T Nation

Mass Slowing You Down?

Powerlifting
#1

Hey guys as i said in the nutrition section im eating big and im on the designer athlete program.

i have a question…my body fat is at 13%…would doing the Designer Athele Program slow me down o nthe court cuz of the muscle gains? i was thinking of adding some sprints on wednesday after basketball practice (wednesday) as some plyos…should i also add some depth jumps and jump squats to keep the spring in my legs??

u guys get where im going with this? i know my legs will get stronger with this program but i dont want to lose the speed in my jumps…forgot the exact word for it (the spring) what u guys think?

#2

[quote]kobe4life08 wrote:
Hey guys as i said in the nutrition section im eating big and im on the designer athlete program.

i have a question…my body fat is at 13%…would doing the Designer Athele Program slow me down o nthe court cuz of the muscle gains? i was thinking of adding some sprints on wednesday after basketball practice (wednesday) as some plyos…should i also add some depth jumps and jump squats to keep the spring in my legs??

u guys get where im going with this? i know my legs will get stronger with this program but i dont want to lose the speed in my jumps…forgot the exact word for it (the spring) what u guys think?[/quote]

Well, judging by the fact that it’s actually the muscles that allow you to jump in the first place (as well as run, change direction, stand, basically move in any way) I highly doubt that improving your leg strength is going to hurt your jumping ability.

And if you really want to maximize your results, do a mass program (I assume that’s what the “Designer Athlete” program is, as you seem to be getting ansy about gainin muscle), and then do a speed strength/plyometric program. The first one will build muscle (contractile) tissue, and the second one will teach your body how to use that new muscle tissue to it’s maximal potential.

Good training,

Sentoguy

#3

You should be fine, the only thing iv seen body weight affect a lot was playing DDR. Gain 5lbs of muscle and you feel extremely heavy. Lose 5lbs of fat you feel light as a feather.

#4

I will also say to the OP that one should never just “add in” any sort of plyos or sprints. That’s akin to “adding in” some max effort squats. Obviously, you want to be careful and systematic about it.

Not that plyos or sprints would hurt you, but as a basketball player I’d be careful about adding in extra jump work, as you’re probably already doing a good amount of it. The sprints after basketball practice don’t sound so good to me either, assuming they’re all-out sprints intended to build speed.

#5

I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been, and I’m also the fastest. I see no problem with putting on mass while retaining, or gaining speed.

#6

[quote]kobe4life08 wrote:
Hey guys as i said in the nutrition section im eating big and im on the designer athlete program.

i have a question…my body fat is at 13%…would doing the Designer Athele Program slow me down o nthe court cuz of the muscle gains? i was thinking of adding some sprints on wednesday after basketball practice (wednesday) as some plyos…should i also add some depth jumps and jump squats to keep the spring in my legs??

u guys get where im going with this? i know my legs will get stronger with this program but i dont want to lose the speed in my jumps…forgot the exact word for it (the spring) what u guys think?[/quote]

There is this crazy thing called “spellcheck” - perhaps you could give that a spin!

#7

i only have practice once a week which is wednesday and thats my off day. i play ball also on sundays (usually 4 on or 5 on5 games) should i add anything else in?

#8

Kobe, depends if the strength you gain is sarcoplasmic or myofibrilar.

#9

which is what im aiming for and i how do i achieve it?

#10

myofibrilar is the one you want. This is where you actually get more contractile tissue rather than just more fluids between tissues (I may be botching the explanation, but I’m sure myofibrilar is what you want).

Really you don’t need to worry about this. Just do the following three things and you will be fine:

  1. keep your plyometric ability up. You likely are accomplishing this by plaing ball a couple of times a week. You could consider sprinting and jumps, but I would keep these in moderation and do them BEFORE practice or before a leg day. But likely just playing a couple of times a week is enough.

  2. Monitor your strength to weight ratio. Gaining weight is fine, as long as you also gain at least that much strength (i.e. weight up 10% means you want your max squat to go up at least 10% - preferably more). When it comes to speed, strength to weight is key. At some point, this becomes difficult, but you have to be pretty big for this to be true. Look at the size of top sprinters. They are all pretty big. Until you are as big as they are, you probably will find that adding x% of bodyweight will result in a strength gain of > x%.

  3. If you can, test your speed every couple of months. That way you will know for sure if you are making progress.

#11

[quote]kobe4life08 wrote:
which is what im aiming for and i how do i achieve it?[/quote]

As Oboile said myofibrillar is the one you want. Concentrating more on CNS style training rather than BB style. Low reps never to failure but heavy and mod to high sets. Check out CW’s stuff on here… pretty good info.

Pavel Tsatsouline and Ross Enamait too.

Keep nutrition to bare essentials of getting through the day and training. I wouldn’t go BB eating.

#12

The only thing that is slowig you down, is your 13% Body fat.

don’t worry about losing plyometric ability, basketball is a plyometric workout itself.