With running booming and social media full of information and misinformation, it’s easy to lose focus or become misguided on what elements of training are worth pursuing and what things may be best left behind. How does strength stack up and why might it be a valuable inclusion to your training week?
What?
First and foremost when we talk about performance, strength training should be centered around spending time in the gym building strength and power, leaving endurance to running sessions. Simply put, we are talking about heavy lifting and plyometrics. In the context of running, strength training usually falls into two categories; training to improve running economy and training for injury prevention.
Why?
What is running economy and why is it worth improving? Running economy is the amount of oxygen you consume at a given pace. Running economy is usually tested at a constant submaximal speed. Running economy is a complex, multifactorial concept that represents the sum of various metabolic, cardiorespiratory, biomechanical and neuromuscular characteristics during submaximal training.
Simply put, the individual with a better running economy will use less oxygen to move at a given speed. As the concept is multifactorial, so are the methods to improve it. Things like body weight, shoe technology, metabolism, muscle and tendon stiffness all play a role in an individual's economy. Some of these are easily engaged with (super shoes), whereas others may take more of an intentional focus (metabolism, muscle and tendons). Strength training, through heavy lifting and plyometrics, aims to improve the role of muscles and tendons (improving the elastic energy return) in running economy and the science suggests that those improvements are worth chasing, with studies reporting improvements of between 2-4%.
So where does injury prevention fit into the discussion? Depending on where you look, the science is solid enough for the relationship between strength training and injury prevention. At times it can be difficult to distinguish whether strength training is contributing to injury prevention or whether time away from running (i.e. replacing a running session with a strength session) is more of a factor. One systematic review showed a 10% increase in strength training volume reduced the risk of injury by more than four percentage points, whereas another meta-analysis showed no statistical difference between intervention and control groups in injury prevention. The latter analysis suggests that supervision may be essential for exercise based intervention programs to reduce running related injuries, possibly hinting that those who strength trained without supervision lacked compliance.
So the short of it is, if you’re able to get in and train with a trainer or a group you’ll likely see more of a benefit. It’s important to remember that strength training isn’t the absence of training load, so the stress must be factored into the training week. When running volume and quality is the priority, strength can be factored in as a secondary training session. ‘Hard days hard, easy days easy’ is often thrown around, but a good way to land strength is to pair it with your hard running days. That keeps your easy days focused primarily on easy activity or recovery and gives you the time to recover before your next hard running session.
How?
Make it meaningful! To make any meaningful gains in running economy you need to be lifting heavy. Social media has a way of taking simple ideas and overcomplicating them, so before you find yourself upside down on a bosu ball nose breathing remember this; keep it simple stupid, or KISS. The volume of strength you engage with will depend on where you are in your training cycle, but a good starting point for someone with experience in the gym is 4-5 sets of 4-6 reps lifting heavy. It should be noted that when we introduce a new training stress we have to account for that stress by removing an existing stress or modifying an existing stress. Introducing strength in an early phase of training is often ideal as it allows the athlete the time to adjust to the stress and to layer more aerobic volume once that stress has been absorbed. As you progress closer to an event, the timing, frequency and type of strength will change.
Photo is of Ryan Hall in his 'chop wood, carry water' challenge. Ryan Hall is the current American half marathon record holder.
What does it actually look like?
Plyometrics: skipping, box drops, box jumps
Hip dominant lower body exercises: deadlifts, kettlebell swings
Knee dominant lower body exercises: squats and lunges
Step movement: box step up
Upper body pushes: push ups
Upper body pulls: pull ups or rows
Core exercises: side plank
Also worth noting
Pre run exercises, rehabilitation/prehabilitation etc are just as valuable for injury prevention and don’t contribute as much to training stress. These exercises aim to prioritise healthy movement patterns and can be done year round, depending on the needs of the athlete. If you’re not going to the Olympics or running isn’t a means of putting food on the table there’s no harm in doing strength because you enjoy it or because you have other goals that don’t align with running. We don’t always need to hyper specialise things for the sake of chasing an additional few percent.
Training should be enjoyable and you should prioritise the things you enjoy. There’s also the health benefits of strength training that are worth pursuing outside of the context of running. Strength training also improves bone density, metabolism, range of motion and cognitive function among many other benefits. Engaging with strength training in your younger years also acts as a buffer to muscle loss later in life.
TL;DR:
1. Strength training improves running economy and can reduce risk of injury
2. Lift heavy, working on strength and power in the gym
3. Seek out the help and guidance of a professional in the field
4. Strength is an added stress that needs to be accounted for
5. Think about the benefits of strength outside of the sphere of running
Comments