When to strength train?
8 watchers
May 2014
8:42am, 28 May 2014
41 posts
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pedro
Just from personal experience I have found a relatively small amount of strength training to be very beneficial. I don't necessarily think it makes me run any faster but it helps keep me injury free especially when running high mileage. I don't do much 20 mins most days and find it most convenient for myself just before bed incorporating some stretching which I think is equally important. I do find it a bit of a bind but I have learnt that I neglect it at my peril. I don't use weights just plank, side plank, half sits , press ups etc. Velociraptor I don't climb myself but know runners that do and I think it provides more cross benefits to running than you might think. Just think about how much your core actually gets used. If I had time I would incorporate some myself but it's all a work life balance. Also, I think even when training for a road marathon running off road has great benefits too as you are working/strengthening the core over the uneven ground. Just some thoughts?
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May 2014
9:07am, 28 May 2014
29,801 posts
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Velociraptor
These are my preferred thoughts on the Cult of the Core cpdo.net |
May 2014
10:09am, 28 May 2014
990 posts
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Canute
This article by Prof Lederman, which is mainly about low back pain, and has only a limited amount to say about running, nonetheless makes some valid points. In particular, I agree strongly that isolation of specific core muscles such as transversus abdominus can be misleading. I would place far more emphasis on the role of latissimus dorsi for runners, but even the lats work in conjunction with many other muscles. I agree with Lederman’s recommendation for external focus (ie on the desired action) rather than internal focus on specific muscles. However, I disagree with his over-emphasis on the specificity principle in training. If you want to run well, it is true that you should do a lot of running. Because of the lack of eccentric muscle loading during cycling, cycling alone will not allow you to achieve your best performance as a runner. Nonetheless, a lot of cycling does add to the aerobic fitness required for running. In similar manner, weight training alone will not make you a better runner, but there is quite a lot of evidence that it can help I personally focus mainly on lower body strength and power during my own strength training, because it is clear that I have lost leg muscle power with age. Almost certainly this has played a large part in my loss of running speed. While I am cautious about placing too much emphasis on specific muscles because running requires coordination of many muscles, I think that a few specific muscles are noteworthy for minimising risk of injury. In particular, weak gluteus medius leads a drop of the pelvis on the side of the swinging leg resulting in unnecessary twisting forces at the sacroiliac joint while tending to push the top of the stance leg sideways. The article by Lederman has very little to do with either avoidance of many of the injuries associated with running, or with increasing running speed, and is completely irrelevant to the metabolic benefits of weight training. I consider that the article make some good points but is of limited relevance to runners. |
May 2014
11:15am, 28 May 2014
29,803 posts
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Velociraptor
I would hesitate to do strength training routinely on my leg muscles because of that very requirement for lots of different muscles to work together to support the act of running, and the risk of disrupting what is a reasonably functional unit by altering the size, power, or innervation of parts of it. Of course, it may be that I'm making an excuse to avoid doing a form of exercise that I don't find interesting or rewarding and that there's actually good evidence to suggest that doing any old resistance work is as good as doing precisely focused resistance work and better for running speed and injury resistance than doing no resistance work , in the same way that taking a chainsaw to your roses is as good as delicately pruning each stem just above an outward-facing bud and both are better than not pruning your roses at all. Like so much else in sport, the difficulty of extrapolating results from one population to another, or from any study group to a random individual who does the sport in question, comes into play. And I'm rather fascinated by the factors that affect running speed and endurance in older athletes, and how best to delay the inevitable decline |
May 2014
12:06pm, 28 May 2014
10,648 posts
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SODIron © 2002
I would definitely recommend something in the way of regular S&C training... I know some people don't do it however, without a doubt...ALL the top runners will do some sort of S&C/Core/Flex routine on a regular basis and you can pretty much guarantee that if it was of no benefit then the top/elite performers would not do it. |
May 2014
12:08pm, 28 May 2014
10,649 posts
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SODIron © 2002
my one caveat about S&C is "Do Not EVER....EVER...do Cross Fit!!!". It is the expressway to injury.
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May 2014
12:32pm, 28 May 2014
991 posts
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Canute
SI@2002 I agree. Paula Radcliffe made the transition from being quite a good runner to being one of the best ever after introducing both plyometrics and weights. Mo made a similar transition. Alberto Salazar believes the weights were crucial for Mo. Anecdotal evidence is of limited value but nonetheless has some value. Vrap You make a good point about wishing to avoid interfering with the muscular balance and neuromuscular coordination required for running. However , as I have aged, my loss of muscle power has imposed involuntary changes in my neuromuscular coordination that are almost certainly unhelpful. I now involuntarily take 230 steps/min at 4:30 min per Km. Stride length is less than 1 metre. I find it very difficult to go any faster, and I also find it very difficult to maintain a pace of 4:30 for any appreciable distance. My hopping distance (both single leg hops and two-footed hops) has decreased by a similar proportion to my running stride, suggesting that loss of power is the main problem. I did manage to produce a small increase in stride length with a program of plyometrics but plyometrics place a lot of stress on the joints. If I am to recover speed I need to recover power, yet my power continues to deteriorate despite the fact that last year I spent more time running than in any previous year of my life. I think that a specific focus on leg muscle power (eg via hang cleans etc) is the most rational approach, though I accept that it is crucial to do quite a lot of running in addition to ensure that any increase in power gets assimilated into my running action. It might also be that my brain will no longer allow me to exert the required forces when running due increased vulnerability of joints resulting from loss of resilience in connective tissues. This is a trickier problem to overcome, though I think that slow eccentric contraction of associated muscles is probably one of the best ways to improve resilience of collagenous connective tissues. I think that squats performed slowly with a heavy load is the best way to achieve this. But until I succeed in arresting the deterioration in my speed, this remains speculation. |
May 2014
12:32pm, 28 May 2014
6,160 posts
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rf_fozzy
Disagree SOD - it might be elites do it because all other elites do it, rather than being based on empirical evidence. It would be an interesting study, but difficult to perform with elite athletes. In addition, with elite athletes, it might be serving a different purpose to pure strength and conditioning of "core muscles" That link posted by V'rap is interesting. Strength exercises on particularly weak muscle groups (e.g. a lot of runners have relatively weak calf muscles, so therefore doing eccentric exercises) might be useful. It might be that the strength and conditioning sessions act as a kind of "flexibility session" for a lot of runners though - this is something I think can be useful and help prevent injury. I'm trying to start a new regime of stretching a lot more at the moment - it's not easy, because I am so inflexible to start with and everything works against everything else, but I can now touch my toes, which is a start! I need a good stretch for my groin/inside thighs as that's a big limiting factor at the moment and is meaning my glutes are tightening up - and this does effect running. |
May 2014
12:38pm, 28 May 2014
1,627 posts
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FR
Strength - No. Work on the ABCs - Yes. Some runners (and bloody quick ones) have great mobiliser muscle sets and puny stabiliser muscle sets. Anything that attempts to redress imbalance gets my vote. |
May 2014
12:38pm, 28 May 2014
6,892 posts
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Wriggling Snake
As an experiment I did crossfit for about 6 months, and my power increased and my 10k and 5k times were faster. However, I was also incoporating a few more tempo runs that I am now, so undecided. I do think weight training does help injury prevention. Currently doing circuits, whihc i smuch more geared to body weight exercises.
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