Strength training can be defined as the use of resistance to a muscular contraction to build strength of skeletal muscle. When individuals undergo consistent strength training, their bodies become more powerful and resilient. Strength training can be done in many different ways such as weight-machines, free-weights or even just an individual’s own body-weight.
Traditionally weight or strength training was deemed unnecessary or even counterintuitive to runners. This was largely due to the misconception that strength training would lead to excess body bulk and slow the runner down. However ironically, ample evidence now suggests that strength training has quite a different and positive effect.
Strength training allows the runner to progress their training, improve their running performance and achieve major goals. Including strength training to your training schedule can make you run faster, prevent injuries and enhance running economy.
Despite the growing plethora of evidence to suggest the need for the inclusion of strength training sessions in any runner`s schedule, many runners (at both recreational and competitive levels) still fail to include such sessions into their weekly training routine.
This article will explore the science behind these benefits and the current evidence in this area, challenging the belief that strength-training does not have a valid part to play in a runner`s training plan.
Strength Training Prevents Injuries
The benefits of running are plenty – it improves our cardiovascular system, boosts our immune system and nourishes good mental health. However, running is a repetitive motion and high-impact sport, which can often lead to frustrating and un-relenting overuse injuries.
Any veteran runner can often rattle off a list of injuries they have endured – patellofemoral pain syndrome, Achilles tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, compartment syndrome….to say the least!
The Australian Sports Commission survey stated that up to 70% of recreational and competitive runners can sustain overuse injuries during a 12-month period (SMA, 2006). Due to these disappointing running statistics, much research has been completed to explore different treatment modalities for these injuries and delving into why these injuries occur in the first place.
When runners challenge their running routine by either increasing duration to strive for longer distances or run faster, they can often cause pain and injury. This often causes overuse injuries as muscles are not prepared for this increase. Strength training is a crucial aspect in both the recovery and the prevention of such injuries.
During strength training, muscles are placed under a heavier load and the body adapts to this by developing more resilient, thicker and healthier soft tissue and bone, which vastly decreases your risk of typical over-use ailments and injuries.
The research showing the validity of strength training as an injury prevention and treatment strategy for typical running injuries is ample. A systematic review by Laursen et al. (2014) with a meta-analysis of 25 randomised controlled trials and a total of 26,610 participants investigated interventions for preventing sports injuries. This review concluded that, “Strength training reduced sports injuries to less than 1/3 and overuse injuries could be almost halved” These encouraging results strongly reinforce the need for the inclusion of strength training, within any runner`s weekly training schedule.
Strength Training Improves Running Economy
Running Economy relates to the steady-state V02required at a given submaximal speed or the metabolic efficiency of the body. Running economy can be compared to the fuel economy of a car.
When a runner has a stronger running economy this leads to less oxygen needed at a given pace, leading to improved performance and the ability to maintain a given pace over a longer duration. Running economy as a predictor of running performance has gained a lot of attention in both sports medicine research and athletic development.
Strength training has a very positive effect on running economy through the ability to enhance motor unit recruitment and improve biomechanical efficiency. Strong research relating to this area of running development is vast and continues to grow. A systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled trials (Balsalobre-Fernández et al., 2016) explored the effect of strength-training on high-level middle and long-distance runners and found strength training had a “large beneficial effect” on running economy.
A Norwegian study conducted in 2008 (Storen et al.) looked at the effect of an eight-week heavy resistance training program for well-trained runners. The intervention group, in this study, completed their normal endurance training as well as three lower limb strength sessions per week, while the control group completed only their normal endurance training. One of the parameters of this study was the time to exhaustion at maximal aerobic speed (running velocity at which VO2max occurs)and the researchers found that the intervention group impressingly increased their time to exhaustion by 21.3%, in contrast to the control group, which was unchanged. The strength-trained group also improved their running economy by 5% in contrast to the running-only group, which was unchanged. Storen et al. also highlighted, in this study, that body-weight of both groups was unchanged on completion of the study, which negates the myth that strength training can lead to increased or excess body bulk.
Briefly speaking; these strength-trained runners could run faster and for a longer duration following the eight-week intervention. These results lead one to ponder why any serious runner would omit strength training from their training schedule.
Strength Training Improves a Runner`s Speed
Strength training has been shown to improve running speed due to enhanced biomechanical efficiencies. Within sports medicine and physiotherapy, analysis of an athlete`s form and neuromuscular control are key areas to address underlying causes of injury and associated symptoms, such as muscle imbalances or maladaptation’s. Adopting strength training for specific lower limb and core areas can have a positive effect on any underlying mechanical and motor control issues. This neuro-muscular efficiency allows the runner to reach greater speeds and prolong time to fatigue.
A Brazilian study (Damasceno et al., 2015) analysed the impact of an eight-week resistance training program on recreational runners and found that the resistance training group had increased speeds towards the stage of fatigue than the control group. Their findings suggested that the strength training group program offered “a potent stimulus to counteract fatigue during the last parts of a 10-km running race”
Similarly, a UK study by Karsten et al (2016) looked at the effect of a six-week resistance program on recreationally trained endurance runners, in relation to a 5km time-trail performance. This study reported that the intervention group (strength-trained group) had a performance improvement of 3.62% following the initial six-week period. The second part of the study then placed the intervention group (strength-trained group) back to an endurance training only schedule for six weeks. The researchers again performed a time-trial at 12 weeks and found that the intervention group`s performance increases had returned to base-line. This result highlights the need for ongoing strength-training for continuation of performance improvement for runners.
Key Points and Tips:
Strength training should be a vital training corner-stone of every runner`s training schedule. Runners are endurance athletes, meaning that they gain as much benefit from strength and conditioning training as every other athlete.
Plan your training schedule:
Follow Professional Guidance
A specific training plan, unique to your needs and abilities, is important and will enable you to reach your goals more effectively. Physiotherapists and Exercise Physiologists are skilled at developing specific strengthening plans for any individual, catering to their unique needs and goals.
Learn more about Mairead Hallissey at http://www.opsmc.com.au/person/mairead-hallissey/
