I'm a freshman in high school and I've never participated in any real sport until the last summer when I started playing tennis. I also joined spring track this season for the first time, mainly to prepare myself for tennis this coming fall.
I am currently one of the sprinters and a few days later, I have my first meet. I'm scheduled to run 100m for this meet, but it's not like a fixed line-up, so I could run 200, 400, or others in the future. Besides, I prefer mid-distance or long-distance over sprinting, except I'm not sure if my coach would let me switch to them, considering the fact that it's been 3 weeks into the season. Another thing about sprinting that makes me reluctant is that (from what I've heard so far) the sprinters use a lot of calf muscles in their short, fast speed, and so develop bulky muscles in their legs, whereas distance people use a different kind of muscles, which makes their legs slimmer. I think this is true, because all the distance people in our school are very skinny, as opposed to the sprinters, who are mostly just normal-size with several of them actually heavy and fat, and just one of them really skinny.
As for me, I'm tall and very skinny, and my legs are slim. I really don't want my legs to become bulky and ugly. I want them to stay skinny and slim like they are now. But like I just said, I don't know if my coach will let me switch to long-distance. In the case that I continue with sprinting this season, how can I prevent my legs from getting bulky? I heard from somewhere that I should drink a lot of water each day because it distributes fat in my body, is that true? I also take tennis lessons once a week, does playing tennis have any influence on my leg fat? For example, would it help keep my legs slim, or thick, like sprinting does? Also, if I don't make the tennis team next year, I was thinking of doing cross country. How does cross country affect your legs?
I am currently one of the sprinters and a few days later, I have my first meet. I'm scheduled to run 100m for this meet, but it's not like a fixed line-up, so I could run 200, 400, or others in the future. Besides, I prefer mid-distance or long-distance over sprinting, except I'm not sure if my coach would let me switch to them, considering the fact that it's been 3 weeks into the season. Another thing about sprinting that makes me reluctant is that (from what I've heard so far) the sprinters use a lot of calf muscles in their short, fast speed, and so develop bulky muscles in their legs, whereas distance people use a different kind of muscles, which makes their legs slimmer. I think this is true, because all the distance people in our school are very skinny, as opposed to the sprinters, who are mostly just normal-size with several of them actually heavy and fat, and just one of them really skinny.
As for me, I'm tall and very skinny, and my legs are slim. I really don't want my legs to become bulky and ugly. I want them to stay skinny and slim like they are now. But like I just said, I don't know if my coach will let me switch to long-distance. In the case that I continue with sprinting this season, how can I prevent my legs from getting bulky? I heard from somewhere that I should drink a lot of water each day because it distributes fat in my body, is that true? I also take tennis lessons once a week, does playing tennis have any influence on my leg fat? For example, would it help keep my legs slim, or thick, like sprinting does? Also, if I don't make the tennis team next year, I was thinking of doing cross country. How does cross country affect your legs?