Why do Kenyan's DOMINATE distance running?

[Maga_1]

Watch this, you will be elucidated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTQVHZU4WzE

[Akrazotile]

It's about running byomechanicsm, their foot/legs composition and their foot attire.

What?








There is no such thing as race or ethnicity. People from specific regions don't have region-specific traits.

Fact.

[Maga_1]

What?

Oh ok, you are trolling. Didn't knew that.
If you are serious just watch the documentary and everything will be clear.

[CavaliersFTW]

Why so?

You believe japanese and australian aboriginals have the exact same intellectual skillsets, any difference in testing is simply due to nurture?

What is your basis for that? I'm truly curious, I just like fact-based discussions of science. This kinda stuff is fascinating.

Like Golden Retrievers and Rottweilers are both dogs. And if raised the same they will prob mostly behave about the same, but they do have slightly different responses to certain stimuli and provocation.

My opinion shouldn't really matter, as I'm no expert on the subject but I have always had more than a passing interest in paleontology and anthropology so I like these topics as well. But my opinion is what it is because I have been shown no convincing evidence to believe it should be any reason other than nurture.

As I said, the human gene pool is on paper relatively lacking in diversity compared with many animals on this planet. It indicates we've in relatively recent past almost gone extinct, than had a population resurgence. Think domestic dogs (minus the breeding part) superficially we have far more variation than our DNA actually suggests. Because of environmental factors our immune systems, and organs that come in direct contact with our environments (our skin, our hair, our limb proportions, etc) have had pressures to drift towards different directions for survival despite our relatively recent homogeneous gene pool. Again the pressures for change are all depending on the external environmental/disease conditions in a given region. The parts of our bodies that don't come into contact with the outside world, in both theory and by observation is pretty much all the same stuff as since our last recent near-extinction event. I doubt you could show a brain surgeon the brain of an Ethiopian, and the brain of an Inuit and expect him to be able to tell you what race he came from you know what I mean? Skeletal proportions, skin shades, and immune systems however are known to be different regionally/geographically.

There is currently no convincing evidence I'm aware of out there to suggest that our non-environmental contact internal organs such as our brains started diverging in capabilities among peoples of different regions. Our brains aren't being pressured like our skin or immune systems are in different regions. Given that we are so genetically similar, and that our physical appearances/immune systems are different basically strictly due to external factors, than what pressure would drive anyone else's brain to be superior or inferior to the next persons in say, the past 80 thousand years since our last genetic bottleneck? There's not only a lack of convincing evidence for such an assumption, there's also a lack of reason for a difference in cognitive function among populations to exist.

[Maga_1]

If both your parents are tall, the chances are you'll be tall too, right?

Well Kenyans, and East Africans in general have inherited a bone structure with smaller torsos and longer legs making it more beneficial in long distances running.

That actually doesn't matter.
There is some Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt documentaries talking about their legs structure and their angles.

(Yes, i know they are sprinters not long distance runners).

[CavaliersFTW]

That actually doesn't matter.
There is some Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt documentaries talking about their legs structure and their angles.

(Yes, i know they are sprinters not long distance runners).

Proportions in your body absolutely do matter in sports... particularly well proportioned legs with a good leg/torso ratio are immensely beneficial with running. And different disciplines/distances of running are going to favor different proportions. How would having any mechanical advantage in a particular sport not matter, be it length of arms in basketball, or length and shape of legs in running.

[Timmy D for MVP]

Lol.

Why is a particular country good at something? I'll use this to prove race?

Why are Canadians good at hockey?

[Akrazotile]

Proportions in your body absolutely do matter in sports... particularly well proportioned legs with a good leg/torso ratio are immensely beneficial with running. And different disciplines/distances of running are going to favor different proportions. How would having any mechanical advantage in a particular sport not matter, be it length of arms in basketball, or length and shape of legs in running.

Did you know people of different 'races' have different brain sizes?

But that probably doesn't matter like leg sizes matters to physical characteristics, right?

[imnew09]

It's because its a poor country and they have to walk miles a day to gain access to water. They've been walking long distance since they were little. Essentially they have more endurance, and more accustomed to running marathon.

[Akrazotile]

Lol.

Why is a particular country good at something? I'll use this to prove race?

Why are Canadians good at hockey?

Hockey is a cultural construction that is only practiced in certain places and has existed maybe a couple hundred years.

Running is just a bit more universal.

[CavaliersFTW]

Lol.

Why is a particular country good at something? I'll use this to prove race?

Why are Canadians good at hockey?

Running is different than Hockey. Most everyone on the planet can train to run with minimal equipment and learning curve. Running is also a sport where individuals shine - their own bodies are what win races, not teams. Hockey is a team sport, requires ice rinks, investments in equipment, and a high learning curve. And Canadians aren't a race, Canadians that play Hockey are mostly a variety/mixture of recent ancestral Europeans. I'm sure there are some physical traits that might be beneficial to Hockey as there is mechanical advantage to be found and exploited in ANY sport, but due to the fact that Hockey isn't globally accessible to every population on earth we might never find out which group of people on the planet tends to have the most physically gifted bodies for Hockey. Doesn't matter though, too many variables at play here running is a simple motion done over a long period of time by one person. Individual physical gifts (people with great mechanical advantage) shine through in running.

Everyone, everywhere on earth save for perhaps peoples who live near the arctic circles where daylight and temperatures fluctuate too much, or maybe people's who live in mountains who simply don't have terrain conducive to running - can go out and train to run marathons and long distance races.

There are only so many hours in a day to train. Kenyans don't train any harder or smarter than the other countries/racers competing to be the best distance runners on the planet. When all other variables are equal (training, diet, work ethic, etc) mechanical advantage shines through. Kenyans do have a mechanical advantage in distance running, this isn't racism, this is observational measurable statistical fact.

[Maga_1]

Proportions in your body absolutely do matter in sports... particularly well proportioned legs with a good leg/torso ratio are immensely beneficial with running. And different disciplines/distances of running are going to favor different proportions. How would having any mechanical advantage in a particular sport not matter, be it length of arms in basketball, or length and shape of legs in running.

We are talking specifically about Kenyans.
They don't have the torso smaller and legs longer compared with other countries from the same region, that's what i'm saying.

Having longer legs help sprinters and helps long distance runners, it's really depends on how they support their feet and the angles they use running (byomechanics). Trust me, i know this.

The logical explanation is in the documentary i posted.

[CavaliersFTW]

It's because its a poor country and they have to walk miles a day to gain access to water. They've been walking long distance since they were little. Essentially they have more endurance, and more accustomed to running marathon.

No. There are 7 billion people on this planet, rest assured many poor people in Russia, Mexico, South America, etc grew up walking/running equally long distances since they were little. With Kenyans, it's their mechanical advantage.

[Akrazotile]

We are talking specifically about Kenyans.
They don't have the torso smaller and legs longer compared with other countries from the same region, that's what i'm saying.

Having longer legs help sprinters and helps long distance runners, it's really depends on how they support their feet and the angles they use running (byomechanics). Trust me, i know this.

The logical explanation is in the documentary i posted.

Okay, yes, other East African countries fair well above average in marathons as well. I said Kenyans specifically because they're probably the most prolific among them.

But we can rephrase the question if you like, Why do East Africans DOMINATE distance running?

[Maga_1]

Okay, yes, other East African countries fair well above average in marathons as well. I said Kenyans specifically because they're probably the most prolific among them.

But we can rephrase the question if you like, Why do East Africans DOMINATE distance running?

With that being said.

BIOMECHANICS.