We are proud to share our 10 week 'strength for running' sessions. Even though we are calling it 'strength for running' it is equally applicable to and useful for walking, or life in general!
Strength training has been shown to prevent injuries by strengthening muscles and tissues, increase pace through increased power and increase running economy through better co-ordination and the big bonus is you don't have to do as much as you think...
Over the course of 10 weeks we cover all aspects of training, starting with the RAMP warm up and then working through progressive balance, glute activation, main strength exercises applicable to sport, foam rolling and post exercise stretching. We also spend time on some 'capacity' exercises aimed at specific parts of the body which are prone to injury.
It would be advantageous to have bands and a foam roller for use during these sessions.
A downloadable plan for these sessions is below:
For these sessions, we first of all work through a RAMP warm up, something which we should all do before exercise, and if done correctly will also go some way towards some of your strengthening work.
A RAMP warm up will Raise the temperature, Activate the muscles, Mobilise the joints and finally 'Potentiate' the body for the exercise to come. As with any part of the program, warm ups can be progressed and we add in more complexity as we work through the sessions.
We then cover some simple bodyweight 'glute activation', some simple balance drills with the aim of once again creating stability through the core muscles and legs with the aim of reducing the chances of getting injured, we look in depth at a strength exercise which which is more of a full body strength exercise. These strength exercises once again give you the injury reduction benefits, but over time also help you increase your pace.
Finally we look at post-run stretches to increase flexibility and ready us for the next session! As you can see, we have a lot to get through but can't wait to get started!
A video introduction is below and scroll down for the weekly session videos: