Are Indians Born Losers?

FirstIndiaFan · Post by **FirstIndiaFan** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:00 pm

genius,
What brilliant analysis...Wow! Einstien must be turning in his grave. You have a great intellect and a absolutely wide open mind as far as I can tell. Keep it up!

Fortunately, braindead and absurd people like me have the same rights to the public forums as you geniuses do. We are also allowed to think independently of all of the geniuses out there.

Having said that, I will not glorify your response full of genius comments any further. I concluded this thread about 2 postings ago and that is where I plan to end it. I will not be posting any more reponses to this thread.

Thanks to all those who participated in the sincere discussions without personal attacks and without putting others' opinions down. Thanks for the civil discourse.

Once A Genius But Now A Braindead & Absurd India Fan #1

Triple N · Post by **Triple N** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:07 am

your blind beliefs are NOT facts.

i wonder if mr.genius has ever played on the pro circuit to state tht the diff between top players being a matter of heart and head a BLIND BELIEF!!

i completely agree with firstindianfan tht the difference between top 10 and top 100 is to a great extent a matter of head and heart and learning from experience on tour.
to call it a blind belief is real naivete.

thts all i gotta say bout tht
ciao

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:22 pm

The Friday July 22nd print version of The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about elite athletes, titled “The Lactic Acid Test”. I will try to summarize the article for those who do not have access to the newspaper.

Lance Armstrong is closing on to his seventh straight Tour de France title. What sets the great athletes like Lance apart from the good ones?

Genetics is only one part of the formula for greatness, but the truly dominant athlete is to some degree a genetic freak. I had written about the genotype and the phenotype of humans (see first page of this thread), and the scientists are now looking closely at them to identify the future super athletes.

Here are some examples of what these super athletes are capable of doing:

Lance Armstrong: He is the “most poked, prodded, calibrated and medically researched athlete in sports history. The Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Texas (Jay’s old college) has checked Lance in the past seven years, and his heart is 20% larger than a normal person’s, he produces one-third less lactic acid than other top cyclists and delivers oxygen to his legs at a rate higher than all but may-be 100 human beings on earth. His heart pumps 9 US gallons of blood per minute compared to the average of 5 US gallons for adult males. His intense training has made him to increase his pedaling power by 18% relative to his body weight.

Michael Phelps: He propels himself through water with a pair of feet that operate like flippers. Many swimmers have size 14 feet but few have the outrageous flexibility of Phelps’ feet where he can lie down flat on his back with legs outstretched, and while doing so can touch the tips of his toes to the floor.

Andy Roddick: (similar information was posted somewhere in the forum) Andy has unusual flexibility of his ribs and spine, and is able to arch his back to increase the external rotation of his arms to 130 degrees, 44% better than the average tennis pro, and serve the ball at over 150 mph. His legs are not as strong or flexible as his upper body, and according to Brad Gilbert, “the guy can’t dunk a basketball” although he is 6ft 2 in tall.

Mia Hamm: The retired soccer player, who got thousands of girls in USA interested in soccer, produces less than one liter of sweat an hour, 25% to 50% less than normal. This trait allowed Mia to play for longer stretches without having to stop to drink fluids.

Car racing: The Human Performance International in North Carolina has measured the reaction times of elite race-car drivers. The average “decision speed” of nearly 600 elite drivers measured over the past two decades is 270 milliseconds (average human – 300 milliseconds). Ayrton Senna, the late Formula One champion, has the lowest score – 240 milliseconds.- 20% better than normal, and although the difference does not seem a lot but at top race speeds, it is equivalent to five car lengths.

NBA basketball: The annual NBA training camp for likely draft picks has been checking the athletic performances of the players for many years. The NBA trainers and coaches now know that a typical point guard should be able to finish the league’s standard sprint drill (running from a standing start from one baseline to the farthest free throw line – 75.2 feet) in 3.3 seconds. When Tony Parker of San Antonio Spurs did it in 2.98 seconds, the coaches knew that they had a super athlete.

