This post was produced in collaboration with Recover Athletics, a Boston-based running injury prevention product, and originally appeared on their blog. Learn more about the cool stuff they do here.
Ok gang, we get it at this point: the amount of research linking strength training to improved running performance is akin to Walter White’s pile of money at the end of Breaking Bad...that is, to say, there’s a lot!
Stacks and stacks of pro-strength training ‘search
We hear that lifting will help us produce more force, adding distance and speed to our strides. We hear that it’ll improve our running economy by improving coordination, letting us glide along smoother than Joe Exotic selling tiger petting tickets in a shopping mall. We hear strength training will strengthen our bones, staving off the risk for stress fractures. Who knows, papers might come out soon saying that one gym session per week will adds zeroes to your bank account, protect against corona virus, and repopulate certain species of endangered pandas.
Every squat that you do is one more shoot of bamboo for these majestic creatures
And while (almost) all of these things are true, not all strength training is created equal. A lot of the exercises that we think may be helping us in the gym may, in fact, be robbing us of range of motion, decreasing stride length, efficiency, and increasing the risk of overuse injuries.
To understand why this may be the case, let’s do a brief anatomy lesson. You’ll survive...I promise
We have two thigh bones that attach to two hip sockets. Each of these sockets is part of a pelvic bone. We have two of those, as well. As we run, each of these thigh/hip/pelvis complexes is “doing” something, such as “pushing” the ground away or “preparing” to accept load. When one side is doing a certain thing, the other side is doing the exact opposite thing. As my right knee swings forwards, my left foot is pushing the ground away behind me. As my right leg is preparing for loading, my left is delivering the final “push” into the ground.
A top down view of what a pelvis SHOULD be doing when in right leg mid-stance and left leg swing
It’s this ability of each half of the pelvis to do different things that enables us to be fluid movers, incredibly effective runners, and really, really ridiculously good looking.
Enter strength training. Traditionally, strength training for runners has consisted mainly of activities performed on two legs, where both legs are doing the same thing at the same time. Think squats and deadlifts. Instead of one leg compressing and the other expanding, now both are compressing and expanding at the same time. With these moves, we’re teaching our bodies to “pair” the action of our legs, rather than “split” these actions (like we do when we’re running)
In the strength programs I design for athletes I work with, there is a huge emphasis on asymmetrical activities, where the feet are in different positions and each leg has a different “job”. This is more “gait-like”, ensuring that we get all the things we’d like (power & motion) while minimizing the things we don’t (spinal and pelvic stiffness).
I love squats. I love deadlifts. Much like Cadillac seats, we go waaaay back. These lifts enable us to overload systems that dramatically increase power production. They can be indispensable for developing a well-rounded athlete and human, to a point. The moment where that strength comes with the “cost” of robbing hip mobility and increasing stiffness, they are no longer serving us.
So what’s a strength training runner to do?
Ensure that most of your gym work “looks” like running- asymmetrical stances, alternating leg actions.
Program bilateral, symmetrical movements judicially. Remember, these aren’t ALL bad, they can just become bad if they become the MEANS unto themselves. We’re not chasing infinite strength, we’re chasing infinite speed and endurance. We’re runners, not lifters.
Monitor your running to make sure you’re helping, not hurting, performance. If your deadlift goes up, but you notice your hip flexors are crazy tight and your normal easy pace is getting harder or your race times are going up, no bueno.
Use some of the great recovery tools developed at Recover Athletics to detonify (science word) muscles that will “lock” the pelvis- hip flexors and back muscles are big culprits here. Foam rolling, light activity, or asymmetrical exercises performed AFTER big lifts like squats and deadlifts can serve to “remind” your body of the need to maintain it’s smooth-ness.
When in doubt, a runner can never go wrong with a well-executed lunge, an activity that appears in spades in Recover Athletic’s in app prehab routines. Strength training is an amazing tool, let’s just be sure we’re using it as intelligently as possible to run faster, farther, and healthier.