For the entire first semester of this year, I discussed everything that I could think about that was involved with running and the training of running. But during the transition from the first to the second semester, I ended up injuring myself, preventing me from continuing to delve into this topic. But through my careless mistakes I managed to stumble upon a new method of exercising that not only allow me to stay in shape, but also enthralled me as much as running did. This is new sport of weightlifting was unlike anything I had ever attempted to be successful at, as it entailed a much different mindset than running did. This is one of the main reasons why few weightlifters are strong runners and vice versa. Not only are different muscles trained for the different sports, but the levels of effort that must be put into each one are extremely different. Running involves constant effort for the duration of the run, with the only break occurring when/if the runner decides to stretch. But in the case of weightlifting, only short bursts of energy are necessary, but with each burst involving more effort for that short amount of time than running would involve. But both types of exercise involve enormous amounts of exertion, and can leave the exerciser feeling exhausted and out of energy for the rest of the day. This raises the question whether it is possible for one of the forms of exercise to potentially inhibit the improvement of the other form of exercise.
Weightlifting does have the potential to hurt an individual’s running performance. According to Competitor the difficulty in adding heavy weight training to your training schedule is that it’s very tiring. Like a hard track workout, lifting heavy will leave your muscles sore and tired the next day. The more heavy lifting you do, the less effective you’ll be on workout days. Another problem that can emerge is the excess weight that a person can gain from lifting weights. The increase in a person’s muscle mass will make the individual feel like he/she gained weight and make each run more difficult, even if it is only a few pounds. But while this could potentially happen, it is unlikely because that person will already be burning off excess calories by running, avoiding the possibility of gaining weight. And even though lifting weights can leave a person feeling exhausted for a day or so afterwards, it may actually be beneficial to lift weights along with continuing to run.
The addition of weightlifting into an existing runner’s workout could bring unexpected benefits. According to Breaking Muscle, the additional strength one gets from a weightlifting program will help that person switch gears quickly and sprint faster. It will not only allow the individual to grow larger muscles, but train his/her fast twitch muscles, or the muscles that are responsible for quick muscle contractions like for punching or sprinting. Another good reason to weight lift as a runner is to help maintain good running form even when fatigued. If a person runs longer distances, it is crucial to have good form when fatigued because this will likewise help prevent injuries. So sprinters and long distance runners alike can benefit from strength training. But of course an individual must follow certain guidelines if he/she wants to benefit from combining these two kinds of exercises.
First of all, one should not attempt to do an intense-weight workout and then try to do hard running training. This will either lead to over-exhaustion or injury because the exerciser will be too tired to focus on his//her form while working out. But it is possible to do both on the same day as long as a person knows his/her limits. Livestrong gives one way for a person to test his/her limits. It recommends lifting for 20 minutes and then jogging a lap, and then alternating like this until you adjust to an effective combination. This will allow the individual to both run and lift without exerting too much effort during either exercise. It also allows him/her to increase the intensity of each workout until an ideal balance is found. There are even people that believe running and weightlifting on the same day may be more beneficial than doing them on separate days. Another article on Livestrong states that an aerobic workout such as running is a good warm-up for a weightlifting session. A moderate-intensity run of 5-10 minutes will increase mobility, warm up your muscles and can help prevent injury. But if the warm-up is taken too seriously, it can cause the person to be tired during his/her later workout and decrease his/her performance during it.
I hope that reading about the possibilities of combining running and weightlifting have convinced you that it is not only possible to combine the two, but it may even be beneficial to! To anyone reading this that was considering running and weightlifting, I hope that you take some of my advice and learn how much your body can handle on one day, just as I have been doing over the past few months. As long as you focus on one exercise more than the other and take the other exercise easy that day, you can surely hope to improve your body in a way that you never thought possible!