The Evolution of Marathon Running
@article{Lieberman2007TheEO, title={The Evolution of Marathon Running}, author={Daniel E. Lieberman and Dennis M. Bramble}, journal={Sports Medicine}, year={2007}, volume={37}, pages={288-290} }
Humans have exceptional capabilities to run long distances in hot, arid conditions. These abilities, unique among primates and rare among mammals, derive from a suite of specialised features that permit running humans to store and release energy effectively in the lower limb, help keep the body’s center of mass stable and overcome the thermoregulatory challenges of long distance running. Human endurance running performance capabilities compare favourably with those of other mammals and probably…
64 Citations
Alternative Metabolic Strategies are Employed by Endurance Runners of Different Body Sizes; Implications for Human Evolution
- BiologyAdaptive Human Behavior and Physiology
- 2022
The results suggest that, while individuals with low mass and good RE can glide economically as they run, larger individuals can compensate for the negative effects their mass has on RE by increasing their capacity to consume oxygen.
The evolution of human fatigue resistance.
- BiologyJournal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology
- 2022
The hypothesis is that since fatigue is an important factor that limits the ability to perform endurance-based activities, fatigue resistance was likely an important target for selection during human evolution for improved endurance capabilities.
Ultra-endurance athletic performance suggests that energetics drive human morphological thermal adaptation
- BiologyEvolutionary Human Sciences
- 2019
It is proposed that the interaction between prolonged physical exertion and hot or cold climates may induce powerful selective pressures driving morphological adaptation, allowing diversion of energy to other functional outcomes such as faster running.
Are humans evolved specialists for running in the heat? Man vs. horse races provide empirical insights
- PsychologyExperimental physiology
- 2020
Comparing the results of races that pit man against horse, it is found that ambient temperature on race day has less deleterious effects on running speed in humans than it does on their quadrupedal adversary, evidence that humans are adapted for endurance running at high ambient temperatures.
Human locomotion and heat loss: an evolutionary perspective.
- BiologyComprehensive Physiology
- 2015
As modern humans dispersed into a wide range of habitats over the last few hundred thousand years, recent selection has helped populations cope better with a broader range of locomotor and thermoregulatory challenges, but all humans remain essentially adapted for long distance locomotion rather than speed, and to dump rather than retain heat.
Human athletic paleobiology; using sport as a model to investigate human evolutionary adaptation
- BiologyAmerican journal of physical anthropology
- 2020
A review of how the use of athletes as a model system is enhancing understanding of human evolutionary adaptation is provided, finding that ultra‐endurance challenges provoke functional trade-offs, allowing new ground to be broken in the study of life history trade‐offs and human adaptability.
Energetic and endurance constraints on great ape quadrupedalism and the benefits of hominin bipedalism
- BiologyEvolutionary anthropology
- 2021
How bipedalism relaxes constraints on nonhuman primate quadrupedal limb mechanics, providing key advantages during hominin evolution is focused on.
Long distance running - Can bioprofiling predict success in endurance athletes?
- EducationMedical hypotheses
- 2020
Human-like Cmah inactivation in mice increases running endurance and decreases muscle fatigability: implications for human evolution
- BiologyProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- 2018
Evaluated the exercise capacity of Cmah−/− mice and observed an increased performance during forced treadmill testing and after 15 days of voluntary wheel running, suggesting that CMAH loss contributes to an improved skeletal muscle capacity for oxygen use.
Are We Reaching the Limits of Homo sapiens?
- Environmental ScienceFront. Physiol.
- 2017
This work calls into question the validity of subsequent forecasts and projections through innovative and related biomarkers such as sport, lifespan, and height indicators and sets a theoretical framework based on biological and environmental relevance rather than using a typical single-variable forecasting approach.
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 26 REFERENCES
Endurance running and the evolution of Homo
- BiologyNature
- 2004
Judged by several criteria, humans perform remarkably well at endurance running, thanks to a diverse array of features, many of which leave traces in the skeleton.
Persistence Hunting by Modern Hunter- Gatherers
- Education
- 2006
Before the domestication of dogs, persistence hunting may have been one of the most efficient forms of hunting and may therefore have been crucial in the evolution of humans.
The Energetic Paradox of Human Running and Hominid Evolution [and Comments and Reply]
- BiologyCurrent Anthropology
- 1984
One factor important in the origin of the Hominidae may have been the occupation of a new niche as a diurnal endurance predator, given what is known of heat dissipation in Old World Anthropoidea, the bipedality of early hominids, and human exercise physiology.
Physiology: Efficiency of equine express postal systems
- Computer ScienceNature
- 2003
It is shown how this adopted speed and distance combination was ideal for optimal horse performance and can be explained with a modern understanding of equine physiology and with reference to recent endurance records.
The Gaits of Bipedal and Quadrupedal Animals
- Biology
- 1984
The gaits of turtles appear to reduce unwanted displacements (pitch, roll, etc.) to the minimum possible for animals with such slow muscles, and much of the energy that would otherwise be needed for running by people and other large mammals is saved by tendon elasticity.
Implications of early hominid labyrinthine morphology for evolution of human bipedal locomotion
- Environmental Science, GeographyNature
- 1994
A systematic attempt to reconstruct the locomotor behaviour of early hominids by looking at a major component of the mechanism for the unconscious perception of movement, namely by examining the vestibular system of living primates and earlyhominids.
Positional behavior of Pan troglodytes in the Mahale Mountains and Gombe Stream National Parks, Tanzania.
- Biology, PsychologyAmerican journal of physical anthropology
- 1992
Although no significant differences were found between sympatric baboons and chimpanzees in the proportion of time spent in the terminal branches, or in the mean diameter of weight-bearing strata, chimpanzees exhibited evidence of a terminal branch adaptation in that they, unlike baboons, used postures among smaller supporting strata different from those used among larger supports.
Speed, stride frequency and energy cost per stride: how do they change with body size and gait?
- BiologyThe Journal of experimental biology
- 1988
The mass-specific energetic cost of locomotion is almost directly proportional to the stride frequency used to sustain a constant speed at all the equivalent speeds within a trot and a gallop, except for the minimum trotting speed (where it changes by a factor of two over the size range of animals studied).
The human gluteus maximus and its role in running
- BiologyJournal of Experimental Biology
- 2006
The muscle's minimal functional role during walking supports the hypothesis that enlargement of the gluteus maximus was likely important in the evolution of hominid running capabilities.
Mammalian locomotor-respiratory integration: implications for diaphragmatic and pulmonary design.
- BiologyScience
- 1993
Basic features of mammalian respiratory design, including the structure of the diaphragm and lobation of the lungs, appear to reflect the mechanical requirements of locomotor-respiratory integration.