Talk:Hitting the wall

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Bonk vs. hunger knock
In the 1960's I had a cycling book entitled (as far as I can recall) "Scientific Training for Cycling" by a Dr. C. R. Woodward. In it, the author made considerable pains to distinguish between these two terms, with the term "hunger knock" being used for what is called "bonk" here (and in common usage today). He used "bonk" to refer to what seemed to be more a psychological condition rather than a physiological state.

Now, the book was Brtitish (there being a dearth of US cycling publications at the time). Was the distinction between the terms as discribed above common British usage at that time and subsiquently "bonk" taken on the physiological meaning or was this usage peculiar to this author? Perhaps some British users here can enlighten us.Wschart 14:03, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

According to my father, who has been an active cyclist for over 50 years, in the early 1950's in London and the south east of England the term 'bonk' was used by cyclists to describe a condition of exhaustion. In some other parts of the country, it seemed that the same condition was referred to as the 'knock' or 'hunger knock'. At that time cyclists in all parts of the country used musettes to carry food or other items, and in the London area, these were referred to as 'bonk bags' whereas, in other parts, they were called 'knocking bags'. In both cases, there was no suggestion of a psychological condition. Pheasantplucker 15:18, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Bonk training vs. Atkins diet?
Bonk training depletes glycogen reserves to speed fat burning. So does the induction phase of the Atkins diet. So is bonk training ketogenic too? --Damian Yerrick (talk | stalk) 02:46, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

- no, with ketogenic training your goal is to slowly deplete your body of energy and run into a heart attack, with high carb training your goal is to thrive and always play your best game

- Of course it is ketogenic. When you bonk you're out of glycogen so your body has no choice but to all but completely switch over to burning fat - ketosis. This is more complex metabolic pathway than glycolysis, therefore it is a slower process and athletic performance is lower. It is an excellent way to lose weight. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:600:827F:A0B6:4D0:6F7B:A0BC:B69A (talk) 04:51, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

added sections header
this article needs more sections and less introduction Thinboy00 talk/contribs 03:03, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

article title
Hmmm. I'm just a recreational cyclist, but in sports medicine in general "hitting the wall" is by far the preferred term for "bonking". sfahey —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sfahey (talk • contribs) 16:00, 7 January 2008 (UTC)


 * "Bonking" is by far the preferred term among cyclists, in my experience. Cheers, Doctormatt (talk) 20:33, 11 April 2008 (UTC)


 * I've never heard of this term before today (i.e. just on Wikipedia). In contrast I have heard "hitting the wall" more often than I can remember.  Perhaps this is a regional thing? Quietbritishjim (talk) 20:49, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

A blunt but faithful tool, here's some google search results:

For the third column I excluded the Wikipedia result(s), but included those results that were in a metaphorical or referencial sense (e.g. an album presumably titled after the experience). I added that column to show that, although bonk seems pretty close to hit the wall looking at counts alone, actually it's a vague word used for lots of things (even apart from sex) so taking that into account "hit the wall" is far more common.

I'll move the page immediately since the evidence seems conclusive. If there's any objection we should vote on whether to move it back (I think that makes sense -- sorry, I've never done a move before). Quietbritishjim (talk) 22:29, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

I fixed the intro and removed the wiktionary link to "bonk" (which, by the way, didn't include hitting the wall as one of the meanings). However there is still too much bonking in this article and not enough hitting the wall; this needs to be fixed. Still, it is an improvement. Quietbritishjim (talk) 22:45, 23 July 2008 (UTC)
 * One last thing; I like Dutch name best: hongerklop :-) Quietbritishjim (talk) 22:52, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

The etymology section is slightly confusing to me, as it points out that "bonk" generally means "to hit." Would that therefore mean that "hit the bonk" is equivalent to "hit the hit"? Many people have heard of the term "bonk your head," for example, and as the google search indicates, it's often used as slang for intercourse -- which would make it synonymous with "to hit" as well (such as "I'd hit that"). In short, I agree with you, but wonder if it wouldn't make sense to flesh out the etymology section more, pointing out that the usage doesn't match the slang. I'll also add that, as a cyclist (in the US), I've never heard the term "bonk" in place of "hitting the wall," which is what most everyone seems to use.Eggytoast (talk) 20:36, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

RE: "Carbohydrate loading is used to ensure that the initial glycogen levels are maximized, thus prolonging the exercise. This technique amounts to increasing complex carbohydrate intake during the last few days before the event." COMMENT: As far as I understand, it is NOT (conclusively) proven that specific carboloading has any positive effect in the general case. The important issue is the next item, to keep blood sugars on an even level so that the liver does not get depleted. THAT's when we bonk, when the liver runs dry of glucogen, again AFAIU. If glucogen is (fully) depleted from the muscles, then we have rigor mortis, since the energy process simply stops without glucogen. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.114.185.36 (talk) 20:34, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

bicycling magazine's 1993 booklet "long-distance cycling" suggests that there are two different conditions, one (bonk) due to depleting liver glycogen and the other (hitting the wall) where muscle glycogen also is lost. By this account the bonk is the sick and sweaty unpleasant feeling that can be relieved within a few minutes by eating carbohydrate, contrasting with this when you hit the wall exercise capacity is markedly reduced for many hours, recovery needs refeeding and rest. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.174.129.202 (talk) 10:31, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Citations and Quotes
The "Effects" section needs more citations. I'm not sure the the source of the quote, and it's not clear who 'Davis' is (presumably J. Mark Davis from the previous section). The source of the quote should be cited, as should the specific works of Dr Davis in which the claims from this section are made. The tone of the section isn't that great either (e.g. I would change "What’s interesting, Davis says, is that the increase in free tryptophan in the blood is very much related to the increase in free fatty acids in the blood" to "The increase in free tryptophan in the blood is related [ in what way? ] to the increase in free fatty acids within the blood [citation]"). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.220.171.209 (talk) 18:16, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

hitting the wall is a scientific thing
it happens when skeletal muscle runs out of its immediate energy source (glycogen), just saying, I think there should be an article on this but I don't really know all the technical details so I'm sorry I can't write it anon86.158.35.242 (talk) 11:31, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

O2
at any given power output O2 intake, heart rate, and ventilation (VE) were significantly higher, CO2 output (VCO2) was similar This cannot be correct. Either the measurements were incorrect or it is a typo. The body doesn't store oxygen so CO2 output is proportional to oxygen consumption. O2 intake cannot be significantly higher while CO2 production remains constant. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:600:827F:A0B6:4D0:6F7B:A0BC:B69A (talk) 05:01, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

What is ATP?
The article refers to ATP but with no link to what that is 5.150.250.97 (talk) 20:08, 13 July 2023 (UTC)


 * Adenosine triphosphate. Now linked in the main page. Silicosaur'us 14:04, 13 August 2023 (UTC)