Bad Advice for Runners Given in Sunday Times Magazine: My Thoughts

Bad Advice for Runners Given in Sunday Times Magazine: My Thoughts

Bad Advice for Runners Given in Sunday Times Magazine: My Thoughts

This post will comment on an article I read recently in the Sunday Times Magazine, an ‘expert guide to avoiding niggling injuries while running’ written by Scarlett Wrench. The piece also features input from a Senior Physiotherapist, James Vickers, along with an Exercise Physiologist, Tom Cowan.

The article contains a mix of advice for runners, including footwear recommendations, strategic use of deload weeks and viewing training as a long-term endeavour. All of these are well established, useful, and easily actionable points that are backed by research.

However, I was surprised to read the recommendations for strength training as a method of preventing injuries given by James Vickers. To quote the article:

‘The most important muscle group to work on is the calves… you need a strong, fatigue resistant soleus for optimal injury prevention.’

James goes on to recommend:

‘When strengthening lower body muscles, go for lower weights but more repetitions.’

There are two issues with this. First is the emphasis on the calf muscles as ‘the most important’ muscle group to work on in the gym for runners. Secondly is the advice to strengthen the calf muscle with light weights and more repetitions. I will address each of these points in turn.

Advising runners to focus on the calves as the most important element of strength training for running is just not good advice, and it is also at odds with the science.

 

The systematic review paper, ‘Risk Factors and Protective Factors for Lower-Extremity Running Injuries’, found that inadequate muscle stabilisation was a key factor in running injuries. It also found that strengthening of the glutes – more than the calves – can help to stabilise the pelvis and prevent damage. Furthermore, the same study found that hip weakness contributes to the risk of injury, via the hip’s control over the lower extremities, like the ankle and foot.

What this means in practical terms is that exercises that help to strengthen the glutes and hips are going to be far more effective in reducing the risk of injury than focusing on the calves, and will have the desired effect downstream. This makes sense when we consider that it is the muscles of the hips and glutes which help to stabilise the body effectively. Having strong and durable calves will do nothing to help you prevent injury if you have weaknesses in the larger leg muscles.

That said, it’s important to note the calf muscle is implicated in fatigue-related injuries. If the foot becomes unable to effectively absorb force, the bones take on additional strain. This increases the risk of stress fractures as fatigue worsens. Tensing the calf as the heel strikes the floor helps the body to absorb force effectively, and this has a protective effect from injury. I believe this is what James is referring to with his advice.

However, I’d argue this is ‘majoring in the minors’ – you’re likely to see far greater benefit from increasing strength in the muscles that are responsible for stabilising the hips and knees – the hips, glutes, quads, hamstrings – than focusing on the calves. Particularly when you consider the audience reading the Sunday Times Magazine are likely to be older, and not highly trained.

I do understand that the interview the quote was taken from might have had additional context to qualify it. However, the use of the phrase ‘most important muscle group to work on’ while neglecting to mention other critical muscle groups implicated in injury prevention is misleading.

Secondly, the idea that the calves need to be strengthened via lots of repetitions at a light weight is at odds with established norms for strength training. Strength building stimulus takes place at above 80% of the 1RM for low numbers of reps, e.g. less than 5.

The article mentions increasing fatigue-resistance (essentially endurance) using the low-weight-high-reps method. This makes sense when we think about how fatigue plays a role in injury risk, as durable calves can protect the leg from tensile stresses caused by heel striking. However, referring to this as ‘strengthening’ and not ‘building endurance’ is again misleading. These terms are not interchangeable and treating them as such creates confusion, particularly in gen pop and hobbyist runners who are looking for help.

Additionally, thanks to the SAID principle, the body will adapt to the stresses placed on it as you train. This means that purely by running and using the calf muscles, they will become more durable and effective at absorbing force. Therefore, adding a high number of additional reps and creating even more fatigue in the calves through your gym work is questionable. It is at best a highly ineffective way of getting the result you want, and at worst, counterproductive. It may even increase the risk of an overuse injury – which the previously mentioned systematic review says is responsible for around half of all sports injuries.

