Run-Down Forums

[Guest]

I currently run 5 days/week only about 5 miles a day. I am worried that I will get big muscles. Is this true? I actually want my legs to get smaller not bigger.

[Dan]

It depends a lot on your body type. Most people will either maintain or lose bulk doing aerobic running, but some people gain weight from running, usually as a result of strength increases from hard training.

Dan

[mjsbossman]

I wish I could get my calf mucles huge, like the fastest guy on our team. He has perfect calfs, nice and big and a good shape. I am going to run lots of hills and concentrate on using my calfs in an attemp to get them big. But doing distance running doesnt really make your muscles big. It increases the number of blood vessels in the muscle, it doesnt make the muscle cells bigger.

I used to do calf raises to make my calfs bigger, but what this was doing was makeing the muscle bigger. When I ran, my calfs would burn. Ive stopped doing calf raises for a few weeks and they hace stopped burninig when I run.

So no, you wont get big.

[Guest]

hey i need some info on how to get my calfs smaller. my calfs are too big for my body. i mean i don't even look like a runner. my thys are barely bigger. so is there anyway to get them smaller? or can people with big calfs run just as fast as the people with smaller calfs. i mean i have never seen a really fast big calf runner. and mjsbossman the way i think i got my calfs big was by runnig on my toes and i regret doing that. any info would be apperciated, thanks,
mark

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Mark Wilkins']

[Dan]

I take it you run distance? Big baby cows can be quite beneficial to sprinting, just look at old pictures of Ben Johnson. The only way I know of to make muscles smaller is to not use them in a strength-building manner. I would guess to do so requires very high mileage with little or no strength work, especially if you bulk up easily.

Dan