Weight Training For Runners

[Nick]

Weight Training for Runners
In just one year, this author managed to cut 20 minutes from her fastest marathon time. Her secret? Weight training
        by: M. Nicole Nazzaro  



Q & A with Roberta Lenard

Roberta Lenard is the founder and president of Lenard Fitness and Associates in Somerville, MA. Lenard's trainers provide clients with detailed workout programs based on their sports activities, focusing on correcting muscle imbalances in the body and promoting lifelong fitness. In 1995, Lenard was named one of Vogue magazine's Top 55 Personal Trainers. Lenard's fitness advice can be found in the "Body Talk" column at www.africana.com (under "Lifestyles"). For more information, check out her website at www.lenardfitness.com.

Q: Why should runners consider training with weights?
A: I think all athletes should train with weights. It's part of overall fitness. If all other things are equal, a stronger athlete will win out over a weaker athlete. Also, a repetitive movement pattern, as in a sport, might leave you with a lot of imbal?nces in your body. And that can lead to joint,tendon, and muscle imbalances. Weight training helps to balance out the body.

Q: What should runners who are new to weight training do when they first enter a gym?
A: Probably the best thing to do ahead of time would be to set up some instruction in order to learn how to do things properly. At first it would be best to learn just a few exercises, and then to master those movements. Ideally, these would be exercises geared towards running and the imbalances that occur with runners. So maybe one exercise for quadriceps, one for hamstrings, one for chest, one for upper back, one for abs and one for lower back. That's enough to start with - a handful of things they feel they can really master, rather than trying to learn twenty new things in the first day.

Q: How would an off-season weight training program differ from an in-season program?
A: An athlete's yearly program is going to be broken down into different parts. During the off-season, they can focus on getting stronger overall, and then in-season they can back off and concentrate more on their sport. An off-season program might include weights three times per week, and really focus on getting a good strength base. In-season when runners are racing, they can cut back to once or twice a week and focus on the exercises that they need to maintain their own individual balance.
A few years ago I completed my second marathon. I had been running more or less consistently for twelve years, though I never seemed to get much faster. My PR's were years old, and I always finished races feeling slow and lethargic. This marathon was no different. I did it, but boy, was it a struggle.

Eleven months later, I ran another marathon. And set a twenty-minute PR in the process. It was the largest improvement I'd ever experienced at that distance - by a long shot.

What caused such a dramatic improvement in my running performance? Good training? As a matter of fact, yes. Weight training.



The Wonderful World of Weights

I've fielded the question many times: If I weight train, will I get "too big" to run fast? Will I lose flexibility? How can I integrate weight training into my routine in a way that won't compromise my running?

Let's start with the basics. The goal of weight training is to strengthen not only your muscles, but the connective tissues that literally hold your entire body together. Your body is only as strong as its weakest links - the joints and connective tissues that can become easily strained with intense exercise. Running, for all of its joys and wonders, delivers a huge physical strain to the body. Weight training strengthens your body from the inside out, making it possible to train harder and recover faster.

Weight training enables the body to burn fat and gain muscle at the same time. Fitness professionals are getting away from talking about "weight loss" as evidence of increased fitness. The buzz now is all about body fat levels - and rightly so. When I began to lift weights, I lost a grand total of two pounds in my first three months of training. Now, that ain't much to write home about. But my friends were going gaga over my "weight loss." I can't remember how many people stopped me to say how great I looked, and ask what I was doing to lose weight so quickly. Then I realized that I had been simultaneously gaining muscle weight (which takes up far less space than an equal amount of fat weight) while losing fat. And my race times were starting to improve as well, without any major changes to my training routine. The moral of the story? Reducing your body fat level - not necessarily your weight - will make you a stronger and more efficient runner. And weight training will allow you to do that.

Many runners eschew wei?ht training because they fear that they will get too big to run. Yet, only a small percentage of people have the necessary genetic structure to gain a large amount of muscle size through weight training, and most of them simply do not enjoy long-distance running because they're not genetically built for it. Gaining muscle size requires a very specific type of weight training and nutrition. And, many professional bodybuilders unfortunately add illegal steroids to the mix, so the results of their training efforts are not due solely to their work in the gym.

