Joint-Friendly Conditioning, Part 1
Aerobic training, energy systems work, metabolic training, get-sexy-for-beach time. However you want to put it, it's loved by many, and even if for those who don't love it, it needs to get done.
Unfortunately, the large, waving red flag I continually see soaring above the majority of people's conditioning* routines, is that they quickly leave their victims injured and broken, rather than better equipped for the arena of athletics or simply leaner and healthier.
*Note: I realize this term means completely different things to different people, and entire books could be written (and have been) on the matter. However, for the rest of the post, for all intents and purposes "conditioning" will be used to simply imply anything elevates your heart rate up for the purpose of enhanced work capacity, performance, fat-loss, or health.
Traditional running programs boast one of the highest injury rates among participants to date, and the incalculable group exercise classes and exercise DVD sets out there have people performing lunge jumps, broad jumps, repeated box jumps, and other so-called "plyometrics" until they're blue in the face. Or, until their patella tendon shoots out front side of their leg, whatever comes first I suppose.
As as aside, please keep in mind that when I use the term "injury" I'm not so silly to presume that all of you out there undergoing a common conditioning regimen are going to become paralyzed or some equivalent of being blasted by the Death Star's ray gun, but it could be something as simple as tendinitis, tendinosis, back pain, or any developing some sort of "achy" joint in general.
So, given that you're likely either A) an athlete, or B) someone who cares about feeling, looking, and moving better, this begs three questions, along with the part of this article that you actually care about:
#1. How do you perform conditioning routines that reduce the risk of injury occurring during the process?
#2. If you're currently currently suffering any form of injury, how can you still become a mean, lean, fighting machine despite your achy knees, back, and/or shoulders?
#3. If you're a competitive athlete, how do you obtain enhanced work capacity, yet spare your joints and central nervous system in the process?
In general, you're going to want to avoid exercises that place high stress on the joints, and movements that, when performed under a state of fatigue, aren't likely to degrade in form. So running, jogging, flat-ground sprinting, and repeated jumping and bounding (incorrectly dubbed 'plyometrics' by the fitness gurus) are going to be considered "higher risk."
Oh, and I can't believe this should even need be addressed, but the olympic lifts for high reps are out, too.
So, what to do? Below are a few of my choice, joint-friendly conditioning options (feel free to chime in any of your personal favorites below), which I've divided into two "spectrums:" Beginner ---> Intermediate and Intermediate ---> Advanced. There's obviously overlap between the two categories, and everything isn't black and white, but hopefully this will help you get a decent idea of some of your options to toy with.
Beginner ---> Intermediate
1) Loaded Carries (Farmer Walks)
A bread-and-butter movement. Quoting the man Dan John himself: "The loaded carry does more to expand athletic qualities than any other single thing I've attempted in my career as a coach and athlete. And I do not say that lightly."
Virtually anyone can do them, the majority of the variations are extremely joint-friendly, and not to mention they get the heart rate up at an alarming rate. The other week I took my farmer walk implements to the local high school track and walked 800 meters with them. The next day I no longer wondered what loaded carries were good for.
Below is a real quick video on a bunch of different variations you can use if you don’t have access to implements. Note that you can certainly use a dumbbell instead of a kettlebell for a large majority of these.
Bill Hartman also wrote an excellent recent post on how loaded carries make for quite a remedial exercise selection. Check it out HERE.
2) Sled Pushing, Pulling, Dragging
This has to be one of my favorites, by far. Easy on the low back, shoulders, and knees. It’s relatively “dummy proof,” it teaches one to simultaneously flex one hip and extend the other, and produces very little post-workout soreness (extremely important for athletes in particular). Just last year, when I was dealing with a nagging leg injury that made squatting problematic, I was still able to push it hard on the sled while concurrently healing my injury.
3) Jumping Jacks. Who said it had to be complicated?
4) Medicine Ball Work. Note that I'd recommend sticking to overhead slamming until one knows how to use their hips (not low back) to do wall throws.
5) Airdyne Bike.
