Born to Run? The Endurance Running Hypothesis thinks so!

A lot of threads in the serious section have touched on evolution lately so I thought I would start a thread on the endurance running hypothesis as I think you will find it interesting and I would like to hear your opinions on it. I first came across the endurance runner hypothesis reading Christopher McDougall’s excellent book Born to Run. In the book the author wants to find out why he keeps getting injuries from running. A staggering 8 out of 10 runners experience some kind of injury related to running every year! The currently accepted view is that humans and the human foot has evolved for walking, not running, and the extra strain of running is the cause of these injuries. Not everyone agrees with this view. While researching the book the author met Dennis Bramble from the University of Utah and Daniel Lieberman from Harvard University whose study became the endurance running hypothesis published in the journal Nature in 2004.


Compared to our closest relatives the great apes we are a weak and fragile animal. Our bipedalism makes us slower than the four legged mammals we prey upon and competed with. We need clothes to keep us warm and our relative lack of strength and inbuilt offensive capabilities (i.e. claws) are not great assets for a predator yet we have evolved into what we are now from eating meat. Why did our evolution appear to make us weaker? What did we gain in return for losing our strength, toughness and speed? The accepted theory (and one I have heard often on BT) is our large brains and dexterous hands allowed us to make tools and out think our prey. Our large brains are a product of our ancestor’s access to a regular supply of meat but although Homo Erectus evolved roughly 2 million years ago the fossil record indicates that the first spear points started appearing 200,000 years ago. How did we gain access to a regular supply of meat in the 1.8 million years prior to this?

ER theory says the clues are in our anatomy. Quadrupedal and bipedal mammals can be roughly placed into two categories, walkers and runners. Pigs, sheep and chimpanzees are classic walking animals; deer, antelope and horses are runners. Lieberman and Bramble found 26 key markers in the human anatomy that are only found in running animals including short toes, large gluteus maximus (our butts), the Achilles tendon and the nuchal ligament that stabilises our head when running. The two things unique to humans that really set us apart are our ability to sweat and our ability to take more than one breath per stride. Quadrapeds can only take one breath per stride and as they cool down by panting this seriously affects their ability to regulate body heat while running. Our hairless bodies and skin covered in sweat glands turns us into one giant heat sink while our upright posture and ability to breathe independently of our stride allows us to take in huge amounts of oxygen to fuel our muscles.

So if we are built for running but what’s the point if every four legged animal out there is quicker than us? Where’s the advantage? Runners can be put into two categories, long distance runners and sprinters. Our stride lengths, springy tendons, ability to cool our selves down and take in large amounts of oxygen are all supremely suited for endurance running. In fact we could potentially be the greatest long distance runners on the planet. Studies have shown that a reasonably fit human and an antelope trot at more or less the same pace. (This also applies to deer, horses and numerous other four legged mammals) To accelerate the antelope has to enter the anaerobic zone which it can only maintain for a short period of time before it has to stop and cool down. The man will keep in the oxygenated zone and can maintain that pace for hours. We don’t have to be faster than the animal we are hunting; we only have to keep close enough to it to keep running it in short bursts without time to recover. Again studies have shown that all quadrupedal mammals can only run until their bodies reach a critical temperature before they have to stop or die of hyperthermia. Effectively we run them into heatstroke and kill them while their helpless.

This is all good on paper but where is the evidence that this works? This type of hunting is known as persistence hunting and is found all over the world, either still practiced today like the Kalahari bushmen of Botswana, the Tarahumara of Mexico and numerous others or told in the folk lore of peoples who have given up hunting in the modern world.

It also begs the question why are we not all super athletes now? Our bodies have evolved to tell us to conserve energy and it is only recently our western lives have allowed ready access to high calorie foods and the opportunity to sit around and conserve energy. Despite this thousands of people every year participate in marathons and long distance running is one of the most popular participation sports in the world. A fascinating study of entrants into the (iirc) New York marathon has shown an extraordinary fact unique to distance running. From the age of 19 men’s performance in marathons steadily increases until they reach their peak performance at around 27 where it then starts to decline. What is truly remarkable is how slow the decline is. The average male declines to the same performance he was at 19 when he is in his 60’s! Are there any other athletic disciplines were men in their 60’s can compete with teenagers? Also women compete equally with men at ultra marathons distances. Again this is extremely rare.

The endurance running hypothesis is controversial but a growing number of scientists are beginning to get behind it. What are your opinions on it? If it has sparked your interest I would highly recommend born to run as it is extremely well written and you will not be able to put it down once you have started.

Finally the reason for the authors sore feet and the high injury rate of runners? Put it this way. Most of the injuries experienced were barely known to science before Nike invented the modern running shoe in the early 70’s and barely exist in parts of the world where people tend to wear flip flops or go barefoot. Our foot has evolved to be a highly sensitive, all terrain, self correcting engineering marvel. Let it do its job the natural way.

