a 6'1 224 lb. linebacker with around single digit-10 percent body fat percentage for example. Are there any advantages he would he have on the football field as opposed to his not as defined counterparts? Yes he's athletic and yes he's got some speed. I was talking about this after practice with my teammates who tease me about my "mr. bodybuilder" body. They say having a great body in football isn't everything but I never have a rebuttal lol
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07-09-2008, 09:33 AM #1
Does low body fat percentage give you an advantage in football?
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07-09-2008, 09:56 AM #2
here's what defranco has to say on the matter:
T-Nation: Speaking of conditioning, let's talk about bodyfat and athleticism. Does it matter? Some say who cares what their bodyfat percentage is as long as they're performing. Other coaches make it a goal to get their athletes ripped. Where do you stand?
JD: Excess bodyfat doesn?t help anyone! It only serves as an anchor when you try to perform! I don?t want an athlete carrying 300 pounds of **** in a 200-pound bag! Obviously, not all athletes need to try and achieve the same bodyfat levels. For example, an offensive lineman doesn?t need to be as lean as a wide receiver. But, the bottom line is that there's no advantage to carrying around too much excess baggage.
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in another article he names body composition as one of the 4 major factors affecting speed and elaborates:
There?s no nice way to put this; If you?re fat, you will never be as fast as you can be. Fat acts as excess baggage when trying to run. Do you think you would be able to run a faster 40-yard dash if I put a 20lb. weighted vest on you? Of course not! Clean up your diet, shed some fat and watch your speed increase at a record pace.
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07-09-2008, 11:05 AM #3
I made a thread about this about 2 weeks ago, and got all kinds of crap about it... I think it is very important to be at a lower bodyfat for position.. I am a TE and I am around 12-13% and I want to stay atleast this low, I want to even get into single digits eventually but dont want to get higher than 13%... I was running fast at 230 but I was about 16% and ran constant mid 4.6s. and then I leaned up now I'm around 210-215 and 12% and didnt do much if any speed training and can break low 4.5s now consistently
TE
6'3
218 (bulking)
40-4.52
20 pro-4.12
Vert-33
I owe reps to:
CanadianLB
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07-09-2008, 01:40 PM #4
- Join Date: Nov 2006
- Location: Colorado, United States
- Age: 36
- Posts: 2,125
- Rep Power: 332
Low bodyfat should make you more agile and able to get to your potential in any sport ... with that being said obviously being bigger in football is a good thing since its harder to push something big rather than something small .... so just be big but have it be muscle and your set.
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07-09-2008, 01:59 PM #5
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07-09-2008, 05:44 PM #6
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07-09-2008, 06:05 PM #7
definitly, and i have noticed this myself. if you run to the right, for example, your bf will keep moving to the right when you try to cut left until it can slow down, long after your muscle could move. that's why girls with boobs do not exist in hurdles jumping!
NEW GOAL(s):
Regain my strength.
Put on 5 lbs of muscle.
Gain better overall fitness (strength, endurance, muscle)
"don't give up, the beginning is always the hardest."
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07-09-2008, 07:35 PM #8
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07-09-2008, 07:38 PM #9
i mean its pretty obvious having a low BF % without sacrificing stregnth and power would help you as a football player.. or just a athlete period
Stickam: ronniecoleman22
"One morning I woke up and found my favorite pigeon, Julius, had died I was devastated and was gonna use his crate as my stickball bat to honor him. I left the crate on my stoop and went in to get something and I returned to see the sanitation man put the crate into the crusher. I rushed him and caught him flush on the temple with a titanic right hand he was out cold, convulsing on the floor like an infantile retard." -Mike Tyson
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07-09-2008, 08:37 PM #10
- Join Date: May 2007
- Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
- Age: 56
- Posts: 3,523
- Rep Power: 5146
Here is some ammo to fire back with!!!!
If you really want to get nit picky/technical then lower BF% = less intra-muscular friction. Less friction means more speed, power, agility, etc...
Here are some reasons not to bulk up(by C. Poliquin).
Pay attention to #7 (LOL)
Anti-Bulking Fact #4. The fatter you get, the more aromatase enzyme your body will produce. In the extreme, getting fat could be considered a form of self-castration, as your own testosterone will be converted into the female hormone estrogen. If you're a man and you enjoy wearing a bra, go right ahead and get fatter.
Anti-Bulking Fact #5. Getting fatter will ramp down the effectiveness of your thyroid hormone production. The fatter your abdominal wall gets, the less conversion of T4 to T3, the metabolically active form of thyroid.
Anti-Bulking Fact #6. The lower your percentage of body fat, the better your body gets at nutrient partitioning. This means that individuals with low body fat are more effective at storing the ingested nutrients in the muscle (as muscle tissue or glycogen) or in the liver (glycogen) and less effective at storing them as body fat. To put it in simpler terms, leaner individuals can eat more nutrients without gaining fat.
Anti-Bulking Fact #7. Getting fat increases the risk of dying from any cause, even terrorist attacks. I'm serious - you're a bigger target and you can't get out of danger as fast.
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