6) Low-level + Low Repetition Bodyweight Drills in Sequence
7) Dynamic Mobility Work
Intermediate ---> Advanced
1) Any of the list above (sled work, farmer carries, jumping jacks etc.). It's all scalable, after all.
2) Crawls!
People usually make fun of these until they try them. They're deceptively challenging when performed for reasonable distances, and the beauty of them is they can literally be done anywhere.
See the video below for numerous demonstrations. I’d recommend starting with just the bear and tiger crawls, and make sure you’re keeping a stable spine throughout. The chicken, kangaroo, gorilla, spider, and scorpion wouldn’t be advised to those with injuries.
3) KB Swings
4) Burpees. Maybe. Just be sure you're achieving full hip extension at the top and not looking like a pile of doo-doo as you land from the jump and transition into the pushup.
5) Sledge Swings
6) Hill Sprints
7) Jump Rope
8 ) Barbell (and Kettlebell) Complexes
9) Low-level Push/Pull/Hinge/Squat Patterns
I'll be back on Friday to briefly discuss a few options on how to string these together.
(Update: You can see Part 2 HERE)
Coaching Tip: When NOT to Correct Someone's Form
This past Saturday while out on the coaching floor, I was explaining something to one of our interns, and, in the middle of our discussion, I realized it would make for excellent blog fodder, at least for the trainers and strength coaches in the crowd.
So, on Saturday morning, I was helping one of our *quasi-distance coaching clients, Rob, during his deadlifts. As he moved through the sets, he worked up to 335lbs for a set of 3, which was a personal best for him (cue fist bump).
However, during the first rep of this 335x3 set, his form broke down a bit. His hips were "prematurely" extending, or, in other words, he was throwing them forward a bit too early. Here's an example of what it looked like (although, to his credit, it wasn't quite this extreme):
I waited until he finished the set, had him drop the bar weight down to 135lbs, and then I showed up what he was doing (video above), and then demoed what he needed to be doing, such as in the video below. Notice how the hips and shoulders rise at the same rate, and then the hips extend ("hump the bar") to finish the lift.
He practiced the correct technique a few times with 135, gave me "ah hah, that makes sense!" expression, and moved on. Smooth as puddin'.
Yet this begs the question, WHY did I not immediately correct him during the heavy set, when his form was a bit off? Why did I let him finish the set without saying anything?
Quite simply, his form wasn't quite bad enough to risk injury, and the cue I was about to give him was one that we, Rob and I, hadn't discussed before. Which leads me to my main point:
Avoid giving coaching cues that the athlete or client hasn't heard before while they're in the middle of their set. ESPECIALLY when maximal weights are being used.
Yelling a cue or instruction at an athlete while they're in the middle of a maximal working set will most likely do one of two things: A) Utterly befuddle them, or B) Injure them. I think it goes without saying that both these scenarios are unfavorable.
So, if you notice they're doing something wrong, you typically have one of two options:
1) If their form is so bad, and/or they are breaking down so much that it looks like they're going to get hurt, STOP the set there. I don't care if they were supposed to do five reps and only got through one before everything fell apart.
Reduce the weight on the bar, describe what they are doing vs. what they need to be doing, and then have another go.
2) If their form isn't perfect, but it doesn't look bad enough to risk injury (ex. their elbows flaring too much on the bench press), allow them to finish the set, and then discuss what needs to be happening, and lower the weight if needed. Sometimes it's just a matter of them knowing what needs to be done, and other times the weight is simply too heavy.
Bret Contreras did an excellent job discussing this very topic in his post, The Three Most Idiotic Things I've Done as a Personal Trainer:
One of my best female clients was performing heavy high box squats (15? height). I had her squatting with 155 lbs on the bar and during the set I felt that she wasn’t arching hard enough at the bottom of the lift. I noticed that she’d relax a bit and fail to keep a rigid lumbar extension moment while she was seated on the box. During her set I instructed for her to “arch the low back.” Unfortunately, she wasn’t thinking clearly and she confused “arch” with “flex” and rounded her low back. Heavy axial loading + rounded lumbar spine to end-range flexion = herniated disc. She couldn’t train for over a month.....
