How does running on a treadmill compare to running outside? Is one easier than the other?

If you’re racking up miles every week, you better be squatting as part of your training routine.

As a runner, you need to have strong, healthy legs in order to log miles on the regular. One of the best ways to ensure your legs stay healthy: squatting. And while it can sometimes be hard to give up a day of running for a day of strength training, the benefits of squatting for runners outweighs the pain of skipping a run day.

The Benefits of Squats

The squat is a multi-joint exercise that primarily strengthens the hamstrings, hips, quadriceps, and glutes. “These are the biggest and most important muscles for runners because they power your stride,” explains Jason Fitzgerald, USATF certified coach and creator of Strength Running. “When these muscles are strong and functional, you’re far less likely to get injured,” he says. Healthy, strong legs often equal faster legs, too.

Besides just strengthening the major muscle groups used during running and giving you more resilient joints, squatting boasts a bunch of other benefits as well. A proper squat with correct form requires a certain amount of flexibility. “That flexibility will provide a more efficient and economical stride,” Fitzgerald explains.

And while squats appear to work the major glute and leg muscles, they are also an incredible core exercise. “A weighted, heavy squat requires more abdominal bracing than a plank,” Fitzgerald says. “That trunk stability is vital to performance, injury prevention, and improving a runner’s economy.”

Speaking of injury prevention, because squats are a compound, full-body exercise, they prompt a big release of beneficial hormones such as testosterone and human growth hormone, Fitzgerald adds. “These are critical for the recovery process.”

How to Squat Like a Pro

Ready to give squats a shot? Start standing with feet just wider than hip-width apart, toes pointed slightly out, and hands clasped at chest for balance. Initiate the movement by sending your hips back, then bend knees to lower down as far as possible while keeping your chest lifted. Press through heels and engage glutes to return back to the starting position.

The Downside to Skipping Squats

If you have an injury or issue that prevents you from squatting, don’t stress—it won’t be detrimental to your running career. Instead, Fitzgerald recommends substituting squats with lunges, deadlifts, or similar exercises. Why? There are other ways to strengthen the glutes, hamstrings, hips, and quads, but being weak in those areas can actually hurt you as a runner.

“Injuries afflict up to 70 percent of runners every year, and strength training is one of the most valuable injury-prevention strategies that you have available,” Fitzgerald says. “It’s a no-brainer to include strength training, namely squatting, in your running program.”

The Best Types of Squats for Runners

If you’re new to strength training, it’s best to start with bodyweight squats to perfect the movement before adding on weight. See above for proper form. Once you’ve perfected a bodyweight squat, the next step is adding weight to the squat. And once you have that form down, you can also move on to more complex squat variations such as an overhead squat or front squat.

As runners, you shouldn’t ever lift for endurance. Fitzgerald says you already get enough of that from running. But the goal isn’t to lift for hypertrophy (or increased muscle size) either, because you’re not looking to become a body builder and have to carry along big muscles on your run. Runners want to lift for strength and power.

“This is done by lifting moderate to heavy weights for a moderate or short number of reps,” says Fitzgerald. An example might be three sets of 10 reps of a bodyweight squat (strength for a beginner) or four sets of three reps of a heavy, weighted squat (power for a more advanced runner).

How Often Runners Should Squat

Because the squat is a complex and demanding movement, it’s an exercise that should always be done after a run–not before—or on a non-running day.

Weighted squats will generally be part of a longer more challenging weightlifting routine done in the gym. “These types of sessions are best done on your hard running days, like after a fast workout or a long run, to ensure that hard days are kept hard, and easy days remain easy,” says Fitzgerald. “Runners only need two formal weightlifting days per week at the maximum.”If you’re a beginner or just learning to perfect a squat, because you’re only using bodyweight, these can be added after almost any run. They can be included with other bodyweight exercises, which can also be done after every run. “The easier the squat, the less important the scheduling,” says Fitzgerald.

Source: runnersworld.com

Recovery after a marathon is not only one of the most important aspects of running a marathon, but it’s also unfortunately one of the most undervalued. Let’s be honest—once you’ve finished the marathon, you just want to be done. You don’t want to think about what you need to do to reset your body so that you can resume training.