​

 

Is the answer not, that we have devolved to a non running animal of late

 

That looks really interesting although I don't have time to read it all now, I would pick up on this point. The oldest bone tools we have found date from 3.3 million years ago used by Australopithecus africanus. Then we have found stone tools dating from 2.6 million years ago and stones throw as weapons from 1.9 million years ago (Homo habilis).

 

Interesting hypothesis. Although it in itself does not explain our huge brains, it would fit with a concordant evolutionary model: both endurance running and cognitive abilities such as planning, theory of mind and language are needed for a co-ordinated hunt.

[NINJA EDIT] I'm now waiting for thehippoz to nix it all with his powerful and compelling logically unassailable intellectual argument of the buttsex monkey.

 

Clearly forgetting brute strength, what good is running miles if when you catch your prey it overpowers you and kills you?!

 

hey you said it I didn't!

the only thing that worries me is cthippo was able to describe the man in that picture I pulled out as hairless

 

Not sure 'bout y'all, but I am not built for running. I can do many other things for long periods, but running isn't one of them.

 

Ran 21 km's this autumn. Aiming for 42 km's this comming autumn. Boy do I like running

 

If your prey is absolutley knackered after you've chased it for hours any brute strength has already been expended by the effort to get away, you run your prey into exhaustion then you kill it.

In other words, chase it till it drops then kill it with pointy objects, man has successfully been hunting this way for a very long time, african tribesmen were taking down extremely large prey this way thousands of years before the invention of firearms.

 

that's interesting.. so try running without shoes

I dunno about his take on history though.. it's more likely the mexican took it down and then the white guys stole it

 

Having gone from being a "non runner' to a "runner", and from discussing the experience with others who have done the same, I can honestly say "Born to run" is a wonderful book.

I'd also recommend "Survival of the Fittest" by Mike Stroud, this was the book that inspired me to not give up the running I'd just started.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Survival-Fittest-Understanding-Physical-Performance/dp/0099272598

 

This. I can just about manage cycling, but most physical activity is beyond me.

 

I've gone the other way,

Used to do cross country running when I was at school, first race, finished second.

Once I started with computers, my fitness levels have dropped off, and I have no upper body strength and not great stamina.
Slowly coming back as I've started cycling again.

 

My wife calls me a Hobbit because I have hairy feet and almost never wear shoes. I just find it much more comfortable to walk around barefoot, and climbing is so much more difficult with shoes on. Monkey toes are required for gripping branches to maintain holds while you move your hands to the next branch.

She fusses at me when I fire up the lawnmower, but I'll probably have to lose a toe before I listen. Even then, I'm so stubborn there's no guarantee I'll start wearing shoes.

 

I love to walk and run barefoot... as long as there is no broken glass or gravel on the ground...

 

Yeah I wondered about that as I assume they mean stone spear heads so we must have used pointy things before that

I don't have the book to hand atm as it has been doing to rounds of friends and work colleagues since I finished so I am doing this from memory so some of the facts and concepts have been mangled by my memory, interpenetration and my (lack of) ability to express my self. The points you bring up are covered but you are correct I think it was put forward as a concordant model. The size and weight of our heads is biomechanically very important to our ability to run as it acts like a stabilising weight. Our large brains could possibly be a by product of the advantage of having a large head. Interesting idea but how do you prove it?

An idea which is more compelling is put forward by an amateur anthropologist (I do not remember his name) who moved from South Africa to Botswana to live with the Kalahari Bushmen. They taught him traditional hunting and tracking methods and it is his personal account of a persistence hunt which is featured in the book. The basis of tracking an animal is putting yourself into the animals mind. You have to become the animal, to think like it, act like it, make the decisions it would make. He speculates that this ability could be the basis for conceptual thought. Again it's an opinion which can not be proven but is none the less a compelling one.

Vibram Five Fingers. Protect your feet from anything pointy, sharp or unpleasant with out upsetting the biomechanics of your foot. Alternative are available, including one from Nike.

 

Ah, just when I thought crocs were the oddest footwear around

 

I can't stress this enough personally. I've always had durable feet. But, since switching to Chuck Taylor's I know for a fact my feet have become even more durable. I could ruck/hike all day with a large pack and my feet would be just as good as I started. I even ran a 10k in Chucks with zero problems(not incredibly slow either). And I am by NO means a runner. Matter of fact before the 10k I hadn't run in 2 years. Ha!

Someone asked me the other day if it bothered me to wear a shoe with zero support/cushion. My response was that shoes with support feel awkward and make my feet uncomfortable and ultimately sore at the end of the day. Long live strong feet!

(Shoes with no support take a little getting used to, but I believe just about anyone can make the switch and reap the benefits.)

 

Watched the video just now and it's well worth a watch. Thanks for posting.