I weigh in the high 140s (5’8 / 16 years old), but my strength levels are very good, little over 2x BW squat, 350ish deadlift, 265 bench press, however I haven’t gained much weight over the past while. My body weight is relatively low compared to other sprinters, would it be useful to add some mass by increasing calorie intake and adding in some higher rep ranges ?
Useful to add some mass?
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Participant
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Participant
It depends what theories you believe. If you read the topic “underground secrets to faster running” then no, you shouldnt increase mass.
If you can squat 2 x BW, I would argue you are strong enough!
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Participant
It depends what theories you believe. If you read the topic “underground secrets to faster running” then no, you shouldnt increase mass.
If you can squat 2 x BW, I would argue you are strong enough!
Im not into the MSF/barry ross theory, but I just think that being under 150 pounds is light for a sprinter. And adding mass to further increase strength.
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Participant
The squat strength obviously depends on depth/stance/etc. Can’t comment much on that otherwise (esp. without video).
Adding size would probably help, if it is in the right places and done in a manner that is cohesive with your training. I don’t think anybody ever got slower by adding muscle to their glutes, hamstrings, and back. If you look at Tyson and Usain, both seemed to add significant mass to those areas in the last few years that have shown the greatest relative progress. The key part would be doing it in an intelligent manner and staying lean.
I would worry more about doing dumb stuff in the weightroom in an effort to increase strength. Reading your threads on other sites that talk about doing heavy squat lock outs, heavy good mornings, and things like that shows that this is likely to be much more problematic than adding some muscle in the right places.
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Participant
The squat strength obviously depends on depth/stance/etc. Can’t comment much on that otherwise (esp. without video).
Adding size would probably help, if it is in the right places and done in a manner that is cohesive with your training. I don’t think anybody ever got slower by adding muscle to their glutes, hamstrings, and back. If you look at Tyson and Usain, both seemed to add significant mass to those areas in the last few years that have shown the greatest relative progress. The key part would be doing it in an intelligent manner and staying lean.
I would worry more about doing dumb stuff in the weightroom in an effort to increase strength. Reading your threads on other sites that talk about doing heavy squat lock outs, heavy good mornings, and things like that shows that this is likely to be much more problematic than adding some muscle in the right places.
My squat is to parallel and a bit wide.
So ya adding massin hips/glutes/back all is good. But do you think adding upper body mass to the arms/chest would actually be detrimental? or wouldn’t have any real effect and only benefit one’s ego. -
Participant
i am curious about how increased muscle mass can help a athlete..tyson and usain have gotten bigger in the last two years..they are also very lean even compared to other elite sprinters..asafa also has gotten bigger over the years..michael johnson also got bigger and his times improved..Maurice Greene added 20 pounds of muscle when he joined HSI
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Participant
Why are you so worried about muscle being detrimental??
Let’s look at some examples here:
-Usain Bolt from 2006 to 2007 and then to 2008 added muscle to his lower and upper body each year.
-Tyson Gay has consistently added muscle each year since leaving college to his upper and lower body.
-Maurice Greene added lots of muscle when he joined HSI. He also went from being an also ran to becoming world champion in one year.
-Ben Johnson had a large upper body and was quite muscular.
-Shawn Crawford is massive.
-Dwain Chambers is as big as ever and ran a huge PB in the 60m.
-And one could continue.The people I have seen on the internet boards who worry so much about this tend to not be very muscular in the first place and/or hold a bunch of BF and underestimate their fatness. Go to the grocery store and look at some top round steaks. They are really lean. Add a bunch of those to your back, glutes, and hamstrings. You think that is going to slow you down?
I won’t bother with debates about whether or not upper body mass and strength only “helps the ego.” Maybe that is all it does, who knows. Do you think Usain Bolt would have ran faster if he didn’t get bigger arms and shoulders? I personally doubt it. People have all sorts of different theories on the upper body providing CNS stimulation, upper body mass and strength needing to be at a certain level to support other lifts, to support arm swing, etc. I am ignoring all of that and looking at the results we have. Most of the best athletes, when progressing, tend to add some muscle to their upper body. I am not advocating people become bodybuilders, but some (basically everyone on the DBHammer message board) have an odd obsession with keeping bodyweight low when it simply doesn’t pan out that way in real life.
Muscle isn’t the end all be all, but it can certainly help.
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Participant
That would be interesting to see, but most of the bios we see online are incredibly inaccurate or outdated, so you’ll probably see a huge range. There have been a number of elites who have said they can fluctuate over 10lbs during the season, which would make it even harder to tell.
Ones we have pretty definitively:
-Usain Bolt 6’5″ 210lbs (self-admitted)
-Ben Johnson 5’9″ 173lbs (up to 178lbs, according to Charlie)
-Maurice Greene 5’9″ 170-180lbs
-Tim Montgomery 5’10” 160-165lbs
-Shawn Crawford 5’11” 185-195lbs (he has said he has significant fluctuations in weight)I am going to take a wild guess and say all of these guys have significantly lower bf% than the original poster. Probably on the order of at least 4-5% less.
I don’t think 150lbs is that small (there are probably guys who were elite at that weight), but it certainly is not a point where I would worry about adding muscle. If training intelligently, eating well, and progressing, the weight will probably take care of itself. There are plenty of examples of people who have a good 20lbs (or more) than the original poster at about the same height and at a lower bf%. Because of that, I wouldn’t worry too much.