Yet that’s the problem: If you resume your training post-marathon with structural, fascial and metabolic issues, you’re setting yourself up for problems in the coming months. So let’s take the question, “What does marathon recovery look like?” one item at a time.

Marathon Recovery Rule 1: Take a Shower

Immediately after the race you should forget the fact that you’re an environmentalist and use some extra tap water for a contrast shower. What is a contrast shower? Alternate between cold water and hot water on your legs—one minute hot, then one minute cold. The cold water causes vasoconstriction (i.e. blood vessels close and get smaller) of the blood vessels in your legs, while the hot water causes vasodilation (i.e. blood vessels open and get bigger). This oscillation between the vessels closing and opening helps rush oxygen-rich blood to your legs.

After the marathon, your legs are full of muscles which, on the cellar level, are damaged and have millions of micro-tears. Should you feel guilty about wasting this water? Probably. But it works. As the G.I. Joe cartoons said in the 1980s, “Knowing is half the battle.” It’s up to you to decide if you want to do this. It’s worth noting that there is some fabulous information on the Web from Steve Magness, one of the brightest running coaches in America, that discourages icing after hard workouts. He argues it may inhibit the body’s signals for greater adaptation. But, when you’ve just run a marathon, you need to do all you can to help aid the repair of damaged muscle tissue.

Marathon Recovery Rule 2: Eat Protein, Sleep, Then Get Moving

After your contrast shower, have a nice protein-rich meal. Then, get a good night’s sleep. The next day, you take the day off from running, right? Wrong. You’ve got to get moving the day after the marathon. I know it’s hard, but you need to go for at least a brisk walk, and possibly a light jog. Do something to get blood moving in your legs to help facilitate the healing process.

This run or walk is your check-in with your body post-race. Is your left knee sore and your right gluteal muscles tight? Or maybe you have horrible blisters on one foot but not the others. You need to gather this information so that you can take it to your therapist or coach to figure out what you can do in the future to minimize these issues that may have held you back some during the race.

Marathon Recovery Rule 3: Invest in Your Recovery

The next step you should consider following the marathon is to invest a little money in yourself. Visit an Active Release Technique (ART) therapist. Why? Because in the final miles of a well-run marathon, there is undoubtedly a breakdown in your biomechanics, and that breakdown means that you’re asking more of one muscle group or more of one side of your body than the other. Simply put, you’re likely asymmetric when you finish the marathon, and you need someone who can help you gain back that symmetry and take care of any little injuries you may have incurred during the race.

How do you find an ART therapist? Search for a physical therapist, chiropractor or even a highly trained massage therapist in your area; the key is that they’ve taken the time to broaden their knowledge base and get an ART certification.

When athletes are worked on by an ART therapist, their minor injuries or “niggles” tend to go away after one or two sessions. Now, I know what you’re thinking. This will cost money and that money could be spent on a new pair of shoes. But, when you consider the money and time spent seeing an ART therapist, it’s a small fraction of what you spent on your marathon registration, traveling to the marathon, lodging and meals. Plus, most good ART therapists will give you a small list of strengthening exercises you can do to strengthen your minor muscles, or improve symmetry. So find a good therapist and invest some money in yourself so that when you resume training you’re 100 percent healthy, and ready to train at a new level.

Marathon Recovery Rule 4: Cross-Train Before You Resume Running

Recovery from a marathon has long been thought of as: Take X number of days off, then start running again. But, a new model for marathon recovery values the healing power of getting oxygen-rich blood to damaged muscle tissue. One way to do this is to swim or aqua jog. Both are good because you simply move some blood around the body, and speed up the healing time of the cellular damage that occurred in your leg muscles during the race.

Also, there is some benefit to being in water for the lymph system, as the hydrostatic pressure of the water gives your lymph system a gentle massage that helps flush out the toxins and waste products you might be holding onto post-marathon. Biking, cross-training on the elliptical and hiking are good choices, too—all three of these activities meet the criteria of getting blood to your damaged muscles.

