Strength training for runners
The benefits to your health that you get from running are widely acknowledged. But most of the runners know, this comes with some aches, pains, and a slight increase in the risk of running-related injury. For serious runner, you tend to wanting more training for yourselves. So should you be incorporating some strength work into your routine? Continue reading this to find out more:
Strength training for runners: Injury prevention or performance enhancing?
The answer is both. If you have time you need to hit or a distance goal, some lower body strength training can actually help you improve in a number of ways and keep you injury-free in the process.
Improve lower limb endurance
By increasing strength your glutes and hamstrings, you can actually run with greater efficiency meaning that with the same amount of energy you put out or use, you can run much more further and faster.
Improve lower limb endurance
Strength work will stimulate a whole lot of physiological responses in your muscles such as increase your blood flow to the muscles, produce more energy within the muscles and run faster without the burning feeling in the legs.
Protect your tendons from injury
Tendons are one of the vulnerable to injury in runners. Simple strength training can reduce the chances significantly of getting injuries and you’ll miss fewer days of training, and see an improvement in performance as a result.
Best type of strength training for runners
There are tons of options for you out there, circuits, HIIT, heavy strength, plyometrics, Olympic lifting, cables, bodyweight and so on. There are many forms of resistance training that can help runners to improve on performance wise and reduce the risk of getting injuries. If not familiar with strength training or any training mentioned above, be sure done with supervision or start with bodyweight training.
