How Runners Can GET STRONG (Without a Gym)

did you know that when i first started running i used to think that runners didn't have to do any strength training and i think it was this mindset this idea that i had because hey after all we runners are using our legs all the time are we getting enough exercise for our legs well what i realized is that that's not really the proper way to think about this topic and i think it was one of the things that led me down the road of getting a lot of injuries later on in my running career because you can certainly you know kind of ignore strength training for a while but sooner or later it will catch up to you and it certainly did for me you know i've had almost every running injury that you could potentially imagine plantar fasciitis it band syndrome achilles tendinopathy all kinds of si joint problems muscle strains all the all the big ones and it was only when i started taking strength training seriously that my running really became a lot more consistent i was able to run more mileage i was able to go longer periods of time without any injuries and frankly just have more fun because after all it's awful to be injured and nobody wants to stay on the sidelines and watch all their fitness go down the drain they want to be in it you guys want to be running of course and so i also recognize that not everyone can get into a gym some of us maybe can't get into a gym some of us don't have the opportunities nearby and so in this video what i want to talk about are some ways that you can work on getting strong without the gym now let me preface this with a big caveat there is no substitute for strength training and by this point all of my regular viewers will know that i don't consider strength training to be cross training for runners in fact i consider it just part of the normal training process that runners have to go through if they're interested in reaching their potential so with that said if you still can't do any strength training there are some things that you can do that will help you get stronger that will help you get some of the benefits of strength training without access to a gym so let's get started so the first thing that we can do to work on building strength outside of the gym is to simply run a lot of mileage high volume training will give you many of the same training adaptations that strength training in the gym will but the caveat here is that it takes a long time and you certainly have to be super patient you certainly have to build that mileage and that volume very gradually because if you don't you're going to get injured this is why it's a great idea to strength train while you're building that mileage so that you can get all those benefits of injury prevention while you're doing something risky like building your mileage but if you're doing it patiently if you're doing it consistently gradually and you're still feeling good most of that mileage is is that an easy effort then you're gonna do a great job of building a lot of strength and you can see this in the runners who are running mega mileage you know the pro runners who are running 100 110 120 miles a week now of course they're doing strength training but the mileage makes them extraordinarily strong too so if you're someone who you know maybe is running 10 miles a week 20 miles a week or even 30 miles a week one of your big goals should be to get higher mileage levels and more importantly to make those mileage levels comfortable you do that by running high mileage consistently over time you do it by getting there gradually you do that by not taking long periods of time off when you don't have to so at the end of a season maybe you run your big goal race then it's a good it's a good idea to maybe take four to ten days off depending on how fatigued you are but then after that we get right back into it have a couple easy weeks then let's get your mileage back up to those normal levels that you have been building to in the previous cycle this ongoing practice of running high mileage for you whatever that may mean it might mean 40 miles a week it might mean 50 it might mean 60 or it might mean a lot more but whatever it is let's continue to work on building our mileage because it's going to make you more and more resilient to injuries as long as you're doing it safely and gradually now the other thing that we can do to help build strength outside of the gym outside of doing any kind of strength training is to work on getting fast now if you think about it what happens when you run really fast well your body recruits a lot of muscle fibers to do the job now those muscle fibers help impart a lot of force against the ground and they help absorb all that force and they propel you forward now those really strong muscle contractions are exactly that they're really strong muscle contractions and if you're someone who is practicing running fast very regularly maybe you're doing hill sprints maybe you're doing strides you're doing a weekly workout that includes some running much faster than your easy pace you know maybe even as fast as 5k or mile race pace then these speeds when done consistently over time are really going to help you recruit more of those muscle fibers they're going to help you build the the strength in those muscles to run fast it may be one of the most running specific ways possible through actual running now the caveat here is that just like with building your mileage you can't just start running a fast workout and strides and doing all these things just this week if you've never done any of them before it always has to be a very gradual process and one in which you are respecting the limits of your body's ability to adapt your body doesn't just change overnight you've got to give it weeks and months and sometimes years to get those beneficial adaptations that you're looking for so if you're totally new to running if you've never done any formal workouts before let's start with two sessions of strides twice a week so you'll just do strides twice a week a series of accelerations that have you build to about 95 98 of your maximum speed you only hold that for about two seconds and then you coast to a stop strides shouldn't be considered difficult they're just a fun way of practicing running fast without any performance expectations and then as you get more advanced you can start building in faster workouts you can start building in fart licks and some track workouts as well and that speed that gradual work on getting faster and faster is really going to help you recruit more fibers and that builds a lot of strength our third strategy for building strength is to run a lot of hills now the reason why i love hills is because they are so incredibly versatile you can do almost an unlimited number of hill workouts because it really just depends on how you're structuring those workouts but i want to give you a couple examples that i think are really going to help you build speed over the long term so number one we can do a classic hill workout you know something like six repetitions of a minute up a somewhat steep hill at your 5k effort this is a very classic hill workout it's somewhat basic but it's fundamental it'll get the job done other hill workouts can be longer repetitions where maybe you're climbing for two or three minutes at a time maybe some other types of hill workouts can be hill sprints now i mentioned this earlier i don't technically consider hill sprints to be a formal workout they're more like strides kind of like a drill that you would do after an easy run and that's when you should schedule hill sprints after an easy run now other types of hill workouts can be what i like to call roller coaster runs these are some of my favorite runs they're fun it's not actually a hill workout a roller coaster run is simply when you go out for a run maybe it's your long run maybe it's a base run a moderate distance and you'll run that run on the hilliest terrain that you can find now it's still done at your normal easy effort although the pace might be more variable because you're going up and down a lot of hills but this is a great almost like a base training hill workout it's great because it really helps you get comfortable on hills it helps you learn to navigate all kinds of different hills long steep hills short hills and all the downhills as well and that really helps as you get into the more advanced workouts like if you started doing 30 or 45 second hill repetitions at maybe a mile or a 3k race effort that's very difficult but it's also a wonderful way of building strength because if we think about it what do these pill workouts do to us well much like a speed workout they force us to recruit a lot of muscle fibers and especially so because we're working against gravity we are pulling our body up that hill against gravity and to do so we need to recruit more of those muscle fibers just like if you were doing a heavy squat you have to work harder to lift that extra weight same thing goes with your body up a steep hill so one more time let me just reiterate that this video is not supposed to encourage you not to do any strength training you i think have to do some strength training if you really want to stay healthy and if you want to really reach your potential as a runner but for those runners who maybe can't get into a weight room for a couple weeks or a few months at a time maybe you're traveling maybe your you know your gym membership lapsed or maybe you're not vaccinated yet and you only feel comfortable getting into the weight room if you are then these are some strategies that can really help you maintain your strength and build some extra strength and i'm going to put some resources underneath this video to help you learn more about this topic everything from hill workouts to strides to our free strength course it's all going to be underneath there so don't just watch this video for entertainment let's continue that education process and learn more about the sport because as i like to say knowledge is a competitive advantage you

Channel: StrengthRunning

Views: 18,303

Rating: 4.9764361 out of 5

Keywords: running, marathon, cross country running, track & field, 10k, 5k, half marathon, injury prevention, strength exercises, strength training for runners, barefoot running, running tips, run culture, strength for runners, strength for running, how to get stronger, weightlifting for runners

Id: OHnlW1apeL8

Length: 10min 44sec (644 seconds)

Published: Wed May 26 2021