Running with 2lb weights????

running with anything like that can only do more harm than good....you'll most likely mess up your stride

if you want to improve strength hit the weight room or do pushups, if you want to imporve form, run barefoot

I suggest you don't run with weights. To improve arm strength, you should just do arm curls with a 5 lb. (or whatever) weight, 10 curls 2x with a rest in between. Make sure you don't move your elbow to ensure you're fully working the biceps.

Also, you should try shoulder shrugs. Hold two weights, one in each hand, keeping your arms down at your side (and keep your elbows rigid- don't bend them). Now pull your shoulders up towards the sky and return to normal position. You will feel the burn after about 20 of them. This will help your form by allowing you to stand strong while running. Don't do these exercises every single day though.

Craig Virgin back in the 70's and 80's wore weight gloves for his daily 4 mile am run. He had a pretty good career.

Running with hand weights or weight gloves are a great way to develop shoulder problems. Remember, your shoulder joint is nothing more than a bunch of tendons and ligaments...it is not a true ball and socket joint. View your arm as a pendulum attached to the top by a string. If you put a large weight at the end of the pendulum it will eventually break the string.

Ask yourself this question: What is the arm action during the running stride? Are you repeatedly flexing your arm like arm curls? Or...are you repeatedly moving your upper arm back and forth while your elbow generally maintains a 90 degree angle? Your answer would be the latter.

So, which muscles are responsbile for this back and forth motion and how do you strengthen them? That should be your goal. The muscles responsible would be mostly the anterior deltoid and posterior deltoid (ie: shoulders) and your latisimus dorsi. The clavicular portion of the pectoralis muscle (upper chest) is also engaged somewhat.

A general upper body workout for a runner would look something like this:

Bench Press

Dumbell Pullover

Front Raise

Seated Row

A more "running specific" upper body workout for a runner would look something like this:

Standing Single Arm Cable Row

(Also, same as above but rowing while standing on one leg, the other leg extending out in front like a running motion)

Standing Single Bent Arm Front Raise (ie: Arm Drive)

Reverse Lunge w/Single Arm Cable Row (Row on the way up, knee drive on the way up, ie: like an exaggerated running motion)

Bent Arm Cable Push Pull

Alan

Sit in a wheel barrel, and lift two barbells up and down above your head while a friend pushes you around.

Ask Bulldog35, as he was running with a weighted vest and ankle weights while making fun of people running with i-pods.

Make sure the wheelbarrow is made out of lead or else you won't get as good of a workout (Baller T. 1998)

Baller T (1998) "An analysis of wheelbarrow training versus conventional running training methodologies" Journal of Australian Agriculture and Exercise Physiology 34:21-27