, he questioned the talent of Michael Crabtree (a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, whom he was covering) and called himself the best in the game. In fairness, this rant is in response to a feud between the two players, likely in-game trash talking, and post game antics which featured a stiff-arm to the face of Sherman when he attempted to shake hands with Crabtree following the final whistle of the game where Sherman's Seahawks defeated the 49ers to advance to the Superbowl.

It is distracting, sends out negative vibes in the clubhouse, it is damaging to team moral, and worst of all...it sells tickets

My knee-jerk reaction, like most of North America, was to condemn the actions of an athlete who was clearly an egotistical, self-centred pre-madonna. Having played elite level sports of various kinds, I have had the pleasure (?) of playing with athletes who thought they were the second coming of Jesus, and let me tell you, it's not fun. It is distracting, sends out negative vibes in the clubhouse, it is damaging to team moral, and worst of all...it sells tickets. Who wants to see a self-rightous, cocky bully get smashed in the mouth with Karma? I do. And very likely, so do you.

Sport is war

Before delving deeper into what I will call the Shermanation of sport (for current relevance - though others of much greater stature have come before; Muhammed Ali, Gary Peyton, even Ty Cobb), I want to illustrate what kind of people both Michael Crabtree and Richard Sherman are: they are both educated, hard-working (you can't be a top athlete at the professional ranks without hard work), well-liked by teammates, active in their communities (both have charities in their names), and both give 100% on the field. By all accounts, they are stand-up human-beings, phenomenal athletes, and role-model material. But nobody wants to see nice-guys be nice. Sport is war. More specifically, football is war; quite literally. Two sides, wearing different uniforms, generals on the sidelines, plans of attack, hell, there's even trenches (the offensive and defensive lines). As an observer, it is not only incumbent upon you to pick a side, it's engrained in you. We are, in the end, pack animals that want to win, because our survival depends on it; thus, we follow the strongest leaders - who we hope is our home team! And if there is anything we have learned from being animals (or more likely from watching the nature channel, now that we are all soft and dulled of sense from centuries of loafing), it is that the biggest, baddest, loudest and most robust alpha usually wins.

                                                       Image courtesy twinking.net
My initial reaction to Richard Sherman was dislike. I didn't know much about the man, other than he was a good cornerback in the NFL (the greatest, actually, so he tells me) and that he played for as close to a home team as we can get in the NFL, living in Vancouver, Canada . I was even cheering for his team to win, so one would think my first reaction would be to defend his actions. After thinking before writing (this blog is 5 days after the fact), I have come to the conclusion that Richard Sherman is not to blame. He is a victim of emotion and circumstance, and while he makes no apologies for his actions, I have since forgiven him (I'm sure that will come as a great relief to Richard). The truth is that I am Richard Sherman and so are you. As fans, we have shaped these players over decades of competition to entertain us. Sure, they entertain us with astonishing feats of physicality, but also entertain us with character and the antics that are sure to follow. Boxers and mixed martial artists often get paid a percentage of gate (attendance) sales as part of their compensation, thus, it has always been a prerogative to "sell the fight", ie. create speculative interest in the event with the intent of driving ticket sales. Muhammed Ali was one of the pioneers (and the most poetic and impressive on this writers list). At the time, he was the target of ample amounts of ire; not only was he a black athlete in a time of serious racial tension, but he was confident, strong, good-looking, and eloquent. He was everything white America feared and easy to dislike if you weren't in his corner. He refused to back down and refused to apologize for who he was (sound familiar?). In the beginning, while Ali had fans who bought tickets to support him, even more people bought tickets to root against him. It didn't even matter who he was fighting, he was the rival and it was worth the price of admission if one got the chance to see him lose.

Rivalries permeate today's games as well. But how does a rivalry form? They say familiarity breeds contempt. I would argue that familiarity builds fondness and that contempt is manufactured.

All the world's a stage,

       And all the men and women merely players;         

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts

                              - William Shakespeare

To source past "trash talkers"of recent memory, one need not look outside the scope of NFL football. Receivers Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco would both be described by most fans (who aren't Dallas Cowboys fans) as entertaining and talented. Both are known for extravagant touchdown celebrations that are fun to watch, fine worthy, and, if you are cheering for the team opposing theirs, infuriating. Let's be perfectly honest, if the NFL wanted to stop this excessive celebrating, they would have given him more than a $7,500 fine and a 15 yard penalty (0.09% of his $8,000,000 salary for the year), but they didn't. Why? Because it is entertaining and it sells tickets. So does Richard Sherman. So when these athletes present a larger than life on-field persona, it is all too easy to get caught up in the hype of professional sports and cast judgement in the hopes of making your enemy a pariah.

If you don't like the man he is on the field and in interviews, that's too bad, because it is your fault that he is that guy

There have been reports of public and social media name calling, a myriad of judgement being passed and overt racism in reference to Sherman (let's be honest, the racists will always find an excuse). My initial response was to jump on the judgement jeep and criticize Sherman like I was appalled at the person he is, or thought he was. But in truth, Richard Sherman isn't even Richard Sherman. Richard Sherman the Seahawk is a brash, cocky, antagonist. He's good and he knows it. Moreover, he knows that you know it, and if you don't, he'll tell you. The reality is that only his friends and family know the real Richard Sherman, and it is only those who know him best who can be the real judge of his character. If you don't like the man he is on the field and in interviews, that's too bad, because it is your fault that he is that guy. You buy the tickets to yell at him, to see him lose and watch him fail, but you are still buying the ticket that is the foundation of his paycheque. 

Society needs to understand that everything presented to them is to be taken with a grain of salt. Medical advice, TV news, the radio, advertising, sports are all there for three things 1) To entertain you, 2) To get your money, and 3) To get your money. Sports is entertainment. The reason professional athletes get away with taking performance enhancing drugs (and they do on a mass scale), the reason trash talking goes unpunished, and the reason they are paid millions of dollars to play a game is because you support them by watching games on TV, buying tickets and buying merchandise. So before you judge the next athlete who goes on a rant about being the greatest, know that you made them that way. And before you send a hate-tweet or slam them at the office water cooler, ask yourself if you have been entertained. If the answer is yes (and it is yes, because you are still talking about it), then know that he has done his job and that it doesn't concern him one bit what you think...because it's your problem, not his.