.....As a personal trainer, you review proper form prior to the lift, you have them practice perfectly with lighter loads, you use simple phrases such as “chest up” so the advice cannot be misconstrued, and you make sure they know what “arch” means prior to having heavy loads on their back. “Arching” in the direction of lumbar extension results in a successful lift, while “arching” in the direction of lumbar flexion will likely have drastic consequences, so a good personal trainer doesn’t leave the client’s interpretation up to chance.
Couldn't have put it any better myself!
It can be sooo tempting, as a coach who wants to see things done correctly, to shout corrections during someone's lift if you see something out of whack. Just be sure that it's the right time and place. Sometimes you need to keep your mouth shut and wait until after the set to go over things with them.
*Quasi-distance clients refer to the "SAPTers" that train with us 1-4x/month in-house, and perform the other sessions in their program outside of SAPT. This works quite well for those that travel frequently throughout the week (such as Rob from the example above), and/or have geographical/scheduling/financial constraints that don't make it practical for them to train at SAPT multiple times each week.
How to Improve the Vertical Jump and Agility of a High School Volleyball Player: Initial Assessment+Screening
Given that volleyball players make up a striking percentage of our student-athletes, I'm inevitably faced (and rightfully so) with questions from parents and coaches regarding our approach to "assessing" them when they first walk in our doors. They are often surprised - sometimes skeptical or even borderline enraged - that we don't have them perform a vertical jump test, speed-agility test, and/or arm swing test on Day 1.
Furthermore, it appears that, for the most part, we're simply running them through a normal session during their first day, as opposed to putting them on a table for forty-five minutes, breaking out the goniometer, and measuring every single joint ROM.
What gives?
The Assessment
While, to the outside eye, it may look like we're just running the players through a normal strength session, here is what we're actually assessing as we take them through their "Day One" workout.
- Jumping Mechanics (both the technicalities of the movement along with strength+neural control) - Closed-chain Ankle Dorsiflexion - Gross hip stability, including upper gluteus maximus and gluteus medius function - Extensibility of the posterior aspect of the lower extremity, along with hip flexor strength - Valgus collapse (or lack thereof) in the knees when jumping and squatting, and bounding - Thoracic Spine range of motion (specifically, in extension and rotation) - Glenohumeral (shoulder) range of motion - Squat pattern (gives a lot of feedback regarding flexor length, latissimus length, core strength, along with ankle and hip range of motion) - Hip hinge patterning (the foundation for all athletic movement) - Lunge pattern (brings potential asymmetries to light, along with providing us another "angle" for assessing their glute strength/function) - Global movements and strength levels (gives us a much more *realistic* picture of how they'll move in a game-like scenario)
Will we do more "table assessments" as needed, too? Yes. But as you can see, there's a deep well of information one can draw up, simply from analyzing the athlete in the context of movement, and I didn't even list everything we look at!
This is a win-win for both the athlete and the coach. The athlete gets to have fun moving around on their first day (rather than spending the majority of their time on a table), while we as coaches are able to assess the athlete at the same time.
One final note on this front: every session is an assessment. I constantly find myself discussing our clients and their programs with my fellow coaches at SAPT, fine-tuning and tweaking what we do with them. This makes sense as the human body can be very amoeba-like; what was true on Day 1 may not be true on Day 30.
The Vertical Jump and Speed-Agility Test
Regarding these two sacred cows, here are the reasons we don't test them on Day 1 with the majority of our high school volleyball players.
1) We don't feel they are appropriate tests for initial assessment.
To put it simply, 99.99% of people who enter our facility can not jump or change direction correctly. As such, we do not feel it is an accurate - or, more importantly, safe - action to take with them on their first day. Nearly all of them possess the motor control of a ham sandwich, as they allow their ankles, knees, and hips to collapse like crazy upon jumping, bounding, and/or changing directions. Naturally, this will:
A) Negatively affect their jump height/running mechanics, and, more importantly B) Place their lower extremity (knees and passive restraints) at risk. To have them perform a maximal jump, multiple times in a row, or an agility test for that matter, is downright foolish in our eyes. While many of the girls that walk through our doors are certainly great athletes and possess many strong qualities, very few of them are unable to leap, bound, and change direction without their ankles and knees collapsing in.
