Yes, of course what we like is to run feeling the asphalt, grass, earth or rock under our feet with the air hitting us in the face; alone or in company, doing a soft run to clear our heads or a series to prepare our next goal. We also know runners (maybe ourselves) who don't like the gym, hate it and prefer to go outside even in hail or freezing temperatures as opposed to the alternative of shutting themselves up within four walls in a few square meters full of machines, weights and gadgets they have no sympathy for.
Yet almost no one doubts the benefits that a good workout in the gym can bring us, we know that it is a great complement to our daily training and that will help us to improve our overall physical condition. Nowadays professional athletes, including marathon runners, also train in the gym with machines and free weights, but there are some myths, unfounded statements that we have been hearing for years and that totally discourage us to set foot in a gym, or simply work with weights in any of its variants.
Myths about weight training for a runner
Weights slow you down.
On the contrary, a good weight training workout will help us, among other things, to be faster by gaining strength and power and making the consequent transfers. We need only look at the 100-meter sprinters, pure power, the fastest in the world, and weight training is a very important part of their training. And let's not forget the great long-distance runners capable of running under 26 seconds in the last 200 meters of a 10,000.
With weights you lose flexibility.
They don't make you lose flexibility per se, but you have to work on it with a little more attention. Does a hurdler with his leg almost touching his chest when crossing the hurdle or a 3,000m steeplechase specialist when crossing the estuary look flexible?
Well, behind all or almost all of them there is training in the gym as a fundamental part of their preparation. Not only pure and simple bodybuilding but also plyometric exercises, proprioception, stretching, coordination, etc... a wide range of exercises at our disposal as well.
So what do we do in the gym?
Basically the work we should do in the gym will depend on the time of the season in which we are and the type of events we are preparing. Obviously the training of a sprinter is not the same as that of a middle-distance runner, a marathon runner or a mountain runner.
Low weights and high repetitions?
Lately there has been a lot of discussion about whether an athlete should do exercises with little weight and many repetitions using mainly machines or if on the contrary he should work with higher loads (submaximal and even maximal) using free weights: few repetitions and a lot of weight, multi-joint exercises, squats, pull-ups, military press, etc...
All this we leave in the hands of coaches and sports doctors who are the ones who must assess the particular needs of each athlete, but it is not superfluous to know a number of principles and generalities that we can apply ourselves:
- In the basic phase of preparation or general conditioning (at the beginning of the season, after the rest after a marathon, ...) is usually work doing base, general strengthening and taking advantage of trying to compensate for muscle imbalances and weaker areas. Variety of exercises, better in circuit than one by one and starting to accustom our heart, muscles and tendons.
- As we advance in our preparation, the exercises should be more specific, with special emphasis on the good execution of the same. That the work in the gym is complementary to the work we do in the street with slopes, stairs and so on.
- In the tuning and/or competitive phase the load and frequency of the sessions is usually reduced, there are even professionals who do away with gym work or at least the bodybuilding part.
Things you should be clear about before walking through the gym door
CONVINCE YOURSELF OF ITS BENEFITS
If you think it's a waste of time, it will be. You have a lot to gain, for sure.
GO IN PROGRESSION
Don't do like that runner who had never set foot in a gym and on vacation went to the hotel gym, tried all the machines available to him and spent a week without being able to move. Use your head.
BE PATIENT AND REGULAR
You have to go step by step, you will see the benefits in the medium term, and they will be very big. If the first day you do the back neck press with 90 kg you probably won't be able to lift your arm even to pick up the shower faucet in a few days.
PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE TECHNIQUE OF EACH EXERCISE.
If you have an instructor or trainer who can explain exactly how to perform each exercise, take advantage of it. You'll get more out of it and avoid injury, especially when working with free weights.
WARM UP WELL
As we have already mentioned on other occasions, warming up is not necessary but essential.
TRY TO PERFORM SOME KIND OF TRANSFER
In the same way that after a hill workout you do some straight runs looking for stride frequency so that there is a transition from power work to speed work here you can also do it using the treadmill and even going out in the street.
DON'T FORGET ABDOMINALS AND LUMBARS
They will help us to improve our running technique, the body will be more upright and the efficiency of the stride will be optimized. It's never too late to run a little better.
STRETCH AND STRETCH
Even more so than when we run. It's a very important part of our training that we don't often give the time it deserves.
THE GYM IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR RUNNING
It is dangerous to get into the habit of staying on the treadmill when it rains. If it's time to go to the gym, go to the gym, and if it's time to run and get wet...then run and get wet.
...AND ENJOY
Try to make it fun, we are here to have a good time, don't forget it.
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