Following on from our previous post, Sian from SC fitness takes a look at the best strength exercise for runners.
You may have read in our recent blog that strength training is very important for runners. Not only because it’s going to improve your running, but perhaps most importantly because it helps prevent injury. As running is a high impact sport, risk of injury is also high and I bet you have experienced – or at least know someone who has – a niggle or two due to running regularly. It’s understandable, however, that strength training – which is completely different to running – can be overwhelming when it comes to knowing what exercises you should be doing to make sure you’re getting the benefits you need. To help keep things simple and uncomplicated for you, here are my top 5 strength exercises for runners which I advise you include in your training.
Squats
As running is a primarily lower-body focussed sport, you need to ensure you focus on lower body exercises during your strength training. Squats are what we call a compound exercise. This means they work multiple muscle groups at the same time and therefore you get a lot of ‘bang for your buck’ when you do them. When you squat you’re working your quads, glutes, hips, calves and even your core. You can also focus on increasing the weights you lift with a compound exercise like a squat, which will really help to improve your strength over time. Doing them at the start of your session is also a good idea as ideally you want to lift heavier weights when you have the most energy. Remember to start with a lighter weight and work up slowly as you warm up and as your strength increases. Aiming for 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps (depending on the weights you use and your ability) is a good format to follow.
Goblet Squat from Sian Childs on Vimeo.
Deadlifts
Another lower body compound exercise, deadlifts also work a lot of muscle groups in one go. When performing a deadlift you’ll be working your hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, lower and upper back, quads and core – look at that for efficiency! As with squats, I recommend you put these near the beginning of your session when your body is feeling fresh. If you are doing multiple strength sessions a week (which I recommend), then ideally you would do squats on one day and deadlifts on the other. However, if you’re pushed for time and can only fit in the one strength workout, make sure you adjust the weights you use accordingly so that you aren’t putting too much load through the same muscle groups and causing excessive fatigue. Aim for 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps of these too.
Lunges
Single leg exercises such as lunges are not only great for further strengthening of your glutes, quads and hamstrings, but they are also really important for strengthening and stabilising your knee and ankle joints. Our knees and ankles take on a lot of pressure when we are running, therefore we need to make sure they are as strong and mobile as possible. There are many lunges variations you can try such as reverse, walking and curtsey lunges which all use the leg muscles slightly differently. If you experience knee pain when lunging, you could swap these out for step ups, which are slightly less intense on the knee and still brilliant for single leg work. In fact, if you can, include all of the above across your strength sessions. Try including 3 sets of 8 reps on each leg.</span
Push Ups
Incline Push Ups from Sian Childs on Vimeo.
You may be thinking – why do I need to include upper body exercises when I’m a runner? Well, it may be surprising to know that running is in fact a full-body sport. Think about your posture when you run, ideally you’re standing tall with your shoulders back, chest up and core engaged so as to keep your running efficient and keep you feeling good throughout. Including pushing movements in your training will help maintain this good posture, and push ups are one of those movements. Not only that, your core is getting a good workout when you’re in a push up position too, which will also help support your back throughout your runs. Aim to do 3 sets of 5-10 reps in each session.
Rows
Opposing the pushing movements are pull movements. These exercises focus on strengthening your back muscles, which are also super important for maintaining good posture when running as well as keeping you feeling good and injury free in daily life! Having a bad back can be very debilitating and can prevent you from running completely. Rows come in many variations and they involve you lifting weights by using your back. If you train in the gym, try the seated row, face pull and lat pull down machines. If you use free-weights, try single arm dumbbell rows, bent over rows and banded rows. About 3 sets of 10 reps is a good aim for these.
Hopefully this blog has given you a much better idea of what you should be incorporating into your strength sessions and as a rule of thumb, the exercises listed above should be your go-to movements. As already mentioned, running is a full-body workout and therefore you need to make sure you’re strengthening as many of your muscle groups as possible. Give them a go, push yourself and be consistent and I guarantee you’ll see the difference in your running!