T Nation

Muscle Slowing You Down?

Powerlifting
#1

I want to thank everybody for the advice on eating and lifting. Ive been doin it for like a week and a half and believe it or not i feel stronger. today i benched 165 8 times and last week i could barely do 160 like 5 times.

A question that has been in my head lately is if i gain muscle would that slow me down for basketball? how do i keep my speed for basketball? should i do sprints while lifting (eat more since im gonna run) or should i just keep playin ball and ill be fine?

is it ok if i do running if i eat more

#2

As long as you are working your legs with squats, deadlifts, and as an athlete hopefully some Olympic lifts, your speed will only increase. Sprints would still be a good idea for flexibility and to stay in shape.

#3

Muscle shouldn’t slow you down. Fat will though. Look at LeBron James, he’s got a lot of muscle and he’s fast as hell. Also, look at how fast NFL running backs are and how much muscle they carry.

#4

LOL im no damn speed demon but as long as your workinbg on the speed then no and even if your not I find conditioning speed etc comes back MUCH faster then muscle is gained.

Example go on a bulk gain strenght and muscle sure your conditioning drops but then I make that priority to keep the gains and bring the condition back. Conditioning relative to your sport.

One thing I didnt notice LOL was jumping in a pool and swimming for the first time after adding 30+ lbs of mainly muscle. Good lord felt like an anchor muscle is a LOT less bouyant then fat. LOOL but after an hour or so was getting used to it.

Long staory short. Try and maintian or limit the loss of speed while packing on the muscle sure you may lose a little but then make it priority while keeping the muscle and it tends to come back MUCH quicker and should be better due to the added LBM. quickness, etc.

Phill

#5

well im gonna have to run anyways cuz i have bball practice.

ill just eat more

#6

Search for olympic sprinters - they have a sizable amount of muscle on them. I hear they run pretty fast too…

#7

I agree with everyone else. I mean as long as your not talking about bulking upto 300 pounds I think you’ll find some added muscle to be most beneficial.

#8

Gaining muscles will not slow you down. In fact it should make you faster if you are training the right way. Strength is the key factor for getting faster/jumping higher. HOwever the key here is RELATIVE strength. You must train in ways which will allow you to be strong for your size.

Focus on movements such as squats and deadlifts, and bring those lifts up until you can rep 1.5 - 2 times your body weight. The stronger you are for your size for faster you will get. Once basic strength levels are achieved then incoprate plyometrics movements in your program to tranfer strength into power.

One thing to remember when you go on a strength building phase is to run sprints or do low intensity plyos 1-2 times a week to maintain your reactive ability and sprint/jumping mechanics. If you are a basketball player playing full court games twice a week is sufficient.

If you go on a bodybuilding routines that focus primarily on upperbody hypertrophy such as doing benches and curls all day like most hs basketball players tend to do without taking into the account of relative lowerbody strength/explosive power you probably will notice decrease in explosiveness and speed. Diet is also a key here.

You arent goin anywhere fast if you put on too much fat. For start i would say aim to keep your bodyfat under 10% while bring your squat/dead up to mid 300s

#9

Look at the pro basketball players and compare their body to yours. If you are changing your body to look more like them then it will probably help you. At some point muscle will hurt performance or else pro basketball players would look like pro bodybuilders.

#10

[quote]onewall wrote:
Look at the pro basketball players and compare their body to yours. If you are changing your body to look more like them then it will probably help you. At some point muscle will hurt performance or else pro basketball players would look like pro bodybuilders.
[/quote]

You’re close, but still wrong.

It’s not that “muscle hinders basketball performance”.

It’s that “playing competitive basketball strongly impedes muscle growth”.

Playing a season of competitve basketball and building muscle mass are nearly diametrically opposing activities. THAT’S why basketball players tend to carry little to no muscle mass.

Nearly every single player in the NBA would benefit from putting on a few pounds of muscle. The problem is that they don’t have a lot of time between seasons to devote to muscle building (they HAVE to spend a good portion of their off-season recovering and healing from the previous season), and what muscle they might have built would likely be lost over the course of a full NBA season.

It’s also true that most players don’t need a lot of muscle to be successful, but having more muscle would most definitely NOT hurt their performance.