Remember that ultimately, despite the huge number of training information out there, you are a laboratory of one. Try weight training during your off-season for six weeks. If you feel better, healthier, leaner, or faster (or all of the above) after three weight workouts a week for six weeks, then you might be onto something. Here's how to get started.

Weight Training Lingo: Sets, Reps, and all that Stuff

A weight training workout is made up of "sets" of different exercises. A set is made up of a number of repetitions ("reps") of each exercise. You can do as few as four to six reps in a set, or as many as fifteen to twenty. Generally speaking, sets of lower reps with heavier weights build strength; sets of higher reps with lower weights build endurance. Ideally, a beginning weight trainer should utilize both higher and lower-rep sets. The program we'll introduce to you here uses a pyramid structure: the first set uses relatively low weights and higher reps, and the second set increases the weights and decreases the reps. Eventually you can add a third set, increasing the weight even more and decreasing the reps accordingly.

There are as many ways to structure a weight training workout as there are ways to design a speed workout on the track. The keys to both are intensity and brevity. There's no need to go to the gym for two hours a day, just the same way that a track workout with ten miles' worth of repeats would probably do more harm than good. The RW Beginners' Weight Training Program below emphasizes simplicity and knowledge. The goals for the first three months of weight training are the following: (1) get to the gym three days a week, (2) perform exercises that strengthen all of the major muscle groups in the body and (3) learn about the major muscle groups in your body and how to engage them in each exercise. When you start weight training, you'll begin to feel results within a few workouts; you'll see a difference in your mirror after about six weeks of thrice-weekly gym sessions. Not to mention on your stopwatch during your races.  


RW Beginners' Weight Training Program
This is a three-day-per-week, full body program. Initially, you will perform two sets of each exercise with the following rep pattern: first set - 12 to 15 reps; second set - 10 to 12 reps. After a few weeks, add a third set of 8 to 10 reps if you'd like to work on gaining more strength. Use weights that allow you to perform the recommended number of repetitions with good form and balance, while still giving you a challenge. When you can easily move a weight for the maximum number of reps for that set, it's time to increase the weight by five or ten pounds. You should experience fatigue in the last few reps, but you should not experience "muscle failure," the inability to do another repetition. That's an advanced lifting technique; if you're a beginning weight trainer, you'll fry your joints trying to keep up with experienced lifters in this way.  


The Bring-It-To-The-Gym Workout Program
In this beginning program we recommend one exercise per major muscle group. We've selected exercises that are simple to perform and easy to learn. There are literally thousands of different weight-tr?ining exercises; as you get more comfortable in the gym, you'll want to try other exercises to see which ones best "fit" your own body.  


1. Warm Up.
Ten minutes of easy movement to get your muscles ready for intense exercise: cycling on a stationary bike, walking on a treadmill or stair-stepping. Always begin a weight workout with a light warmup to get your muscles ready for the work to come.



2. Upper Body Exercises.
Choose one exercise for each major body part. Suggested exercises:


Chest: Dumbbell bench press OR Barbell bench press

Back: Wide-grip pullups OR assisted pullups (with a friend supporting your legs, or with a Gravitron machine) OR lat pulldowns

Shoulders: Dumbbell presses OR machine shoulder presses

Triceps: Dumbbell kickbacks OR pulley kickbacks

Biceps: Seated dumbbell curls OR standing barbell curls




3. Lower Body Exercises
Choose one exercise for each major body part. Suggested Exercises - Legs:


Quadriceps: Leg press OR Leg extensions

Hamstrings: Lying leg curls OR seated leg curls OR standing leg curls (on machine or with ankle weights)

Calves: Calf raises OR weighted calf raises OR single-leg calf raises

Shins: Toe tap (Stand up and tap your toe for 45 seconds as quickly as you can, making sure to isolate the movement between the knee and the ankle - a great shin strengthener)

OR pulley pulls (Attach a pulley handle to a weight stack and place it over your foot. Contract the shin by pulling your toe towards your knee.)




4. Running-Specific Exercises:
Choose one exercise for each major body part. Suggested Exercises - Running-Specific:



Arm Pull-Push: Attach a high pulley to one weight stack on a cable crossover machine, and a low pulley to the opposite weight stack. Stand facing the end of the machine with the high pulley attachment. Hold the high pulley in one hand and the low pulley in the other. Simulate the pumping arm motions of running by pulling the high pulley down while simultaneously pushing the low pulley up. Keep your arms aligned with the pulley cables, and keep your elbows from extending behind your body.

