I understand that muscle size is a contributing factor for muscle strength and in certain sports is very beneficial to be as strong as possible but I’m curious…at what point does adding muscle become a negative thing? A lot of people seem to think that adding muscle slows you down. Or drains your “cardio” faster. Is this true?
A few thoughts: 1. Muscle mass and muscle strength aren’t the same thing. In untrained (or unskilled) populations, muscle cross sectional area and/or muscle volume correlates well with muscle strength. In trained populations, this correlation tends to become weaker.
2. There are many different types of muscular strength, which is muscular force production measured in a specific context. These different types include low velocity maximal strength, high velocity strength (power), strength endurance, and more. There are specific training adaptations for each type of strength, though some carry over exists between all types, certainly.
3. Increasing muscular strength and mass does not necessarily decrease vo2max or endurance performance, though ignoring or compromising endurance and/or sport-specific training due to strength training could certainly reduce performance. Selecting the appropriate training adaptations for the application is an important part of programming. It would be very difficult to make an argument against increasing muscular force production in order to improve sports performance, though this does not mean it should always be the primary training goal.
I guess an example would be if a marathon athlete started training and happen to gain 7 pounds of muscle because he’s a novice would that effect his performance?
Also why do you think as a population people seem to relate “being jacked” as being slow and “having shit cardio”? Thanks.
I have nothing to say for the latter, as I find most people without special knowledge in a topic to say or repeat unintelligent things.
As far as your initial example, little to nothing would happen to their efficiency if the weight gain was close to their center of mass and they gained even a modicum of force production. If they gained the weight at their ankles or wrists however, their efficiency would plummet. This is a fairly complicated question to fully answer or appreciate.
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