Looking to bring your running, swimming, football, you name it, to the next level?
Start incorporating strength and resistance training into your program. The benefits are very well documented and known today, and there’s so much evidence supporting it!
The purpose of strength training is to:
1. Overload the muscles to increase the maximum strength & power output.
2. Increase tendon stiffness which increases elastic energy utilisation. The stiffer our tendons, the better the elastic energy is stored and released during the propulsive phase of running, which reduces energy consumption.
3. Improve reactive strength. This is the ability for our muscles to produce a large forceful contraction, after it’s been lengthened (aka stretch-shortening cycle). The more reactive our muscles are, the less energy consumed as our muscles act as a spring, and better our performance and speed.
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Combing strength training to the sport’s cardiovascular fitness has been proven to:
· Improve athletic performance and neuromuscular efficiency
Neuromuscular efficiency is improved economy, muscle power and motor skills (Gäbler et al., 2018, Beattie et al., 2014). This in turn allows the athletes to play/train longer with less fatigue and poor technique, resulting in lower risk of injuries.
· Improve fast-twitch muscle fibre hypertrophy
Fast twitch muscle fibres, and actin and myosin (contractile component of muscles) can be developed via strength training. This allows for greater ability to generate force.
Heavy resistance training with heavy load of >90% of 1 repetition maximum, increased running time compared to lighter loads (<90% of 1 rep max). Improved running economy were greater with a longer period of training (10-14 weeks) (Eihara et al., 2022).
· Reduce risk of Injury
More than 70% of running injuries are due to overuse (Šuc et al., 2022). By incorporating strengthening, you build up your muscle and tendons capacity to take load, thus reducing your risk of injury.
In a study where soldiers performed resistance training at least 3 times a week (greater than once a week), there was a 54% reduced risk of running related injuries.
In another study where runners strengthened their foot and ankle muscles, there was a 2.5x likelihood of injury in the control group who didn’t strengthen (Šuc et al., 2022).
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What exercises should I do?
Not all strength training will yield benefits to your sport, it has to be specific to you. Training must consider the direction of force application.
Do you need to generate more horizontal, vertical force, or both with your sport?
Horizontal force includes sprinting or getting into a scrum. Vertical force is a high jump needed in basketball, volleyball, etc.
Squatting is shown to improve vertical jump height and sprinting time however, not as much as horizontal plane exercises.
Hip thrusts works the posterior chain (back, glutes and hamstrings) in the horizontal plane. It’s been shown to transfer to sprinting ability (Contreras et al., 2017).
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Horizontal Force Exercises |
Vertical Force Exercises |
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· Hip Thrust · Sled pushes · Kettle Bell Swings · Walking lunges |
· Squats · Lunges · Leg press · Hack Squat · Step ups · Calf raises |
There are many compound and isolated strengthening exercises an athlete could do to improve their athletic performance in endurance sports.
It is important to keep in mind that the nature and progression of exercises prescribed will vary based on each individuals’ goals. Everyone is different so be sure to work with your Physio to improve your specific performance and prevent risk of injuries!
References:
1) Contreras, B. et al. (2017) “Effects of a six-week hip thrust vs. front squat resistance training program on performance in adolescent males: A randomized controlled trial,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 31(4), pp. 999–1008.
2) Gäbler, M. et al. (2018) “The effects of concurrent strength and endurance training on physical fitness and athletic performance in youth: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” Frontiers in Physiology, 9.
3) Beattie, K. et al. (2014) “The effect of strength training on performance in endurance athletes,” Sports Medicine, 44(6), pp. 845–865.
4) Šuc, A. et al. (2022) “Resistance exercise for improving running economy and running biomechanics and decreasing running-related injury risk: A narrative review,” Sports, 10(7), p. 98.
5) Eihara, Y. et al. (2022) “Heavy resistance training versus plyometric training for improving running economy and running time trial performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” Sports Medicine – Open, 8(1).
