

As for how to schedule it? Consider how intense your runs are on each day when determining how to place strength training around them.

Incorporate lifting into your training schedule once or twice a week. Shorter rest periods, which keep your heart rate up, will affect your ability to heft those heavy loads. You should be some what struggling,’ he says.Īfter each set, rest for two to three minutes to fully recover. If an easy jog is a five on the exertion scale, and 10 is an all-out sprint, you want to be lifting at an eight or nine – like a fast run, but not quite a sprint. Or try this trick from Schoenfeld: think of the load as a type of run. By month two or three, you should be performing fewer reps and more sets, with heavier weights. You can increase the weight every two weeks, similar to the way you increase your running mileage in a training plan. When the last few reps of the third set feel really tough, start with that weight.See how you feel and slowly add more weight from there.


‘Then you can add on weight, periodising appropriately, until you eventually get into power-based moves or Olympic lifts, where the reps come down and sets increase to something like two to five reps for four or five sets.’ ‘At the beginning, focus on three sets of 10 reps, which is a fairly basic set and rep scheme, building up movement capacity and getting more efficient with using moderate weight,’ he says. ‘Volume builds muscle, whereas strength is maximised by heavy loads.’Ī strength-training programme should be periodised like running, explains Fitzgerald. ‘Runners should be lifting heavy,’ says Brad Schoenfeld a strength and conditioning specialist and associate professor of exercise science at Lehman College in New York, US. Choose your weights and reps wisely if you want to get stronger but not necessarily bigger. Train for strength, not gainsĪs a runner, train for strength and power, not to bulk up with massive muscles. So if picking up a barbell or dumbbells is a big stretch for you, ditching the weights and adding body-weight exercises instead can still build strength while you master proper form. Bridges and planks are excellent exercises – they target areas where weaknesses could lead to increased risk of injury, such as the glutes, hips and core. ‘The goal is to get used to controlling your weight through multiple planes and increasing the level of strength proficiency and body awareness, which will lead to increased mobility, balance and speed,’ says Holder.ĭon’t forget that your own body serves as weight.
BEGINNERS BLUEPRINT TO DIET AND TRAINING FULL
Fitzgerald recommends focusing on relatively heavy weights for a moderate number of repetitions, with full recovery.įocus on working your entire body you’ll get the most bang for your buck if you emphasise mostly compound exercises – those that involve multiple joints and muscle groups, such as lunges, squats, rows or dead lifts –rather than isolation exercises, which involve just one joint and one major muscle group, such as a biceps curl or hamstring curl. Instead, they should focus on gaining strength and power. Many runners turn their session into a metabolic workout by including too much cardio – think CrossFit workouts or circuit-based fitness classes, says Fitzgerald. A post shared by Joe Holder Lay the groundworkįocus on lifting, not on raising your heart rate.
