Runners & Cyclists Need Weight Training, Too

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

26 Jan 2007 11:38 AM

Are you a runner or a cyclist? A lot of athletes who run regularly or cycle regularly whether they are in training or not sometimes resist the idea of weight training because they get plenty of exercise when they are riding their bikes or running daily. In fact, I know one runner who regularly participates in marathons and she didn't like the idea of weight training, until a personal trainer proved to her that weight training actually improved her endurance and running.

Weight Training Adds Muscle Tissue

Most cardiovascular activities, including running and cycling, are great for building heart and lung health and will help develop some muscle tone, but it doesn't develop your muscle tissue or help you build over all muscle.

Weight training can also help to minimize injuries sustained in these types of activities. A runner has naturally strong quadriceps and calves, but their hamstrings may not be as well developed and this can actually lead to a nasty type of injury that a teacher of mine sustained. She ran all the time, but she didn't weight train - she enjoyed her hours spent running, until one day, as she was running - she felt something in her leg snap.

Her next memory was screaming on the concrete and an ambulance ride. When she arrived at the hospital, she found out that her hamstring in left leg had ripped - almost completely in half because the muscles in her calves and her quadriceps were supremely stronger than her hamstrings and they couldn't hold up against the push pull of the running.

10 years after the injury, you could still see the damaged hamstring in the back of her leg. She couldn't run as she once did and not all the physical therapy in the world was going to give her back that hamstring. So while this is one of those worst case scenarios, it does illustrate a great reason to engage in weight training as well as your other cardiovascular activities.

Weight Training Improves Your Stability

If you enjoy marathons, it's important to remember that by the time you are at the end of a long run or a long ride on the cycle, your posture may begin to curve. Your exhaustion will be mirrored in your body language and you can experience back pain and more because of it. When you weight train, you strengthen your core muscles and this can help you develop better form overall. Your back will be less prone to curving and your posture will be stronger. Your weight training will also help you maintain your overall balance from the beginning of the run to the end.

If you run or cycle regularly, do you also use weight training to support you?

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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