This being the case, we find it irresponsible, on our end, to force them into change-of-direction tests or standing vertical tests. While we certainly can't "bulletproof" our training sessions to make them completely 100% incident free, we do our absolute best to make it at least as close to this as possible. We haven't had any athletes seriously hurt themselves under our watch, or have them undergo a non-contact injury to date (knock on wood!), and we'd like to keep this track record going.
The safety of the athletes under our watch is, without question, our top priority when we design and implement our training sessions. While we do understand that these girls may be asked, on numerous occasions, by their club/high school coaches to perform agility drills and various vertical tests, we don't wish to play ANY role in putting their health at risk until they're taught (with our aid) how to perform these drills safely. It may not be common to take (what some would call) a "conservative" approach like this, but then again the injury rates of adolescent and high school athletes have never been higher....so we're doing our best to lower that statistic.
We take a very progressive and methodical approach to teaching sound jumping mechanics; all the way from showing them how to swing their arms/move their hips to strengthening them via resistance training. Once the girls make headway in these areas (the time frame is different for each individual), then we can administer these tests.
2) To help our athletes mentally.
Given that the Vertec tends to be the "bane of existence" for volleyball athletes, we don't want to throw them under the thing on Day 1 at SAPT. Our aim is that it will help promote a more positive environment for them, and a haven if you will, from the usual demands of volleyball.
Does this mean we don't push them, and refuse to help them strive to perform better? Absolutely not. However, we've found that having them learn to conquer challenging drills other than the ones they typically perform outside the SAPT walls, gives them a break mentally, and, ultimately, improves their performance on the court.
We will certainly have them test their vertical as they get further along in training (and after we've helped them with sound+safe jumping mechanics), but it's not something we'd like them to experience the first day they are in with us. We've found it crazy how the simple removal of the Vertec, yet still having them jump and leap appropriately, makes a HUGE difference with the experience they personally receive from SAPT - and ultimately, their skills on the court improving.
3) Performing an closed-loop (predictable) test is an extremely inaccurate indicator of how the athlete will perform during their actual event (an unpredictable, "open-loop" environment).
Our end and ultimate goal is to improve their performance on the Volleyball court. Not to obsess over a particular test. Sometimes I feel we forget to keep the goal, well....the goal.
For example, currently, in High School Football, there is a player who is ranked Top 10 on the East Coast for the high school football combine testing battery (obviously a HUGE accomplishment). However, you know what's surprising? He doesn't even start for his own team! He can slam dunk the tests and knock thousands of other players out of the park when it comes to the combine tests, yet his on-the-field performance is lacking.
The sad truth is that many people place superfluous emphasis on the testing protocols, yet often fail to acknowledge the "intangible" skills the athlete possesses (spatial awareness, court/field awareness, adaptability, quick decision making, etc.) that, in the end are what will help an athlete make a college (or high school, or professional) team and actually get to play during the games.
4) Their "strength numbers" (quantifiable), along with their biomechanics/motor control (less hard to quantify in numbers/metrics) are the primary scale we use to monitor improvement.
Why? Rather than reinvent the wheel, here's a quote from strength coach Tony Gentilcore that I hope will elucidate this concept:
Maximal strength is the foundation for every other quality imaginable.
In terms of any plyometric and/or jump training – it comes down to strength. Simply put: you can’t have things like agility, power, endurance, strength endurance, and the like without first having a base of strength to pull those other qualities from. Strength is the basis of everything. Without it, you can perform all the ladder drills, sprinting drills, jumping drills, and agility training you want, but it’s not really going to mount to much until there is a strength foundation.
