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Why running isn’t enough

Photo: Nissar Ahmad

Are you a complete runner? Check your muscular endurance and nervous system efficiency

First, the myth: Runners don’t need to do resistance training.

I was a professional sprinter – who enjoys jogging even today – and followed more than my share of ‘beliefs’ about running, without much success. One such belief was that runners don’t need to do resistance training; I used to think running was everything and that it was superior to other types of exercises.

I realised over time how wrong I was. The following points are for you to ponder over.

Today, we know resistance training is good for general health because it:

* Enhances endocrine and immune function (which are compromised by endurance training)

* Maintains muscle mass (also negatively affected by endurance training)

* Improves functional capacity in spite of aging by maintaining maximal strength and power (both of which decrease with prolonged endurance training)

* Builds bone density (something many runners lack due to poor dietary practices, but desperately need in light of the high risk of stress fractures)

* Enables us to rapidly correct muscle imbalances, as evidenced by the fact that resistance training is the cornerstone of any good physical therapy programme (and I’ve never met a runner without imbalances).

So what is it about runners that makes them a different breed, a breed not subject to the normal laws of physiology?

Unless they are deluded enough to think they don’t have an endocrine and immune system, don’t grow old or don’t have muscle imbalances (in which case, they’re in deep denial and need a psychologist more than a running coach), the answer is that it’s a mistake to think that runners are a different breed.

In other words, runners are just like the rest of us. They need resistance training. I am sure many of my runner friends are going to be posing a lot of questions after reading this article, but all they have to do is take a look at the scientific findings that support my theory. *An University of Alabama meta-analysis of the endurance training scientific literature revealed that 10 weeks of resistance training in trained distance runners improved running economy by eight to 10 per cent; that’s about 20-24 minutes off a four-hour marathon – and likely more if you’re not a well-trained endurance athlete in the first place.

*French researchers found that the addition of two weight-training sessions per week for 14 weeks significantly increased maximal strength and running economy while maintaining peak power in tri-athletes. Meanwhile, the control group – which only did endurance training – gained no maximal strength or running economy, and their peak power actually decreased (who do you think would win that all-out sprint at the finish line?). And, interestingly, the combined endurance with resistance training group saw greater increases in VO2max [maximal oxygen uptake or aerobic fitness] over the course of the intervention.

*Scientists at the Research Institute for Olympic Sports at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland found that replacing 32 per cent of regular endurance training quantum with explosive resistance training for nine weeks improved five-km times, running economy, VO2max, maximal 20m speed, and performance on a five-jump test. With the exception of VO2max, none of these measures improved in the control group that just did endurance training. How do you think they felt knowing that a good one-third of their entire training volume was largely unnecessary, and would have been better spent on other initiatives?

*University of Illinois researchers found that addition of three resistance training sessions for 10 weeks improved short-term endurance performance by 11 per cent and 13 per cent during cycling and running, respectively. Additionally, the researchers noted that “long-term cycling to exhaustion at 80 per cent VO2max increased from 71 to 85 minutes after the addition of strength training”

The take-home message is that running is more than just VO2max, anaerobic threshold, and a good pair of sneakers; it’s also about localised muscular endurance and nervous system efficiency. And, you can’t have strength endurance unless you’ve got strength. Build a solid foundation and you’ll be a complete runner.

(The writer is a CSCS (NSCA), C.H.E.K. and expert trainer)

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