Supplement Your Running: Strength Training

Do you want to be a runner? Or maybe you already are, so would you like to be faster? Run further? Or maybe just be able to run injury free? Keep reading because this may be of interest to you.

First and foremost to be a runner you need to do the obvious, yes you guessed it - run! However the other part essential to being a good runner is having a strong enough body to hold you in good form whilst you are running. Running is a sport like any other, to be good at it you need to learn how to do the movements right. You need to build strength and mobility to be able to carry out the movements efficiently, and you need to build endurance to be able to last the distance.

Running is a full body exercise that uses multiple muscles all at one time. When you lift your right leg, your left arm comes up too and on the diagonal all the muscles from your left heel to your right shoulder play their part. The muscles not moving in that exact moment are holding you stable, for example if your upper body isn't holding itself stable then your lower body will go off balance. Have you ever seen event photos of you running and been horrified how your running style looks? We can teach you how to perfect the movements needed in running!

Injuries don’t come from nowhere, they occur because your posture alignment is out, which results in your joints not moving correctly. This can be similiar to your wheel alignment on your car being out, or having a flat tyre, everything needs to be in working order otherwise you aren’t able to go anywhere. Your body is designed to run with every joint working in unison and aligned with the next, when things are out of balance then there is compensation, which puts the whole body out of balance.

Strength training is the foundation to running and in fact to any sport at all, you need to be strong enough to last the distance. I know from experience that when I have run a distance further than what I am capable of, my knees will ache, my back, my hip, parts of my calf will tighten and the list goes on. My mind and my cardio may be able to do it, but if i haven’t been doing the right strength work then I can be let down. This is because as the sides of your joints begin to hurt, your feet collapse, knees drop in, hips drop, it is the medial muscles that are then called on to be able to hold you together - and that is why strength is important.

“But isn’t my body strong enough from all the running I do?” Short answer: No.

You need to build a strong and flexible body that enables you to keep perfect form to limit your chance of injury. What kind of body is this?

• You need good upright posture to allow the core to engage and to breathe effectively.

• Strong stable upper torso and strong arms for a good arm swing.

• Strong stable hips that can go the distance. Your glutes, hamstrings and quads need to be strong to hold your hips level and produce power.

• Well tracking knees and strong bones to take the pounding of the pavement.

• Straight tracking feet with mobile ankles.

Missing one of these is similar to the flat tyre story earlier, it can take one part to be out of alignment to change the whole dynamics of your running style.

So where to start?

1. Squats

Squats cover all the necessary joints, a good squat uses all lower body muscles, core and back muscles.

2. Press ups

Press ups use midline awareness, your core. A good press up holds you in a great posture and strong shoulders and arms give you a stable torso and good arm swing.

3. Lunges

The single leg stance mimics the running movement itself. A strong stable torso is needed to drive down into a lunge correctly, as well as strong glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings to complete the movement with good posture.

We know runners tend to skip over their strength training and mobility work as they word rather be out clocking up the miles. We also understand there is a fear of wasting time, and the motivation to have to think and do the strength training is just not there. That is why we leave you to do the runs and we take care of the rest. Fitness is Fun workouts cover strength and mobility for runners, because strong mobile coordinated athletes make for fast, efficient, injury free runners.