Like most long standing myths, the misunderstandings about strength training come from outdated information and usually, that’s been passed down through forums or through coaches who haven’t read the latest research. Luckily, in this video I’m going to dispel some of these myths and hopefully start to reshape how you view and incorporate strength training into your running.
So, let’s get started with video three. Myth number one. You need to maintain short rest between sets. When most runners hit the gym, they feel like they need to replicate the feeling and the workouts they do on the roads. Typically, that means keeping the heart rate elevated. As a runner myself, I know it can be foreign to consider a workout effective if I’m not breathing hard.
That means most runners try to take as little rest as possible between sets. It’s not uncommon to find runners resting for only 30 to 60 seconds between exercises. Unfortunately, these brief rest periods are detrimental to strength development because of the primary energy system used and the rate of recovery.
See, unlike in running, which relies on the aerobic system for energy, the major source of energy when trying to build strength is what we call ATP PC. ATP PC is responsible for providing the energy to produce short, Powerful movements like we need for strength training. As you can see from this chart, ATP PC requires at least 2 3 minutes rest to approach full recovery.
While it will feel completely foreign to you as a distance runner, it’s important that you take the necessary recovery time between each set. To fully replenish your ATP system. By not fully recovering between sets, when strength training, you’re not able to maximize the recruitment of your muscle fibers and the quality and effectiveness of your session plummets.
If your goal is to build strength, you need to take at least a 2 minute recovery between each set. Myth number 2. Training with high reps builds endurance. Now it’s often claimed that since distance running is an endurance oriented event, that the use of high reps with low weight is the best way to build endurance to running specific muscles.
The thought process is that high repetitions, just like higher mileage, will improve muscular endurance. That’s why you’ll often see runners lifting the 5 to 10 pound dumbbells for shoulder raisers or even in the running man motion. And don’t worry if this is you, I’ve done this a lot myself, uh, before I knew all this.
Unfortunately, high reps and low weights won’t build muscular endurance. Uh, first, recent research has shown that performing repetitions in the 12 20 range does not increase muscular endurance any more than the 6 8 repetition range. Second, you’re already working on your muscular endurance when out on the road and when doing track workouts.
The purpose of strength work is to build your strength, so performing routines in rep ranges that target this goal is ideal. Therefore, rather than using lightweight and high repetitions, You should lift the maximum weight you can safely handle for six to ten repetitions. The six to ten repetition range allows for maximum muscle overload and will recruit the greatest number of muscle fibers, thus leading to increased strength.
So the next time you head to the gym for your strength training session, consider reducing your repetitions and adding more weight to your exercise. You’ll maximize your strength gains much faster this way. Myth number three. Heavy weights will bulk you up and light weights will make you look toned.
When I first suggest to runners that they will be better served by lifting heavy weights, their initial reaction is, well, I want to look more like Mo Farah and not Arnold Schwarzenegger. But, this fear comes from a misunderstanding of exactly how bulking up actually occurs. See, muscle bulk is not determined by lifting heavy weights alone.
In fact, lifting heavy weights is probably the least important part of the equation. Nutrition, specifically excess calories, is what contributes to bulking up when lifting heavy weights. Moreover, because the amount of time you will spend running will vastly outnumber the amount of time you spend lifting weights, it will be virtually impossible for you to gain unwanted or detrimental mass.
Unless, of course, you’re seriously overeating, which is not a training problem. So don’t be afraid of looking like a bodybuilder if you’re including heavy lifting in your running routine. It’s just not going to happen. Likewise, lifting lighter weights with more repetitions won’t make your muscles look more toned.
The common belief is that the high reps magically get rid of fat. While high reps with light weight to fatigue can create a muscular response, it does not necessarily remove fat better than low reps with high weight. The mythical tone is a result of not losing muscle mass in conjunction with losing weight.
So as an example, there was a study done at the University of Alabama in Birmingham that showed that dieters who lifted heavy weights lost the same amount of weight as dieters who did just cardio. But all the weight lost by the weight lifters was fat, while the cardio subjects lost a lot of muscle along with some fat.
Myth number four. You should perform your strength training on your rest or recovery days. So, runners typically think of strength training as an add on to their running training, rather than an integrated piece of the training puzzle. When you do your strength workouts, it’s just as important as what strength workouts you perform.
The mistake many runners make is performing their strength workouts on their easy or recovery days. The thinking behind this idea makes sense. You’re the most tired after hard workouts, so why push yourself even more by adding strength work to your, these days? But, we’re forgetting about the recovery aspect and the training plan as a whole.
You see, if you perform your harder strength workouts, especially anything that involves the lower body, on your easy running day, the added stress and shortened total recovery time between workouts would detract from your body’s ability to recover. Moreover, if you perform your harder strength training the day before your workouts, you’ll likely be too tired or too sore to perform optimally in the most important session, the workout run the next day.
This is why your hardest strength training days should be on your running workout days. But, since there are more than one type of intensity and strength routines, here’s how your week should look like if you want to use multiple types of strength work. Your hardest, most running specific strength routines after your hardest workouts.
Your medium effort routines, like basic core or hip routines, on your regular running days. And any preventative routines on your off or recovery days. Myth number five. Machines are a good substitute for body weight, free weight, and TheraBands. The next time you’re at the gym, take a look around and count the number of strength training machines you’ll see.
I’m willing to bet it’s an extraordinarily high number. Because the machines are so pervasive, it’s easy to think that they’re just as good, if not better, than free weight and body weight exercises. However, in most cases they are far less effective, and in some cases, they’re even useless or could harm you.
The problem with machines is that they have a limited range of motion, isolate the wrong muscle groups, and don’t trigger the same supporting muscle groups response that makes some exercises most useful. As an example, from our first video, we know that lack of strength, or hip strength, or lack of the main contributors to running injuries.
The prescription is obviously to strengthen the muscles in the hip, which include the abductors. Seemingly, the abductor machine at the gym would make this easy to do. You just sit down, push out, and you’re on your way to injury free running. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case. Research has shown that to improve running specific hip strength, an exercise should maximize the recruitment of the gluteus medius and gluteus maximus while minimizing the recruitment of the TFL.
And you probably should remember that from our last video. Interestingly, the abductor machine targets the TFL and therefore has limited effectiveness. Moreover, as we know, a tense TFL, because it connects directly to the knee’s lateral side via the IT band, may increase knee strain and develop IT band syndrome.
In this case, the abductor machine is not only useless because it targets the wrong muscle groups, it could be harmful. By sticking to the right body weight, free weight, and TheraBand exercises, you can maximize the time you spend in the gym and avoid some of the common pitfalls. So, consider how these five common myths play into your current perception of strength work and make the appropriate changes.
Now, in the last three videos, I’ve talked mainly about the research and the theoretical application of strength training. In our final video, I want to show you how to put this all together and exactly how strength training works when done correctly. See, because at least for me, I learn by seeing. Once I see how somebody does something, I can apply it to my situation.
So, I’m going to break down a case study in detail. I’m going to show you exactly how one of our athletes, John, went from not being able to train for a marathon to training injury free for the last two years. More importantly, I’m going to show you the specific routines we did and how we ordered them. So if you’ve enjoyed the research and theory so far, you’re going to love seeing how it all comes together in a real life plan.
So stay tuned and I’ll see you in our next video.