It would be akin to giving your 1994 Honda Civic (as an example) a sweet paint job, some spoilers, Mag tires, and a sound system that causes your ears to bleed in the hopes that, by doing so, it will win the Daytona 500. Unless you actually do something about increasing the horsepower of the car, you can add all the bells and whistles you want, but winning that Daytona 500 won't happen until the horsepower/engine of the car is improved.
And this is especially true with the high school athlete population.
'Nuff said there.
Arm Speed Tests
I'll be blunt: this is something that we don't measure, and it would pretty idiotic to do so.
Coach Sarah is also the strength coach for the Division I women's volleyball teams over at George Mason, and she doesn't even have them do an arm swing speed test. Frankly, it would be insanely dangerous to the shoulder joint (to put it mildly) to have them perform a maximal swing like that, without having anything (ex. a ball) to slow their arm down. The girls swing speed will improve as they strengthen the structural integrity of the shoulder girdle, maintain mobility in that region, and continue to practice sport-specific skill.
And that's a wrap.
Q & A: How to Begin A Running Program
Q: "My son, a lacrosse player, would like to try out for High School Cross Country this upcoming Fall. Any suggestions on how he should prepare? He currently has very little endurance so I thought it would be best for him to get started before the actual season begins."A: Great question. While my recommendations will vary depending on the individual (injury history, running history, other sports they may be playing currently, how much time they have to prepare, are they an elf, dwarf, wizard, or human, etc.), here are some general guidelines for the healthy, human, individual:
1. Start NOW
You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned it would be best for your child to start now.
Too frequently I see people wait until the last minute to begin a running program, and then, one week before the season (or a race), they have a moment of "Oh crap I haven't been running but practice starts 5 days from now, how about I go jump into a thousand mile run to prepare" and then they jet off down the neighborhood.
This concept may work when applied to a procrastinating college student who crams for exams at the last minute (not that I would know anything about that), but not so much with regards to running. Attempting to shove in last-minute, high volume, running sessions one week before the season as a sure-fire way to accrue an injury (not that I know anything about that, either...), which obviously doesn't help your son's chances of making the cross country team.
Slow and steady really does fit the bill with regards to running (and lifting) programs. Don't delay any longer in getting started, and start with a very short distance. Resist the urge to do too much, too soon.
2. Begin with "Rectangle Sprints" on Grass
This is my all-time favorite way to ease people, including myself, into running. It's easier on the joints compared to running on concrete, it's not terribly taxing, and it sets the stage quite nicely for future training.
How ToDo It
Find a soccer field (roughly 100-110yds long), and "sprint" the straights, then walk the sides. The sprints should NOT be a maximal effort run, but around 85% top speed while focusing on good technique and steady breathing. After you walk the endline, you'll then run down the other sideline. Walk the endline, and.....congratulations, you've just discovered why these are called rectangle sprints.
If, upon walking the endline and arriving at the next corner, you find that your heart rate is still jacked up through the roof, take some time to let it slow down. Ideally it will be back to 140bpm before you initiate the next sprint.
Frequency: 2-3x/week
Repetitions: 4-12. Begin by performing no more than four total rectangles, which would be eight total sprints (not kidding, that's all you need for Day 1). Increase the total rectangles by one each session, capping it out at twelve.
3. Next, Add Hill Sprints
Hill sprinting has to be my favorite form of conditioning. Super easy on the joints, challenging, and won't leave you feeling too banged up.
You can typically find a good hill near a lake, reservoir, or school. Google Maps is your buddy in this department. Try your best to find a GRASS hill, and one that is relatively steep. Don't worry if it's a super long hill; you can always start partway up it if the hill is crazy long (you don't want the sprint to last longer than twelve seconds).
I actually wrote out my guidelines for hill sprinting HERE, so click the link for the "How To."
Begin these roughly 1-2 weeks after initiating the rectangle sprints, and start with a frequency of 1x/week, never exceeding 2x/week.
Also, of note: Just because hill sprints are easy on the joints and don't tend to affect recovery as much as other "cardio" modalities, they are downright brutal, and not for the faint of heart.
