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Re: The new Ryan Hall

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 12:24 pm
by Jwolf
ultraslacker wrote:
turd ferguson wrote:Its nice to see that everyone's optimism about the ... cleanliness ... of a guy who puts on a huge amount of muscle in a short period of time hasn't been damaged in any way by repeated doping scandals. Its touching.


he's hot so we trust him.


What I don't trust is that he gained 40 pounds of pure muscle naturally in 4 months. But I figure the RW headline is exaggerating and that most of it's fat. As Dave said above, the "cut" look is partly genetic and not a direct a reflection of body fat %.

I certainly understand how one can put on weight quickly after drastically decreasing running volume. But most sources I've found say that body builders can realistically expect to build about 2 pounds muscle per month naturally. Some of it is genetic, I'm sure, but 10 pounds of muscle per month isn't going to happen.

I also found out that he's still being sponsored by Muscle Milk.

I also happen to think he looked better before.

Re: The new Ryan Hall

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 12:32 pm
by turd ferguson
ultraslacker wrote:
turd ferguson wrote:Its nice to see that everyone's optimism about the ... cleanliness ... of a guy who puts on a huge amount of muscle in a short period of time hasn't been damaged in any way by repeated doping scandals. Its touching.


he's hot so we trust him.


We want to believe so badly that running is clean we ignore what to any impartial observer would be overwhelming evidence of doping.

If you'll excuse me, I have to go back to needing to believe that the Kenyans are clean.

Re: The new Ryan Hall

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 12:56 pm
by deerdree
Habs4ever wrote:With my measly 2-3 hours/week of strength and not adding in tons of protein rich food, I can see muscles that I didn't know were there. I don't think it's so far fetched that someone who is dedicated and puts in hours of training each day could realistically make a transformation in that short time frame. But I'm not a doctor, so what do I know?
I like the new look. :X!

no doubt it's possible. but how do you go from being so chronically low in testosterone that you're too fatigued to run to being able to put in hours of training each day? that's the missing link for me.

if the story is "elite marathoner stops running and becomes much healthier", that's interesting to me. a heck of a lot more interesting than "hey guys, i'm not fat! look at my abs!". so i wish they had addressed that in article.

i also take dave's point about his physique being "normal". i mean the guy still has a neck. :lol:

Re: The new Ryan Hall

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 1:02 pm
by ultraslacker
turd ferguson wrote:
ultraslacker wrote:
turd ferguson wrote:Its nice to see that everyone's optimism about the ... cleanliness ... of a guy who puts on a huge amount of muscle in a short period of time hasn't been damaged in any way by repeated doping scandals. Its touching.


he's hot so we trust him.


We want to believe so badly that running is clean we ignore what to any impartial observer would be overwhelming evidence of doping.

If you'll excuse me, I have to go back to needing to believe that the Kenyans are clean.


I only feel that way about ultra running. :lol:

But given that he is no longer running competitively, it really doesn't matter whether he's "clean" or not. He can do whatever he wants with his body, even steroids, and it matters not at all to the rest of us (just to his health...).

BTW, Tim Ferriss claims to have the key to putting on lots of muscle quickly:
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2007/04/29/ ... n-4-weeks/

Re: The new Ryan Hall

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 2:00 pm
by ian
deerdree wrote:how do you go from being so chronically low in testosterone that you're too fatigued to run to being able to put in hours of training each day? that's the missing link for me.

I suspect that his endocrine system was way out of whack from the demands of the training and the low bodyweight needed to be an elite marathoner. As soon as he backed away from that, things started to return to normal. This sort of thing doesn't get much publicity with male athletes, but it is not uncommon to hear of analogous situations with female athletes.

Re: The new Ryan Hall

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 2:14 pm
by dgrant
turd ferguson wrote:
ultraslacker wrote:
turd ferguson wrote:Its nice to see that everyone's optimism about the ... cleanliness ... of a guy who puts on a huge amount of muscle in a short period of time hasn't been damaged in any way by repeated doping scandals. Its touching.


he's hot so we trust him.


We want to believe so badly that running is clean we ignore what to any impartial observer would be overwhelming evidence of doping.

If you'll excuse me, I have to go back to needing to believe that the Kenyans are clean.


He started living like a normal person, and now he looks like a normal person. It's not like he's out here hitting 70 home runs. Going from an outlier to the mean seems like the exact opposite of overwhelming evidence of doping.

Re: The new Ryan Hall

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 2:20 pm
by deerdree
ian wrote:
deerdree wrote:how do you go from being so chronically low in testosterone that you're too fatigued to run to being able to put in hours of training each day? that's the missing link for me.

I suspect that his endocrine system was way out of whack from the demands of the training and the low bodyweight needed to be an elite marathoner. As soon as he backed away from that, things started to return to normal. This sort of thing doesn't get much publicity with male athletes, but it is not uncommon to hear of analogous situations with female athletes.

yes, i'd love to hear more about it. it seems like it would be an interesting cycle: excessive running can lead to low testosterone levels and low testosterone can make you so tired that you can work out efficiently. how do you find the right balance? or was he endocrinologically** unlucky? i mean, there are plenty of underweight marathoners who seem to be managing.

**i'm getting the red underline, but google tells me this is a word. :lol:

Re: The new Ryan Hall

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 2:57 pm
by ian
deerdree wrote:it seems like it would be an interesting cycle: excessive running can lead to low testosterone levels and low testosterone can make you so tired that you can work out efficiently. how do you find the right balance? or was he endocrinologically** unlucky? i mean, there are plenty of underweight marathoners who seem to be managing.

There isn't a lot of skill in running, so a lot of it comes down to training as much as possible without overdoing it. Hall may have been unlucky, but there are a couple of specific things that could explain why he pushed too hard:
(1) He was self-coached (or, in his words, coached by God) for the last few years. Good coaches can often anticipate overtraining and adjust the training plan accordingly, thereby saving athletes from the effects of their ambition.
(2) Having already established US records at 21K and 42K early in his career and with lots of endorsement income, he likely wasn't interested in having his results regress slightly in exchange for better odds of staying healthy.

Re: The new Ryan Hall

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 4:38 pm
by deerdree
ian wrote:
deerdree wrote:it seems like it would be an interesting cycle: excessive running can lead to low testosterone levels and low testosterone can make you so tired that you can work out efficiently. how do you find the right balance? or was he endocrinologically** unlucky? i mean, there are plenty of underweight marathoners who seem to be managing.

There isn't a lot of skill in running, so a lot of it comes down to training as much as possible without overdoing it. Hall may have been unlucky, but there are a couple of specific things that could explain why he pushed too hard:
(1) He was self-coached (or, in his words, coached by God) for the last few years. Good coaches can often anticipate overtraining and adjust the training plan accordingly, thereby saving athletes from the effects of their ambition.
(2) Having already established US records at 21K and 42K early in his career and with lots of endorsement income, he likely wasn't interested in having his results regress slightly in exchange for better odds of staying healthy.

gotcha. thanks for the context!

Re: The new Ryan Hall

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 6:39 pm
by ian
Update: he's no longer repulsed by the idea of running and is planning next year to run the World Marathon Challenge (7 marathons, 7 continents, 7 days). Not racing, mind you, but at a "recreational" pace and as a fundraising initiative. I'll be interested to see if he can find a sweet spot for training that balances his new lifestyle with the necessity of getting some easy mileage in his legs.