Thread: Sprinting

well, you'll get overall more cut up with sprinting, sprinting will build up your leg muscle's for sure but alot of people that i know that run also do leg presses and stuff like that, as long as your legs are soar after all the time, your gonna gain muscle mass

Doing leg exercises(like leg presses etc) is fine. 100m sprinters like Asafa Powell, Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay have well developed shoulders, lats and arms too.

Do they workout for their upper body also? how does their training regimen look like?

being sore has nothing to do with building mass...they work their entire bodys you should do the same

Leg press? What ever happened to back squat, front squat, pistols, lunges, etc.......

The upper body plays a big part in sprinting.... as your arm swings, they build forward momentum, so the heavier and faster they move their arms and legs, the faster they run.....

Can someone post a link to their exact workout program? I found one but it had only running(acceleration, top speed, breathing etc), no weight training was mentioned...

Sprinters do things like most other atheletes, or they should. Power cleans and squats, chin ups, back work. Typical stuff as far as weights go. Dont overtrain the calves or single joint movements like so many do to go on and pull a ham or achilles. The arm swing and momentum thereof is a great determinant of stride frequency as my coach used to say that the legs are waiting on the arms. Work on the hip flexors and keep them stretched along with everything else. Sprinters get lean cause they are always working and running so they usually don't hold on to alot of fat and water. You gotta eat to sprint too. Unless youre a natural sprinter. Sprinting workouts vary as much as flowers under the sun and its been too long for me to comment on whats hot out there now.

I read in a book by Eric Cressey that sprinting/HIIT, or more accurately training at 70-90% of MHR actually inhibits strength gains, which could lead to more muscle mass. I've actually never heard that before, but it's something to consider. Anyone here ever hear that before?

Take this info from someone who has made the switch from bodybuilding to sprinting.
Sprinting will increase quad, hamstring and gluteal strength and size, particularly if you haven't done much leg training (as some guys in the gym tend to only focus on upper body for some reason).
It is possible to gain leg mass by sprint training, though most sprinters focus on trying to get lighter (heavier people dont run as fast). Also not every sprint session will result in you getting sore. Many of my sessions have resulted in me not being sore (even though I really trained hard). Sprinters do do upper body exercises for power in the arm drive. They won't do anywhere near as much for upper body as they also need their upper body to be flexible. Heavier arms aren't necessarily better as a heavier upper body adds additional weight that won't make them run faster (I know this from experience). Calves aren't trained very much. If they are its mainly in plyometric type exercises for more power as the ankle plantarflexes. You dont want calves to be too big as it's additional weight for the hips flexors to lift during the gait cycle which can make stride rate slower

I started competing in sprints back in high school (100M, 200M & 400M), got into bodybuilding for a number of years and now I'm back to competing at mid-distance sprints (5K & 10K). I’ve been training for over 22 years and honestly, my gym routine hasn't changed much and for the most part - I still train like a bodybuilder. The biggest exception is the amount of weight I push, number of exercises per muscles group and the extra recovery time I take. I've found that as I get older, my body responds even better with more recovery time (in the gym – not necessarily on the track).

As far as the sprints, don't expect to gain any mass. In fact, you may get stronger (sprint strong) and leaner, but will likely lose mass. Incorporating an overall routine of strength training in the gym that consists of all the core movements, will improve your lean muscle mass and provide the foundational strength to improve your sprinting. Also, just like bodybuilding, this is all futile without the supporting lifestyle (I hate to use the word “diet”).

Good Luck!

i always hated running lol

I hate running too Mike, haha. But sprints are great for you, both cardio wise and for your legs. Nothing like explosive exercises to get your muscles growing.

Originally Posted by r00kie

Doing leg exercises(like leg presses etc) is fine. 100m sprinters like Asafa Powell, Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay have well developed shoulders, lats and arms too.

Do they workout for their upper body also? how does their training regimen look like?

your whole body is very much involved in sprinting so yea they do work out the whole body + take serious performance enhancing drugs

My senior year we had a guy who was training for the olympics come out and watch our track practices and he would have us come out and train with him on saturdays. Told us he was world class. He was pretty damn fast and big, never found out if he made it to the olympics, but I remember him telling us he would do 10 sets of 10 for squats. He wasn't doing a GVT routine per say, but that's what it reminded me most of. Never lifted with him we just did track work with him.

Oh yeah and he told us to start using the hip abductor/adductor machine. He said I know it seems girly but it's one of the best things you can do in the gym. Idk take that for what its worth. I never used it lol.