Player Watch #11: Luke "Two Dogs" McDonald - Roo til end '26

[Groin guru]

It definitely helps.

Somehow he managed to recruit way more muscle fibres than he normally would I spose?

rambling story follows>>>

I knew a guy who used to do various martial arts and ended teaching Tai Chi of some sort. He was also post graduate (either sports science or natural medicine but probably sports science) stuff at Southern Cross Uni in Lismore. this was back in the 90s. He was trying to show "chi" existed, and although he never did one of his experiments was very interesting. i was one of his experimental subjects. He wanted to compare the effect of one particular training technique - a form of the horse riding stance that Chinese yoga/Chi Kung practitioners use. can't remember its specific name, but there are a few different ones and this one is one of the hardest/most physically demanding to do. I was fit and in my 20s at the time, had some familiarity with that stuff and noticed it was hard to maintain this stance for more than a couple of minutes. Instead of 45 minutes to an hour that I could do with some other ones.

So we'd sit on a bench and this bloke would strap our leg to something that would measure how much force a maximal contraction with your quads could generate, in Newtons. You'd do an unassisted maximum and then an assisted one. The unassisted one involved kicking as hard as you could and the assisted one involved attaching electrodes to your legs then getting enough electricity to theoretically cause an actual maximal contraction. Obviously it wasn't enough of a contraction to rip the muscle off the tendon.

The theory is that you don't activate or recruit all your muscle fibres when you do a maximal contraction (especially compared to jolting your leg with electricity). This was shown by his results. there was a large difference between the maximum force generated by the unassisted and assisted contractions. Probably at least 10% (can't remember exactly as it was 20 years ago) 60 to 70 newtons.

The guy was working on the theory that improving (and therefore showing the existance of) "chi" would be demonstrated by a decrease in the difference between your maximal assisted and unassisted contractions. Especially if they both improved overall as part of a training effect. He had different groups, some that did their normal lives and the chi Kung, some that did nothing, some that did an exercise regime and some that did the exercise regime and the chi kung. I was in the first group. Over the course of the experiment my personal results were quite noticeable. The difference between contractions decreased to well under 50 newtons while the amount of force generated increased by at least 10%. Between 65 and 100 N but I can't remember exactly.

A secondary theory was that if nothing else the horse riding stance would train all the fibres in your quads - you'd start out using faster twitch fibres to hold yourself up and as they tired the slower twitching firbes would pick up the slack. Basically you're (theoretically) not training your legs so much as your nervous system to function more effectively and activate more more muscle fibres than it previously did.

It was definitely noticeable. I noticed my legs were stronger and worked more effectively within a few weeks. I'd still be doing that stance if my joints were up to it.

I also noticed that my performances on the tests were better after a couple of beers. Which raises other interesting questions too.

<<<<anyway

Somehow LMac did the equivalent without any form of extra training.

Adrenaline probably helped. There are plenty of stories of people performing superhuman feats of strength in very stressful situations where adrenaline would be flooding their systems.

Thanks for the interesting read.

It's official luke McDonald's story will now be told alongside the mother that lifted up a car to rescue her daughter. The only difference is I'm changing the story to the 2nd highest recorded speed in the AFL...EVER.

 

[ferball]

Thanks for the interesting read.

It's official luke McDonald's story will now be told alongside the mother that lifted up a car to rescue her daughter. The only difference is I'm changing the story to the 2nd highest recorded speed in the AFL...EVER.

FWIW the experiments turned up no statistically significant results.

But anecdotally from my pov it definitely an improvement in my legs functioning. I was working in the bush doing a variety of things and I noticed it was so much easier to walk up and down hills after a few weeks of the exercise. I was already fit and working hard at the time but not exercising as such. I was doing some exercise (a bit of yaoga/chi kung and some really mild martial arts training) but nothing like a proper training program. It was weird - my legs felt better/stronger than ever. When i was in high school I used to train pretty hard, especially in yr 11 and 12, running 400s and 400m hurdles. Running, weights and a lot of cycling too just to get around. Did the odd triathlon and biathlon (* swimming in Melbourne in winter,) as well. My legs still felt stronger doing that than they ever did back in high school. Like a machine. And back then (mid/late 80s) I could squat a couple of hundred elbows easily and leg press all the weights on those adjustable weight machines that were in every gym - between 500 and 750 lbs. So there was definitely something going on.

Chi kung is weird thing. I saw one exercise almost induce seizures in someone - it made them physically ill. They described a specific feeling and their physical response was uncanny. Years later that person was diagnosed with epilepsy and the cause was a lesion in a part of their brain that was actually identified by the specific exercise we were doing*. At the time none of us knew what was going on and the teacher couldn't explain it either but they were adamant that the other person needed to see a doctor and get it checked out straight away. The lesion eventually showed up on an MRI years later, when MRIs became available.

* If you want the specific details i'll pm you.

 

[marklovesbeer]

Would be top 4 or 5 in B&F now surely?

Love him in that number 11.

It's starting to get real good.

 

[King Corey]

Is becoming a player who just does winning things. A mark here, a lunge there. Liking his year.

 

[roojor]

Playing in a position he enjoys and heading upwards will win games for us in the future

 

[KillaKanga]

Loved his efforts this year. If we get a hold of Carlton I hope his efforts intensify. We need to build a culture of storming away. Not clinging onto a 4 point lead for 40 minutes.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Massive last quarter.

 

[Devington]

Massive last quarter.

Looked very poor at times earlier though. Had me worried after last week. Was instrumental in the last. Seems to have raised his football ceiling (thankyou positional change!) and now needs to raise the floor.

 

[ansonholt]

Not sure but I think 29 possessions might be a career high.

EDIT: It is. Beats the 28 he had against Carlton last year.

 

[kangaspurs]

Though he did fumble quite a bit he still had a good game, capped off my an incredible last quarter.

Probably top 5 in the BnF at this point. Cunners, Williams, Taz and Higgo (in any order) ahead of him.

 

[muttley45]

Designated Supergoal kicker for next years JLT series.

 

[Psicosis]

Could tell he kicked it just by the ball trajectory, couldn't see him - absolute cannon.

 

[boneofshin]

Remember when he couldn't kick a goal to save his life? Now he's kicking the long-range goals that were Mullett's trademark back in 2013, every week or so.

 

[Roo Beauty]

2014-2016: 52 games, 3 goals
2017: 10 games, 5 goals

 

[giantroo]

 

[The Nostradamus]

 

[kangaspurs]

That #beashinboner is such an appropriate hashtag to accompany a photo of McDonald as that's exactly what he is.

 

[Scallop Industry Thug]

Wasn't as good as the stats suggested, but this game is now his lower end which shows how improved he is.

 

[tazaa]

Im still riding his goal.

 

[giantroo]

 

[the big lebowski]

Wasn't as good as the stats suggested, but this game is now his lower end which shows how improved he is.

I'll have to watch the replay because I thought he was great.

 

[Twinkletoes]

I'll have to watch the replay because I thought he was great.

Same here, and my opinion didn't change from watching him live then on the full replay.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

His last two weeks haven't been that crash hot since his break out game against Adelaide. Good to see him get some more of that form back. The gap between his average games and fantastic games needs to be closer together!

I'm saying that I loved his game today.

 

[chaelsonnen]

Wasn't all that impressed tbh despite the stats. In the Adelaide game he was Ablett like. Wanna see that evasiveness, explosion and speed again.

 

[shniko11]

I'll have to watch the replay because I thought he was great.

Yeah just did that myself aswell and i think he was great. His plays like a no 11 should, he has made that number his own.