So when do you start running? That’s very much up to you. For many of you, the thought of going two or three weeks without running is hard to imagine, yet many elite distance runners take a long break after a marathon. This is a great time to cross-train, which could include activities as gentle as a brisk walk or a hike. The key here is that you should give your body some time to realign and heal from the stress of a marathon.

Marathon Recovery Rule 5: Get Stronger Before You Start Training Again

The good news: You have time to do some serious, focused non-running ancillary work at this time. I refer to this as General Strength and Mobility (GSM) and, in the days following the marathon, it’s a great time to complete this type of work.

Post-marathon GSM practice proves beneficial because every runner has weaknesses, often with their minor muscle groups, and this work helps strengthen those areas. Use the lunge matrix warm-up and the myrtl routine before and after cross-training. When you return to running, keep these elements as part of your training, and you’ll be that much closer to running injury-free.

Remember, the reason to do GSM work is to stay injury-free, which will allow you to run more miles and more intense workouts. This work can be a bit boring and definitely is not as enjoyable as a nice run with friends. But if you want to improve as a runner, then you need to improve your basal level of general strength, and you need to improve your hip and ankle mobility. Think of this work as an insurance policy again injury for your next block of serious run training.

Racing a marathon is a huge accomplishment, and you should be proud to finish. But you should also take the steps following the marathon to ensure that your next phase of serious run training goes well. Invest in yourself with everything from a contrast bath to a couple of ART sessions to daily GSM work. If you do these things, you’ll be ready to run even faster the next time you toe the line.

Source: active.com

You can’t buy motivation. Most runners probably wish they could.

We hit walls. Life can seem to get in the way of running–so having a playbook of motivational techniques is important for runners at every level who are fighting the same battle to log miles.

Running motivation can come in different forms when the finish line isn’t in sight–new running shoes, a new training plan, or even joining a running club. But at its purest, motivation is the human desire to do something; unlocking that desire may be even more difficult than the task itself.

Joshua Sommers finds it within himself–the hedge fund VP is also a triathlete who has competed in over 100 races. When asked what motivates him, he keeps it simple.

“The pursuit of excellence and self-improvement.”Joshua Sommers

We aren’t all like Joshua, but we can learn from him. In this piece, we’ll explore what types of motivational tools different runners can use, and how they can impact your training–and your life outside of running.

Motivation for Beginner Runners

As a new runner, it can be daunting to look at the miles ahead and know the only way to get there is with your own two feet. 

Set a Goal

Begin at the end. Setting a goal provides something a runner can work toward. It can be a number of different things: maybe it’s weight loss, or picking a 5k race, or a certain number of miles a week, or even a half marathon. Whatever that goal is, keep it in mind each time you lace up those sneakers for a jog.

This will also help track progress. Write the goal down and place it somewhere you’ll see it every day, keeping markers of the steps taken to achieve it. After a few weeks, look back at the work accomplished and you’ll be able to see it actualized. See yourself achieving those goals and surpassing them.

Get Social While Holding Yourself Accountable

Incorporating a training partner into your new life as a runner has layered benefits. Finding a running partner will provide an immediate desire to run, even if simply knowing that person is counting on you.

Executing on a training program together, with a shared goal, can increase the level of accountability. Joining a running club or finding a running partner removes the element of choice, the ability to reason with yourself and find ways not to run. Excuses are ever-present, and a good running partner won’t take “no” for an answer.

Even though running is an individual pursuit, clubs and teams are everywhere. Besides the motivational aspect, things like networking and safety and developing a sense of community are all extended benefits of making running social.

Make it Routine

A morning run can ripple positively into the rest of your day. Acute aerobic exercise activates the prefrontal and occipital cortices in the brain, increasing “executive control.” This can help improve cognitive ability and can help control emotion. Morning runs can have effects that last into the night, like improving sleep quality.  And it doesn’t stop there; studies suggest running can have overall health and cognitive benefits, especially later in life.

Besides the mental and physical benefits, there are less social obligations in the morning. You won’t get stuck at work or be tempted by a happy hour at 6am. Even if you’re not a morning person, you can likely train to become one. Pack all your running gear the night before. Set an alarm and place it across the room, forcing you to skip the snooze button.