Leg Sit-ups: Place a small step in the middle of a cable crossover machine. Using a leg attachment on the low pulley of one weight stack, attach the weight to your ankle. Step up onto the step with the unweighted leg, and then bring the weighted leg up, raising your knee to waist level. Step down and repeat.




5. Core Stability Exercises

Abdominals: Situps OR Reverse situps

Lower Back: Back hyperextensions (on floor or on Roman chair)





6. Stretch / Cool-Down

Always stretch for ten minutes following your workouts. Many people believe that weight training causes a reduction in flexibility. This isn't the case; it's simply that weight training, by its very nature, shortens muscle fibers in order to stre?gthen them. As long as you stretch after a workout while your muscles are still warm, you'll not only preserve your flexibility but may even increase it.




Putting Together A Training Log
Tracking your workouts in a training log will allow you to see your improvements over time. You'll experience a visible increase in strength within just a few workouts. Fill in the chart below with the exercise performed, the weight used and the number of reps performed for each set.



What's Next?

After six weeks of three weight sessions per week, you're going to feel different. Your skin may feel tighter, your arms and legs more "pumped." If you like the results, and you want to do more, here's what to do next.  


1. Try a split routine.
Instead of working out your entire body, lift upper body one day and lower body the next. (Always do your core stability exercises and running-specific exercises during each workout.) Or lift chest/triceps/quadriceps/hamstrings one day and back/shoulders/biceps/calves/shins the next. The possibilities are limitless - try your own combinations and see what works best for you.



2. Increase variety.
Do chest presses with a bar one day, and with dumbbells the next.



3. Try a "circuit" workout.
Perform one set of each exercise in your workout before going to the second set. For example, do one set of chest presses, then one set of assisted pullups, and so on through your entire workout. Then perform a second set of the entire sequence.  


Resources for Weight Training
There are as many weight training books and websites out there as there are colors in the rainbow. Here are a few of our favorites.  


Books:
1. Getting Stronger by Bill Pearl. Well-researched guide to weight training features sample in-season and off-season workouts for a large variety of sports. Excellent discussion of nutrition and the weight training lifestyle.

2. Weight Training for Women by Thomas D. Fahey and Gayle Hutchinson. A thorough guide to all of the major muscle groups and the correct way to perform weight training exercises. Great illustrations and comparisons of exercises using free weights and machines for each muscle group.  


Websites:
1. Global Health and Fitness (www.global-fitness.com). This one-stop fitness website features video demonstrations of virtually every basic exercise you can perform with weights. This is a subscription-based service, but many of the video demonstrations are free. An excellent site for the beginning lifter.


No-No's: Don't Do This In The Gym

1. Watch other gym patrons to figure out correct form. Many people in the gym perform exercises incorrectly at best, and sometimes dangerously as well. Correct technique is essential for safe and effective weight training. If you're a novice lifter, you may want to enlist the help of a professional trainer for a few sessions to learn the basics.

2. Lift without a goal. When you show up at the gym, you should know exactly what you want to do in your workout. Haphazard or inconsistent workouts will only frustrate you. Go about your lifting the same way you attack your track sessions. They'll pay back to you tenfold what you put in.

3. Get into conversations with other folks between sets. Rest about a minute between sets - no more, or el?e your muscles will start to cool down and lose elasticity.

4. Change everything at once. If you're starting a weight training program, let your body get used to it before changing your running or nutrition program as well. You may very well be inspired to eat differently or run differently when you starting hitting the gym. But taking the time to allow your body to get used to one major change before adding another one into the mix will increase the chances of sticking with it.

[Nick]

Strength Training:....


For many years runners, coaches, and scientists have debated whether or not strength training helped improve distance running performance.  Recent research would seem to indicate that strength training can improve your distance running by improving oneââ,¬â,,¢s running economy and lactate threshold.

