Interesting information I came across today. For a 170 pound athlete, a fat gain of 2% (or 3.4 lbs) results in a vertical jump height loss of 2″ and a 40 yard dash time increase of .26 seconds.
That is pretty crazy to me. Currently I weigh about 198 pounds and am 6’6”. I am not fat but definitely not skinny either. Probably average. I’ve noticed that my pace for my 6 mile morning runs usually varies between 9:00 / mile to 9:40 / mile depending on how I feel. My goal has long been to get to a 7:00 mile pace for these runs, but I have not been able to make much progress. I am strongly suspicious that my heavy body weight is one of the primary reasons for that.
My goal is to lean down to 180 pounds as I believe that will significantly improve both my athletic performance and quality of life.