The research data on elite athletes are kept as a closely guarded secret, and I hope that the Indian sports authorities use some of the available information to identify future stars and train them properly.

Red_Indian · Post by **Red_Indian** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 6:45 am

Wow... that's quite interesting to say the least BBS, thanks.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the fact that Lance produces less lactic acid would mean (perhaps amongst other things) that (all other things being equal, which they are not but whatever) his legs wouldn't pain from exhaustion as much as the next guy. If I remember my biology lessons correctly it's lack of oxygen to the body part under stress that produces lactic acid and thus the pain.

Also interesting tidbits about Senna and Parker. Thanks again.

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 7:06 am

If I remember my biology lessons correctly it's lack of oxygen to the body part under stress that produces lactic acid and thus the pain.

A good biology book will provide useful information about lactic acid but here is a link to a website about lactic acid and athletes.

Every cyclist's enemy: Explore the world of lactic acid. By Edmund R. Burke, Ph.D.

jaydeep · Post by **jaydeep** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 7:17 am

Thanks Bhushan for really cool stuff ... Very interesting information ... Lance also almost secure his consecutive record breaking 7th Tour De France title ... So congrats to him also.

Jaydeep.

XYZ · Post by **XYZ** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 5:08 am

I was watching Tour de France this time. These athletes are amazing. To go thru three weeks of cycling for such long distances at that speed - average 40 KM/hour +. That too in hilly terrains. What kind of fitness regimen these guys must be following. Any other fitness regime must be kid stuff compared to this.
Lance Armstrong to have won it seven consecutive years - a true legend indeed. I am of the opinion, no one will match his feat ever. My hats off to him.

Red_Indian · Post by **Red_Indian** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:23 am

BSharma wrote:A good biology book will provide useful information about lactic acid but here is a link to a website about lactic acid and athletes.

Is that a polite way of saying I was wrong?

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 3:45 pm

Is that a polite way of saying I was wrong?

Not at all!

I was putting a link and refering to the textbook of biology for those who may want to read more about it. (You have to excuse people like Jay, PKB, others and me who take every opportunity to teach

)

genius · Post by **genius** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 4:14 pm

Thanks for the info again Mr.Bhushan.

I was wondering who typically holds the patents/monopoly/info over the research you are talking about and how much access can indians
to the results of that research.Will scientists/authorities prefer to keep their competitive advantage for their native countries.Or is such info typically available?

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 9:32 pm

I was wondering who typically holds the patents/monopoly/info over the research you are talking about and how much access can indians
to the results of that research.Will scientists/authorities prefer to keep their competitive advantage for their native countries.Or is such info typically available?

Scientists like to publish their research work for many reasons.

However, research done on elite athletes are often not published or shared with other people. The research done in former East Germany came to light when many of their coaches/scientists left for greener pastures in other countries after the collapse of communism in that country.

I do not think that Indian sports authorities will have access to much of the classified research data. However, as they say,"One must learn to walk before one can run." I think that there are plenty of research data available for Indian sports authorities to get the ball rolling. Identification of the young talented player and their proper grooming are more important steps right now, and sometime later India can invest in research to determine if Indian athletes are different from athletes of Caucasian or African descent, or what can be done to improve the performance of Indian elite athletes specifically.

SaniaFan · Post by **SaniaFan** » Wed Aug 17, 2022 10:34 am

About 15 years back we were discussing this. Things have changed a bit now.

Post by **jayakris** » Wed Aug 17, 2022 2:15 pm

So I was right all through that discussion

... [but I had only one comment - which was to agree with our great Bhushanji saying "BS is BS" on that whole idea!]. Bhushanji gave so much of good research details.

Things have changed, indeed.

Kumar · Post by **Kumar** » Wed Aug 17, 2022 10:31 pm

I just read the last page in this topic. The good doctor used to provide so many interesting facts, really miss him.

Curious , what happened to Red indian and genius. Remember they used to be pretty active.

Goras · Post by **Goras** » Sun Sep 04, 2022 11:15 pm

we will meet again after another 15 years right here

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