Question, Doc advice welcome.

[Chaser4life]

I have a question that I have always wondered. I used to be a professional distance runner. I started competing around age 12 and finished around age 21. I am wondering whether or not it is possible I conditioned my body with regards to its ability to put on muscle mass. I say this because I competed at 5'10'' 128 lbs. As a distance athlete, slow twitch muscles were obviously the major muscle fibers utilized. I am now 191 lbs. However, I cannot seem to gain more weight even though I have been consuming 6000-8000 + calories a day for the last several months. My younger brother, who has a similar build to mine, played football through his teenage years and can grow much better than I do. Only with use of aas have I been able to keep pace. I am wondering if because he conditioned fast twitch muscles through his developmental years if he has a greater capacity to build muscle, where as I dont due to the slow twitch muscle fibers I conditioned for so long?

I train very hard and diet well (I have tried 6000-8000 cals clean for 5 months and also a dirty bulk for the last 4 months).

 

[idmd]

I have a question that I have always wondered. I used to be a professional distance runner. I started competing around age 12 and finished around age 21. I am wondering whether or not it is possible I conditioned my body with regards to its ability to put on muscle mass. I say this because I competed at 5'10'' 128 lbs. As a distance athlete, slow twitch muscles were obviously the major muscle fibers utilized. I am now 191 lbs. However, I cannot seem to gain more weight even though I have been consuming 6000-8000 + calories a day for the last several months. My younger brother, who has a similar build to mine, played football through his teenage years and can grow much better than I do. Only with use of aas have I been able to keep pace. I am wondering if because he conditioned fast twitch muscles through his developmental years if he has a greater capacity to build muscle, where as I dont due to the slow twitch muscle fibers I conditioned for so long?

I train very hard and diet well (I have tried 6000-8000 cals clean for 5 months and also a dirty bulk for the last 4 months).

I think it's well-established that distance running promotes catabolism while sprinting promotes anabolism. The concept of "muscle memory" is also well established but I have only seen it in the context of ease with which muscle hypertrophy occurs after a break from lifting. I have not personally seen anything about favoring one muscle type over another after training has subsided. I suppose it's possible but I have not seen anything concrete.

I think many people misunderstand how the type of exercise affects the body. My guess is most people think people with naturally small builds tend to be good at and choose distance running while muscular people are naturally better sprinters but they don't consider how training for distance or sprinting affects these athletes bodies. In the end it's probably a little bit of both - your natural build favors one over the other and then training really pushed you towards slight vs muscular build...at 6'5" and 265lbs I'm never going to a world class distance runner.....

 

[Chaser4life]

^^^Thanks, I agree with what you have said. Another reason that has lead me to believe this theory is that I have recently implemented Blood Flow Restriction training which supposedly forces fast twitch muscles to engage sooner. I have seen more growth over the last 6 weeks with this training method than the previous 6 months. I am wondering if I conditioned myself to have a low prevalence of fast twitch muscles and they are harder top engage because of how I conditioned myself during those developmental years. Thanks for your input

 

[idmd]

^^^Thanks, I agree with what you have said. Another reason that has lead me to believe this theory is that I have recently implemented Blood Flow Restriction training which supposedly forces fast twitch muscles to engage sooner. I have seen more growth over the last 6 weeks with this training method than the previous 6 months. I am wondering if I conditioned myself to have a low prevalence of fast twitch muscles and they are harder top engage because of how I conditioned myself during those developmental years. Thanks for your input

My guess is that if you change training from favoring slow to fast-twitch you'll see some improvement....there's just a lot of factors like genetics, previous training history, currently training, time, etc.