quote:<HR>Originally posted by runninirish:
how does pushing pieces of iron 10 to 15 times help you "run" faster? I have never found a study that has concluded that this is true? I have never found this to be true for myself either...
Now I DO lift weights but running is all I have ever needed for my legs...
I do not have a PhD in running physiology, but I have NEVER read that lifting weights is beneficial to making you a faster runner...if you have some evidence/studies/articles, I would love to read them...otherwise, your just as big as a bone-head as me...but I did stay in a Holiday Inn...so I've got that going for me-which is nice.
<HR>
Actually their are studies supporting both ends of the ever going debate. Weather or not weight lifting makes you faster from a studied standpoint is an answer that will remain, well, unanswered. Remember you are the one who should post a study to back your comment. After all you are the one stating your opinion as fact not me.
from my experience people have mixed results when it comes to weight lifting and it needs to be experiemented with. I for one have been experiementing with weight for over 3 years now. i have tried everything from light weights high reps of funtional training, tried doing hills only, tried not lifting at all, tried lifting big and heavy for strength gains. I have tried and tested it all. Wellnot really, I'm still going.
My conclusion is that weight training need be very individule.What works for me may burn you right out. For me weight training works and for these 3 important factors-
1)injury prevention- Yep without weight training I form muscle imbalances and always wind up injured. Training for strength and stability both my muscles and non muscles used for running works. the strenght and muscle I gain take the pressure of my joints and keep my stable. Weak muscles and poor balance cause injury. So inturn I can't be consistant enough to get fast anyway.
2) Strength- I am a 120lb 5'7" male with very little natural strength. Before weights I struggled to hold form and struggled to make it up hills.
3)lactait tolerance- Yep I lift for strenght, power and endurance all periodised closly with my running. When you can handle jump squating 100 lbs for 2 mins it makes even the steepiest hills seem like a walk in the park(you would have to try it). Same thing goes if you train to do explosive knee lifts. Lets say using a progression overload stimulas, you can build up to where you can drive 200 lbs for 20 reps using you hips in a running style. Do that enough and take away the weight and now running just got that much easier.
4)Balance- I never see a use in being unbalanced. All the running I do I'm getting plenty aerobic and cardiac work in. Weight training increase general fitness and lowers body fat.
5)Common sense- You can pull all the science, studies you want but for the life of me my common sense tells me that their is no way a weak underdeveloped muscle is going to out perform a strong conditioned one. It's just not going to happen.
Among the many forms of weight and strength training I did a can group what I tried and the end results for you.
1. Low weight high reps body weight etc both funtional and non functional.- I gained very little strength(but some using this method). While I was able to gian fine core stability this way, still the strength gains weren't big so i noticed no difference in running.
2. Hill running- I tried exclusively running on hills. Steep hills, slow, sprints etc..- This helped my running form and did somewhat improve running a little(perhaps). The problem with this for me is I adapted to running even the steepest hills and at that point could no longer make strength giains. Hills are great but they lack the most important element of all-progressive overload.
3.Heavy weight, low reps both functional and non- While this method reeped major strength gains it does break down the muscles pretty good leaving my running workouts hard to complete. Also made me tight and inflexible.
Finally what I do now is sorta a combination. During a basic period of running when most of the running is aerobic I will lift for strength and hypertrophy(5-10 rep range, heavy weight). I use general exercises as well as running specific. This is the best time to make strength gains. Since the running is pretty easy it doesn't interfere with the recovery involved from the weight sessions. Later I'll do more power stuff. Explosive lifts and dynamic lifts. Only a few weeks of this and my 200 meter time trail improves greatly. As the running gets more intense and more muscle is needed in my running workouts I will be doing mainly all running specific exercises with lighter weights for high reps. I will train the muscles for endurance and stamina. You can train your muscles to handle great workloads for long periods of time just like in running. Use a greater resistance than that used in running and when you take away the reststance the end result is stamina.
How did I notice a difference in my running? Aside from my 200 meter time trail improving I notice a direct realation btw the weight training and my ability to endure muscle fatigue late in a race. In fact so much that I feel better as my faster twitch start to dominate later in the race. Again if your used to jump squating 100 lbs for 20 reps enduring that burning feeling in a race isn't very hard. Instead of slowing down and losing form I feel the need to explode just like I am trained to do.
The last race I did was a 5 mile race. The last half mile of the race was a steep hill. I went from 20 something place all the way to 10'th place during this last hill and that was also my fastest mile. I could actually feel how it related to weught training. As I hit the hill I had a desire to blast the hill almost like I was looking for that "burn". I noticed my posture with a perfect stright back that i developed from doing dead lifts. from practicing good posture when weight training it carries over onto the course pretty well.
What gets me is when people say that they don't lift for legs only upper body. Thats ridiculas! Running alone will not increase strength(much)in your leg muscles. By training just the upperbody you are setting yourself up pretty good for an unblance in your frame.
So can I post hard data, studies, science? I gave up trying understand all of that and decided to just get to know myself and experiment. Thats about all I can post about. I won't say it's fact that weight training helps(like you did)but for myself it is.
To the OP I highly recommend thos book-
http://www.amazon.com/Explosive-Running-Science-Kinesiology-Performance/dp/0809298996/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-2710504-7410002?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186893430&sr=8-1[/URL" target="_blank">
trophy
