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Group: General Fitness & Exercise

General Fitness & Exercise

Created: 2011/12/31, Members: 382, Messages: 54581

Various general exercise related discussions. Find out what it takes to reach your fitness goals through daily effective exercise. With so many options we try to find out what works best.

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speed

rascal3d Posts: 45 Joined: 2002/01/29	2002/02/01, 06:31 PM Does having a stronger muscle foundation on your thighs and calves improve your speed? (100m, 200m etc)I always thought it did but lately ive been hearing how too much leg muscles could slow u down especially in soccer. So if i wanna be speedy should i keep building my legs up? Thanks

rpacheco Posts: 3,770 Joined: 2001/12/13	2002/02/01, 08:21 PM I think soccer is more of an endurance sport. What is your current training regimen now? Are you performing a lot of compound leg exercises? Do you do any endurance-type training?
rascal3d Posts: 45 Joined: 2002/01/29	2002/02/01, 08:28 PM Im not hardcore in fitness because i dotn have access to the gym..im just doing some curls and mostly lunges, squats, bunny hops, trying to strengthen my legs. I dont do alot of endurance just a little bit of treadmill at times. I just hope getting alot of muscles in my legs wont eventually slow me down at running like the 100 meter.
rpacheco Posts: 3,770 Joined: 2001/12/13	2002/02/01, 11:06 PM Rascal, if you work with heavy weights when you work on your leg muscles, you could invariably build muscle mass. If you pack on too much mass, you will lose flexibility and put on more weight...both of which are not conducive for endurance-type sports. However, if you don't work with heavy weights and do more reps., you won't get too bulky and will end up toning and defining the muscles you already have. Hope this helps...
Philia2 Posts: 4,078 Joined: 2001/10/19	2002/02/02, 02:23 AM Don't worry rascal, big muscular legs will not arrive over night. It needs years of intensive and heart braking training!! Continue what you are doing, it sounds fine to me. BUT if you want to be absolutely sure of not gaining more muscle mass, simply keep the range of repetition in 15-20. This is endurance training, you'll tone your legs and yes you can strengthen them too. Okey?
jbennett Posts: 1,558 Joined: 2001/02/28	2002/02/02, 06:52 AM I have to respectfully disagree with some of the above posts. Sure, soccer is an endurance sport, but there is a lot of sprinting involved. For this, you need explosive power. If you look at the legs of athletes, sprinters have some awesome upper leg mass, while marathon/distance runners are usually not big at all (in fact, some are quite small). Because these distance runners do not need the be explosive, they don't have great leg development. I am training for mass and my cardio is running all-out sprints. I also want to disspell one very popular myth: MASS WILL NOT MAKE YOU LESS FLEXIBLE! Before I started training, I couldn't stretch down to touch my toes. Now, one year and 22lbs later, I can place my palms on the floor without bending my knees. If you've ever seen Tom Platz, you know that he spends a lot of time on his legs; he has some of the largest legs in bodybuiding history. However, he is probably more flexible than anyone I've ever known. The point is, if you build mass and don't use it, you will become somewhat "muscle-bound". But if you strech properly and use that muscle for more than just something you look at in the mirror, mass is a good thing.
rascal3d Posts: 45 Joined: 2002/01/29	2002/02/02, 01:12 PM great!!..thanks for all the replies
MuscleRage Posts: 203 Joined: 2001/12/09	2002/02/02, 06:01 PM yes of course...the stronger your legs are the longer and harder you'll be able to run. Your legs will be strong eneough to endure more.
Philia2 Posts: 4,078 Joined: 2001/10/19	2002/02/03, 03:26 AM I have to agree with jbennet about the fact that muscle mass doesn't necessairly make you less flexible. Actually it's often a question about laziness. Yes, people are too LAZY to do stretching. Another close and often misunderstanded fact is the difference between strength and endurance. I'll not go deeper into explaining all the biomecanical functions of the muscles but we are talking about two totally different kind of muscle fibres here, the FT (the fast or white ones) and the ST (the slow or red ones). You can have ST without having the FT (as often the case with marathonians) but never FT without ST (like our example here with football or Rugby which often includes fast acceleration). With more FTs you are able to suddenly run very fast, but not for very long. Anyway, the best you can do is go out for a long run and do fast sprints every 5 mins (Interval training).
rpacheco Posts: 3,770 Joined: 2001/12/13	2002/02/03, 11:29 AM Learn something every day! Thanks for the lesson in flexibility...
nbh101 Posts: 39 Joined: 2002/01/27	2002/02/03, 01:11 PM Well, I'm a newbie here but I do know a thing or 2 about this subject. No gym to increase your speed? No Problem! Want to increase your endurance too? No Problem! Run STAIRS! Make sure you hit every step too! Concentrate on making each step an explosive movement. Works wonders for me in track and football. Also, try running 40 yard dashes. Concentrate on running as fast as possible each time with 1 min rest between runs. Lunges also help! These will in no way EVER make you slower!