At Barbell Coalition here in Cedar Park, TX, we specialize in creating strength & conditioning training for improved sport performance in youth athletes. That means we're training athletes from all different sports & backgrounds.
And to do that to the best of our ability, we like to maintain close relationships and collaborations with the parents of our athletes and their sport coaches.
And one of the biggest questions we get is the impact that muscle growth will have on an athlete's sport performance. Will it make them slow and stiff?
Let's answer that question!
Muscle Growth is Good for Athletes...if Done Correctly!
Inherently, muscle growth doesn't impact speed, as long as it's not excessive and unbalanced. The misconception that muscle growth makes athletes stiff and slow comes from the idea that more muscle makes athletes heavier, and therefore would require more energy & effort to move.
First, we need to position the role of fast-twitch muscle fibers vs slow-twitch muscle fibers.
Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers: Fast-twitch muscle fibers, also known as Type II fibers, are designed for quick, powerful movements and are used in activities that require short bursts of strength or speed. These fibers can generate a large amount of force in a short period, but they fatigue quickly.
Slow Twitch Muscle Fibers: Slow-twitch muscle fibers, or Type I fibers, are designed for endurance and continuous, low-intensity activities. They contract more slowly than fast- twitch fibers and generate less force, but they can sustain activity for longer periods without fatigue.
This will determine the type of training we serve each individual athlete at Barbell Coalition. For example, our swimmers' training programs will change depending on the events they're training for.
For shorter course, sprint events, we'll focus a little more on explosive fast-twitch muscle fibers. For longer, endurance events, we'll move a little more to slow-twitch muscle fibers. So it's important that athletes are training properly for the sport/event they're training for.
But a Heavier Athlete is Slower Right?
When it comes to muscle growth and speed, relative strength—the amount of strength you have in proportion to your body weight—is a crucial factor. Athletes can gain muscle mass and still maintain or even increase their speed if they maintain a high strength-to-weight ratio. Here's why this is important:
Force production is a key determinant of speed. The more force an athlete can apply to the ground (or water, in the case of swimmers) in a short amount of time, the faster they will move. Muscle growth, when accompanied by strength gains, increases an athlete’s ability to generate this force.
If an athlete gains functional muscle (muscle that increases strength, not just size), their ability to produce more force relative to their body weight improves. This leads to greater acceleration and speed, as they can push off more powerfully with each movement.
Importance of Periodization and Balance
When it comes to muscle growth and athletic performance, proper periodization of training is crucial. Periodization involves planning and organizing training phases to balance strength, hypertrophy (muscle growth), power, speed, and conditioning.
The goal is to maximize performance gains while avoiding the negative effects of excessive muscle growth, such as loss of speed or agility.
The trick to how we train our athletes at Barbell Coalition is how we balance an athlete's hypertrophy (muscle growth) training with their power & speed training.
Hypertrophy phases are designed to promote muscle growth, but this should be done with the understanding that muscle size must translate into functional gains, such as strength and power, not just bulk.
After hypertrophy phases, training shifts to focus on power and speed. For example, exercises like plyometrics, Olympic lifts, and sprint work are introduced to convert the newly built muscle into explosive power that enhances speed and agility.
By alternating between these phases, athletes avoid excessive muscle growth that could slow them down and instead build muscles that enhance their sport-specific performance.
To conclude, muscle growth is not bad for athletes, as long as it's approached correctly. For our talented Cedar Park athletes, we are very particular with how much muscle our athletes are gaining, and make sure the muscle growth that is occurring aligns with the athlete's sport needs.
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