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Can Sprinting Build Muscle?
Sprinting for muscle building
When we see the powerful and muscular legs of a sprinter the obvious question will be "does sprinting build muscle". Well the truth is that any anaerobic exercise that uses muscle glycogen without oxygen will produce an increase in muscle mass.
When I see great Olympic sprinters with powerful lower legs running a 100 meter sprint in less than ten seconds, I have no question that sprints do increase the muscle in your legs. So why not use the sprint to build muscle in your legs?
Because a sprint is usually for a very short period of time i.e. less than 45 seconds, you will be doing an anaerobic exercise. In other words not using oxygen as the energy required comes immediately from the muscles and not the cardiovascular system.
But just like any exercise it takes time to progressively increase. This should be done but starting off by doing a quick short sprint that is done for only about 30 meters. One should do about ten sets of these sprints and then do the same 48 hours later.
It is good to test your speed that you run 100 meters in so that you can monitor your progress from your training. You will see that the increase in the speed of your ability to sprint will result in an increase in the size and strength of your legs and calves.
One should make sure that you are not only doing the correct warm-ups before you start your sprint, but also stretching. The sprint is actually only really the hamstrings and quads through mid-range so it is important to make sure that you are always stretching your lower legs muscles.
Juan Carlos Santana, director of the Institute of Human Performance in Boca Raton, Fla., recommends you do basic sprinting drills that involve both linear and non-linear motions. This means that you should not only sprint in a straight line but do a changing of direction.
This is simple to set up as all you need to do is put a marker on a field about 30 meters away and simply change direction and head to another marker at 45% to the previous one. Obviously one should change these angles as well as the distance of these markers.
You need to practice this consistently in order to get the desired result but the measure of your success will be the time that you run 100 meters in. As your body adapts to sprinting, you would be able to sprint faster and longer with shorter periods of rest, due to increased muscle size and neural adaptations.
In my book "The Muscle Experiment" I talk about how I was able to put on a solid 39lbs of solid muscle in less than 6 months with bodyweight training, and exactly how YOU can do it as well. In case you haven't downloaded The Muscle Experiment, I suggest you download it immediately and start implementing the little known techniques. This alone should put you on the road to massive size and strength.
To your success,
Mike Thiga
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