Sport specific and HST combined??

R

ratty

New Member
I want to build my legs just as much as my upper body (i am an ectomorph - my whole body is scrawny)...

My problem is..i have just realised that i never decondition my legs..i play football (soccer) on sundays and i go for a short run (fairly rapid pace) on thurs normally...to keep my fitness up..

So how does this affect my growth for my legs during HST???

I am guessing the first few weeks when the loads are light arent inducing hypertrophy as my legs arent deconditioned like my upper body has!

Should i stay as heavy as possible throughtout the cycle to produce as much growth as possible, maybe incrementing slightly but avoiding light loads???
 
I wouldnt expect the amount of running that you are doing to be much of an impact. You are probably doing no more than most do for cardio while lifting heavy. The legs are the most amazing muscles IMO. They are constructed for just the type of rigors you have planned for them. I would stick with a progressive overload and not push heavy through out the cycle. Part of the magic in this training protocol is control of CNS elevation. You might risk working too hard and adversely effect the gains. The 15s are in place for good reason. The higher reps are good for your tendons and ligaments. They also give you some degree of muscular endurance, vascularity and mitochondrial density. I say keep on kicking and running. Just consider those days cardio work. The running has a really neat recovery effect if not overdone. Get all that blood pumping through the muscle and flushing out the wastes from the heavy lifts.
 
Good point Wildman..there are benefits to doing high reps and also i the running i am doing isnt that hard on my muscles in terms of the load! so i suppose i should still grow with normal HST....

I just have to keep my CNS fatigue in check and make sure i dont over do by the time i get to the heavy loads...
 
And offset the caloric expenditure of lifting and sports to keep the weight gain coming.
 
I've been wondering the same. I was thinking about doing some higher intensity cardio (gave up footy a few years ago) e.g. running for an hour but was unsure if this would interfere with SD.

I suspect given the lower loading on the muscles and more endurance like nature it would not have too much of an effect. I even thought it may speed up SD, more like Strategic Reconditioning in that you are actively forcing the muscle to change rather than just letting it happen naturally. Of course I wouldn't want to loose any muscle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top