Did bulking up hurt your athleticism ?

[silver_shadow]

This is exactly the problem. I get so many conflicting answers. Half of people I ask (such as this forum) say it will make you slower and less athletic, but others say it will actually do the opposite.

My fear is, that being I haven't worked out much in life (except maybe a year) and I eat like a slob, I still have large chest muscles (can flex them), biceps, shoulders, muscles on my forearms and such. The marine calculator I used which is based on weight, neck size, waist size, etc, says I'm 200 pounds of lean mass. Now once I enhance my diet and step up my weight training, I see myself hitting 240 and it mostly being muscle.

I can see myself being Kimbo Slice and honestly, he's pretty stiff when it comes to knees and leg kicks, things used in martial arts. He's also somewhat slow overall. I want to avoid that. I want all of the power of a big man but the speed of a little guy.

Let me add, right now, I have waaay more fat than I would like and even with the fat, I'm still pretty athletic. I can run, jump, do all kinds of things most people wouldn't expect when you say 20%+ body fat.

there is a rough threshold weight, above which you might get slower. at least if you consider the simple case of running faster. in martial arts however i'm pretty sure that it's not detrimental especially because there are weight classes.

 

[b fold the truth]

I've been hit hard by people who were 150 lbs as well as those well over 300 lbs. I'm a pretty quick guy and at 290 I can still kick head level and run a 57 second 400M sprint.

The key is to do both. If you are doing Martial Arts hard and Weight Training...the Martial Arts is not going to allow your body to fully grow like it could if you were ONLY doing the weight training. It will BENEFIT you.

Once I started training in the gym heavy...my Martial Arts performance shot through the roof. I could jump like you wouldn't believe.

 

[jnevin]

It fucked up my golf swing.

 

[coolcolj]

it's all relative - going from 150lbs to 180 could help a 6 footer, if he remains lean
he will get a lot stronger and better power to weight ratio if he train right

but going from 200-250 for a 6 footer might not be such a good idea if you want to jump 40 inches off the ground and run the 60m under 7 seconds

 

[TC2]

If you are going to lift weights and get bulkier you WILL slow down plain and simple.

 

[nyrugby]

Gaining lean mass ( assuming thats what is meant by bulk) is not a hinderance if training in the proper way. I play rugby with guys 6 240 and they annhiliate. Look at Mike Alstott of the bucaneers. It's rubbish to say adding lean muscle will diminish your speed. Keep your flexibility high, use plyos, sports specific exercise, don't focus soley on low rep ranges and you'll be fine. I have also worked with Professional football players and I have watch 300+ 6'2 athletes who can fly.....

 

[NJL52]

Adding mass will diminish hand speed, footspeed etc.

Any mass that isn't part of the muscle used to peform a movement is dead weight. Having huge forearms slows down your punch because your forearms don't help the movement.

As far as running speed goes, adding strength to your legs will make you accelerate faster but will have a slight negative effect on top speed.

 

[jumpmaster82]

when i bulk i always notice a negative affect on my cardio, ie speed endurance

 

[TC2]

Most old school trainers(boxing anyway) wont train you if you lift weights because its widely know that even the leanest UNNESSARY muscle mass gains will slow you down.

Take if from me..I use to box and I never lifted weights and I was fuckin lighting quick...I got more into weight lifting and put on 25 lbs of solid muscle and felt like I was moving in slow motion when sparring or even hitting the heavy bag.

I've since backed off the bodybuilding phase(I still lift weights since I don't compete anymore)....slimmed down to my fighting weight and like magic got my speed back.

 

[tropo]

In a 15 meter race, olympic powerlifters are faster then 100m sprinters. Sheer power wins there.

In a 15 meter race, the person with the best reflexes would win. The superheavy olympic lifters wouldn't have a chance, but perhaps the light weight classes could do ok.