When to go from bodyweight to weights for strength training

What are you training for? If it is a distance event, your Jump is always going to suck. Jumping and running far are two diametrically opposed abilities. Can't be good at both.

Add weight vests. A 10 or 20 lb vest can make things a lot tougher. That is what the strong kids on my team do in the weight room, they throw on the vest and just do the same stuff the rest of us weaklings do.

Do lower leg lifting 3x a week, high reps. Stick to push ups, pull ups for upper body. The rest of your time should be spent running. That's really all the strenght training you need, I know many successful people that do none.

bossboy wrote:

I know many successful people that do none.

Ah how I love this common, simplistic argument. Just because you know an individual who is fast on the local scene and who does not do any core does not mean he/she would not be even FASTER if they were to introduce core work into their training. I guarantee you that most successfull collegiate and sub-elite and most definetely elite athletes do core and weight work.

The above link is about Paula Radcliffe and her trainer at the time(Gerad Hartmann). Hartmann mentions that he had Radcliffe do a test (20 jumps up and down on a 16 inch box) and her time was quite slow compared to other elite female runners. He states that the results from the test and her inability to close in races proved she lacked muscle power and started her on strength exercises with plyometrics. Radcliffe then went on to run the women's marathon record as well as world title and 5k/10k pr's.

I tried the Hartmann test and was much slower than Radcliffe, coupled with the fact that my top end speed has diminished and as mentioned my vertical jump is dismal (realize distance running has that effect on VJ). Overall I just feel that my leg strength is below average at best and needs to improve which would help my running.

One of the myths about weight lifting is that using more weight will make an athlete gain weight. As long as the reps are low and the rest are long, the athlete will not gain weight. He will gain strength.

Another thing to remember is that whether it is body weight or actual weights, it is all resistance training. What are you trying to accomplish with your resistance training? DON'T make your resistance training anaerobic so that it will take away from your running. Make your muscles more powerful! Look up the definitions of strength and power.

When to go from bodyweight to weights for strength training

Answer: when you want to get tons of bitches

skip wrote:

I do now to improve strength, add weight to one leg squat (doesn't appear not an easy thing to do-technique wise), continue with the same exercises and add some low rep heavy weight exercises, what to do?

Is there a hill, or a big flight of stairs outside? Or even a treadmill that can go fast up a 15% grade?

Is so, how about doing a few hill sprints after your usual weight workout? Do it Canova-style (short, steep, explosive, less than 10sec and a good 2-3min rest). That's probably the ultimate in running-specific strength.

To the above poster or anyone who can answer.

Is it dangerous to do hill sprints when it's 25 degrees or lower?

I would really like to start doing them but it's pretty cold out and I'm afraid even after doing my easy run of 5-8 miles, something bad will happen to my legs if I do short explosive hill sprints.

Question about hills.. wrote:

To the above poster or anyone who can answer.

Is it dangerous to do hill sprints when it's 25 degrees or lower?

I would really like to start doing them but it's pretty cold out and I'm afraid even after doing my easy run of 5-8 miles, something bad will happen to my legs if I do short explosive hill sprints.

Yes, your head will explode.