Developing a morning running routine provides a nice reset of the body’s clock; it can feel like adding hours to the day. Another benefit? A solid training schedule can positively impact your regular schedule.

Ted Bross is a newly-graduated medical student starting his residency. He has participated in almost 30 ultra marathons, and developing a running habit helped him with medical school.

“Part of what helps me get through several of the mental stressors of medical school is pushing my body physically and relieving that stress. It makes me more of a disciplined athlete and is something that has given me a lot in my life.”Ted Bross

Develop a Training Plan

Checking boxes on a training plan can feel really good. It also answers some of the mental questions runners ask themselves before setting out: Where should I go? How long should I run? What pace am I aiming for? Just look at the running program, where it’s all outlined. Remember to develop your training plan in alignment with those goals you’ve set. And try to incorporate one long run per week.

A comprehensive training plan should incorporate all aspects of your routine. Account for extra pre-run warm-ups and post-run stretches. Add in weekly or monthly goals. Budget some days off. Your training plan doesn’t have to be a bible, but should be a document frequently returned to, and one around which other aspects of life can be considered.

“I train on average for about ten sessions a week, for a total of ten hours a week,” Sommers said. “I’m spending all this time on it, so I want to get the most out of my workouts.”

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Motivation for Experienced Runners

There’s a fine line between getting into a groove and finding yourself in a rut.

Buy Some New Gear

Sometimes you need to pick low-hanging fruit. Purchasing some new running clothes, like a new pair of running shoes or running shorts, can provide motivation to run and test all that new gear. Depending on what you buy, it may also improve your training (like a fitness tracker).

New gear can also serve as a reward; small goals can be treated as important steps to accomplishing larger goals.

There’s also the “gear guilt.” Shiny new toys should be used instead of sitting in the back of a closet. Some may think using money as a type of running motivation is shallow, but there are few drivers in life like cold hard cash.

Introduce Supplements

So much of success when running comes before (and after) feet hit the pavement. Nutrition should be looked at holistically, because supplements can provide a boost during the run and also help with recovery.

“Especially in the longer races, figuring out nutrition is something most people don’t spend enough time on.”Ted Bross

Pre-run supplements include caffeine for energy, calcium for bone health and even creatine to reduce muscle inflammation. Post-run, focus on protein for muscle recovery and fish oil to reduce muscle soreness.

HVMN Ketone, a ketone ester drink, can be used both as a pre-run supplement and a recovery mechanism. By elevating ketone levels in the blood, HVMN Ketone unlocks a fuel source the body produces naturally, one fundamentally different from carbohydrates or fats. Post-workout, taking HVMN Ketone can expedite the resynthesis of glycogen (by 60%) and protein (by 2x), which enable faster recovery.

Cross Train

Varying training can provide easy motivation to try a new sport–one you know can improve your running–and it’ll also keep you active on days you’re not running. It can also supplement during rehabilitation periods from physical injury, and improve overall physical performance.

Specifically, cross training can improve VO2 Max capacity (the measurement of the maximum amount of oxygen utilized during intense exercise). Swimming and cycling are great choices, but things like yoga can also increase flexibility and balance.

By introducing strength workouts or cross training into your regimen, motivation can be found in presenting new challenges and accomplishing new goals.

Switch Up Locations

Don’t become a running rodent. Running on a treadmill can feel like a hamster on a wheel, just like running the same path multiple times a week can feel Groundhog Day-esque. The essence of running harkens back to being outside, and in a more spiritual sense, connecting with the space in which you’re traversing.

It’s easy to feel invigorated by discovering a new place or hitting a new distance, so trail running or cross country running are always good motivators for the simple fact that they place you out of your element. The simple feeling of dirt under the feet and soaking up the essence of the trail provides an immediate lift and motivation.

We’ve also heard from runners that there’s something special about running in the rain (even if it’s the last thing you want to do). It presents a new challenge, and almost a primal sense of motivation; you’re miles away from home, and the only way to return is to run back. Your heart is pounding, you smell the rain, each wet step is experienced in a totally new way–it’s an hour that can feel different than all the other hours in the day.

Motivation for Advanced Runners

Advanced runners can have the most difficult time finding motivation because running is such a part of their life that it becomes an unquestioned obligation. 

