Looking for how to gain muscle while running

[SamFlynn99]

I run cross country for school and am currently looking for a way to gain muscle without giving up my running because I am currently all skin and bone and have very little muscle. I'm almost 6'1" and 132 lbs and would like to gain an amount of muscle that would fit for my height without looking like I'm trying to gain way too much muscle. I'm looking for the in between of being skinny and crazy muscular, I'm looking for an amount of muscle that would, like I said earlier, be ideal for my height. Thank you for helping me.

 

[Elvia1023]

I run cross country for school and am currently looking for a way to gain muscle without giving up my running because I am currently all skin and bone and have very little muscle. I'm almost 6'1" and 132 lbs and would like to gain an amount of muscle that would fit for my height without looking like I'm trying to gain way too much muscle. I'm looking for the in between of being skinny and crazy muscular, I'm looking for an amount of muscle that would, like I said earlier, be ideal for my height. Thank you for helping me.

How old are you? I assume 18? In between skinny and super muscular that's one way to describe things In all seriousness you just have to eat more. As simple as that. Eat more high quality calorie dense foods full of protein. More fruit and vegetables and healthy fats. Just more calories through the day. As you run long distance you will be burnign many calories so you simply need to take in more than most people. That's why you weigh so little. At 132 pounds it sounds like you need to up them significantly but do that over time as you don't want it to ruin your running times. Start eating a big meal before bed as a start. Look at adding meals in the day or adding to your portion sizes. Adding in a spoon of cashew butter to every meal is a simple way to bump calories significantly.

 

[bieberhole69]

So honestly yes, you'll have to eat more. A lot more.

You might look into science-based running training...i.e. you'd probably be doing a fast walk / light jog 4x a week, 1 "regular run" once a week, and then HIIT starting 2x weekly and then moving to 3x maybe. This is how I used to program for endurance athletes, and it's in all the personal training cert / manuals so should be easy to find a program online (and tell you WHY "jogging / regular runs" are terrible for improving).

So basically that would help improve your CC performance. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but trust me...sometimes "less" really is "more." The HIIT sessions should be brutal as hell anyways, and it's unrealistic to train them daily. Again...google is your friend.

Since you didn't mention it...I'd assume you need to start lifting too. Probably want to do a 3x a week more basic strength-program at first. Doing the big exercises i.e. squat, powerclean, etc will transfer over to your athletic ability as well. I believe Rippletoe's starting strength would be a good point for an endurance athlete to get into.

Ah so yes, back onto the eating...

You'll want to take in a lot of carbs since you're probably burning a lot / will be burning a lot more. Healthy fats as Elvia mentioned are an easy way to increase the calories...cashew butter, peanut butter, extra virgin olive oil--the usual suspects.

Honestly I believe if you implemented all these strategies you could easily get up to 170lbs lean at your height, and with greatly improved athletic abilities. Within a matter of 6-8mos.

Good luck.

 

[Bio]

You need to state your age.

 

[little slice]

hmmm... I wonder why the best marathon runners don't have much muscle..

 

[musclemoose]

I run cross country for school and am currently looking for a way to gain muscle without giving up my running because I am currently all skin and bone and have very little muscle. I'm almost 6'1" and 132 lbs and would like to gain an amount of muscle that would fit for my height without looking like I'm trying to gain way too much muscle. I'm looking for the in between of being skinny and crazy muscular, I'm looking for an amount of muscle that would, like I said earlier, be ideal for my height. Thank you for helping me.

Eat more. Definitely make sure to take in 100g carbs and 40g protein after you run to replenish. And id even go with 40g whey protein an hour before you go running so as to spare muscle.

 

[artkong06]

stop running

 

[jpkoepse]

If you care enough about your running career.. why not finish that out before trying to add some weight? From my understanding... muscle(weight) is going to be detrimental to your performance. On top of that.. running that much and having a young persons metabolism.. you prob aren't going to gain much of anything anyways no matter what you eat. If you're good at what you do... don't sabotage it for some muscle.

But to answer your question, food. Lot's of it.

 

[little slice]

I WANT TO BE GOOD AT 2 DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED THINGS SIMULTANEOUSLY

 

[Matsuo Munefusa]

I WANT TO BE GOOD AT 2 DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED THINGS SIMULTANEOUSLY

You totally can. You'll never be the greatest at either though if you go that route. I ran a 5:10 mile the same time period I pulled a double for 405lb deads. Obviously not great for either but GOOD for both.

 

[Bio]

Guys don't mention anything about AAS until we know how old the OP is.

 

[bieberhole69]

Guys don't mention anything about AAS until we know how old the OP is.

At 6'1" and 132lbs with running only...I figured the only thing that needed to be mentioned was food and training

 

[Fa Seeshus]

Dean Karnazes the famous ultra marathoner has some good muscle tone for a distance runner. He does a multiple circuits of a Navy seal bodyweight routine daily.

Dean also follows a version of the Paleo diet that includes dairy... So he is getting plenty of healthy fat and protein. I think allot of runners go wrong by neglecting those two macros.

 

[emeric delczeg]

I run cross country for school and am currently looking for a way to gain muscle without giving up my running because I am currently all skin and bone and have very little muscle. I'm almost 6'1" and 132 lbs and would like to gain an amount of muscle that would fit for my height without looking like I'm trying to gain way too much muscle. I'm looking for the in between of being skinny and crazy muscular, I'm looking for an amount of muscle that would, like I said earlier, be ideal for my height. Thank you for helping me.

Are you running a 5K, a 10K ?

 

[heavyhitter]

Dean Karnazes the famous ultra marathoner has some good muscle tone for a distance runner. He does a multiple circuits of a Navy seal bodyweight routine daily.

Dean also follows a version of the Paleo diet that includes dairy... So he is getting plenty of healthy fat and protein. I think allot of runners go wrong by neglecting those two macros.

Dean also had a strange genetic abnormality where he has no lactic acid threshold.

 

[thethinker48]

Meh...Just run cross country, and get good at that.

Me personally; I can never be in a limbo between 2 different things that completely contradict each other.

Putting on weight will make you slower. Running more to train and as a whole will make it impossible to gain size.

Run your course with cross country, come back when the season is over/you're done with it. Put on a ton of muscle with ideal rest, nutrition and training (and no cardio ).

 

[Cito33189]

Eat food run and train youll have muscle and be ripped