Good strength training should always focus on building a robust body that is able to handle the demands of the sport – not trying to replicate the sport in the weight room. Instead of focusing on a particular muscle as the key to injury prevention, look at the underlying body structures, movement patterns, and demands of the sport. This is the foundation of effective strength programming.

All of this is not to say that including some calf work is not useful in preventing running injuries – it absolutely is. The issue here is with the writer placing such emphasis on a small piece of the puzzle, without looking at the much wider picture. This is compounded by the poor advice given on how to build what this article refers to as ‘strength’.

So, what would some useful strength building exercises for runners look like? I’d include the following, and agree with the client what the split should look like:

  • High bar back squat 5 x 5 @80% 1RM
  • Glute bridges – 5 x 5 @ 80% 1RM
  • Cossack squat – 3 x 8-12 reps each side
  • Good morning – 3 x 8-12 reps
  • Bulgarian split squat – 3 x 8-12 reps each side
  • Weighted calf raises – 3 x 8-12 reps
  • Core work – mountain climbers, V sits, Russian twists, plank, for time

These recommendations include some strength work to increase the ability to produce maximal force, and some hypertrophy work to build muscle size and strength across the whole lower body, not just the calf muscles. Exercises such as good mornings and Cossack squats will increase mobility, helping the athlete to develop strength through a wide range of motion.  The core is also addressed as this plays a role in creating the stability needed to avoid injury.

A full programme would also include other important athletic and injury prevention modalities like power development and balance training. Balance training is mentioned in the article and is something I agree with. Studies have shown it can reduce the incidence of ankle injuries in sports players.

Overall, while the article does contain some important and solid advice to runners, the way it is written leaves out key details which are of critical importance. It seems likely that the article’s audience is likely made up of hobbyist runners who are advancing in age and not highly trained. Therefore, it is imperative to focus on advice that gives the greatest bang for their buck, and is simple, clear, and easy to follow. This is something that the article fails to do, because it zeroes in on calf endurance – which is a small piece of the pie – and outlines a way to increase muscular endurance in the calves while referring to this as ‘strength building’.

References:

Gijon-Nogueron, G, and Fernandez-Villarejo, M, (2015) ‘Risk Factors and Protective Factors for Lower-Extremity Running Injuries: A Systematic Review’ Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association. Vol. 105. No 6, pp  532-540, 2015. Available here.

Hubscher, M et al, (2010) ‘Neuromuscular Training for Sports Injury Prevention: A Systematic Review’, Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise. Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 413–421, 2010. Available here.

Muscular power: The Difference Between Amateur and Elite Athletes

Muscular power: The Difference Between Amateur and Elite Athletes

Muscular power: The Difference Between Amateur and Elite Athletes

Power output is a critical factor in athletic performance. In fact, studies have shown that for many sports, the difference between amateur and elite athletes is the amount of power that they are able to output (see references.)

However, this important quality is often misunderstood. This is partly due to the influx of terms used to describe power in different sports – terms such as ‘explosiveness’ and ‘ballistic’ are sometimes used interchangeably, and this creates confusion for anyone wishing to learn about power development. Secondly, there are many ways to develop an athlete’s power, and while there is considerable crossover between them, it’s also important to note an athlete’s power needs are sport-dependent. For example, the power expressed by a sprinter is different to that of a powerlifter. This is because the demands of the sport are different.

All of this means it can be tricky to effectively program for power development. To solve this issue, we first need to understand exactly what ‘power’ is and eliminate confusion around the other terms that are used to describe it.

What is muscular power?

At its most basic, power is represented by the equation force x velocity. In other words, it is the ability to produce force quickly. Once we know what power actually is, we can start to understand how to influence it.

Force x velocity can be visualised on a graph, and we can express the relationship between them as a curve, like this:

 

This gives us further clues to how to modulate our power. We can see that moving maximal loads (90-100% of 1RM) is expressing high amounts of force at low velocity. As we move down the curve, the load becomes lighter, while the velocity at which we move it increases. This allows us to plot different types of exercises onto the graph, based on how much they influence force or velocity.

