Weight Training

my boys could swim

How many of our runners here are regular weight trainers?

Has it helped your running?

I am trying to solve the mystery of my failure at the marathon distance and came across an article in which a runner who had been slowing down for a few years, started weight training and was able to actually make some serious headway in their marathon times.

Here is the link to that article:
http://www.runnersworld.com/home/0,1300,1-78-81-576,00.html

Questions to consider:
How often (how many days a week?)
What kind of program ?
How long a session?

I am all for trying to do something different to help my running, but I am not going to be able to lift weights for an hour a day, 4 days a week. I am looking for a plan that will help me as quickly and easily as possible.

Member

Coach, I too am going to be starting a wieght lifting regime soon. I was thinking about lifting twice a week. for maybe an hour a time. I posted something similar here a few weeks ago. Good luck!

Member

I lift in the off season, starting January and follow this program: http://www.trinewbies.com/WeightHome.htm

Member

3 times a week...1 hour sessions of arm curls, bench presses and lat pulldowns...

Coach, I've definitely noticed the improvement in my running when I routinely lift weights...

joel

Excelent

2-3 times a week...45 minutes session of:

Bench Press
Leg Extensions
Shoulder Shrugs
Leg Curls
Dumbell Flies
Preacher Curl
Vertical Knee Raises

Warm up is 40-50 crunches

Definite improvement, would recommend. Might be good to do over the winter.

Member

Coachie-coach, weight training is a definite plus for helping with all aerobic activities, including running. Make sure that with whatever plan you choose, you follow a few simple rules:
1. Lift for muscular strength and endurance, not bulk. Lower weights and higher reps. I normally recommend to my clients 2 sets of 15 reps, with the weight set so that the last few reps are difficult.
2. Do a total body routine, working the major muscle groups. And if lifting a total body routine at one time, work the larger muscle groups first before fatiguing the smaller muscle groups.
An example would be the following order: leg press (glutes), leg extension (quads), leg curls (hamstrings), lat pull down (lats), seated row (rhomboids), chest press (pecs), chest flies (pecs), shoulder press (delts and traps), bicep curls and triceps extensions.
If you do the above routine at 2 sets of 15 reps, it will take you about an hour.
3. The ACSM recommends lifting twice a week for fitness purposes. So a weight training routine of either twice or 3 times a week would be beneficial for your running program.
4. Free weights or machines? It depends on your preference, time and most importantly, goals. You can get a great overall body workout of the major muscle groups on machines. Just as long as you lift properly and pay close attention to form. If you want to incorporate the secondary muscles, or if you're interested in building muscle bulk, or if you've got a lot of time to change plates around, then hit the free weights.

my boys could swim

Thank you flarunner! You are awesome. Very Happy

I know that weights are good, I have my CC team on a lifting program too, I just needed a little help with the how much and how often with long distance running schedule. You know my CC kids don't ever race more than 3.1 miles, so their needs are a little different.

Newbie

Had to take 4 weeks off of running due to injury so got in the gym 3 times a week for weights (and on other days for elliptical trainer or bike). I'm back to running again for three weeks now and feel a little stronger. I'd been doing weight training before but the emphasis over that 4 weeks seemed to make a difference. I sort of follow the plan below, with ab work between the lower and upper body exercises. I use a mixture of machines and free weights and sometimes change it up to keep things interesting or when someone else has my next spot.

Weight Training

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