Remember (and Embrace) the Pain and Vulnerability 

Stop and ask yourself: Why do I run? If running has become numbly intrinsic, this question can serve as a reinvigorating reminder to look within and remember why you fell in love with running in the first place.

Because running is hard; it hurts; it requires time; it takes mental fortitude. Some might think this is admitting defeat–but reminding yourself that you’re accomplishing something difficult can inspire you to keep going.

In a physical sense, powerful running comes from your core. So, in essence, you’re running from the gut. There’s something vulnerable about exposing yourself in that way, and showcasing the ability to be broken down (and thus built back up).

It can all come to a head at the end of a race. Ted Bross has been there.

“You share some really special moments. You’re pretty raw emotionally, when you get broken down physically there’s less barrier to connect with people.”Ted Bross

Ditch the Tech (This Includes Music)

Technological tools have forever changed running, giving anyone the opportunity to track pace and miles and calories burned. These also changed training by providing actionable targets to hit and measure performance.

Select one day to run untethered by technology. It can serve as a great way to reconnect with the simple joy of running, ditching the gadgets to escape the metrics. Sometimes you have to operate on feel, and it can be motivating to find that energy within yourself instead of hitting a number on your wrist. Some of your best runs aren’t necessarily your fastest.

Many of us train with music, but that can act as a barrier between you and the world in which you’re running. If you’re participating in a race that doesn’t allow music, it’s especially beneficial to train without tunes and run to the beat of your own pace.

Improve Your Diet

Seeing results provides motivation to continue working. The results garnered from eating healthy show themselves in training. While carb-loading has been a staple of many runners’ race day routines, growing evidence suggests that a periodized approach to nutrition is optimal, especially for long distance races. For example, a marathon runner might undertake periods of training with a low-carb, high-fat diet, to boost fat burning followed by maximizing carb fueling for a race.

Exercise after an overnight fast can also increase fat oxidation, which can help with weight loss and, when the body gets better at burning fat, it can also help increase endurance.

Taking HVMN Ketone can provide some of the benefits of ketosis without the necessary dieting or extreme fasting.

“My diet isn’t as good as I would like it to be,” admitted Sommers. “But that’s more a function of time and other stress factors, like if I’m traveling or if I don’t have time to cook what I want.”

Even the most elite triathletes struggle to incorporate diet into life.

Trying a new diet can have results both in training and recovery, and noticing the difference provides a motivation to continue pushing your personal best with newfound fuel. But that happens on an even smaller level. Incorporate a new fruit or vegetable into your diet.

Haven’t had Brussel sprouts since your grandma served them boiled? Give them another try (and maybe try roasting them) and fold in more vegetables over the course of your training.

Even for those unwilling to make extreme dietary changes, there are incremental benefits to be had by cutting back on refined sugars, avoiding seed oils and getting plenty of omega 3s.

Enjoy the Small Wins

Advanced runners arrive at a point where they can only improve so much. It’s a point of fear for many–that they’ll plateau, and eventually decline.

So the small wins are important to celebrate. Seconds off your mile pace, or increased weight while strength training or even a feeling of energy after a run–individually these are small, but together they can make a big impact. The world’s elite athletes understand the power in recognizing small successes.

Testing of HVMN Ketone illustrated that athletes go ~2% further in a 30 minute time trial.⁹That can mean the difference between placing on race day and looking up at the podium, a desire shared by the crop of marathoners and cyclists and NFL teams and world champions in boxing and MMA who are all using HVMN Ketone.

Accomplishing small wins while training provides a motivation to keep achieving them, and the confidence they’ll translate to race day.

Motivation is an Endless Cycle

Remember: motivation comes and goes. But recognizing when you’ve lost motivation is almost as important as getting it back.

The struggle challenges all different levels–from beginner to expert runners. On the running journey, goals will be accomplished, routines will become stale, good habits will wane. This is all part of the process.

Finding the ability to motivate yourself won’t just improve your running. It’ll improve your life overall, and some of these strategies should translate to life off the running road.

Go forth. Run. And maybe find a bit of yourself in the process. \

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This article was originally published at HVMN

Source: hvmn.com