Is your training making your body better at going front to back when you should be going left-right?
The action of running involved acceleration, power, strength and control in multiple dimensions at multiple times – to fail to train for this is the fail to train for running.
The 3-D movements we live in can be categorized roughly in the following:
FRONT-BACK (think pushing a door open)
SIDE-SIDE (leaning to the side to see around the big guy in front of you at the concert)
ROTATION (turning to check yourself out in the mirror to see how your butt looks – you know you do it)
If you were to guess what plane is dominated by the running action, you might say the rotational – and you would be right. We also require the side-side plane to work well for us (think about your weight shift in your body as you stride – without that control you would find yourself off the path very quickly) and lastly, the front-back plane to work to make sure we dont fall forward or backward as we run.
If we all agree on the above statement, then the following planes (in order of importance) are most relevant:
- rotation
- side-side
- front-back
If we stop to think about the machines in the gym and the classic exercises we do, something becomes apparent. Here is that same list of exercises again this time with a plane analysis.
- bicep curl (front-back)
- tricep pressdown (front-back)
- squat (front-back)
- bench press (front-back)
- inside grip lat pulldown (front-back)
- ab crunch (front-back)
- front shoulder raise (front-back)
Ask yourself the following question:
Do ANY of these machines/exercises require me to move in a rotational plane?
Do ANY of these machines/exercises require me to move in a side-side plane?
Do we all agree that the least important plane for running is the front-back plane? Why is it that the majority of machines and exercises are designed to move us in the front-back plane? It is for a simple reason:
Your average gym machine exercise gives you the same workout exercises that bodybuilders have been doing for the past 30 years!
Do you see many bodybuilders on the running track? Me neither. Their bodies have been taught to look good,but not necessarily to move well.
So, if you want to be the big guy in the gym and the slow guy on the track… then by all means continue to pound away at the reps. But if you have ever stood next to a 14 year old boy or girl and watched then run smoothly and with perfect form as they cruise past you, know this:
It is as important to HAVE the strength as much as it is to have the strength IN THE RIGHT PLACES.
So what can you do?
There are many important resources out there that you can reach for. I might advise one of three approaches:
- Get a personal trainer to offer to show you some side-side or rotation exercises
- Integrate one leg and one arm exercises into your workout (you land on one leg at a time, right?)
- Focus on reps that are powerful, not slow and controlled – running is not a slow and controlled movement and (once you have correct technique), neither should you be.
Yours in health,
Jamie Atlas
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