Friday, September 19, 2014

Can You Run And Lift?

I have read a lot of articles about running and lifting.  Most say that you lose muscle when you run.  I think that happens when your diet is not meeting the nutritional needs based on activity levels.

This article gives some tips to excel in both running and lifting.
I love to do both.
I can't say that I am an expert at either.
I do know that they both make me feel alive.


Strength Runner "If you love to run and love to lift, you don't have to choose between them. Have the best of both worlds by becoming a strength runner!"

This guy is talking about Obstacle Course Races.  But the training methods would work whether you want to do that kind of race or not.

My last few workouts have been running intervals.
1 mile run
Squats
1 mile run
Calf raises
1 mile run
Walking lunges

The workout at the end of the article gives a good lower body and upper body option.
You can swap out moves with weights, for body weight options.
Greatist.com is a great resource.


Lift to Run This article focuses more on why runners should lift.
It is an interview of the author of the book "Anatomy For Runners."

The following is an excerpt from Bodybuilding.com.

 
"By the end of the book I felt like I kind of had an assignment: Build a strong core, and build a strong butt. If all I did was focus on those two things, how much would that help me in athletics and life?"
 
"Tremendously, and here is the reason why: As you run faster, the amount of time you are in contact with the ground actually decreases. But the flip side of that is that when you have less time in contact with the ground, it is actually harder to run. So your body has to be able to supply more force to the ground quickly.
(picture from article)
Here is why strength training helps runners: You have to be able to put out more force in a shorter amount of time to run faster. But if all you do is run, you never develop the true high-end strength and high-power demands that you need to do that. So yes, if you develop a strong core, you keep things stable. And if you have good glutes, you can propel yourself off the ground.
Walking is different than running. When you walk, most of the power from push-off actually comes from your calf.
When you run that isn't true. When you run, most of the power from push-off comes from your hips, so we're talking about true hip extension. If you improve your core strength and improve your hip extension strength, you are well on your way to becoming a more efficient runner."


Read the rest of the article.  It has good information on posture and strengthening.  There are a lot of things that I could improve on.
I will be adding this book to my wishlist.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...