Do you believe in the invisible wall of health?

[BigJustinW]

Theory #1: There is in fact an invisible wall for each human being on the planet. Man can only be so strong or so fast. Different people have different walls, and once you get there, the only thing you can do is stay there.

The olimpics are a prime example. The person who comes in 10th place, and the person who comes in 1st place in the 100 meter dash worked out just as hard. The only difference is, the 10th place persons wall was reached at a lower lever than the 1st place guy.

Therory #2: There is no such thing as an invisible wall. You can always get stronger or faster, but the more you progress the harder progression becomes. If a kid were raised to be the fastest person in the world 1) he would be 2) he wouldn't because he didn't work hard enough.

Which do you belive???

[Xantar]

Generally, I believe theory #1 with a smattering of theory #2 thrown in.

If you wanted to be really simplistic, you could recognize that some people are born with only one leg and thus have an invisible wall preventing them from ever becoming Olympic track stars. This can be scaled up to apply to people who are genetically doomed to be shorter than the ideal height for a runner or have a lower percentage of quick acting muscle or all kinds of other things. So I, for example, can never beat Michael Johnson's record no matter how much I train.

I still believe that there is always room for improvement, though. I don't see this as being incompatible with theory #1. The amount by which we improve ourselves is still limited by the fact that we cannot physically train for more than 24 hours a day (actually much less than that, but you get my point).

[fingersman]

I gotta go to class now so I'll reply when I get back....so expect to pass out some dblns guys. :D
Bwahahahahahahahaha

[Perfect Stu]

I believe that number 1 is...closer to the truth. But I don't have any evidence to support my opinion. You see, I believe that there are sprinters (using your example) that train harder than, oh say Maurice Green or Michael Johnson. Maybe their legs aren't as long, or they're too tall, or too short, or maybe their muscles can't develop to as good of a condition as the top sprinters'. Just look at the 100m sprinters. How many of them are white? Does that mean that white people choose not to train as hard for sprinting as black people? I don't necessarily think so. The same goes for basketball. Shouldn't white people be as good in basketball as black people, if they practiced hard enough (if there were no "invisible walls")? I am pretty sure that no matter how hard some people try, they don't have the physical ability to be the best in the world at anything athletic. I think some people are born with a gift to do a certain thing better than anyone else. Whether it be sports, track and field, or even writing.

That's all for now.

[BigJustinW]

Originally posted by Perfect Stu
I believe that number 1 is...closer to the truth. But I don't have any evidence to support my opinion. You see, I believe that there are sprinters (using your example) that train harder than, oh say Maurice Green or Michael Johnson. Maybe their legs aren't as long, or they're too tall, or too short, or maybe their muscles can't develop to as good of a condition as the top sprinters'. Just look at the 100m sprinters. How many of them are white? Does that mean that white people choose not to train as hard for sprinting as black people? I don't necessarily think so. The same goes for basketball. Shouldn't white people be as good in basketball as black people, if they practiced hard enough (if there were no "invisible walls")? I am pretty sure that no matter how hard some people try, they don't have the physical ability to be the best in the world at anything athletic. I think some people are born with a gift to do a certain thing better than anyone else. Whether it be sports, track and field, or even writing.

That's all for now.

*claps hands*

Your opinion is identical to mine...

I think that training extremely hard can only take you to that wall, but some things you have to be born with. Basketball has white players, but are there any players in the top ten that are white? Training hard will get a white or black person to the NBA (athletic ability put aside), but becoming the best in the world is a different story. Natural talent is required.

[Angrist]

Ehm some people can do more than others. Take me and my friend as an example:
He is a karateka and trains a lot. I don't do as much sport as he does, but when we're sprinting, I'm just as fast as him and sometimes even faster when I have a good condition.

[Drunk Hobbit]

Genetics...

A person with fast twich muscles would be good at sprinting while one with slow twitch muscles would be better for running marathons. A person who nevered trained for anything could pick up the skill easier than someone who has been training for a great deal of time purely because of their genetic makeup.

[Angrist]

Originally posted by Danchastu
Genetics...

A person with fast twich muscles would be good at sprinting while one with slow twitch muscles would be better for running marathons. A person who nevered trained for anything could pick up the skill easier than someone who has been training for a great deal of time purely because of their genetic makeup. That's what I meant, I was just too lazy to type that.