For example, a 1RM deadlift sits right at the top, stimulating maximum strength. Strength-speed exercises are those which sit between peak strength and peak power, but they have a greater dependence on the strength element. The Olympic lifts are a good example of strength-speed exercises. The speed of the lift is an important component, but these athletes are working at intensities that are closer to their 1RMs, and so are depending on strength more than speed (hence, strength-speed.)

As we move down the curve, we can see how speed becomes a more dominant factor, while strength becomes secondary (hence speed-strength.) At the bottom of the curve, we can see maximum velocity. This is much more closely related to sprinting and bodyweight movements.

Critically, when we improve either aspect of the equation, our power increases. Therefore, the aim of strength and power training is to shift the curve to the right, as this would represent the athlete being able to move heavier loads at a higher velocity. Ultimately, they would be able to produce a larger amount of force in a shorter time. This translates to increased athleticism, ‘explosiveness’ and power:

How do we program for power?

When we understand how to train each aspect of the force-velocity curve, we can start to program effectively and provoke the adaptations that we want for our sport. This is the SAID principle in action; the body will adapt to the specific stresses placed on it.

Proper programming will always come down to analysing the sport and the athlete themselves – what are the underlying athletic qualities that will make them better at their sport? Where is the athlete falling short? Once we have answered these questions, we can then look at interventions to address this. There is no one size fits all approach, only principles to guide how we train.

Exercise selection

Critically, we want the exercises we choose for our planning to be sport-specific enough to be useful, but not so specific that we are trying to directly replicate the sport in the weight room. While it might seem counterintuitive, simply loading sport movements with bands or weight is not effective and can actually make an athlete worse at the sport.

For example, a boxer loading her punches using a cable machine might change the mechanics of the punch, affect the range of motion used, how her muscles trigger in sequence, and more. This leads to lower movement quality. Essentially, she can interfere with or even undo her sport-specific training by performing the loaded movement badly.

More general principles

A good training intervention for power will also address multiple aspects of force production. If we relate this back to the force velocity curve, this ensures that the curve stays even, moving out to the right, rather than becoming too skewed in one aspect of force production:

While some specialisation might be necessary based on the sport, overemphasising can be suboptimal – an athlete who only focuses on developing maximal force might struggle to move weight quickly, as they become adapted to moving heavier loads. Always remember, we want the athleticism we build in the weight room to transfer over to our actual sport. Beyond a certain point, returns for developing a particular aspect of strength or power start to diminish.

For example, the benefit to a combat athlete of going from being able to squat 1x bodyweight to 2x bodyweight is much larger than increasing the squat from 2x bodyweight to 3.5x. There is still an improvement, but to their opponents, the athlete will just feel ‘strong’.

Therefore, it’s important to consider the trade-off between the time and fatigue it takes to achieve a goal and consider where the athlete should best focus their effort. To continue the example above, the effort needed to increase the squat from 2-3.5x is immense, carries a risk of injury, and will cause a large amount of systemic fatigue. It might be better to then focus on improving the ability to express that force quickly, by working on more speed-strength and peak power-focused interventions.

Finally, power-based training is critical to improving athletic performance, but it becomes most effective after a strong base of absolute strength has been built. Increasing any aspect of the force velocity curve has an influence over the others, and so up to a certain point, increasing maximal strength will have a greater overall effect on power production than specific interventions for it. It is best to start focusing on strength-speed, velocity work, plyometrics etc. after building a base of strength. In my experience, power training should be implemented once the athlete is to squat at least 1.5x bodyweight, minumum.

Conclusion

Muscular power is one of the most misunderstood and often poorly programmed aspects of an athlete’s training. However, by taking the time to understand that power is force x velocity, we can simplify how we build this athletic quality. As always, the approach should be to carefully evaluate the needs of the sport and the athlete’s current capabilities and match them to the intervention. In the case of power development, reviewing against the force-velocity curve is a good way to do this. Increasing one aspect of power development influences the others, and so it is important to remember that building a solid base of strength can often be the most effective intervention for hobbyist or amateur athletes looking to increase their muscular power.

