Strength Training: Your Missing Mile

Load your muscles.

• Muscles need stress to adapt and grow to make a better you. We accomplish this through resistance training (weightlifting, body weight exercises or resistant training). The benefits go way beyond just appearance.

Load your bones.

• Just like muscles, bones love to be stressed. Weight bearing exercises are a needed stress stimulus to keep bone health strong (building bone mineral density and handling high impact movements). Also don't forget to go outside and get some rays. Vitamin D is needed to help the body absorb calcium effectively (those got milk commercials never told us that)!

Prevent injury.

Increase power.

That’s how you create a stronger, well rounded self.
It sounds complicated.
It seems complicated.

But it’s not.

Maybe you’re looking at things you see online and think ‘what the hell? I can’t possibly spend 1.5hrs 2-3 days a week doing that.”

Guess what….

You don’t have to!

Yes, as runners, we should strength train since we are landing on 2.5-3x our body weight on one leg, however, it doesn’t have to be complex. Functional movements for everyday life can be body weight or weighted focus. It all depends on what you’re searching for.

If you’re new, start with body weight. There shouldn’t be any shame if you take this avenue.
There also shouldn’t be any shame if you don’t do more than 15-20 minutes. It’s really okay!

We like to focus on single leg, lateral, and trunk strength, because these are things that help you stay upright when running (think roots, sidewalks, etc.). It’s also important to work the posterior chain (back of your body) just as much as the anterior chain (front of body) because they keep you powerful for those uphill movements and speed.

Don’t let strength training scare you — let it fuel you and give you something fun to add to your training. Start somewhere that feels right and see where it takes you.