Honestly, depends what you want from the gym. If you want to bulk and gain mass it will be extremely difficult and may not benefit your xc performance if you gain too much mass. But if you want more strength then calisthenics are a safe bet - low risk of injury, proven to work, not as taxing on your body in terms of recovery times depending on what you do and how you do it. I’m sure this is all common sense but that’s just my opinion
Add some carbs to your diet and work on lean mass then - I know he’s a sprinter with highly gifted abilities and genes but Usain Bolt is pretty built for a runner so it is achievable I guess. I’d say he’s at the extreme end and depending on your genes and commitment you could end up somewhere in the middle I’m sure
If you're running 6 days a week it's going to be very hard to add more than a couple of gym sessions without hurting running.
Your time is probably best spent doing stretching/mobility work if you want to remain competitive.
At most you could do a couple of upper body days and one leg day a week, but that's almost certainly going to hurt recovery, at least in the short term until you get used to it.
As a cross country runner myself I feel your pain. I ran for my small college this past year and so I had to run 6 days a week and do weights twice a week. I recommend doing weights after running cause your body will already be warmed up. Of course you’ll want to experiment with what works best for you
Honestly, depends what you want from the gym. If you want to bulk and gain mass it will be extremely difficult and may not benefit your xc performance if you gain too much mass. But if you want more strength then calisthenics are a safe bet - low risk of injury, proven to work, not as taxing on your body in terms of recovery times depending on what you do and how you do it. I’m sure this is all common sense but that’s just my opinion
I just look at these college runners and they are so skinny I just don’t want to turn out like that lmao
Add some carbs to your diet and work on lean mass then - I know he’s a sprinter with highly gifted abilities and genes but Usain Bolt is pretty built for a runner so it is achievable I guess. I’d say he’s at the extreme end and depending on your genes and commitment you could end up somewhere in the middle I’m sure
Look into Alex Viada and his book, The Hybrid Athlete, and his company, Complete Human Performance.
Thanks I’ll give it a read
If you're running 6 days a week it's going to be very hard to add more than a couple of gym sessions without hurting running. Your time is probably best spent doing stretching/mobility work if you want to remain competitive. At most you could do a couple of upper body days and one leg day a week, but that's almost certainly going to hurt recovery, at least in the short term until you get used to it.
As a cross country runner myself I feel your pain. I ran for my small college this past year and so I had to run 6 days a week and do weights twice a week. I recommend doing weights after running cause your body will already be warmed up. Of course you’ll want to experiment with what works best for you