It may seem like weight lifting and running do not mesh well together. Many people believe that weight training means that they will become bulky and extremely muscular and that often leads them away from strength training. The truth is, weight lifting can do many different things for your body depending on how you go about it. When combining weight lifting with running, your main goals are probably strengthening your lower body to prevent injury, running faster and just becoming an overall better runner. Here is a breakdown of the ways that strength training can help you run better!
Prevent Injury
Adding strength training into your workout routine can help you prevent injuries that could arise from running. That prevention comes from the fact that you are strengthening your muscles and the connective tissues. Strength training can help to elevate the capacity and load limits of your connective tissue. The higher these capacities, the lower your chances of injuries will be.
Encourage Faster Runs
One of the best benefits of strength training is the ability to run faster with less effort. The reason that it can help you run faster is that you are able to put more power behind each stride that you take while exerting less energy. Lifting is often plagued with the misconception that it will only bulk you up and therefore slow you down but that does not have to be the case if you approach it wisely. Adding lifting to your running workout regime will help you to build enough strength to keep you from fatiguing easily on your long-distance runs.
Tips for Adding in Strength Training
One important tip as you are looking to add strength training into your workout routine is making sure that you are adding it into your regime in a smart way. Add a day or two of strength training into your week and make sure to structure your runs around them in a way that keeps you from running long distances the day after a lifting day. It is also important that you engage in the right kind of strength training. Focus on compound, low-impact exercises using medium weights, or even your own bodyweight. Try to stay away from intensive strength training like Crossfit as it won’t help you meet the main goal of overall strength.
Running and lifting weights do mix! So, don’t be scared to pick up some weights and strengthen your body. You will be surprised to see how much it helps your runs be more effective and powerful! Strength and running can go hand-in-hand if you do it in an intentional way.