I am trying to get stronger/gain muscle. How much would joining the cross country team in the fall hurt this goal if at all? I play basketball so I need to stay in shape, possibly intervals instead?
The added amount of cardio is going to require you to take in an added amount of calories that is higher than the amount you burned while running. Considering the amount of running you do in cross country, it could hurt your efforts to gain mass.
It could hurt it but not if you look out for 3 things. #1 always make sure your in a caloric surpluss, that means calculating, counting, and eating more on the days that you run. #2 do not run the day after you do heavy leg workouts. #3 have at least a day off from all physical activity to avoid overtraining
thats my advice but im no expert
If you do cross country, you will lose fat/stay in shape, but you will be in a very different shape. Cross country does not develop/maintain quickness or explosiveness, which you need for basketball.
Your muscles would become more adapt to long term fatigue, and your body will condition itself to save energy. Most likely, you would lose muscle/strength. Cross country does not develop strength, nor does it develop the kind of conditioning best suited for basketball.
Thats my observation from having friends in CC that have lost muscle/explosiveness from it.
Articles is a good resource. read some of the articles there.
(I am not an expert of any means, but from what I have seen/read, I strongly believe my comments)
[quote]fisch wrote:
Your muscles would become more adapt to long term fatigue, and your body will condition itself to save energy. Cross country does not develop strength, nor does it develop the kind of conditioning best suited for basketball.
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Basketball does require long-term conditioning along with quickness and explosiveness. Training in cross-country wouldn’t hamper his performance in basketball. It would help it by giving him the type of conditioning that he would need to last on the court. Besides, he could throw in other types of running every once in a while to maintain or increase quickness.
[quote]IronWarrior24 wrote:
fisch wrote:
Your muscles would become more adapt to long term fatigue, and your body will condition itself to save energy. Cross country does not develop strength, nor does it develop the kind of conditioning best suited for basketball.
Basketball does require long-term conditioning along with quickness and explosiveness. Training in cross-country wouldn’t hamper his performance in basketball.
It would help it by giving him the type of conditioning that he would need to last on the court. Besides, he could throw in other types of running every once in a while to maintain or increase quickness.[/quote]
I think he would be better off lifting weights and running sprints. Both those develop explosiveness and power. While basketball does require long-term conditioning, you are almost always sprinting for a short period of time, taking a few seconds break, then sprinting again. Cross-country and basketball are two very different kinds of conditioning.
Best thing you can do actually is to lift weights and find a way to play basketball. My school has off-season full court scrimmages 4 days a week all spring, summer, and fall. (Granted, thats not good because they overtrain us, but its a good idea in theory.)
[quote]fisch wrote:
IronWarrior24 wrote:
fisch wrote:
Your muscles would become more adapt to long term fatigue, and your body will condition itself to save energy. Cross country does not develop strength, nor does it develop the kind of conditioning best suited for basketball.
Basketball does require long-term conditioning along with quickness and explosiveness. Training in cross-country wouldn’t hamper his performance in basketball. It would help it by giving him the type of conditioning that he would need to last on the court. Besides, he could throw in other types of running every once in a while to maintain or increase quickness.
I think he would be better off lifting weights and running sprints. Both those develop explosiveness and power. While basketball does require long-term conditioning, you are almost always sprinting for a short period of time, taking a few seconds break, then sprinting again. Cross-country and basketball are two very different kinds of conditioning.
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It is true that you are sprinting a lot in basketball. That’s why you need to be well conditioned to be able to play it effectively. Towards the end of a game after you have been sprinting nearly constantly you are going to require the type of conditioning that cross country can provide.
Explosiveness is not going to provide much help in that scenario. That is why explosiveness, quickness, and long-term conditioning are all essential for playing basketball well.
[quote]IronWarrior24 wrote:
It is true that you are sprinting a lot in basketball. That’s why you need to be well conditioned to be able to play it effectively. Towards the end of a game after you have been sprinting nearly constantly you are going to require the type of conditioning that cross country can provide.
Explosiveness is not going to provide much help in that scenario. That is why explosiveness, quickness, and long-term conditioning are all essential for playing basketball well.[/quote]
I have a question for you (no disrespect or anything intended, just a simple question): Have you ever played basketball at high school or higher level? I have seen people come to basketball practice a week after cross country ended, play for 2 minutes, and have to pull themselves out because their body can’t handle basketball.
They had to transition themselves from cross-country conditioning to basketball conditioning (im not in amazing shape myself, but I lasted a lot longer then the cross-country guy did for the first couple weeks) I still believe sprints and weights are better.
[quote]fisch wrote:
IronWarrior24 wrote:
It is true that you are sprinting a lot in basketball. That’s why you need to be well conditioned to be able to play it effectively. Towards the end of a game after you have been sprinting nearly constantly you are going to require the type of conditioning that cross country can provide.
Explosiveness is not going to provide much help in that scenario. That is why explosiveness, quickness, and long-term conditioning are all essential for playing basketball well.
I have a question for you (no disrespect or anything intended, just a simple question): Have you ever played basketball at high school or higher level? I have seen people come to basketball practice a week after cross country ended, play for 2 minutes, and have to pull themselves out because their body can’t handle basketball.
