Sprinting doesn’t build muscle. However, sprinting does condition your muscles.
Sprinting is about developing speed. Speed is generated from the power that you can exert from your muscles. The more powerful and explosive your muscles are, the more distance you will cover when running, which will help you increase your average speed.
To get more power, you need to develop the strength in your muscles. And then train your muscles to become explosive with your new strength gains.
- Sprinting doesn’t build muscle.
- Sprinting training helps to build muscle.
What sprinting training can you do to help you build muscle?
Strength building exercises.
This requires you to do resistance training. You will need to progressively overload your muscles so that they become conditioned to extra weight. This will develop the muscle to exert more force, which will help you improve your speed.
You will need to focus on strength building exercises around:
- Glute development
- Quadricep development
- Hip flexors
- Core
- Calves
Plyometric exercises
These are explosive exercises that focus on jumping and bounding, which will increase your power. This will force your body to maximise the amount of force/power in the muscles.
Plyometric exercises will help to condition and build some muscle. As a runner, you will focus mainly on lower body plyometrics that will help you improve your horizontal power. These include:
- Bounding for distance
- Hopping for distance
- Sled pull bounding
- Sled push bounding
Explosive exercises
Explosive power exercises at the gym will help you improve your speed and will also develop some muscle. You need to train your body to exert power quickly to move weight. Some exercises will include:
- Lunges (with resistance weights)
- Jump squats
- Step-ups
- Reverse lunges
- Deadlifts
- Power cleans
- Hang cleans
- Snatch
- Hip bridge
- Kettle bell swings
Sprint training will help you build lean muscle.
The muscle that you develop will be functional muscle. This means you will continue to build muscle on a lean frame. And it is likely that you will maintain a low percentage of body fat with the type of training that you will do.
This also means depending on your height and frame, that any new muscle will show quickly on your body. So an extra 2-5kg will be very noticeable on a sprinter.
It is ok to build muscle as a sprinter, but you need to ensure that the muscle is functional and will add to your speed and explosiveness, so you will run faster.
Would you like to improve your sprinting speed?
You can buy the following items to help you greatly improve your sprinting speed and performance.
Clyde Hart’s Speed Development
Clyde Hart is the mastermind behind Michael Johnson’s 200m/400m double at the Atlanta Olympics back in 1996, where Michael Johnson ran 19.32s for the 200m and 43.49s in the 400m.
The training focuses on developing speed endurance to help you run faster.
This training is for advanced athletic sprinters.
Click here to buy it on Championship Productions.
If you want to excel in your sprinting performance, you need to train well. But to train well, you need to fuel your body with the carbohydrates, proteins, and fats that will allow you to excel.
Click here to get the nutrition guidance required to take your performance to the next level.
Want to run 10.99s or faster in the 100m?
Get the complete sprinting program that will help you achieve this.
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Just starting your sprinting journey?
If you are a beginner to sprinting, use this guide to help you improve your speed and power instantly.
How to run faster (For beginners only!)
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