References:

Lorenz, D, et. Al, (2013) ‘What Performance Characteristics Determine Elite Versus Nonelite Athletes in the Same Sport?’ Sports Health. Vol. 5, no. 3. pp 542-547. Available here.

Stone, MH, et. Al (2004) ‘The importance of isometric maximum strength and peak rate-of-force development in sprint cycling’ J Strength Cond Res Vol. 18, no. 4. pp 878–884, 2004. Available here.

The SAID Principle: The Simplest Yet Most Important Rule In S&C

The SAID Principle: The Simplest Yet Most Important Rule In S&C

The SAID Principle: The simplest yet most important rule in S&C

It’s one of the first things you learn as a fitness professional – the principle of Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. Essentially, the SAID principle asserts that our body will adapt to the stresses placed on it. Therefore, the body becomes better at handling that specific stress over time.

The key word here is ‘specific’. Our bodies adapt only to that stimulus. We can see real-life examples of this in many sports; for example, tennis players have racquet arms that are stronger, more muscular, and have greater bone density than the other arm. This is because their racquet arm has been forced to adapt to the stimulus of being used to hit hundred of tennis balls during each session, while the other arm hasn’t. This is the SAID Principle in action.

With regards to our training, this is critical to remember and has a couple of important implications for the following:

1) How we achieve better sports performance

2) How we choose to program our exercise

Firstly, it tells us that the very best way to get better at any sport is to do as much of that activity as possible without becoming excessively fatigued or overtrained.

Keeping this in mind gives us a clue as to how strength and conditioning fits into improving overall sports performance. If getting better at a something requires you to do a lot of it, strength and conditioning should be used to build a body that is better able to handle the specific stresses of the sport. By making a body that is stronger, more robust, and more resistant to injury, the athlete can better handle sport-specific training and skill acquisition that will actually improve their performance.

To give a hypothetical example, an athlete who is only able to perform 10 drills of a movement before their form breaks down from fatigue will not acquire those skills as quickly as another who can perform 50 reps of the same exercise. If repetition breeds skill, then building a body that can perform quality repetitions for longer will reap benefits over time.

This principle gives us a solid foundation from which to build a well-rounded S&C program, regardless of the sport. What is most important is to identify the movement patterns that the athlete will undertake within the sport, and to improve their ability to do them for longer and under greater load. Movements over muscles are important in S&C.

Finally, the SAID principle also applies to our strength training itself. If we are looking to elicit a particular change, then our training needs to operate within the parameters that will cause it. For example, if we are trying to improve an athlete’s absolute strength, we need to ensure that they are moving near-maximal loads for low reps (85%+ 1RM). Doing lots of reps of a low weight will not elicit the correct adaption. (It’s important to note that very few things in the human body are absolute, so training this way may mean you may get slightly stronger. However, it’s not the most efficient way of reaching your goal.)

Keeping this in mind will help you to plan your strength and conditioning efficiently. Use this 6-step process and work backwards from the end goal to give you a blueprint for your S&C:

1) Set out what you’re trying to achieve – is it to improve your double-leg takedown? To run a 5k in under 20 min? To increase the power of your smash? This goal will motivate you and inform how you train.

2) Identify the movement patterns you’ll undertake in the sport/technique.

For example, in the double leg takedown, this would involve being strong in the penetration step and level change downwards, followed by explosive triple extension as you make contact and drive upwards to lift the opponent.

You’ll need good isometric strength to wrap the arms and prevent sprawling or defensive movements, and a strong core to follow through and transition into a dominant position once you’ve taken your opponent to the ground.

3) Select exercises that can benefit those movement patterns and build a body that can handle those stressors. In this case, unilateral work for the legs, as well as lunging, hinging and squatting patterns would work well, along with isometric holds to increase ‘squeezing strength’.
4) Ensure that you’re operating within the right weight parameters to meet your overarching goal. For example, if we are aiming to increase the absolute strength of the athlete, low reps at a weight close to his/her 1RM will work well.

