Other Sports
It has been noted that swimmers tend to have longer arms in relation to their body size, perhaps because longer arms provide a stronger means of propulsion and a shorter trunk (or torso) reduces drag in the water. A notable example is Michael Phelps whose arm span is 3 inches greater than his height, affording him an index of 1.04.
Small ape indices can also be beneficial. For instance, in weightlifting, shorter arms mean that the weights do not have to be raised so high compared to someone with longer arms and a bigger index. As a result the smaller indexed lifter does less work, and finds the task easier. It should be noted that longer arms are beneficial for the deadlift since you don't have to bend down as far to reach the bar thus having a shorter distance to pull the bar up. For the bench press however it is beneficial to have shorter arms.
Read more about this topic: Ape Index
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behaviour, attire, grace, learning and all their words aimeth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)