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Exercises to improve your running performance

1K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  Jono 
#1 ·
Hi there guys

I have been running for about a year now and recently starting exercising at the gym too. Any ideas on what leg exercises to do to improve my running performance?

Thanks
 
#3 ·
You would do better to focus on core abdominal excercises, such as planks and crunches.

In terms of leg excercises, then running itself will do a lot to strengthen your leg muscles, but I've heard that calf raises are good, as these muscles take a lot of pounding. Mine quite often get sore after a longer run.
 
#9 ·
With the exception of the deadlifts, I do all of these - some folks can get away with just running but for me, running has exposed some weak muscle areas so I work on those in order to minimise injury - just be careful when trying some of them, make sure you know how to do them properly or you're gonna end up making things worse, not better.
 
#10 ·
I think the importance of strength decreases as the distances increase. The best sprinters can barbell squat up to 3x their bodyweight, and that's responsible for most of their speed/power, as well as genetics. I think I read that 1-1.5x for middle distance runners, less for long distance. I think for longer distance it's now about injury prevention, fixing imbalances and done more in an endurance fashion (so lightly weighted or unweighted for higher reps), not powerlifting or maximal strength.

I think squats and calf raises with proper form will be beneficial. No idea how one would incorporate this though.
 
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