When it comes to cross training, I usually pick between swimming, biking, strength training, or the elliptical. I usually only have time to do one of these exercises. Which is best for improving running times?
When it comes to cross training, I usually pick between swimming, biking, strength training, or the elliptical. I usually only have time to do one of these exercises. Which is best for improving running times?
Squat, lunges, core work.
I've seen research for both plyometrics and heavy weights (sets of 5-6 reps) showing 6-8% improvement in running economy, which turns into ~3% improvement in 5K/10K race performance.
Thanks! I'll try the lunges and core work. It makes sense, since a lot of the elites have well defined stomachs. I have found squats help my knee strength.
Does "plyometrics" refer to jumping and hopping or holding a pushup in a stationary position?
If you want to get down to a 19 minute 5k the following
is pretty good:
The best cross training is running uphill.
Plyometrics involves jumping of various forms. As an example, this was my workout yesterday (I compete as a sprinter, and the main body of the workout is not a distance or mid distance workout):
Warmup (progressively faster strides)
3 X standing long jump, 30 sec rest (this is potentiation to crank up CNS; there is a 20-40 minute rest between ths SLJs and the main workout for the potentiation to occur)
4 X 40m accelerations from blocks
2 X 60m flying sprints
Box Jumps (all jumps barefoot from standing):
2 X jumps onto block wall (25")
2 X jumps onto low part of pole vault pit (28")
2 X jumps onto high jump pit (33")
These are non-hazardous type jumps. I would not do any depth jumps or drop jumps without an experienced coach. Other non-hazardous plyometrics:
(1) Coutermovement jumps
(2) Alternate leg bouds
(3) Long bounds from leg to leg
You can find many web resources that can describe the jumps I'm talking about. Also, keep in mind, that I did less than 10 touches on each leg. You do not need to do much in the way of plyos to get a performance effect. If you do much more than 10 touches, it becomes a workout until itself and would effect the performance of any running workout that you follow it with.
Plyometrics is HARD training with a heavy CNS load. If you do any of this, you should consider it a hard workout and schedule recovery runs as you would with a hard workout.
Thanks! I'm sure my neighbors will like me turning their street into a gym!
It's a joke bro.
Thanks! I had never heard of Central Nervous System training, but I took your advise and found some web sites describing it.
fred wrote:
It's a joke bro.
Yeah, I figured a 19 min 5k is not something you'd want to tell too many people about.
Water running. Plyo is for people who have extra energy because they don't run enough. Gimmick, as are all drills. Andre Agassi was once asked about his stretching routine. He dropped his wallet, bent over, picked it up and said that's it. A metaphor.
The elliptical is a great tool since you can train at a very high intensity, but no impact. While it is no substitute for running, it is really beneficial if you need to cut back on the running for a short time to let a slight overuse injury heal up. I found I could train far harder on the elliptical than I could running. There is no way I could run that hard without getting injured.
A few years ago I went 3 months just training on the elliptical during the week and running a race on the weekends and only slowed down about 45 seconds over 5k.
got me to the winter wrote:
The elliptical is a great tool since you can train at a very high intensity, but no impact. While it is no substitute for running, it is really beneficial if you need to cut back on the running for a short time to let a slight overuse injury heal up. I found I could train far harder on the elliptical than I could running. There is no way I could run that hard without getting injured.
A few years ago I went 3 months just training on the elliptical during the week and running a race on the weekends and only slowed down about 45 seconds over 5k.
Ditto.
I've been out for over 15months with Osteoitis Pubis and a groin strain made worse by coming back too fast.
Just starting to get back into now, but trained consistently at same volume of elliptical(by time) as running, with some workouts on the elliptical as well at various running intensities.
My fitness coming back in was no more than 30 sec/mile coming back first week or two, and after a month now I'm less than 10 sec/mile from where I was before, and that is doing just 15-20 mpw with the rest elliptical.
In other words you can maintain almost all of your fitness with the elliptical during injury.
I'm not sure how it will be for getting fitter, but you could definitely get in more training time using an elliptical (i.e. if you can only handle 70mpw of running at present it would be very possible to do 70mpw of running + adding 30-60 min elliptical sessions several days a week)
Soccer, swimming, cycling.
Strength and circuit training that incorporate ploys and cross fit like stuff is all the rage. Kids like it but I'm the kind of guy who needs fresh air rather than look in the mirror.
LM wrote:
I'm not sure how it will be for getting fitter, but you could definitely get in more training time using an elliptical (i.e. if you can only handle 70mpw of running at present it would be very possible to do 70mpw of running + adding 30-60 min elliptical sessions several days a week)
I did that with the stairmaster a few years ago. I was able to handle 30-40 a week running but I added another 5-6 hours on the stairmaster at a recovery effort. I felt like I was doing 75 mpw and was able to race all distances from 5k to half marathon at a consistent level. I always tried to get a stairmaster workout during the evening after I raced that morning. I thought it helped with the recovery.
I consider strength and power training to be more "supplemental training" than cross training. Honestly, I think a program that incorporates swimming, biking, and weights is going to be more effective than an alternative that just emphasizes running more. With running you start reaching diminishing returns, but you can avoid that somewhat by hitting other forms of training. After seeing my fitness dramatically improve upon incorporating squats into my training, I realized not doing so from the start was a huge mistake and regret. I would definitely include squats and other strength training into any distance runner's training plan.
Thanks for all of the replies! It'll allow me to make some reasonable choices rather than just picking any exercise for the sake of cross-training.
stretching & suppling your muscles. Instead of more grunting and sweating, maybe work on relaxation and flexibility? you moron?