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help with weight training
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Hi!
I am training for 10M to 1/2Marathon distance races. I would like to do some weight training to help with my running. Can you advise me on the number and intensity of sessions? How many times a week I should do them? Thank you!
I am training for 10M to 1/2Marathon distance races. I would like to do some weight training to help with my running. Can you advise me on the number and intensity of sessions? How many times a week I should do them? Thank you!
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Comments
Pleasure.
i'm going to dispute the weight training theory somewhat.i've looked at horwill's suggestions and from what i can see,weight training is useful for shorter distances where the explosive strength is needed but i'm not convinced about it's usefulness for longer distances.there is not one piece of written research that states that weight training is beneficial to distance runners.
simple reasons.most weight training works muscles in isolation.running requires several muscle groups to work together which is totally different.if you look at the build of long distance runners,the vast majority are built like whippets not middle weight boxers,whereas sprinters are.
however there are better alternatives which involve weight bearing and working several muscle groups.e.g
circuit training
plyometrics
core stability exercises
these will have a huge impact on your running and the times will greatly reduce.don't take my word for it if you don't want to.the top kenyan and ethiopean runners incorporate circuits and plys into their programmes.
i trained for several months,3 times a wk using weights and it made no difference to the running,doing the circuits has.
don't get me wrong,weight training is great.i'm a BAWLA and YMCA qualified instructor so i do believe in the benefits of weights...just not for long distance runners.
now if you want to look good on the beach....
E.g., I used to have problems with knee injuries, mainly caused by a muscle imbalance / lack of strength in the muscles supporting the kneecap on the inside of the leg. Single-leg squats have certainly helped cure this and allowed me to massively increase my mileage and therefore my running speed.
So I wouldn't disregard weight training just because it doesn't, in itself, make you run faster.
there are several good sites with info.
this month's RW has ply exercises which i would recommend.
there is an excellent article on
www.runnersworld.com/home/0,1300,1-95-98-287-2-2,00.
it's an article by walt anderson titled
strength training for runners.
I will have to take a trip down to Asda and make use of their magazine library to read the RW plyometrics article. Er, what I meant to say is that I'll go and buy the magazine, of course. What do you take me for - a complete skinflint?!
There are even sprinters (Kim Collins, Carl Lewis) that do/did little or no wts.
Wts is also time consuming in relation to its benefits. Get to gym, warm up, train, get back etc takes me 90 mins. Which could be a long run. Or a speed session with long warm up, lots of reps etc.
I do plyos or core work for 15 mins before or after a run. Or as the only thing on an off day. A few regular sessions fit in easily and dont take any large chunks of time.
Circuits take more time, but also have an aerobic benefit.
But yes I still weight train, but only for vanity !