Another interesting thing about sports.
In basketball for example, we see solidified stars like Joel Embid, Lebron, Zion, Kawhi, Westbrook etc ball out on TV every other day, giving crazy energy and intense competitiveness.
They have incredible, unique bodies that are marvelous to behold. Despite that, we are still human and there are fundamental limits that are sometimes ignored by all of us.
In sports biology class or exercise science, there was a basic principle that stalked the curriculum, which explains how:
* a human will only be able to bench press a certain amount, and this is how they will do it
* a human can only sprint the 100 meter in 9 seconds, and this is how they can do it
* a human cant be a top sprinter, cardio AND weight lifter at the same time - even any combo of just 2 outta those 3
* no matter how athletic or healthy you are, your body is still complex and fragile (compared to forces like gravity, weather and disease)
So in spots of certain sports, we contradict those principles by asking our athletes to be strong AND fast WITH great stamina. It is technically not possible, especially at 80-100+ game schedules.
When you see Kwahi sitting for load management, its understanding. If Zion is missing for knee problems, it is not surprising. If Westbrook needs clean up surgeries and starts the season out a lil slow, its okay. If Embid (7 feet 250), has knee or back problems, its predictable. The only thing that's been unpredictable is Lebron and even he has only had one 82 game season in his career.
So we are also asking fragile bodies to bang against each other constantly.
We are asking those same fragile bodies to defy gravity by jumping and falling, constantly.
Which is obviously no small task. Zion’s knee tweak at Duke was nothing but physics. If he wasn't so fast and so strong at the same time, he would have stayed in his shoe and avoided slipping and falling.
When analysts beg for skinny Killers like Kevin Durant to gain muscle, it's not realistic.
When we ask behemoths like Shaq & Zion to lose weight, we are ignoring the fact that their genes literally says ‘We cannot get any skinnier, we are supposed to be extra thick”.
Hoping super explosive, thin framed yet muscular freaks like Derrick Rose and Westbrook; never sustains any serious muscle tears - is naive!
You won't see someone running around a track with 40 pound dumbbells in their hands. You just won't. Definitely not for any longer than 5 minutes. It would be impossible to be great at strength, explosiveness, speed, and stamina.
It is almost like asking them to cut off an arm to enhance a leg.
So yes, we give them good money to sacrifice their bodies and risk harm, pain or injury.
It is still VERY interesting how the premise of some sports are clearly a contradiction of the fundamental limits of the human body, and the most exciting ones are the sports that have the most injuries.
