Running and Weightlifting

L.Jenkins

On the subject of running and weights, does anyone else incorporate a considerable amount of weights into their routine. I go for the whole body workout, switching between upper body and leg workouts after a run on alternating days.

Does anyone else do it or would you consider it advisable? I do it for strength and endurance more so.

Clearlier

Itzy wrote: »

On the subject of running and weights, does anyone else incorporate a considerable amount of weights into their routine. I go for the whole body workout, switching between upper body and leg workouts after a run on alternating days.

Does anyone else do it or would you consider it advisable? I do it for strength and endurance more so.

Advisable for what? If it's to become a better runner then not really.

Pink11

Are you male or female? How much are you currently doing? What do you see as a 'considerable amount' ?Are you looking to build muscle or is your aim to purely enhance your running? For me it's the latter.

I'm female and I incorporate weights into my routine. I try and go 2-3 times a week for about 30-40mins (so nothing crazy).

I do full body but I do focus more so on upper body and abs and try not to torture my poor legs. But I do think it's important to give the legs some time too to build them up. I started TRX classes recently and I can't recommend them enough.

The difference in my running since I started doing this is crazy. I feel so strong when I keep up this routine and have a good diet. Every race I do I'm beating my PB this year. I made a mistake in the past not concentrating enough on this.

Once a week I try and fit in a cardio class in (usually circuits and some weights are normally in this too).

Obviously it's hard to keep up this routine every week as I obviously have to do my running on top of this and sometimes life/work gets in the way, but I do my best to make up for it if I miss out on a planned exercise.

Notwork Error

I think S&C is an often overlooked part of running (myself included) as it doesn't come across as sport specific but I've personally seen good results when I do strength work.

Sprint speed is a very important part of distance running and if weightlifting doesn't build sprint speed, we wouldn't see the tanks lining up for the 100m/200m races that we do. Obviously, a distance runner doesn't want to be carrying all that extra weight around that sprinters do but that's not that weightlifting will not help a distance runner.

Weightlifting will help with being able to generate more power at pushoff. If you are able to generate more maximal power output, that top end extra power will trickle down to submaximal efforts like 5/10k pace. You still use the same percentage of power as you always did but you have a higher output to tap into. Say for instance, your maximal power output before weight training is 550watts and 10k pace is 50% of maximal output, that means you can only use 275watts at 10k effort. But if by weight training, you increase your maximal output to 600watts, you can still use that 50% but you have gained an extra 25 watts of output at 10k effort which will improve your performance.


And heavy lifting doesn't have to add bulk, as long as you aren't eating a ton of excess calories, weightlifting won't add mass, it'll just add strength to lean muscle. Not only will it improve your performance, strength training does wonders for injury prevention which means you won't spend half the time losing fitness while out injured, you'll be gaining fitness through consistency.

Man, I really need to get back into the gym.

L.Jenkins

I'm male, so I've been doing weights and core strength training to improve endurance. I've essentially been doing a full body work out with weights targeting everything, but with a little more focus on the lower half.

Pink11

How often do you guys use weights? How many times and for how long per week? (please let me know if you're male or female too!)

This Fat Girl Runs

Not sure you want my opinion or not but I've been doing weightlifting and pilates twice a week (one hour each session) for the past year. I usually alternate between one day of upper body/arms and one day of legs. Both days incorporate pilates/core and HIIT. I find it has definitely improved my running and I couldn't do without it!