Duz running take away muscle?

Question

my bro wants to know cuz he's bin running a lot lately and stuff

Answer 1

no of course not!!

it adds muscle.

Answer 2

nope...it does the opposite

Answer 3

scientifically, a person has a certain amount of muscle.  by working them out, you increase their size by increasing the amount of blood flow to them.  The only way to decrease the number of muscle fibers is to eat incorrectly.  Starvation diets or even not eating breakfast, your body will burn lean muscle for energy versus fat.

Now, depending on the type of running, you are more like to change the look of your body.  A sprinter tends to be more muscular because they are working on putting more power into the ground.  A distance runner tends to be skinnier.

A person may have a body type with "long" muscles.  These are the people that always seem skinny and have difficulty gaining muscle mass.  Another person may have "short" muscles and have an easier time gaining muscle mass.  It really does depend on the person.

I ran one season of cross country to try to improve my endurance for the 400.  Obviously this trains my slow twitch muscles rather than my fast twitch muscle, but I was young and dumb -- what can I say.  I was someone who ran on their toes a lot and at the end of the season, I was still not suited to be a distance runner, but I did have much larger calf muscles.  With proper form this would not have happened.

I am giving several scenerios. Without more information it is difficult to give a definitive answer.  Hopefully I gave you a little bit of knowledge so that you can answer it yourself.

If he is afraid of losing muscle mass, but loves running, he can create a workout for this.  Given my background, I much prefer sprinting to distance running so I get my mileage through shuttle runs etc.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

im in track now and from experience i know distance running makes your upper body smaller but it doesnt happen sudenly...it happens very very slowly but if you work out your upper body you wont have any trouble. but if your a sprinter your upper body just gets bigger especially if you work out.

Answer 5

no, it helps gain muscle

Answer 6

no its adds leg muscule

Answer 7

Like they all said, no it simply makes you gain muscle and tone the rest of your body. You lose fat, which may translate to losing weight ... depending on how overweight you are, but that's it.

One thing you should realize though, is that you cannot lift weights and build muscle effectively if you've been running earlier in the day. Your body can only take so much exersize and then it needs to repair. In saying that, it's never a bad thing to go for a run. If your brother is into weight lifting, he should not have a large percentage of his workouts in running.

Answer 8

no im a long distance runner and a sprinter in track and it builds muscles in your legs and gives you great stamina. if hes trying to build leg muscle try wall sits to or squats. hope that helps

Answer 9

The only time running takes away muscle is like at the end of a marathon when the body has used all other sources of fuel and it has pushed itself that far.

Answer 10

No, it just creates the slow twitch muscles. That is what distance runners have. Sprinters have fast twitch leg muscles. One certainly isn't better than the other, just depends on what you are running. So yeah, it will build muscle, but will also just make your legs bigger in general.

Answer 11

no, it burns fat and tones muscles.

Answer 12

No, it burns fat. If a person wants to build muscle they can run daily and lift weights every other day.