Conditioning, strength training and core stability

Why would I start with an article about conditioning when there is so much to say about running and race walking?


Actually, conditioning and strength program is the core of my training (no kidding)
With years of experience I figured out a gradual and adapted to skills strength program so my athletes could improve their performances and reduce the risk of injury.

After all this is all about running, and strength training should be a secondary goal.
Well, not exactly, and to be honest, not at all.
Most runners think strength training and core programs apply only to Elite and collegiate athletes; running is the first priority, the rest is a waste of time.

Yet, the risk of injury increases with the lack of strength program. From beginner to World-class athletes, the rate of runners injured is way higher when this part of the training is missing.

Studies showed that reducing by one third of the aerobic part of the training to do plyometrics instead did not affect the VO2max; conversely, performances were improved.
Of course doing plyometrics is not something to be considered lightly since you need some basic strength and conditioning before stepping up to this kind of training.
But those studies showed that strengthening your body is not detrimental to your aerobic capacities; conversely it was helping, not only to reduce the risk of injury, but also to improve your performances.
Looks like you’re wasting less and less time, no?

And this is where I stand up; doing basic strength training and conditioning program will make you stronger, provided that it’s been introduced very gradually.
And in the end, you will improve your running form and save that precious energy so useful in races.

Conditioning program should be done once a week and include basic drills like lunges, high knees. Buttkicks, small jumps, skippies, A skips and B skips, straight leg,bunnies (2 legs jumps),  and so on…
The idea being to work on general conditioning (all the muscles), you lay the foundation for strength training and plyometrics to be developed later.

Finally core stability drills will add to the overall body strengthening, by balancing your body with postural alignment.
Pilates, for instance, play a big role in core stability, developing whole-body muscular strength and endurance (durability), balance and flexibility.
Having a stable ‘centre’ allows one to move in a way that reduces energy wastage (poor technique and fatigue), tissue overload (injury), and muscle confusion (poor alignment/imbalance).
But it would take a lot more to talk about Pilates only.

It is very important to note that this kind of program strengthens muscles as well as tendons, so you will “enhance” the whole ‘muscle tendon” unit which explains why your are not only improving performances but also reducing the risk of injury
The whole of the soft tissue adapts to the training and become more able to deal with strain and repetitive eccentric contractions, so reducing the risk of injury.
In addition, the tendon is able to store and release more elastic energy so that the Achilles and knee tendons can contribute greater mechanical power to running speed.

So don’t hesitate to add this workout out once a week so you will run better, faster and injury free.
More to come