Need to Lose Leg Muscle Mass

hmm…

I just read the cardio confusion articel by eric cressay. He wrote that fast running, would turn my FT fibers into ST fibers. Does that mean that I would lose leg muscle mass by fast long distance running ? Or does fast long distance running maintain my leg muscle mass?

I train for indoor competition.

If you deliberately do not train your legs, I’m sure your climbing will suffer rather than benefit.

I’d think you could adjust your climbing style to maximize your legs and minimize your upper body.

WTF just happend two T-Nation !

2 years ago, when I posted a question I got usefull answers on this forum!

My main question is: Will fast endurance running help me to lose muscle mass in my legs? Or do I have to run slow to lose muscle mass in my legs !

Id imagine fast running might help retain mass more than slow running (higher force output required), so you should opt for the slow imo and push the distance.

[quote]Mr.Rock wrote:
WTF just happend two T-Nation !

2 years ago, when I posted a question I got usefull answers on this forum!

My main question is: Will fast endurance running help me to lose muscle mass in my legs? Or do I have to run slow to lose muscle mass in my legs !
[/quote]

run slow and run long

[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
elliotnewman1 wrote:
Your not thinking straight. Eric Cressey is extremely strong yet weighs about 165 i think.

Oy vey. First, Cressey is, most emphatically, a pretty big dude. Second, he COMPETES at 165. Like most people who compete in a given weight class, he drops around 15 pounds before a comp. Thus, his “walking around” weight is likely closer to 180.

Seriously, man, get a clue![/quote]

Ok maybe i didnt get my facts on Eric Cressey spot on. My point is that you dont have to be big to be strong. Afterall, a climber is after relative strength. So i dont think long distance running is the answer. From my own experience i can say long distance running and strength do not go well together.

So yes as a climber he should lose muscle mass in his legs if he has lots but not all his strength as well. Hence the training i suggested. Would interval training or less extreme steady paced cardio not be a better idea than 10k runs if keeping strength is as important as losing the mass, which it surely is

Stop training legs. Atrophy will come

I stoped training legs when I started climbing I already lost 10kg muscle ( I just ate veggetarian for some time :wink: )

Instead of long distance running, try biking. The calories consumed can be similar, but it’s a lot less taxing for the body.

Yo, I used to do climbing comps a few times a year, while also lifting weights. Over a period of six months or so, while I was trying to increase squat and deadlift strength I gained about 10 pounds. I hadn’t been working my legs much before. Then I moved to France for six months, climbed more often, ate less protein, and basically stopped all lower body exercise except walking and the occasional flight of stairs. I dropped about 10 pounds in six months. My body fat maybe went from 8% to 6%-7% so that can’t account for the totality of the change. My climbing got better rapidly whereas it had been relatively stagnant for the time prior during which I had been focusing more on lifting.

Moral of the story: stop lifting (or at least reduce it significantly) and only do upper body strength exercises like dips, pullups, pushups, and their one/two armed variations for a while. You’ll lose weight primarily from your legs.

Now I don’t have anywhere to climb nearby and have been focusing on strength. All my lifts are up and I’m about 20 pounds heavier than I was upon returning from France. Use you muscles and they’ll grow, ignore them and they’ll shrink. Assuming you’re already trained to some degree of course.

[quote]elliotnewman1 wrote:

Ok maybe i didnt get my facts on Eric Cressey spot on. My point is that you dont have to be big to be strong. Afterall, a climber is after relative strength. So i dont think long distance running is the answer. From my own experience i can say long distance running and strength do not go well together.

[/quote]

And sets of 1-5 ARE for relative strength. Powerlifters do a good deal of upper rep range work to, especially the heavier guys. Most of the accessory work is done for higher rep sets (6-12, even reps 20+ or for minutes at time).

[quote]am03ba wrote:
Yo, I used to do climbing comps a few times a year, while also lifting weights. Over a period of six months or so, while I was trying to increase squat and deadlift strength I gained about 10 pounds. I hadn’t been working my legs much before. Then I moved to France for six months, climbed more often, ate less protein, and basically stopped all lower body exercise except walking and the occasional flight of stairs. I dropped about 10 pounds in six months. My body fat maybe went from 8% to 6%-7% so that can’t account for the totality of the change. My climbing got better rapidly whereas it had been relatively stagnant for the time prior during which I had been focusing more on lifting.

Moral of the story: stop lifting (or at least reduce it significantly) and only do upper body strength exercises like dips, pullups, pushups, and their one/two armed variations for a while. You’ll lose weight primarily from your legs.

Now I don’t have anywhere to climb nearby and have been focusing on strength. All my lifts are up and I’m about 20 pounds heavier than I was upon returning from France. Use you muscles and they’ll grow, ignore them and they’ll shrink. Assuming you’re already trained to some degree of course.[/quote]

Good advice here.

My understanding is that you cannot “speed” spot reduction of muscle. You atrophy specific muscle areas by lack of use. But you cannot speed reduce a certain group of muscle outside of not using them over time. Maybe one thing you can do is the cardio mentioned in this thread to atrophy total mass, continue to work upper body while avoiding legs. But I am not sure that would yield any benefit.

I would add to the above quoted post that you incorporate pull ups using variable hand grips. I am not sure if high rep or low rep with added weight is best for your application though. I have climbed a little and my experience tells me high rep, but I am total novice.

I was close friends and climbed with the author of this book:

and I recall him speaking of some tremendous climber that could do 90 some odd 2 finger pull ups in succession. The author often told me of the importance of being able to perfomr numerous pull ups in a short period of time.

As a triathlete who has felt the need to drop weight in the past, I feel your pain! Anyways, just cut back the protien, stay out of the gym and the weight will come off.

Also, give this site a try
www.crossfit.com

I’m not too sure how well it’s recieved on this site, but I’m sure those workouts would carry over great for climbing!