it's obviously much more efficient to isolate your ab muscles. the one dimensional "i just run" runners are the ones who were always getting hurt, in my experience.
it's obviously much more efficient to isolate your ab muscles. the one dimensional "i just run" runners are the ones who were always getting hurt, in my experience.
"For every kilogram in fat free body weight, it requires 0.17 millilitres of oxygen to run every meter"....... Arthur Lydiard
Lydiard coached some of the best ever so all is not it seems with regards to weight training on the abs etc
I trained with some of our top US long distance guys in a large training group. The guys and girls that got hurt the most were the ones that were doing core work. That is about 5 or 6 people out of 20 or so. Just giving a different perspective.
dirty runner wrote:
I trained with some of our top US long distance guys in a large training group. The guys and girls that got hurt the most were the ones that were doing core work. That is about 5 or 6 people out of 20 or so. Just giving a different perspective.
i think with this it's sort of the "chicken/egg" thing; some people have instability issues which can lead to injury so they do more core work. then of course there are those who have instability issues which can lead to injury but they don't do core work. i probably shouldn't make any sweeping characterizations.
In my experience, doing stretching, ab work, and weight training led to more injuries and pain than I've ever experienced since cutting it all out and doing more 'specific' conditioning (~barefoot running, hill running, longer long runs). I'm course-trained in Resistance Exercise and Conditioning, so I doubt I was using improper technique.
Strong abs are essential, they are hugely important! Imagine if you had no abs, your hip flexors would have nothing to pull against and you'd have no knee lift. Good luck running like that.
Now imagine you had weak or fatigued abs, your stomach would not be able to keep your pelvis under your shoulders and you'd start slouching forward, you'd begin breaking with every stride and your hamstrings would have to pull too much weight.
Now imagine you had incredibly strong abs. You'd be able to maintain your posture and ensure maximum efficiency.
Yes, running is done with the legs, but the legs can't do their job right without good abs.
the stretching was the likely culprit more than anything.
There's really no excuse to not do abs... at least 10 or so minutes most days out of the week. You shouldn't be too tired to do that after an easy distance run and there is no way that it can hurt. It can only help. I think the added stabililty especially helps with downhill running.
Whoever said the thing like "if you have energy to lift weights you didn't run hard enough".. this makes no sense. People generally have a set amount of miles they're running.. you gotta call it somewhere. and many days out of the week are easy days, where you shouldn't be that tired at the end. Plus.. I think the original poster was talking about abs work not any heavy weight lifting. A simple abs routine does not take tha tmuch energy.. it's pretty easy! A few crunches, a few leg raises, etc.
agreed.