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Participant
Does anyone have height/weight ratios of top sprinters. I’m interested to know their BMI to compare to the OP. I’m not opposed to added mass, but is a 150ish sprinter really that small for 5’8″?
Im actually 5’9 (checked today), but the strange thing to me is I look like im 160-165. Every single person has said im 160 at the very least, or more, and some people would believe im 175-180ish. Yet I weighed 148 today with clothes on…. lol.
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Participant
[quote author="star61" date="1251875734"]Does anyone have height/weight ratios of top sprinters. I’m interested to know their BMI to compare to the OP. I’m not opposed to added mass, but is a 150ish sprinter really that small for 5’8″?
Im actually 5’9 (checked today), but the strange thing to me is I look like im 160-165. Every single person has said im 160 at the very least, or more, and some people would believe im 175-180ish. Yet I weighed 148 today with clothes on…. lol.[/quote]
Most people have no idea how to judge bodyweight. Only 2nd to the inability to guesstimate bodyfat percentage.
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Participant
That would be interesting to see, but most of the bios we see online are incredibly inaccurate or outdated, so you’ll probably see a huge range. There have been a number of elites who have said they can fluctuate over 10lbs during the season, which would make it even harder to tell.
Ones we have pretty definitively:
-Usain Bolt 6’5″ 210lbs (self-admitted)
-Ben Johnson 5’9″ 173lbs (up to 178lbs, according to Charlie)
-Maurice Greene 5’9″ 170-180lbs
-Tim Montgomery 5’10” 160-165lbs
-Shawn Crawford 5’11” 185-195lbs (he has said he has significant fluctuations in weight)I am going to take a wild guess and say all of these guys have significantly lower bf% than the original poster. Probably on the order of at least 4-5% less.
I don’t think 150lbs is that small (there are probably guys who were elite at that weight), but it certainly is not a point where I would worry about adding muscle. If training intelligently, eating well, and progressing, the weight will probably take care of itself. There are plenty of examples of people who have a good 20lbs (or more) than the original poster at about the same height and at a lower bf%. Because of that, I wouldn’t worry too much.
A problem with me is that my training goes well, and i eat as much as i can, however the weight doesn’t go up. On a 2 week vacation, I took in endless fast food and junk food, zero physical activity and i lost 2 pounds…? wierd but fast metabolism, makes it difficult to gain.
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Participant
Do you think the elite athletes thought processes were:
“I want to get stronger”, and hence they did more weight training and, as a by-product, got more muscular.
Or
“I want to put on more muscle”?
I believe that athletes just want to get stronger. They never think about mass. Before each season, I look at what I want to lift, and how low I want my body fat to be. Ive never said “I want to put on x kg of muscle”, that has been the by-product of lifting more.
My point here is that the OP said “Do you think its worth putting on more mass?” In my opinion, dont go chasing the mass. Go chasing the increased strength. If you put on more muscle, then thats just the by-product.
As an aside here, in the UK we have had a 10.1 and 20.0 sprinter who was 5 ft 9 and about 66kg then. A sub 6.5 / sub 10.0 guy at 5 ft 10 and 74 kgs.
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Participant
Do you think the elite athletes thought processes were:
“I want to get stronger”, and hence they did more weight training and, as a by-product, got more muscular.
Or
“I want to put on more muscle”?
I believe that athletes just want to get stronger. They never think about mass. Before each season, I look at what I want to lift, and how low I want my body fat to be. Ive never said “I want to put on x kg of muscle”, that has been the by-product of lifting more.
My point here is that the OP said “Do you think its worth putting on more mass?” In my opinion, dont go chasing the mass. Go chasing the increased strength. If you put on more muscle, then thats just the by-product.
As an aside here, in the UK we have had a 10.1 and 20.0 sprinter who was 5 ft 9 and about 66kg then. A sub 6.5 / sub 10.0 guy at 5 ft 10 and 74 kgs.
Christian Malcolm and Jason Gardener i would guess?
Christian has a very slight build, but do you think he ever really reached his potential? He won quite a few global titles at junior level and never really carried that through. Well certainly not consistently enough.
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Participant
Do you think the elite athletes thought processes were:
“I want to get stronger”, and hence they did more weight training and, as a by-product, got more muscular.
Or
“I want to put on more muscle”?
I believe that athletes just want to get stronger. They never think about mass. Before each season, I look at what I want to lift, and how low I want my body fat to be. Ive never said “I want to put on x kg of muscle”, that has been the by-product of lifting more.
My point here is that the OP said “Do you think its worth putting on more mass?” In my opinion, dont go chasing the mass. Go chasing the increased strength. If you put on more muscle, then thats just the by-product.
As an aside here, in the UK we have had a 10.1 and 20.0 sprinter who was 5 ft 9 and about 66kg then. A sub 6.5 / sub 10.0 guy at 5 ft 10 and 74 kgs.
Depends. You are thinking about the question/issue intelligently. I am sure there were guys that said “Oh I am way too small, need to get some muscle on me” and started to do more hypertrophy work, eating more, etc. There are also probably some other things going on with the supplement side of things…
And there are definitely people who can be successful at lighter weights. I just wouldn’t be worried about gaining muscle in the right places.
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Participant
I agree. I think if your lifts are where you want them to be, you shouldnt worry about muscle.
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Member
Keep getting those hamstrings,quads,hips,and glutes stronger then you wont need to worry about your mass. I worked out 6 days a week this whole summer working on my legs and people said I looked skinner when i came back but in all reality I weigh more then when i left. (its all in the legs mate)
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