The 5 most important cross-training workouts that all runners need

The 5 most important cross-training workouts that all runners need

cross training-you know that it is essential if you aim to increase your mileage, but the details can be a little blurry. So here is your goal: "You want to build muscle that you would normally use while running and increase your aerobic capacity," says Harry Pino, Ph.D., a training physiologist at the Sports performance center of the NYU Langone. "In the end, this will make you faster and more efficient on the street or on trails." The mistake that many runners make is cross-training without a clear direction, so spend time in the gym without making progress, he says. We get to the point and have found the most important workouts that help you stay longer and get stronger.

strength training

"Long -distance runners get used to acting only certain muscles when running so that they do not use the full potential of all their muscles together," says Kyle Barnes, Ph.D., a training physiologist at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. "Resistance training forces you to move up or use more muscles." When runners complete two severe resistance training units per week for nine weeks and perform sentences with upper body exercises such as bench presses and lower body exercises such as split squats, they improve their 5 km time by 4.4 percent (this is 1 minute, 20 seconds after a 30-minute end time), Barnes' research found. And since runners tend to dominate the quadriceps, strength training is an opportunity to concentrate on the buttock muscles. "The gluteal muscles are the biggest muscle in the body, so they are actually one of the most important running muscles," says Barnes.

"If we can cause them to trigger and work properly, you will easily determine performance improvements." Movements such as squats and crusades are ideal for training their buttocks and knee tendons. Pino also recommends that not to contact devices in the gym, but to adhere to free weights. This allows you to activate more of your trunk muscles and challenge your balance. (Here is a strength training program especially for runners.)

Pilates

A strong core will help you avoid typical pitfalls (such as the too strong turn of your pelvis when walking) that affect your efficiency, says Pino. Here Pilates comes into play. "Pilates appeals to the entire core- not only the straight abdominal muscle, but the deeper muscles," says Julie Erickson, a certified Pilates and yoga teacher in Boston. Movements such as the double leg expansion and the hundreds are particularly well suited to challenge the deepest abdominal muscles. Some Pilates exercises also train the inside of the thighs, which can be weak in runners, says Erickson: "Your inner thigh muscles support the knee. So if you strengthen them, protect yourself from injuries and facilitate quick change of direction, as in rocky paths." Even taking a playground ball and squeezing it between your thighs while looking Netflix can help, she says. (For a similar effect, try this stick training for runners.)

Plyometric training

plyos or explosive strength training that includes jumps are the key to building speed, as a current study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed. When the researchers had a group of runners continued with their usual training, added resistance and plyometric exercises or added strength training, the runners in the Plyo group reduced their 3 km times (almost 2 miles)-by 2 percent after 12 weeks. "This is important for long -distance runners because it shows an improvement in their running economy," says study author Silvia Sedano Campo, Ph.D. This means that by increasing your maximum strength you can run faster through plyometric training without having to burn additional fuel, she says. Concentrate on horizontal jumps such as the long jump from the stand and jumping forward or jumping. "These are more effective to improve the running economy because they are directly related to the stride length," says Sedano Campo. Then follow each sentence of Plyos with a quick sprint to ensure that the strength improvements are transferred to a real movement.

Yoga

runners tend to look down frequently what their shoulders rounds up and closes the front of the body, but practicing yoga can open these problem areas, says Erickson. "If you improve your posture and train yourself to look ahead when running, your breast is expanded so that you can breathe better," she says. The increased oxygen intake to your muscles can in turn improve your performance. Warrior I and Warrior II, which are often carried out in most yoga courses, are great chest openers. And this tension that you feel in your knee tendons and hip flexors? Many asanas address these areas, but Erickson particularly likes the seated forward base and the crescent -shaped failure step. To pay additional attention to your Hammies. (Take a look at our 11 essential yoga poses for runners.)

Spinning

In order to increase their cardio capacity without a stressful stamping, highly intensive cycling is the best way, as studies in the European Journal of Sport Science show. Triathletes, which completed six high-intensity interval bicycle meetings (including five-minute sprints) over a period of three weeks, improved their 5 km term by up to two minutes and increased their VO2Max by about 7 percent. An increased VO2MAX means that you can train longer - important if you want to end a longer race like a marathon. "Endurance athletes can get stuck during training over long distances with a low intensity, but short, intensive burdens build up the anaerobic system, which is also required at endurance events," says study author Naroa Etxebria, Ph.D., A training physiologist at the University of Canberra in Australia. Working on your anaerobic system will help you prevent fatigue. And the advantage of the HIIT when cycling is that you relieve your joints when you hit the floor with two to three times the body weight, as is the case when sprinting.