4. Begin Steady State Running, Following the Rule of 20%
Finally, add steady state running. There are so many strategies one can use here, but to keep it simple, start off with a 20-30 minute run. This can be done 3-5x/week, starting on the low end and carefully monitoring recovery.
The 20% rule is a MUST when it comes to designing and implementing conditioning programs.
Never increase the total time, or distance, by more than 20% each session. So, for example, if you run for 30 minutes on Day 1, don't run for more than 36 minutes on Day 2. Or, if you perform 750 total yards of shuttle runs on Day X, don't do more than 900 total yards of shuttles on Day "X+1." (How bout that algebra, hmmm?)
This will allow you to improve quite a bit while minimizing the risk of injury.
Closing Thoughts
- What about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)? This is a topic for an entire other post, but in the meantime, don't worry about it. HIIT certainly has its place, but, for now, stick to the three modalities listed above.
- Once you move into your steady state work, feel free take a break on the days you feel particularly "beat up" and do some rectangle sprints instead. Personally, I love them for "in-between" days and often find that they invigorate me for my subsequent sessions compared to taking the day off completely.
- You can still supplement your steady state running with hill sprints 1x/week to give the joints a break (in fact, I recommend this).
- Take at least two days off a week from running, during which you can......see the next point.
- Be sure you're involved in a quality resistance training program. Amongst the running world, this this has to be one the most underappreciated components of a quality running program.
Sports Are Healthy Right? by Tadashi Updegrove
Continuing from my last post about the do’s and don’ts of an intern, SAPT received someone who exemplified pretty much exactly what I felt a good intern should be. For the past semester Tadashi has made an impact on SAPT through his knowledge, coaching, and ability to learn and apply. In his brief time here he became a colleague and a good friend. Unfortunately, his time at SAPT has come to an end and he has decided to take his talents to South Beach and by South Beach I mean College Park, Maryland to pursue an internship with the S & C department. With that said, here is Tadashi’s final task for completing his time at SAPT.... As a Kinesiology major, I was required to enroll in a “Senior Seminar” class this past semester, where we basically got in a big group and discussed health. Most discussions were centered around the importance of health, how we can inspire others to be healthy, and the future of health in the United States and the world. As many of my fellow classmates declared their own personal mission statements to become soldiers in the war against obesity, or how to combat the big tobacco companies, I sat quietly in the corner, hoping I didn’t get called on. Then I got called on:
“Tadashi, why are you so interested in health?”
After stumbling over my words I finally managed to utter something like “err… I, um... I’m not.” I went on to explain that health was not my primary interest. What I was interested in was sports and sports performance. I wanted to understand how the human body adapts so I could understand how to manipulate the applied stimuli to make someone stronger, jump higher, hit harder, and pick up heavier things.
Then I was approached with a follow up question:
“Well, sports are healthy right?”
I don’t know how I feel about that one. Sure being physically active and exercising is healthy, but after looking through countless research articles it’s hard to ignore the high percentages of participant injury in sports. Competitive lifting, both powerlifting and weightlifting, ranks at the low end of participant injury with something between 40%-50% (Yup, ½ of participants getting injured apparently is low compared to other sports). The NFL is under scrutiny right now because of the concussion rates and the violent nature of the game. I know the NFL is easy to hate on when discussing health and safety because… well it’s football, and the game involves Hulk-Smashing people against their will.
But football players aren’t the only ones getting hurt. Even the concussion rates in girls’ lacrosse are high enough to raise concerns about helmet requirements. Take a look at ACL injuries and you’ll find that the overwhelming majority of ACL tears occur because of non-contact situations. ACLs tend to rupture during a sprint, a jump landing, decelerating, or change-of-direction task. Athletes in sports that demand a high volume of these tasks are placed at a higher risk of injury. Think soccer, volleyball, basketball, etc.
