Strength Training

 

Strength Training

Sources: The Run Smarter Podcast (Brodie Sharp), Runners World.

 

Strength training for runners is often neglected in favour of getting more miles under the belt. Runners like to run, and think by running more they will go faster and have better endurance. It has been found though that including strength training in your weekly regime will increase performance and endurance. Those who run 6 days per week should consider replacing one or two sessions with strength training.

A very large study of athletes (thousands) found that strength training reduced the incidence of injuries by 30-50%. With runners specifically, it’s a bit more complicated though.

 

It is a common misconception amongst runners apparently, that strength training will increase muscle mass, make you bulk up, gain weight and as a consequence go slower. Wrong. Runners find it very hard to gain muscle mass.

 

Muscle imbalance. Strength training has the potential to reduce your injury risk by correcting muscle imbalances - just because you have the muscles doesn’t mean you’re always using them – sometimes muscles get lazy and turn off. Strength training is a great way to improve muscle activation and recruitment. Specific run strength training can retrain muscle recruitment patterns and make sure all the right muscles are contributing to your run.

 

Preparing muscles for stress/work. As you run, the force of about 3 times your body weight is placed through each leg. Having the muscular strength and stability to absorb that force of each step will minimize the load through your joints and reduce your risk of pain or injury.

Increasing the efficiency of your running bio-mechanics. Strengthening the muscles that support your body in ideal alignment while running can result in more efficient use of energy. Even trained distance runners have shown improvements of up to 8% in running economy following a period of resistance training.
Core – strengthening your core will help stability, reduce asymmetry and increase balance, so reducing stress or over-exertion of individual leg muscles.

Don’t make the assumption that strength training will increase your body weight and as a result slow you down.

 

You do not need to go to the gym to do strength training

 

Strength training for older runners: Older runners are susceptible to Sarcopenia (age related decline in muscle mass). Older adult runners who have reduced muscle mass are potentially more at risk of joint and soft tissue injuries. Strength training is extremely beneficial for older adults to maintain muscle mass and the ability to recruit muscles while running as well as for general functional capacity.

Runners world has an easy to digest article here:

 https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20074772/strength-training-for-runners/?fbclid=IwAR0cKoiC9G3MDblQdNFJOUA3d0imXIrWBfJoJNN1vYdcZrN66Ps9OAl6JFM

Three ‘must do’ weekly exercises to improve your running

1. Single leg deadlifts - for Glutes/hamstrings/claves/back

2. Single leg squats (Bulgarian/Pistol) - Quads/core

3. Step Ups – Hip mobility and all of previous groups

Source: The Run Better Podcast (Ash Foster). Available on Apple Podcast and Spotify Podcast

One legged: improves balance and co-ordination, works the core, helps avoid developing an asymmetry and injury.

A good number of my running club attend a strength and conditioning session every week in Lydney at Fortitude. It’s an hour class and we all do the same exercises but choose our own level of weight/resistance. Josh the proprietor focuses the session on the needs of runners. As well as other exercises we do squats, deadlifts, core work…