I’ve always felt there was a place for weight training in an endurance athlete’s program. Here Carson Boddicker discusses some of the benefits for runners of including weight training within their schedule. Essentially if you’re stronger you can produce the same force with less effort so in other words you can go faster or further for the same relative effort. Another plus is in helping with injury prevention. If you’re stronger you’ll be more resiliant to the stress you expose yourself to.
2 Replies to “Runners should do some weight training”
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Most people who compete at high (or even consistent) levels year after year generally do some sort of strength training. I went to a seminar held by a top mountain runner earlier this year and he said that the biggest challenge was ignoring what everybody else does in the weightroom and do what is necessary for your sport – he mentioned being the guy in the corner using only the bar or the guy who does hundreds of reps while everybody else is discussing their 1RM.
Terry, I couldn’t agree with the guy more. There are a limited number of athletes who need to be comcerned about what their 1Rm is and they are weightlifters, everybody else need never come close to it to be successful within their chosen sport.