They had to transition themselves from cross-country conditioning to basketball conditioning (im not in amazing shape myself, but I lasted a lot longer then the cross-country guy did for the first couple weeks) I still believe sprints and weights are better.[/quote]
No, actually, I’ve never played basketball before in my life. Not once. In fact, this thread was actually the first place I’ve ever even heard of basketball.
I hope that you can sense my sarcasm. I believe that the answer is actually written right into your reply. You said, “I have seen people come to basketball practice a week after cross country ended, play for 2 minutes, and have to pull themselves out because their body can’t handle basketball.”
That’s right. He played for 2 minutes. I’m not arguing that there is not more sprinting in basketball. In fact, I actually said that there is a lot of sprinting in basketball in my previous post. I have no doubt that constant sprinting for 2 minutes was hard for him.
But, honestly, who do you think would be doing better towards the end of the game, someone with “basketball conditioning”, or someone who had participated in cross country and whose body was accustomed to moving over a long period of time?
I know what you are going to reply with. You are going to say, “But if he can’t last the first 2 minutes, how is he going to make it to the end of the game?” Well, the answer is simple. Why try to make it into an either-or type of scenario?
Why can’t he go out for cross country and then do drills on the side to better develop his short distance conditioning? He would be a much better basketball player by focusing on not only sprinting, but long-term conditioning as well.
bs…
cross country will not hurt with basketball at all… it WILL help a LOT with endurance which is in lamens terms stress on the body over time. Sprints albeit short and required for basketball are more like intervals (i.e. HIT) however they are done for many more minutes than HIT requires… where endurance comes in.
Now… “I am trying to get stronger/gain muscle.” Cross country will hamper that, you will typically have to eat a LOT more than you can probably handle if you’re going to do cross country + lift + play basketball… we’re talking 4500+ calories a day.
Pick a goal like “I am trying to get stronger/gain muscle.” that’s a weightlifting goal. You also stated
“I play basketball so I need to stay in shape, possibly intervals instead?”
According to what you desire, you should do strength training (functional) and possibly 2-3 sessions of HIT training a week (although basketball practice typically does this for you).
Good luck.
^ both of you make good points. My whole angle on this was I thought he was going for muscle/strength though. To get stronger weightlifting is best. Full court basketball would still be better then cross country for various reasons (develop skills, get your body used to basketball, etc.), but I guess cross country if you lift and eat right wouldn’t hurt. I just never have known a cross country person that is fast or really strong.
It’s very hard to gain any mass at all while running. It’s possible to get stronger, but your gains will be slower. For cross-country, the goal is to be as light as you can. Most guys weigh in at 145 or less.
But, cross-country should be good conditioning for basketball, especially if the coach implements speedwork and plyometrics.
Well, if the only reason you wanted to join the cross country team was to stay in shape for basketball, you could just play basketball often to stay in shape… Find pick up games and play hard.
I recommend ditching the cross country idea, play basketball often, find a decent, proven lifting program on this site and make sure you’re eating enough that you’re gaining a reasonable amount of weight per week.
[quote]pike wrote:
It’s very hard to gain any mass at all while running. It’s possible to get stronger, but your gains will be slower. For cross-country, the goal is to be as light as you can. Most guys weigh in at 145 or less.
But, cross-country should be good conditioning for basketball, especially if the coach implements speedwork and plyometrics.
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From what I hear from others on the team it will be running 5 days a week. Sounds stupid to me but…(my thinking is this would lead to overtraining)
[quote]chrillionare wrote:
From what I hear from others on the team it will be running 5 days a week. Sounds stupid to me but…(my thinking is this would lead to overtraining)[/quote]
So, if you join the running team, you’ll be running 5 days a week, then on top of that playing basketball, and you also want to train and get stronger/bigger. Something’s going to have to give if you want to achieve your goals. Select one goal and focus on that rather than doing a bunch of different things.
[quote]chrillionare wrote:
pike wrote:
It’s very hard to gain any mass at all while running. It’s possible to get stronger, but your gains will be slower. For cross-country, the goal is to be as light as you can. Most guys weigh in at 145 or less.
But, cross-country should be good conditioning for basketball, especially if the coach implements speedwork and plyometrics.
From what I hear from others on the team it will be running 5 days a week. Sounds stupid to me but…(my thinking is this would lead to overtraining)[/quote]
I can tell you from personal experience that it is very difficult to run cross country and get bigger, but it’s certainly possible. As far as the conditioning part, it’s a common thing for athletes from a variety of sports to run cross country to build endurance, it does a great job.
As for running five days a week, it’s not over training, it’s really the only way to do it. After a while, your legs will hurt every time you run, but eventually you get used to it. But if you only go 2 or 3 days a week, it just won’t work. I have done both, and the only time I ever got any good at it was by running every single day.
Don’t do cross country if you want to gain size, trust me on this one. It is possible but pointless. Extra Weight slows you down. If you are in this sport just for fun: yeah go ahead and gain some mass. But if you are competitive for cross country, you can Google this and find that weight is not beneficial for long distance running.
[quote]Stength4life wrote:
Don’t do cross country if you want to gain size, trust me on this one. It is possible but pointless. Extra Weight slows you down. If you are in this sport just for fun: yeah go ahead and gain some mass. But if you are competitive for cross country, you can Google this and find that weight is not beneficial for long distance running.[/quote]
Awesome name.