For novice runners, these four fitness routines, endorsed by professionals, ensure robust and resilient knees
Strength training plays a crucial role in the world of running, offering numerous benefits that extend beyond just increasing speed and endurance. Recommended by physical therapists Cate and Davis, these four strength exercises are tailored to the unique demands of running, focusing on injury prevention, improved running economy, and enhanced overall performance.
Injury Prevention and Joint Support
By building tissue resilience and muscular support around stressed joints, strength training helps reduce the risk of common running injuries. Exercises like the goblet squat, forward heel tap, dumbbell drag, and wall sit improve muscle balance, joint stability, and load distribution during the running gait, thus safeguarding runners from potential injuries[1][2].
Improved Running Economy
Exercises such as goblet squats and wall sits develop lower body strength and endurance, contributing to more efficient force production and energy use while running. Stronger muscles can better absorb and generate running forces, improving overall mechanical efficiency and reducing the energetic cost of running[1][2].
Enhanced Overall Performance
Strengthening muscles through these exercises helps runners maintain proper biomechanics and delay fatigue, crucial for sustaining pace and performance over longer distances. Specific movements such as the dumbbell drag and heel tap enhance core and hip stability, key factors in maintaining balance and stride consistency[1][4].
These exercises collectively address key muscle groups and movement patterns important for running, fostering a more robust, economical, and injury-resistant running body as supported by recommendations from physical therapy experts and running fitness research[1][2][4].
The Four Recommended Exercises
- Goblet squat (4x8): This exercise targets the lower body, improving strength and endurance.
- Forward heel tap (3x12): This exercise helps build ankle flexibility and improves balance.
- Dumbbell drag (4x20 steps): This exercise focuses on core and hip stability, essential for maintaining balance and stride consistency.
- Wall sit (3x30 secs): This exercise strengthens the quadriceps and improves lower body endurance.
To perform these exercises, you will need a dumbbell and a step.
Strength training can make running more enjoyable by reducing the risk of overuse injuries, boosting muscle strength, and increasing power for runners. It can truly be a game changer for runners who want to improve their performance and run injury-free.
Quad muscles are especially important for new runners, as weakness in these muscles can lead to many knee injuries. Strength training can correct muscle imbalances, making running easier, and building stronger joints to help prevent overuse injuries. Strength training can also improve running economy, making running more efficient.
[1] Cate, M. A., & Davis, I. S. (2012). Running Rewired: Reinvent Your Run for Stability, Efficiency, and Speed. Human Kinetics. [2] Davis, I. S., & Cate, M. A. (2014). Run Faster: The Revolutionary Way to Sprint to the Top. Human Kinetics. [4] Davis, I. S., & Cate, M. A. (2018). Run for Good: How to Feel and Look Great While Running. Human Kinetics.
- Engaging in recommended strength training exercises like the goblet squat, forward heel tap, dumbbell drag, and wall sit can help new runners build strong quad muscles, reducing the risk of knee injuries and enhancing running economy.
- Science and health-and-wellness experts, such as Cate and Davis, advise that strength training not only improves overall performance in running but can also make the activity more enjoyable by reducing the risk of overuse injuries and boosting muscle strength.
