Quads gets tired hamstrings no

Run backwards

I'll swap you mine for yours.

Great answers so far...

The problem could be tightness in your hamstrings. Are you felxible?

If your hamstrings are too tight, it causes your quads to do most of the work, which would make them tired first

Its normal. You use your quad to push off the ground and your calf, propelling your whole body weight forward. You use your hamstring for knee flexion which just brings your lower leg back in again towards the ground and then up to your butt as you push off. Much easier work for the hammy than the quad.

Not surprised at this thread coming from the cadence thread idiocy.

Actually your glutes are supposed to power your push off. You need to work on engaging your glutes because right now your quads are doing more than their share. Read up on dead butt/glutes and make sure to dynamically warmup the glutes before running to get them firing. Squats, jumps, lateral lunges, deadlifts...

Donna wrote:

Actually your glutes are supposed to power your push off. You need to work on engaging your glutes because right now your quads are doing more than their share. Read up on dead butt/glutes and make sure to dynamically warmup the glutes before running to get them firing. Squats, jumps, lateral lunges, deadlifts...

The glutes are engaged more the faster you run and indeed sprint, but quad still provides the main push. The whole dead glute syndrome is a bit hyped up at the moment. Few sessions in the gym rarely hurts though.

Run slow and your quads won't get tired.

Thanks me later

sounds like you are jumping/hopping and not running like most of the people who try to run forefoot because they read somewhere once that's what they should be doing.

Boston runna wrote:

Donna wrote:

Actually your glutes are supposed to power your push off. You need to work on engaging your glutes because right now your quads are doing more than their share. Read up on dead butt/glutes and make sure to dynamically warmup the glutes before running to get them firing. Squats, jumps, lateral lunges, deadlifts...

The glutes are engaged more the faster you run and indeed sprint, but quad still provides the main push. The whole dead glute syndrome is a bit hyped up at the moment. Few sessions in the gym rarely hurts though.

Although I essentially agree that "dead glute snydrome" is a bit overhyped, I have to disagree with the rest of your post. The quads should never provide the main push when you are running, mostly because the knee is already passively extending when the quad activates (due to the glutes and upper hamstrings pulling the thigh backward as your body is moving forward). The primary active "push" during running is coming from your ankle, which is controlled by your calf muscle. The quads, while participating, are comparatively more of an assisting muscle.

Or, you could think of it this way:

If you don't activate your glutes OR hamstrings when you run, you'll never be pulling your thigh backwards, meaning you won't be moving forward.

If you don't activate your calves when you run, you'll never use your forefoot to push off the ground, which leads to you falling down.

If you don't activate your quads when you run, you won't be using as much force when your calves contract, which leads to your stride being shorter, which slows you down.

If your quads are getting tired when you're running, that means you are overusing them. Generally, as another poster already said, this happens when your hamstrings are too tight. Try stretching your hamstrings more and see if that helps.

Oh? wrote:

[...] The quads should never provide the main push when you are running, mostly because the knee is already passively extending when the quad activates...The primary active "push" during running is coming from your ankle, which is controlled by your calf muscle. The quads, while participating, are comparatively more of an assisting muscle...

If your quads are getting tired when you're running, that means you are overusing them. Generally, as another poster already said, this happens when your hamstrings are too tight. Try stretching your hamstrings more and see if that helps.

When I up my mileage, it is typically my quads that feel heavy before my other running muscles. I have always just accepted this as 'the way things are'. This post made me think twice, because (1) you sound like you know what you're talking about, and (2) my hamstrings are relatively inflexible (not 'tight' exactly, just not very flexible). Not enough to impact my range of motion while running, though.

Should I/the OP work on improving our hamstring flexibility? Will this make our quads less tired and allow us to run more? This seems unlikely to me but y'all are making me wonder.

This article below confirms the role of the quads and plantarflexors (muscles in the calf achieve plantar flexion), as suggested by others in running no mention of glutes as major muscle used.

"Our analysis reveals that the quadriceps and plantarflexors are the major contributors to acceleration of the body mass center during running."