Body Weight Training May Not Be Enough

90 kg squat

Running helps clear my mind. It also has a wide range of benefits like boosting immunity so you are less likely to fall sick. In fact, even 10 minutes of running at really slow speeds can boost your cardiovascular health. However, other than your leg muscles, running is not so good at building your other muscles.

Hence, strength (or resistance) training helps strengthen your muscles and joints which can make you faster and more importantly, decrease injury risk. Research by Lopez et al (2021) suggest it really does help to lift heavy (whatever that means for you since we are all different).

28 studies (with 747 healthy adults) were reviewed. The researchers found that a wide spectrum of loads (or weight) resulted in very similar increase in muscle size. However, it was only with higher or moderate loads that resulted in a significant improvement in strength.

This means that using lighter loads (or weights) may help "grow' your muscle, but it's the heavier weights that will make them much stronger. These findings were more apparent for those new to strength training compared to those who have been strength training for a while.

Those who strength train regularly will benefit by adding more sessions to their routine than simply adding more load. 

One reason for strength increases by higher loads (weight) is greater neuromuscular adaptation (or signaling). Meaning the connection between the brain, central nervous system and muscles adapt to be able to recruit more muscle fibers and increase the frequency of them engaging. This improves coordination within and between muscles in ways that contribute to more force.  Hence you get more strength through increased firing frequency.

The authors suggest that those new to strength training do 2-3 strength sessions a week, performing 8-12 repetitions per exercise. Select a weight you can do for that many reps but feel fatigued at the end of the set.

Remember your strength training program should be based on your running goals (i.e to run faster) and needs. Do not afraid to lift heavy and if you need a trainer/ physiotherapist to guide you, make sure they know your need for injury prevention and not to get bigger.

Reference

Lopez P, Radaelli R, Taaffe DR et al (2021). Resistance Training Load Effects On Muscle Hypertrophy And Strength Gain: Systematic Review And Network Meta-Analysis. Med Sci Sp Ex. 53(6): 1206-1216. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002585

Strength Training Can Improve Your 5 km Time Significantly

Picture by Ving Henson at The Pit

Want to improve your 5 km, half and full marathon times? Well, strength training may be more important than you think.

In a recently published research paper, the research team split their runners into two groups. One group continued the regular run training of running between 18-30 miles (or 28-48 km) a week for the next six weeks. The other group continued their run training while adding two strength training sessions each week. They did four sets of four reps of four different strength exercises. Weight they lifted was 80 per cent of their one rep maximum lift.

Both groups of runners did an outdoor 5 km time trial before and after six weeks of training. The first group of runners who just ran recorded similar times for both runs.

The strength training group ran 45 seconds faster in the second time trial. This is a 3.62 percent improvement, considered a substantial increase in distance running.

The study continued for another six weeks. This time the strength training group stopped lifting and ran only. At the end of the six weeks, the did another time trial. This time, the former strength training group lost 42 of the 45 seconds they gained. Their performance level basically returned to levels before strength training.

The authors suggested runners maintain a lower volume of strength training through the competition phase. They also suggested this strength training program will work well if you're racing half or full marathons.

After reading this far, you're probably dying to find out what the four strength exercises were. Well, they did Roman deadlifts, parallel squats, calf raises and lunges.

Now you know.

Reference

Karsten B, Stevens L et al (2015). The Effects Of A Specific Maximal Strength And Conditioning Training On Critical Velocity, Anaerobic Running Distance And 5-km Race Performance. Int J Sports Physiology and  Performance. DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2014-0559.

Can You Lift And Run?

Picture from The Pit, Singapore

I often get this question from my patients. They are often keen to look for an edge over their friends to improve their running performance. Most of them are not sure how to schedule or juggle their track sessions, gym / strength training etc.

I normally share my own experience with my patients having spent consistent time in the gym thrice weekly year round when I was still training seriously for triathlons.

Recently I also saw a paper just published on the acute effects of strength training done by a group of Australian researchers.

The runners in this study did 3 different strength training sessions on 3 occasions. One was a high intensity session for the whole body, the second was high intensity for the legs only while the final session was low intensity for the whole body. 6 hours after each strength session, they did a treadmill test of running 10 minutes at easy pace (70% ventilatory threshold), 10 mins at 90% threshold pace (or similar to your half marathon race pace) and finally running as long as possible at 110% threshold pace.

Both high intensity strength sessions significantly lessened the run time to exhaustion (5 mins prior to starting strength training compared with 4 mins after), suggesting that a hard weights/ strength training done 6 hours before will affect your fast running performance. The researchers suggested that runners should not run hard if they had done a strength session earlier in the day as they needed a longer time to recuperate. In fact they found that the ability to run at maximal effort was still impaired 24 hours after doing weights/ strength training for the legs.

Good news for runners is that running at lower intensities were unaffected by the strength training workouts. So you can do weights and run 6 hours later as long as the run is easy to moderate. The researchers suggested running first in the morning before a strength session later in the day after work for optimal recovery.

My take before I saw this paper? Well, when I used to race triathlons, I like to strength train first then run (or swim or bike for that matter) since in a triathlon I'm always fatigued by the run having swam and biked hard before. Doing weights first followed by running would mimic some of the fatigue I feel after swimming and biking in a triathlon race.

Well, that's just me although research seems to suggest otherwise now (although this research paper was done on runners not triathletes).

Now this is strength training. Picture from The Pit, Singapore