Scientists seek out limit to human endurance

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tekewin
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Post by tekewin »

This Yahoo article talks about the limits of human endurance and how favorably we compare to other primates.
His team says the limit to human endurance is probably linked to people's digestive activity, rather than their muscles or heart, because this was the least common denominator in all of the sports that were studied.
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David R
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Post by David R »

"You cannot really take in more than 4,000 calories a day," said Pontzer.

That isn't true Olympiads do this regularly with Phelps saying he ate 12,000 calories a day which may be a slight exaggeration but was still burning up to 10k calories a day. So if it is our stomachs that hold us back setting up a proper eating regiment to consume enough calories will be the determinant factor.
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Sean
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Post by Sean »

Yeah, I think Phelps was guesstimating. Still, the study does seem flawed, in that it focused on runners, who work primarily the lower body. It makes sense that an endurance swimmer could take in approximately double the calories, since he fully works the entire body.

As a personal observation, my brother has a friend who used to surf on a regular basis. That guy ate ungodly amounts of food too, and he was as thin as a rail.
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Gene
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Post by Gene »

I recall an article in a health/exercise magazine that Sumo wrestlers eat the most calories a day and competitive cyclists, e.g., Tour De France riders, were not far behind.

"Average stages require between 4,000 and 6,000 kcal. Grueling mountain stages demand calorie burns of 7,000 kcal or more. A Tour de France rider will burn enough calories during a six-hour mountain stage to fuel an average person's activity for two to four days."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurna ... 5f0a523fbd
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HikeUp
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Post by HikeUp »

I know quite a few small skinny people that eat thousands of calories a day and are essentially inert, but gain no weight. Dubious study, or at least dubious inference of the meaning of the results.
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Gene
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Post by Gene »

HikeUp wrote: I know quite a few small skinny people that eat thousands of calories a day and are essentially inert, but gain no weight. Dubious study, or at least dubious inference of the meaning of the results.
I do too, I hate every one of them too... Just kidding. ?
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JeffH
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Post by JeffH »

I saw this claim posted on a couple of fb groups and I know there have been days when I have probably eaten that much. Thinking a cheeseburger, fries, beer and Gatorade at Whitney Portal followed by burger, fries and chocolate shake at Frosty Chalet in town a few hours later.
"Argue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours".
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tekewin
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Post by tekewin »

I posted this because I thought it was interesting, but I don't endorse it.

I think the claim is that you can eat more than 4000 cals/day, but that you can only digest 4000 cals/day so the excess would probably pass through as waste. Again, I don't know if the study has merit, but that's what I got out it.
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