 

A 1995 study involving members of the University of New Hampshire womenââ,¬â,,¢s cross country team seemed to confirm the effect on running economy.  Without getting into the details, the research found that those who performed a normal weight training program three times a week improved their running economy by an average of 4% in ten weeks.  Four percent may seem insignificant, but it means a 17:00 5K runner could improve to 16:19 and a 35:00 10K runner could improve to 33:36.  One explanation given by the researchers for the improvement in economy was that greater leg strength enhances mechanical efficiency and the recruitment of muscle fibers.  Therefore less oxygen is needed to maintain any given pace.1  A 1991 study reported that a 12 week weight training program increased a group of runnersââ,¬â,,¢ lactate threshold and overall endurance by an average 12% and 33% respectively.  An explanation for this improvement could be that strength trained muscles were able to generate a greater maximum force with each contraction.  Therefore, a smaller percentage of each muscleââ,¬â,,¢s maximum force is required to perform endurance exercise.  Also the recruitment of lactate-producing, fast-twitch muscle fibers are recruited only when the slow-twitch, non-lactate producing fibers can no longer create the force needed to maintain a given pace.  Thus the improved strength of the slow-twitch muscle fibers and the subsequent delay in the recruitment of the fast-twitch fibers decreases the production of lactic acid for any given running speed.2

 

What does all this mean to you the distance runner?  It means you need to be performing some form of strength training on a regular basis if you want to improve your distance running.  I would recommend a strength training program during the base phase of your training.  When the intensity of your training program increases I would shift to a program of strength maintenance.  The program I use for the kids I coach in high school emphasizes the use of free weights and is a three day a week routine during the base phase and early racing phase of training.  Once the heart of the racing schedule and the training intensity really picks up, I recommend a shift to a two day a week maintenance program.  The program incorporates a number of basic lifts (bench, squats, curls, etc.) and focuses on low to moderate weights with high repetitions.  The goal is to build general strength and strength endurance without adding bulk.  Another element to remember is to train opposing muscle groups.  For every exercise you push weights, you need to pull weights.  For example, when you bench press (pushing weight) you also need to do rowing exercises (pulling weights).  When you do leg extensions, you need to perform leg curls.  Another big element to our strength training is strengthening the abdomen and back.  Therefore we do LOTS of crunches.  When strengthening the abdomen donââ,¬â,,¢t forget the obliques.  Medicine ball twists are good for them.

 

Following is an excellent example of a circuit training program that I found in a periodical I subscribe to called Peak Running Performance:
 

SEQUENCE....EXERCISE DESCRIPTION...NUMBER OF REPS...APPX START WEIGHT

..1.....................Squats........................  10 - 20................30% of Body Weight.
____________________________________________________________________

..2.................Leg Extentions (single leg)... 10 - 20............ 25% of Body Weight
____________________________________________________________________

..3................. Hamstring Curls (single leg)...10 - 20............15% of Body Weight
____________________________________________________________________

..4.................. Calf Raises (Single leg).......10 - 20..............Not Applicable........
___________________________________________________________________

..5..................Hip Flexor Raises (single leg)...10 +............... 5% of Body Weight
____________________________________________________________________

..6........................ Crunches........................10 - 20............Not Applicable........
____________________________________________________________________

..7......................... Push-Ups........................10 - 20............Not Applicable........
____________________________________________________________________

..8.........................Bench Press.....................8 - 12............. 40% of Body Weight
____________________________________________________________________

..9..........................Lat. Pull-downs...............8 - 12............. 30% of Body Weight
____________________________________________________________________

..10.........................Bicep Curls (single arm)...8 - 12.............10% of Body Weight
____________________________________________________________________


Take 30 sec. between each exercise.


Take 3 mins. between each entire circuit of 10 exercises.

 

Week 1 day 1, do one complete circuit.  Week 1 day 2, do two circuits.  Week 1 day 3, do three circuits.  Do three circuits per weight training session thereafter.[/size]

 

Perform weight training 3 days per week for 12 weeks.

 

First increase repetitions to the maximum, then increase weight.


For Hip Flexor Raises, use ankle weights if possible.  [/size]

Increases reps to 20, then increase weight.  When you reach the max weight of the ankle weight, increase reps beyond 20.  If you do not have ankle weights, perform the exercise without weights and increase the number of repetitions.

 

References:

R. Johnson, et. al., ââ,¬Å"Improving Running Economy Through Strength,ââ,¬Â Strength and Conditioning, August, 1995, pp. 7-13.

E. Marchinik, et. al., ââ,¬Å"Effects of Strength Training on Lactate Threshold and Endurance Performance,ââ,¬Â Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 1991, Vol. 23, No. 6, pp.739-743.