If you want to be a successful runner, you need to be a strong runner. And that means you need some muscle on your bones. It’s common for runners to shy away from building muscle mass-and strength training, for that matter, Prime Boosts Supplement which helps you build that mass-but doing so has many benefits. For example, research suggests that strength training and building muscle can improve your performance and help prevent injury. Building muscle can also help you live longer, according to research. And one study also finds a link between runners with more lean muscle mass and better bone mineral density and content. Here’s everything you need to know about how runners can build muscle, how the sport of running aids in that process, and why it’s helpful-and necessary-for runners to have lean muscle mass. Ready for a science lesson? "Simply put, muscle hypertrophy, the building of muscle, is the response to the muscle being overloaded through an activity such as strength training," says Tom Holland, C.S.C.S, Prime Boosts Supplement exercise physiologist, certified sports nutritionist, and author of The Marathon Method and Swim, Bike, Run, Eat: The Complete Guide to Fueling Your Triathlon.
But the body can’t just rebuild alone-muscle is made out of protein, explains Melanie Sulaver, M.S., R.D., Prime Boosts Supplement C.D.N., sports dietitian based in New York City. We need an adequate amount of protein in our diet to aid in muscle building. "Muscle is developed by a positive protein balance, which means that the body is synthesizing more muscle proteins than it is degrading," says Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., C.S.C.S.-D, professor of exercise science and director of the graduate program in human performance and fitness at Lehman College in Bronx, New York. That means you need enough protein to help your body rebuild after a workout, when muscles need the macronutrient to repair themselves. It may seem counterintuitive as a runner to have a lot of muscle on your body-the more muscle you have, the more you must carry around when running. But it’s more important than you might think, and runners need muscle for a variety of reasons. According to a review in the journal Sports Medicine, strength training-which you need to do to actually build muscle-can help improve sprint performance and running economy.
"Generally speaking, sprinters need muscle to go faster, and endurance runners need it to go farther," Holland says. While all exercise puts stress on the body, and therefore forces the body to build more muscle, some types of training can help you build muscle more efficiently than others. "It is a common myth that running ‘eats’ muscle tissue," explains Holland. But that isn’t the case. Running, in fact, can help you build muscle. "Running is a weight-bearing form of cardiovascular exercise, involving forces of two-and-a-half to three times your bodyweight with each stride," says Holland. However, running may not be the best form of exercise if your number-one goal is building muscle. "Muscle-building is predicated on progressive overload of muscle tissue, and this is not readily achieved by aerobic-type exercise," explains Schoenfeld. "There can be some mild increases in muscle size in the early stages of a running program for those who were previously sedentary, but these gains will rapidly plateau within a few months." If runners are really looking to gain or build muscle, the best way to do it is outside of their sport.
Does Running Build Muscle? According to research done by Schoenfeld and Prime Boosts Official Website Boosts Male Enhancement other colleagues published in the journal Sports Medicine, aerobic training doesn’t promote the same skeletal muscle hypertrophy as resistance or strength training. "Resistance training is the primary interventional strategy for increasing muscle size," explains Schoenfeld. To maximize the muscle-building benefits of strength training, another study from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health breaks down the specifics. It found that hypertrophy-oriented resistance training was most effective when performed at a moderate intensity of about 60% to 80% of your one-rep max or how much weight you can lift for just one rep. As for volume, aim for 3 to 6 sets, including 6 to 12 repetitions per set, and short rest periods of about 60 seconds between those sets. The study also says that muscle growth takes about six to 10 weeks to occur, so even if you start strength training today, know that it takes a consistent practice and a decent amount of time to see muscle gain.