Is it important to build mass in order to look more like a sprinter,
if you feel that certain bodyparts are lagging behind?
The tops of my thighs are just 23 and 6 eigths of an inch in circumfarance. I’ve trained them hard but they struggle to put mass on.
My upperbody which I barely touch with training in the last 6 years is
41 inch chest. If I so much did as 1 bench session my chest would be 41.5 the next day. If I wanted a 43 in chest it wouldn’t even be a challange to achieve. I think I am top heavy and it has allways been that way. (I am 6ft 1.5 in tall and 13 stones is usuall weight. I think my thigh mass to bodymass ratio is to small.)
Should I bother with hypertrophy work on the legs? If I increased total time under tension, and got enough protein and cals I’m sure that is all that would be necessary, but would it not detract from the more important athletic training such as plyos and sprints? Would any xtra power be achieved anyway, or would it atleast increase my potential to put on more strength and power at a later date?
I have long legs and have done squat jumps (parallel) with 85 kilos for 5 reps(barely.) I certainly need more strength but I’m considering isometrics now instead of ballistic weights exercises. (I include plyos and resisted sprints so I’m not bothered about Isometric V concentric strength.)
You seem to be in a similar situation as myself. I’ve simply opted to avoid deliberate bodybuilding phases and concentrate on max strength. Previously, any mass gained during targeted hypertrophy phases simple wasted away once the training focus shifted. This way at least functional strength is being trained.
I still have chicken legs, but they’re rock solid!
Adding muscle size is important in that added muscle cross sectional area will increase strength, but it becomes counterproductive when the added mass reaches a point where it negates relative strength and increases the strength deficit - this point is probably different for everyone.
If you’re currently maxing out or coming close to maxing out your available motor units, (are as strong as your going to get in your legs without adding more size), then you can train for hypertrophy. But what is important and a question you must determine is will getting stronger will help you run faster? How do your sprint times correspond to increases in the multi-joint basic movements such as squats etc?
Also, there is really no need to do higher reps for hypertrophy. You can add plenty of size by training with lower reps but you’ll need to do more sets. Lower rep/higher set training has the advantage of training and hypertrophying the muscles in the high threshold motor units that are responsible for sprinting.
If one is looking for increased functional hypertrophy lower reps could still be used just with a higher TUT(ie making the eccentric portion longer, say 6-8 sec, pausing 2-4 sec at the bottom of the movement, then a high tension concentric and possibly performing a 20-30 sec isometric on the last rep of each set and a max duration isometric in the stretched position on the last rep of the last set would be ways of encouraging functional hypertrophy. As well hypertrophy is gained with “neural” training, but largely not to the same extent as when using isometrics, accentuated eccentrics(both increase TUT, which is possibly the biggest key, but also help with functional mass building because accentuated eccentrics build eccentric strength and heighten CNS excitement, recruitment, and efficiency as eccentric motor patterns differ from concentric ones and create a greater stimulus, and isometrics in an extreme position have a strength carryover to a great ROM and eccentric and isometric strength are huge huge factors in reversal strength, ie the foot lands and then the posterior chain contracts to reverse the movement…)