During my experience working with the SAPT coaches and athletes, I began to realize more and more that training for performance is training for health. Learning to squat with the knees out and the hips back makes you more of a beast because you get more recruitment of the glutes and your legs are placed in a structurally ideal position to produce force into the ground. This also happens to be the healthiest position for your knee joint by reducing the load to the medial compartment. Bracing the midsection during a lift will increase performance because of an improved transfer of force between the upper and lower body. This ability to create a rigid torso also happens to be the best way to keep your spine from folding in half under load. Similar performance and health benefits can be said about keeping the scapulae retracted during rows or tucking the elbows during a pushup.
I played lacrosse and ran track in high school, and now compete in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/submission grappling, and like many athletes in other sports, have come to understand that injuries are just part of the game. Most athletes can expect to get banged up here and there. Sometimes, unfortunately, they’ll get hit with a more serious injury that takes them out for a length of time that really puts their patience (and sanity) to the test. For me it was a back injury that occurred during a grappling session which required surgery last September. Looking back it’s easy to say I should have done more soft tissue work, anterior core exercises, mobility drills, and gotten more rest but… hindsight’s always 20/20. What is it going to take for me to get healthy? Strengthening the right muscles, mobilizing the right joints, and training the neuromuscular system appropriately. Sounds eerily like training for performance...
I realize now that I am interested in health (specifically musculoskeletal health), because it goes hand in hand in optimizing athletic performance, but I still have to disagree with a blanket statement like “sports are healthy.”
Even a sport like distance running boasts a participant injury rate upwards of 70%! The next time you watch a baseball or softball game watch the pitcher’s shoulder as he/she pitches. Try and convince me that they throw this way to improve their health.
However, despite the risk of injury there are many reasons why I believe sports are awesome, and most of these reasons are not necessarily health related. Growing up my Dad always told me that I would learn more from playing sports than I would learn in the classroom, and I’m pretty sure he was right (but I went to class too…). I learned what it meant to work hard towards a goal, work with others, and make sacrifices for the benefit of the team. Not to mention it’s FUN, and I’ve had some of my most memorable moments on a lacrosse field or a grappling mat.
Runners and Resistance Training
It's unfortunate, really, that distance runners - and endurance athletes, in general – could benefit more from a solid strength training program than nearly any other population. I say this is unfortunate because the majority of distance runners tend to be more adamantly opposed to strength training than almost any other group of people I’ve witnessed. I’ve heard it all:
- “But I’ll get slower if work out in the weight room”
- “I’ll become ‘big and bulky’ if I lift weights!”
- “Strength training will interfere with my running” (yes, it certainly could, but only if you don’t understand how to design the program appropriately)
- “Won’t I gain body fat if I cut back on running and replace it with lifting?”
- “Well, I get all the ‘strength training’ I need for my lower body through running!”
- “I don’t have time to strength train”
I can see why these concerns may arise in a distance runner, especially if he or she has never experienced the value of a professional designing his or her strength training program (p.s. most of those programs you read in the magazines don’t count). However these qualms with strength training tend to be grounded upon emotion, misconceptions, a bad experience, and/or erroneous propaganda as opposed to reason and approaching the topic with no presuppositions.Now, I can’t necessarily blame them, as there are many factors outside their control constructing their belief of the relationship between resistance training and running. However, understand that as a performance enhancement specialist, I write this series in an effort to help the endurance community – not deride them.
Why is it accepted - rather than vehemently challenged - that the majority of runners will experience an injury in the next year?
Christopher McDougall, the author of Born to Run, cites multiple statistics claiming over 66% of runners will suffer a serious injury in a given YEAR. Yet this is just shrugged off by the endurance community as the norm??! Stress fractures, IT Band syndrome, plantar fasciitis, patellofemoral knee pain, low back pain, and tendonitis plague the bodies of distance runners and yet this seen as “the consequence of the sport??”
I used to work as a Physical Therapist Aid, and an astonishing percentage of non-surgical patients in therapy were runners! And you know what the advice of the physical therapist was (on top of rest, ice, and soft tissue work)?
STRENGTH TRAINING.
Now, I’m aware that when you hear the words “strength training” the first image that comes to mind is a bunch of college boys bench pressing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and incessantly bicep curling away in front of the mirror. I can’t blame you.
