Any thoughts on the use of the leg press for a 50miler ultramarathon? i was thinking of doing 10 x 10 for 10 weeks. Any good? Any thoughts? Any experience?
Waste of time. What many people don't realise ( and many trainers and coaches) is that the strength gained in an exercise is specific to the speed of the movement, load, body position and joint angles.
What that means is if you do leg press your legs will be very good at pushing a weight with your legs when your back is supported and you are in a lying down position and you are pushing a heavy weight slowly which is a bit different to the what happens in an ultra.
There is definitely benefits in doing strength training but things like lunges and one leg squats are a far better option than leg press.
I think Ive made a hash of the training. I've also done hill running and intervals and thinking about it those are in no way specific to the exercise as I will not be running such steep hills/running anywhere near the speed. You live and learn!
Comments
What that means is if you do leg press your legs will be very good at pushing a weight with your legs when your back is supported and you are in a lying down position and you are pushing a heavy weight slowly which is a bit different to the what happens in an ultra.
There is definitely benefits in doing strength training but things like lunges and one leg squats are a far better option than leg press.
Ok thanks for letting me know Andrew.
I think Ive made a hash of the training. I've also done hill running and intervals and thinking about it those are in no way specific to the exercise as I will not be running such steep hills/running anywhere near the speed. You live and learn!
With hill repeats just don't make the hill too steep if your race is flat.
Intervals are something every runner should do whether you are training for 800m or 100 miles.
I don't understand why? Surely they are in no way specific to the event?
http://www.mile27.com.au/speed-training-for-ultrarunners-essential-or-a-waste-of-time/
http://www.mile27.com.au/tempo-running/