Episode 31A - Interview with Aaron Wellman PhD

Timeline
00:20 -Who is Dr. Aaron Wellman?
3:30 - What exactly is the Muscle-to-Bone ratio (MBR)? Dr. Wellman edifies us
4:00 – How big can this athlete get? How much muscle mass can a skeleton hold?
5:50 – Dr. Wellman even looked at the cattle industry – how much meat can you put on an animal
7:30 – Muscle to Bone ratio defined; so if you have 25 lb. of skeleton, and 100 lb. of skeletal muscle mass, then you have a 5.0 ratio
10:38 – There are 2 main factors that affect MBR: weight of skeleton and the ethnicity of the individual; there are racial differences.
12:05 - Is there an “optimal” MBR? Because maximal may not translate into optimal.
14:30 - PhD #2 – Wellman is doing a second doctorate looking at the anthropometric characteristics of college football athletes
15:52 – Which athletes have the highest amount of skeletal muscle mass? Is there a limit to how much muscle mass you can carry?
17:08 – Dr. Wellman speculates that sumo wrestlers probably have the most skeletal muscle mass
17:50 – Pro Bodybuilders (are they athletes?) – some have a 7.5 muscle-to-bone ratio. Why? PEDs move the biological ceiling
19:30 – Dr. Wellman’s partnership with EXOS – Do players with higher MBR have perhaps lose some elasticity?
21:40 – In the NFL, is there a relationship between high MBR and history of injury?
22:22 – Is it sometimes better to lose some skeletal muscle mass to lessen the risk of injury?
24:02 - The rate of increasing MBR – is it affected by whether they gained muscle over a long period of time?
26:10 – Will the 5.3 (MBR) skill player have a history of injuries?
26:55 – Predicting performance in a “simple” sport (i.e., 100 m dash) – Does MBR help predict performance or injuries?
28:56 - Top 100-meter sprinters – average MBR is about 4.6 to 4.7 – that is similar to NFL receivers (who may be a little larger).
30:00 – S & C – maybe getting more skeletal muscle mass and strength is not needed?
31:30 - As long as you put on muscle mass, you won’t get slower – Or maybe we need to rethink this paradigm.
36:10 - The average person may not hit MBR until the late 20s, early 30s – and that is with perfect training and diet. But the elites are just different.
38:05 – Wellman – may program certain athletes to avoid training that increases skeletal muscle mass.
39:30 - Using ice baths to avert gains in skeletal muscle mass.
40:45 – Why are there differences in MBR between players that are Polynesian? White and Black players?
41:40 – Bone breadths in Polynesians are enormous. They tend to play O-line, D-line, and Linebackers due to such large skeletal frames.
45:00 – Data on the MBR will be published (hopefully soon) in JSCR.
51:20 – MBR data on NFL Quarterbacks (avg is about 4.7) – Dr. Wellman expounds on why Eli Manning was an elite; his daily routine was dialed in! Running QBs tend to have higher MBR.

About Dr. Aaron Wellman

Aaron Wellman enters his fourth season as Indiana’s senior assistant athletic director for football performance in 2023.

• Earned his degree in exercise science in 1996. Wellman added master’s degrees from Indiana in applied sport science (1998) and nutrition science (2009), and his PhD (2018) from Bond University in Queensland, Australia.

• Aaron and his wife, Shellie, have one son, Grant, and one daughter, Grace.

COACHING EXPERIENCE
Indiana University
1997-98: Graduate Assistant
1998-2001: Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach
Michigan State University
2001-03: Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach
Ball State University
2004-08: Director of Football Strength & Conditioning
San Diego State University
2009-10: Strength & Conditioning Coach
University of Michigan
2011-14: Strength & Conditioning Coach
University of Notre Dame
2015: Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach
New York Giants
2016-19: Strength & Conditioning Coach
Indiana University
2020-: Senior Assistant Athletic Director for Football Performance

Hosted by Jose Antonio PhD
https://www.sportsnutritionsociety.org/Board-of-Directors.html
Dr. Antonio is the co-founder and CEO of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, www.issn.net as well as the co-founder of the Society for Sports Neuroscience.
Dr. Antonio has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, 16 books, and is Professor at Nova Southeastern University, Davie Florida in the Department of Health and Human Performance.
Twitter: @JoseAntonioPhD

Co-host Anthony Ricci EdD
Dr Ricci is an expert on Fight Sports and is currently an Assistant Professor at Nova Southeastern University in Davie Florida in the Department of Health and Human Performance.
Anthony Ricci | College of Health Care Sciences | NSU (nova.edu)
Twitter: @sportsci_psyDoc