Archives May 2014

What Does Strength Training Have to do with Running?

On the face of it, strength training for runners doesn’t make sense. Running fast means lessening the weight you carry around, which is why you won’t find any “chubby” world-class runners. In fact, runners tend to be lean and mean machines, especially for those who specialize in long distance running where champions look like they’ve been starving for some time while languishing in a prison camp.

Recently, however, a growing number of the running population has come to the realization that strength training for runners has its benefits. Perhaps one of the most important benefits is that being physically strong helps prevent injuries while running. And not only does it make you stronger, but it also makes you run more efficiently. In fact, it makes you run faster!

It’s important to note however that runners have their own priorities, and these are not the same as those of bodybuilders. Runners need a different strength training program than a football player. So instead of exercises that involve pushing away weight from the body, the exercises runners should perform need to concentrate on working the target muscles that will improve balance.

According to the foremost experts of our time, here are the strengthening exercises runners need to do:

1. Planks. Do about 3 to 5 reps of these. This exercise will work the muscles in your shoulders, lower back, and core.
2. Lower Body Russian Twist. Lie with your back on the floor. Your knees, however, should be bent 90 degrees from your body, and your lower legs should be perpendicular to the floor. It’s like you’re sitting down, except that you’re lying on your back. Now keep your legs in this position while you lower them to one side. Return your legs to their original position, and then work on your other side. That’s a single rep, and you need to do 10 to 12 of these. If you find this too easy, keep your whole leg straight, 90 degrees from your body. This exercise will work your core muscles.
3. Scorpion. Go into the pushup position, but your feet should be resting on a low bench. Now try to raise your right knee to your left shoulder while you rotate your hips to the left to help you do so. Then reverse your hips to the right and try to reach behind your left shoulder with your right foot (which, by the way, is impossible so don’t be disappointed when your fail). Do as many as you can for 30 seconds, and then do it with your left leg. This exercise will work your core and shoulder muscles. If you find it too hard, just do step one. If it’s too easy, place your shins on a stability ball instead of your feet on a bench.
4. Rotational Shoulder Press. Stand straight while you carry a dumbbell in each hand just at your shoulders, with your palms facing each other. Now stretch your arms as you rotate to the left, and then go back to the original position. Then do the same as you go to the right. The entire sequence is one rep, and you should do 6 to 8 of these. This workout will work your core, triceps, and shoulders. If this is too hard, do just half the reps, or do it without the rotation.

Strength Training for Runners Offers Many Advantages

One of the many advantages of strength training for runners is that these exercises don’t take an inordinate amount of time, and you only need to do them twice or thrice a week.

Strength training offers so many advantages that everyone, no matter what age, and no matter the gender, should do them regularly. If you haven’t done any strength training before, now is the perfect time to do so.

A good place to put together your strength training workout routine is to subscribe to the MyFitnessNut.com Newsletter and then follow along with your choice of the yoga, Kettlebell or dumbbell workout series on video. With the individual videos that you’ll find there, you can put together a strength training workout for running alone or focus on general muscle building and endurance. Besides hiring a fitness coach, video is the next best way to learn from.

Traditionally, strength training for women has not been exactly a mainstream idea. Most people don’t really find muscled women all that appealing, and many women don’t engage in strength training because they’re afraid that they’ll look like a female version of the Incredible Hulk.

Strength Training for Women: End the Double-Standards

Even in the Olympics, this double standard has endured, and it was only in the 2000 Sydney Olympics that women’s weightlifting was included.

Like strength training for men, there isn’t a single program out there that’s perfect for every woman. But the best strength training programs for women will have the following features:

• Heavy weights. This is perhaps the most important aspect of them all. Regardless of what you hear about strength training for women, lifting heavy weights does not cause massive muscles. Most women who do get those large muscles consume a lot of calories for that very purpose, and they probably take a lot of protein supplements as well. Since strength training is about tearing muscle fiber, those puny 5 pound weights are virtually useless. Women really need to lift weights which feel heavy for them, so that the workout becomes effective.
• Variety. The body adapts to exercises, so you need to challenge it in different ways so that it doesn’t stop progressing. There’s also the extra benefit that having varied workouts may prevent you from getting bored.
• During the first few months, you may want to start with the basic exercises. These involve barbells dumbbells or Kettlebells, but don’t get intimidated. These exercises are the power clean, deadlift, squat, overhead press, and the bench press.
• Some of these may have different versions for women. Once you master these, you may want to look into several different versions of each of these exercises.

• Kettlebell One Arm Clean
• Kettlebell Deadlift
• Decline Bench Press
• Dumbbell Leg Exercises – Squat
• Kettlebell Push Press

• Compensate for your weakness. Everyone, men and women alike, has weaknesses. While it can be exhilarating to improve all your strengths, it’s imperative that you work on your weaknesses. You’re only as strong as your weakest point. For women, the most notable weaknesses are the inner and outer thighs (which pros call the hip adductors and abductors), the mid to upper back, the shoulders, and the triceps. You overcome these weaknesses by doing some exercises that target these specific areas.
• Motivation. A lot of women admit to quitting, since there’s a subliminal atmosphere of disapproval about women lifting weights. So work with people who want to see you succeed in order for you to always have the motivation to push forward.

Contrary to popular belief, strength training is important for women as well. It’s not just political correctness, but common sense.