Muscle mass for 800m/miler

5000 and up really shouldn't have a lot of mass. Good core, but no mass. Muscles use oxygen, so more muscles up top means less oxygen down low.

so 3000m and down, you´d have more and more upper muscle until you get to 100m, 200m sprinters who are usually huge?

Yes, but only speaking generally when taking averages. Any individual could be larger or skinnier than normal for their event.

Never heard someone say that was the reason not to work out. The coach of a really famous high school runner told me that my daughter should stop working out. He also told me she should consider events not requiring endurance because I guess he thought she was to strong looking compared to other kids he coached. She declined and went from 800-1500 runner to trying some cross country and 5k stuff. She weighs 104 and benches 135 lbs and can do 25 full extension pullups. Obviously has some muscle. Well she is running 17:30 to 18:00 5k give or take a few seconds. I believe what you said and will research, I don't think she would consider not working out to be better at running yet, she is an freshman in high school.

DLJM wrote:

Is having a strong upper body positive, or detrimental for an 800m/miler/3000m?

Webb was pretty ripped in 2007, but AlSal said he needed to lose some upper body muscle mass, which left me wondering, does having a strong upper body help, or is is detrimental?

The longer the race, the thinner one should be, I think...If your main event is 5000m, then you probably shouldn´t have much upper body mass, but does this apply to the mile or not? 400m runners are usally pretty ripped, and Symmonds is no skinny runt himself...

o/1

Strong != muscular

Look at Kipketer, Coe, etc.

Yes there are exceptions such as Juantorena, Symmonds etc. but those are the exception rather than the rule

800m physiques are gonna be pretty much the same as 1500m physiques and so on.

casual commentary wrote:

Strong != muscular

Look at Kipketer, Coe, etc.

Yes there are exceptions such as Juantorena, Symmonds etc. but those are the exception rather than the rule

800m physiques are gonna be pretty much the same as 1500m physiques and so on.

Agreed, just look at the physiques of the top 1500m and 800m runners of all time and you know that too muscular isn't exactly a trend. In fact, many of them look like 5k runners.

800m: Rudisha, Kipketer, Coe, that russian guy

1500m: El G, Lagat, Kiprop, Coe, Ovett, Morcelli

It's definitely necessary to have some muscle to be a great 800 runner.. i would focus more on the running part and less on the lifting. Main thing is to have a strong core and be anaerobically able to handle the 800. If you focus on any arms, make sure its your triceps/biceps. those are the muscles you need to rough it out down the final stretch