5) Get to work! Add those exercises into your S&C plan and try to improve week on week, following the principles of progressive overload.

6) Don’t forget that the number one activity you can do to improve your double leg is… a lot of double legs. Perform the movement regularly in training, and do plenty of good quality reps, paying attention to your form.

Strength and conditioning is an important part of your overall training and can bring huge benefit to your sports performance – if it is implemented correctly. If you’re struggling to work out how to reach your goal, feel free to get in touch. We’ll jump on a call, troubleshoot your training, and get you on the right track.

How to Take a Deload Week in Strength Training

How to Take a Deload Week in Strength Training

How to Take a Deload Week in Strength Training

When your training is dialled in and you’re starting to see results, reducing intensity and volume via a deload can seem counterproductive. If you’re putting more weight on the bar, seeing your athleticism improve, and performing well at your sport week after week, why would you pull back your training?

The answer is because the most critical part of progressing at anything – whether that’s in the weight room, on the pitch, or on the mat – is consistency. Over time, training at a high intensity will bring fatigue. When fatigue gets too high, we move into dangerous territory, where the likelihood of injury is increased, and the utility of our training drops as we can’t perform at our best.

This is true for skills and sports-based practice, but it’s also true for our strength training. Strength is a skill, and fatigue will accumulate over time. If we are regularly performing within strength-building parameters, i.e.  85%+ of our one-rep max, we will start to feel fatigue in the muscles, but also in the central nervous system (CNS). Strength has a high neurological component, and this creates additional stresses that must be properly navigated.

So, how do we implement a deload week, while still moving towards our goals? The key lies in how we think about them, and how we implement them in our training.

If you are a highly motivated individual, or you like to give 100% to each session, a deload can make you feel like you’re slacking. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Deloads are essential to long-term performance and consistency, which is what will get us to where we want to go. They are as important to your training as hard sessions and high-volume weeks. This is because they play an important part in allowing our bodies to adequately recover and cement the adaptations we are provoking through training. They protect our body from becoming too fatigued and reduce our risk of injury.

Context is everything, and when we think about a deloading in this way, the uncomfortable feeling of ‘not giving enough’ can dissipate. By maintaining focus on our long-term goal and viewing the deload as being a stepping stone towards it, they become an integral part of the plan.

How we implement a deload is also important. In most cases, deloading does not mean that we skip all training sessions that week and take a complete rest. It’s usually better to reduce training volume by about 50%, along with lowering the intensity. This way we can still practice movement patterns, without the added fatigue. As we perform our exercises, we should be paying attention to bodily cues to tell us if we’re on the right track.

For example, as a rule of thumb, pain or discomfort in the joints should not exceed 3/10 (where 10 is debilitating pain). If it does, then further reduce the load.

In terms of when to implement a deload, it depends on our training. Generally, we should be looking to take a deload week every 4-6 weeks while training for strength. If we are focused on power development with lighter loads, fatigue will be less of a factor, and so we can go longer without implementing a deload. In this case, it would be better to self-monitor for signs of overtraining.

If you’re experiencing the following signs:

  • A sustained decrease in performance – you can’t lift as much as you normally would, sports performance decreasing, etc.
  • Excessive fatigue – feeling tired and lacking energy even after adequate sleep
  • Changes in mood – feelings of anxiety, volatile emotions, irritability, or depression
  • Catching colds, or having a cold that won’t shift – sniffles, sore throat, cough, headaches that persist for longer than normal
  • Excessive or sustained muscle soreness – while it’s normal to feel some soreness after a tough session, if the DOMS is excessive or slow to heal, it could be a sign of overtraining

There’s a good chance its time to take a deload week.

Deload weeks can be tricky to navigate if you’ve not used them as part of a larger training strategy. When you’re used to redlining yourself every session, it can be hard to take your foot off the gas. But doing so can have important benefits for your training, and even your overall health.