Monday, June 8, 2009

Leg strength/ power training Vs Running?

Hey everyone,

I hope you are still enjoying your 3 day holiday. Well, this post goes back to the basics. I just wanted to clarify some misconceptions about running Vs leg strength/ power. The question is Do I need to strengthen my legs if I'm running or if I'm doing any sports related to running such as soccer, tae-kwo do or endurance/ short distance running? THE ANSWER IS YEEEEEES.


You have to aknowledge that and do not be one of those lazy people that think that leg training is not important. Another issue is that the majority of these kind of people want to give more emphasis on upper body strength. If thats the case, you really need to think before you act. The leg muscles specifically work aerobically in running or any kind or sports related to running. without any resistance to make those muslces work hard enough. Thats why you need the strength/ power component...to give those working muscle to fire under tension, yet become more strong. You can test yourself simply by performing 2 sets of 15 repetitions of a lunge exercise. If you never resistance train before you will realize that your legs are not as strong as thought they were and probably your legs will get really sore the next day.


In addtition, Leg strength /power is one piece of the puzzle and focusing only on this single aspect is not the answer. There are other key elements that are important depending of what kind of sport you are involved in such as movement screening, core training, agility, cardiovascular training etc. Make sure you train those legs aaaaaaayyt, your performance levels will definetly increase. I'm out...

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