A resting heart rate of 28 beats per minute
I may be the only one who thinks this is super cool, but given the Olympics officially start tomorrow, I'm hoping many folks have sports on the brain.
A two-page spread in the Sunday's NY Times magazine has vital stats on six US Olympic athletes, a shot-putter, track star, weight lifter, rower, track cyclist and marathoner. Some of the stats are mind blowing.
The 6'5" shot-putter can bench press 635 pounds and squat 650 pounds. He says, "I'm good at improving my upper body - my triceps and back and chest. I used to do it for the chicks, but now I do it to be good at my sport. It's kind of cool how that's worked out."
The track star is chiseled above the waist and spindly legs. His percentage body fat? That'd be eight.
The female weight lifter is a truck, carrying 300 pounds on her 5'9" frame. She can jump 30" straight up and her thighs are 32" around. She says, "When I say that my thighs are 32 inches, they're really hard all of the way around, and my butt is huge from squatting all the time."
The rower looks the most normal among this super-fit crowd. But he eats...
... 6,000 calories a day!
Stats on the marathoner are the most incredible to me. The 35-year old female runner, Deena Kastor, above, is 5'5" and weighs 103 pounds. She can only bench press 65 pounds and squat 105 pounds but her resting heart rate (how many times your heart beats per minute when you first wake up naturally) is 28 beats per minute.
That is very close to dead.
She also has one of the highest rates of oxygen consumption on record (oxygen feeds muscles while they work, basically). An average woman her age consumes 40 ml/kg/min. Kastor's oxygen consumption, called VO2 Max, is 82. So she's basically a big old pair of lungs on a few sticks of muscle. Crazy!
Lance Armstrong has a VO2 Max of 85. Calculate your own VO2 Max using this formula.
Read more about each athlete here. Go USA!
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About The Bargain Hunter
Daily News staff writer Julia Scott loves to find bargains on everything from groceries to Gucci. Her tips will help keep your hard earned cash where it belongs - in your pocket.
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Don't let the washboard-abs envy in this post fool you -- the Bargain Hunter is a fitness fiend. She, along with colleague John Miller, inspired me to get a pair of running shoes. Now all I have to do is have somebody chase me around the block.
Deena is my hero! If she is anywhere near the front in the last 2 miles, shes gonna get a medal. She and Ndereba are the best "closers"!
She works so hard, she is an inspiration to so many of us, she really deserves another medal!!!!!!
I went running last night. I don't know the distance, but I upped my time out there from 10 mins. to 20 mins., this time allowing myself to stop and periodically wheeze for a minute before continuing.
The shoes I got for $30 at Big 5 were ASICS
(can't remember which ones, but they look like one of these: http://www.asicsamerica.com/products/category.aspx?PARENT_CATEGORY_ID=250001538), and they have been great so far -- excellent fit and nice cushioning.
I'll try to get out again tonight ...
when I was 5'5", 105lbs I was anorexic. this runner looks like death. don't think she looks healthy or a good role model (another symptom of anorexia is excessive exercising). guess it still stands in our society "you can never be too thin". my distortion/disease almost killed me, and has taken about 30 years to overcome.
but hey, this is America.
"when I was 5'5", 105lbs I was anorexic. this runner looks like death. don't think she looks healthy or a good role model (another symptom of anorexia is excessive exercising)..."
WOW. talk about ignorance! obviously, the person who made this comment is blissfully ignorant of the finer details of "5'5 and 103 lbs". athletes - in this case, runners - who are anorexic do NOT reach the level of deena or women like her. to be as fast as deena (she's the american record holder for the marathon) you have to eat the right things and train well. a runner has to be physically (and of course mentally) strong in order to withstand the kind of training a serious runner needs to do to perform well. there is absolutely nothing weak or anorexic about her. she is a WONDERUL role model to anyone who wants to admire someone who has guts, determination and "smarts" about her health. athletes who have honed in on their talent through practice rarely overtrain. if they do, they are back on the 'playing field' in a short time and continue to excel after their time-off / injuries.
deena is definitely one of my role models. during my daily runs i think of how gutsy she is and try to emulate her, especially when i feel like quitting or when i feel like slowing down.
"The track star is chiseled above the waist and spindly legs. His percentage body fat? That'd be eight." actually that'd be 4%. deean kastor's is 8%. (at least, according to the article; but i'd like to check on his website to be sure. though it's believable that it's 4%).
"The 35-year old female runner, Deena Kastor, above, is 5'5" and weighs 103 pounds." her height seems to be a misprint because every magazine seems to post her height as either 5'3" or 5'4" and her own website has her as being 5'4". so it think the NYTimes needs to check on their facts.