Can lifting heavy decrease your sprinting speed?

Austinstarkey

New member
I have been lifting for about 4 years now my lifts are pretty decent I think, but my coach is trying to increase the teams maxes. We are doing high weight between (90-98%) of are max on all lifts for reps ranging from 6-1 and up to 8 sets. I definitely have gotten stronger, but my legs are starting to feel to big and feel like they're slowing me down. So is this lifting style actually slowing me down or is it just in my head? I've also gained about 15 pounds which I can say is pretty clean weight probably 95% muscle at the least in the last 1 month and a half. I definitely feel like it's all in my legs because most of my jeans I have to get at least 4 inches bigger waist so the jeans don't look like skinny jeans lol. Here are my stats..
Deadlift-465-475
Squat-455
Bench-275
Power Clean-265
5'10
175pounds
40 time- use to be 4.84
 
A lot of help from that guy I see.. Anyhow, speed is not only generated by how fast you can move your legs, but how much force you can generate. So a lot of speed training not only programs speed drills etc. but also program strength as well. I am not an expert but I know depending on how your rep schemes go, you want to watch building too much slow twitch muscle which is what you hit in lower rep schemes. If you look at a lot of football type training depending on the position, they will program 2 workouts in one day, one would be heavy lifting, the other would be lighter and more balance/agility oriented. just my .02
 
What can affect your speed most is stiff muscles. Strength training can really decrease flexibility.
If you do your stretching and mobility work then strength training shouldn't affect your speed much (unless you add a lot of muscle).
What I do is go to a pilates (or similar) class every 1-2 months. And dynamic stretching every day.
 
I don't believe your information, but if somehow you have miraculously gained 15 lbs of muscle in the last month and a half, your answer is pretty clear.
 
Here's a picture of my deadlift if you don't believe me?
 

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kisaj said:
I don't believe your information, but if somehow you have miraculously gained 15 lbs of muscle in the last month and a half, your answer is pretty clear.
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For sure.
14.25lbs of muscle in 30days just doesn't happen. 15lbs will slow you down regardless
 
Well I look leaner than I did before and all my maxes went up about 20lbs each and my legs are like rocks lol so if I've gained any fat idk were it went
 
I'm telling you right now, man, at 5'10" 175 there is no way your legs are too big for sprinting. Check out some of the elite Olympic sprinters. They've got massive legs. What you need to do is look into what these guys are doing that you aren't, and begin to incorporate it. Stretching, speed drills, whatever it may be. Your legs aren't too big, I promise.
 
I definitely think I need to do more stretching I didnt figure they were but I watched a video of a bodybuilder vs football player sprint and the way the bodybuilder ran reminded me of how I look when I run lol
 
Austinstarkey said:
I definitely think I need to do more stretching I didnt figure they were but I watched a video of a bodybuilder vs football player sprint and the way the bodybuilder ran reminded me of how I look when I run lol
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Yeah, man. Stretching has so many benefits. I like to stretch before and after I lift, I believe it helps greatly improve performance. Some people will contradict what I say, but it doesn't hurt to give it a shot for a month or two. See how it affects you man.
 
Austin you need to do speed training twice a week. Keep the strength training going. I was there with you and improved to 4.54 at 165 in high school. I increased to 315 bench 385 power clean and squats were 425. Point is you need to explode on everything. I did BFS. Dot drills warm up and such. Stretching isn't as important as mobility and muscle memory. Speed training and technique bro. Crush mobility and sprints. Power will only increase speed. At your weight you better get faster for college
 
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