I have been trying to incorporate strength training to supplement my running for a while now, but every time I start doing regular strength sessions (2 times per week) I get injured after a couple of weeks. I have tried starting with bodyweight/low weight exercises and I make sure to get enough recovery time and fuel, but I still get injured and have to stop. I think that I probably need to address some more fundamental imbalances and deficiencies before I can do regular strength training, but I am not sure where to start.
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There’s a program literally called Starting Strength. It’s based in part on eating 4-5K calories until you become a fat tub of lard, and then you start yelling at everyone else to “man up” until they lardify as well.
Since you are beginning I would start with a full body workout twice per week. You can find beginner routines on bodybuilding.com and they even have videos to help show form.Also recommend working with a trainer for a couple sessions, or even ask some friends to help you out
Start with exercise machines. Open chain legs only to start like knee extension machine and hamstring curls. Seated chest press and seated military press and some ab routine like crunches leg lifts and sit ups
If doing bodyweight squats and pushups and other basic exercises are leading to injury, that tells me 2 things are probably true:
* You have some serious strength and mobility deficits. Being able to move your body through a full range of motion is extremely fundamental to athletics.
* Your form is potentially very, very bad
This DOES NOT mean you should stop pursuing strength training, in fact, it's the opposite. These strength deficits won't just go away. I suggest you do some video watching on form for all of the exercises you want to do.
There's a million, bajillion programs out there. But if you're brand new, I'd aim to be able to accomplish something as simple as this over the next few months:
I would highly recommend the book “Running Rewired” by Jay Dicharry. It has pretty much everything you need to know about running specific strength training plus has guides on how to do the exercises and routines that are easy to follow.
Thanks for all the tips! I know I definitely have some serious strength deficits and that is exactly why I want to start doing strength work. I did go to PT for a couple of months and it helped tremendously, but after I got discharged I had no idea where to start myself. I will definitely try to focus more on form and take your advice on starting with really basic exercises. Thank you! :)