But understand that a good training plan incorporates movement preparation, corrective exercise, dynamic flexibility, resistance training, core work, cardiovascular work, and recovery/regeneration. This can be accomplished in as little as two, 75-minute sessions a week (even less if you’re really pressed for time).
Most distance runners tend to approach their training by punching the accelerator while the emergency brake is on.
As Alwyn Cosgrove says:
“All of us in the fitness industry, trainers and trainees alike, have been brainwashed into thinking that the only way to improve results is to push harder. If you aren’t making gains, it’s because you aren’t training hard enough or often enough…The answer to every problem is to punch down harder on the accelerator.
But think of a car with the parking brake on. If you push harder on the gas pedal, you’ll only run out of fuel quicker, right? But if you take off the brake, the car will go farther and faster, and probably use less fuel in the process."
With runners, this couldn't be more true. Most runners assume that the answer to faster times, enhancing cardiovascular capacity, and improving running economy is to run more, more, and some more.
Need to improve my 5k, 10k, or marathon time? Add more miles each week!
How do I lose that extra five pounds to make me faster? Increase my weekly running frequency!
This will keep going. More miles. More days per week. Just continuing to press down on that accelerator while your body is trying to tell you that there is a parking brake lifted and you need to release the brakes before you continue to burn fuel and eventually sustain an injury. Maybe not even accrue an injury. Maybe just continue to go about your training in a sub-par manner, requiring your body to do more work than is actually necessary to achieve your goals.
As Mike Boyle says:
"In endurance training, the emphasis is usually high on the quantity side and low on the quality side. This is the main mistake of endurance athletes in training."
Well, what are the "parking breaks" in endurance athletes, you ask? The list includes, but is not limited to:
- Stiff/immobile ankles. Poor ankle mobility and ROM is strongly correlated with ankle sprains, tendonitis, and pain/deficiencies further up the kinetic chain (think knees and hips). Everything starts from the ground up, so don't ignore this area.
- Unstable knees and hips. Honestly, I want to cringe when I drive by people jogging on the side of the road. Knees and feet flailing about since they don't have the hip stabilizers required to keep everything in line and move proficiently. Knees landing way out of alignment with their feet. It's terrible. Not because they look goofy, but because I wonder how long it will be before they need to schedule a visit with the physical therapist.
- Weak/dormant Glutes. I'm sad to say we live in a society plagued with "gluteal amnesia." Steady state running does absolutely nothing to strengthen the glutes, which is a death sentence to running efficiency, low back health, proper knee tracking, and overall structural enhancement (in more ways than one :) ).
- Terrible thoracic mobility. Think range of motion about your spine in the upper back region. Have problems with the low back, shoulder joint or neck? Look at what's going on at the thoracic spine.
- Poor Running Form. Every mile you run requires roughly 1,500 plyometric repetitions with forces of 2-4 times bodyweight. Better make sure each of those reps is done correctly.
The list goes on, but my point is you have to release the breaks. And you can't release them by just tacking on those miles to your training weeks.
You need a solid resistance training program. The tricky part is ensuring that the program addresses your needs and, does so with the appropriate frequency, intensity, and volume so that it
enhances
your body as a running machine as opposed to hindering your training sessions. Unfortunately the professionals that know how to do this are few and far between.
I've been there.
I want to make sure you're aware that
I have personally competed in endurance races in the past
. So I'm not just preaching at runners from a completely removed standpoint. My training weeks frequently entailed NO MORE than 2-3 running sessions a week. How did I do this? I released the breaks through appropriate strength training, followed the 80-20 rule, and ran
smart
, not hard.
I can also tell you that every runner that has trained with us at SAPT has seen a DROP in their running times, along with decreased (sometimes eliminated) pain associated with all the "nagging injuries" they had when they first walked in our doors. Something is working.
To any endurance athletes in the crowd that need that extra boost to their training, click
to get started, whether it be in our training facility, or, should you live across the country, through our distance coaching program!
