Following an Achilles injury due to overuse from long distance running, I’ve recently learnt of the importance of strength training to avoid injury as a runner and minimise pressure placed on joints. I’m just wondering what people in the running community do besides running to improve their running strength? Any particular workouts, activities or exercises? (I have been given exercises by my physio to do but I’m curious what others do to build up strength.)
Upper Body - Every day - 100 pushups, 100 pullups, 100 25# dumbbell curls, 100 assorted grip pullups, 100 25# Arnold presses, and 5 ea 2 min planks.
Glutes and hams - 3 ea 20 miles on bike with shoe clips (to get good pull on pedals) per week.
Overall - 3 ea 1 mile swims per week.
I only run 4 days per week averaging 50 miles per week following one of Training Peaks plans I've uses for several years. I qualify for Boston every year with at 20 to 30 min. cushion. Works for me.
I just watch every meathead on YouTube who calls themselves a "hybrid athlete" and copy what they do. Except for the steroids part, so my performances are shi*e.
Following an Achilles injury due to overuse from long distance running, I’ve recently learnt of the importance of strength training to avoid injury as a runner and minimise pressure placed on joints. I’m just wondering what people in the running community do besides running to improve their running strength? Any particular workouts, activities or exercises? (I have been given exercises by my physio to do but I’m curious what others do to build up strength.)
More mobility and prehab work is probably what you're looking for. Out-and-out strength training isn't going to help you nearly as much. If you've had achilles injures, no one has ever gone wrong with calf drops and raises off a stair and stretching work on a slant board. Some combination of foam roller, lacrosse ball, and ther-a-gun like device works well to work out some extra soreness and help warm up the muscles a little bit more before running. Once you are pretty comfortable with all that, a lot of the mobility work from Knees-Over-Toes-Guy is pretty good. Backward push walking on the treadmill, progression toward single leg pistol squats, toe raises, and some bodyweight RDLs are all pretty good. Combine this with foam rolling, and your knees won't feel a thing.
So you are doing 17 workouts a week? I think I could win Boston with 17 workouts a week.
Boston is my yard stick. I very seldom run it. Depends on my mood at the time. I'm really into Ultra's. My hat is off to you if you can run a respectful time on a 100 mile run without such a workout regimen. This is the training my body needs for what I want to do. Maybe not other folks.
Following an Achilles injury due to overuse from long distance running, I’ve recently learnt of the importance of strength training to avoid injury as a runner and minimise pressure placed on joints. I’m just wondering what people in the running community do besides running to improve their running strength? Any particular workouts, activities or exercises? (I have been given exercises by my physio to do but I’m curious what others do to build up strength.)
this is LR, you need to tell us what exercises your physio gave you so we can tell you how dumb they are
as a group, runners want to target the muscles that see the highest peak loads; soleus, outer quads, outer glutes, and spinal erectors. of these muscles it's the soleus that sees the highest loads, especially when not sprinting, thus the seated calf machine is the single most important strength exercise runners can do (as a group/population, individuals can always vary)
^^ This. But, for running-specific strength training, I would suggest unilateral, resistance bands exercises. Unilateral plyometrics are good, too. Avoid anything where both feet are planted on the ground at the same time. Worthless and detrimental.
Best resource I can suggest is the book “Running Rewired” by Jay Dicharry. The entire book is focused solely on strength training for runners so it’s about as good as it gets!
Well if you're just looking to strength train specifically for running performance/injury prevention, doing single leg work and imbalanced stability training is great. Running is a forward motion, with each step is reliant on single-leg strength and the ability to produce force through that leg. Doing stuff like weighted bulgarian split squats, alt. forward/backward lunges, split squats, single-leg leg press and weighted step ups are good to do! Other things such as running-targeted plyometrics will help with building tendon strength and BW force production. Also, general compound movements like a barbell squat/deadlift are always good as they strengthen the trunk/lumbar region as well as the legs which always helps with running too. As for imbalanced stability, I like to to variations of farmers carry with offset weight. You can throw in something like an imblanced A-march, a weighted a-skip into lunge/twist, weighted backwards T-walks. These will just help improve your body control and core stability.
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