Strength Training to get ready for a Hard Training Cycle
Part 3 of a 4 part series.
This week we’ll talk about strength training for runners. Once again it’s a fairly simple topic on the surface that has just too many options when you get into the specifics.
Like everything else the best strength training routine for you is the one that works for you. What you need is specific to who you are, what you are trying to accomplish and what phase of your life you are in. There is no universal workout routine that is perfect for everyone. You need to choose what works and what is sustainable for you and not worry about all the noise.
As much as every fitness blog or program would like to sell it to you, there is no silver bullet for strength training. There is no ab-buster for 3 easy payments of $9.99 that is going to make you a better runner or more able to adapt to the training load.
There are, however, some common points of reference and I’ll walk us through those.
Why do you care about strength training? Running is a very specific sport. Why waste valuable training time on building strength?
To answer this question all you have to do is go watch the mid-pack coming through the finish at any long distance race. Look at their form. Notice how their shoulders are slumped? Notice how their feet are dragging on the pavement? Notice how their hips are dropping? See how their entire bodies seem to be slumping?
That’s because they are weak. Most typically they are weak in their core.
This is why you care. If you are strong, especially in the core, you will avoid debilitating failures late in the race and also be able to maintain an efficient form. When your form breaks or slumps you become very inefficient. It takes much more energy to run.
It just snowballs from there. Muscle fatigue leads to slumping form. Slumping form leads to inefficiency. Inefficiency leads to the death shuffle at the end of the race.
Instead, if you have strength trained, especially your core, you can hold your mechanics together in the last miles of a hard race and maintain race pace even when tired. This is the proverbial ‘running from your core’.
That’s the why.
What’s the how?
We’ll get to the how. First what’s the what? What are the muscles that you want to strengthen through training and how do you want to strengthen them?
Most important for runners is what we call the ‘core’. What is your core? Your core is all those muscles below your chest and above your thighs. These include your lower back muscles, your abdominals, your hips and your glutes.
These muscles are important to runners because they hold us in balance and upright when we run.
When you focus on your core as a runner you are not trying to build muscle mass or brute strength. For running you are trying to build lean muscle and endurance. Because of this you’ll be doing more high repetition or body weight exercises than traditional heavy weights.
There are plenty of core exercises. I’ll give you a list you can look for on youtube.
Planks, side planks, crunches, side crunches, V-ups, toe touches, bicycles, scissors, reverse crunches, ball lifts, Russian twists, pushups, center press, fly’s, shoulder press, more pushups, more planks, mountain climbers, chalice squats, fire hydrants, bird-dogs, clam shells, flutter kicks and leg lifts.
In strength training when we say ‘repetition’ or ‘rep’ this is how many times you do the exercise. A set is one occurrence of the exercise. For example if I were to drop to the floor right now and do 20 pushups that would be one set of 20 reps. If I did 10 exercises in a row and then repeated the same exercises in the same sequence a 2nd time that would be two sets of that routine.
An example core work out then would be 3 sets of 3 of these exercises with pushups or planks between each set. I typically do at least 20 reps or if you’d rather use a timer do one minute per exercise. Try to work in 1-3 sets of your core routine 2-3 times a week. It’s going to seem really hard at first. You probably won’t be able to go a whole minute without resting. Your back may hurt. But, you will adapt very quickly and you’ll start feeling it in your runs after 2-3 sessions.
Start with one set and work your way up to 3. If you can do 3 sets of a series of 9-12 exercises for a minute each, with minimal rest you’re going to get a nice 45 minute workout. Do this consistently 2-3 times a week and you’ll feel the strength in your core when you run.
You also want to develop your core’s ability to stabilize. This means more balance based exercises than static or machine based weight training. You want to train like a runner, not a weight lifter. There are versions of many of these core routines that you can do on an exercise ball or on a BOSU ball so that you are getting the stability work as well.
You can stop at core, but if you are going to be well balanced you may want to work on your other muscle zones. This means working in a chest, back and arms routine. Again, you’re not trying to become Mr. or Ms. Universe. You’re just trying to get overall fitness and develop balance.
This means stay away from the big weights and the machines and focus on body weight or dumbbells. Work up a sweat and get your heart rate up. Minimize the rests in between sets. Chest, back and arm routines are very common and well known. Just google them and you’ll see examples.
What about the legs? Should we strength train our legs?
You have to be careful how this works into and meshes with your running but, yes, it is perfectly ok to strength train legs in your routine to get ready for a race. The types of exercises you’ll do for leg strength are various squats and various lunges. Again for runners these are typically body weight or dumbbells. Google lunges for runners and you’ll see them all.
I’ll do these type of leg workouts if I have a hilly race I’m training for.
Strength training your legs comes with a caution. Obviously if you beat the crap out of your legs with a weight workout it’s going to impinge on your ability to run hard the next day or two. Leg routines are also stressing the same joints and connective tissue that you use for running and you need to schedule in the appropriate rest and cadence.
Like everything else we have talked about there is no silver bullet. Everyone is different. Depending on where you are in your training cycle and what your goals are you may have 1 to 3 or more strength workouts a week. Depending on what you need to work on you will tailor the workouts.
Like running, form is super important when you are lifting weights or doing any type of strength training. If you don’t have proper form not only will you not get the benefit of the exercise but you run the risk of hurting yourself.
If this all makes your head spin then you should probably get a coach. A coach can set up a simple strength training program as part of your training. At least ask someone to critique your form when you’re in the gym. Doing a squat with improper form, for instance, can hurt your back, so it’s worth taking the time and getting some instruction.
The opportunity for runners is when you are in between races or before you start into a hard training cycle. Spend a cycle strengthening your core. 3 to 4 weeks of consistent core strength work will get you strong going into a training cycle. In this way you can leverage the lighter weeks between training cycles to build your strength and it is very complimentary.
If you’re strong in your core going into the training cycle you adapt to the load much more quickly and easily. You’ll have better form. You’ll be less likely to get overuse injuries. Then when you’re in your hard cycle you’ll only need a light, maintenance routine to stay on top pf your strength.