Should Endurance Athletes Do Weights?
Endurance athletes often have an innate fear of lifting weights, especially heavy ones!
We have all heard weights make you slow, too big; too heavy; stiff and don’t help runners improve. Runners don’t need to lift weights to run so why bother? Unfortunately, most endurance athletes who have little experience in resistance training will not appreciate what resistance training will do for their running. Some fear that they will add unnecessary bulk to their frame, or that heavy lifting will make them slower. It is easy to see where these fears come from as heavy lifting will add lean muscle tissue, and high intensity, long rest period workouts can have the effect of reducing aerobic efficiency (Erickson, 2005).
However, these adaptations will only happen if the strength training is programmed in a particular way. But, when properly implemented into a training program over a short period (two different four-week periods), the adaptation is mainly neural in nature, meaning there is only a small physical change that would have any chance of negatively influencing the endurance athlete. In non-nerd speak this means increased strength without the increased bulk.
So, What Are The Benefits?
So why is this good? If you could reduce the number of strides you took in a distance race by 10%, do you think that this would allow for faster running performance? Tall, slender runners with long, strides are often the envy of their shorter counterparts. You cannot change how tall you are, but you can influence your running stride by learning better running mechanics, and also increasing the amount of force with which you push-off the ground on each step. A small increase in force will allow for a slightly longer stride (Erickson, 2005).
For example, let us assume that you have a stride length of five feet. During a 5K race you would take 3280 strides. An increase in stride length of just 6 inches would allow for the individual to take just 2981 strides, a reduction of over 9%. If done correctly weight training in conjunction with plyometrics, sprint work and good endurance training will improve your running performance. Boom: increased efficiency.
This success can be defined as faster running times but can also be extended to include reduced injury risk, and an overall heightened enjoyment of the sport, a goal that many athletes surely have. (For more on this jump in on one of Jess’s running workshops).
Great, So What Exercises Should I Focus On?
Which exercises to do is far too detailed and individual dependent a subject to cover in a blog. If I had to name three easily achievable exercises for an amateur runner, I would suggest a dead-lift, squat and single leg box squat.
Intelligent use of the weight room… can have a dramatic influence on the success of the competitor.
References
Erickson, T. M. (2005). The benefits of strength training for endurance athletes. NSCA Perform. Training J, 4(2), 13-17.