RUN WITH GINA, PERFECT FIT TRAINING
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Services
  • Testimonials

INSIGHTS

Get a leg up on leg day!

7/16/2018

2 Comments

 
Picture
Never skip leg day!  Are you one of those people in the gym taking a selfie on the leg press or next to the squat rack?  I have a few Facebook friends like that, which isn’t a problem.  However, I am always left to wonder…are you not missing leg day because you want muscular or toned legs and glutes or is it because you want more strength?  I guess I am a nerd to think that way, but from my point of view, regardless of the purpose, I would look for modalities where the reward is greater than the risk (injury) and gives you the biggest bang for your training buck and will translate to running performance best.

In my day job as a dental hygienist, I have people from the general population ask me all the time “If I am worried running will ruin my knees?”.  A few months ago, a patient came in and said to me, “I can’t believe you are still running, you are going to ruin your knees”.  He proceeds to tell me that he hasn’t been going to the gym because he jacked his shoulder and he has too much pain in his knees from doing too much on the seated leg press (I’m not a fan of that machine, by the way).  He told me he was leg pressing 900lbs.  What is the point of leg pressing 900lbs?  Was he training to squat down and lift a car off a trapped body underneath it?  It doesn’t make sense; the risk was greater than the reward because now he hasn’t been working out at all in part because he has pain in his knees.  One of my issues with the leg press machine is that it does allow you to move a heavier load you may not be able to squat otherwise, which is dangerous.

The back squat is a far safer choice than the leg press machine.  But is the squat the best choice for you?  Again, for my blog, I am looking for exercises that minimize injury risk and increase strength.  In a 2015 issue of Journal of Applied Biomechanics, researches compared the traditional back weighted barbell squat to the barbell hip thrust in healthy, resistance trained adults.  The results of the study concluded that there was greater electromyographic (EMG) activity in the gluteus maximus, biceps femoris (hamstring), and vastus lateralis during the barbell hip thrust compared to the squat.  The latter is one of the quadricep muscles and a knee stabilizer.  The barbell thrust is not only better at training the muscles of hip extension, gluteus maximus and biceps femoris, it is kinder and safer to your knees.  The squat is good, don’t get me wrong, the hip thrust is just a better option.  Do you remember reading my blog post on kettlebells?  That was another superior exercise for hip extension.  Without hip extension, you cannot get out of the chair you are sitting in and you will lack power and strength during push-off when running. Interestingly, in a 2017 issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, researchers discovered in 84 runners with chronic lower-back pain, hip extension exercises every other day reduced running induced back pain after 8-weeks.  Get those hip extensors strong, knees stabilized, and back pain diminished, running friends! 

My personal favorite leg exercise is the Bulgarian split squat.  This is a unilateral exercise, which means you bare the majority of the weight on one foot.  Therefore, this challenges your balance, which engages your core muscles more.  Additionally, because this is an exercise that is done with one foot on the ground, it better mimics running, where a portion of the stride is spent in single leg stance and you need to go into triple extension at the ankle, knee, and hip for push-off.  In a double leg squat, the legs share the load equally, whereas in the Bulgarian split squat, 85% of the load is assumed by the stance leg, creating a more challenging workout.  Also, as you squat down, you get a really good stretch on the hip flexors of the rear leg.  Try it out folks!

Check out this great link with hip thrust examples:
https://barbend.com/hip-thrust-lessons/

barbend.com/hip-thrust-lessons/
Bulgarian Split Squat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4OUtEO27UM

Fight ON!
Coach Gina

2 Comments
Antonio Melchor
7/17/2018 08:58:20 am

Hi Gina, great read. I am always advising my runners that leg strength is important, and that lifting weights for leg strength is good, but only if done correctly. Your blog has great information about proper leg strength exercises. I also recommend to my runners that if they are going to do a leg workout, it's better s day after a hard training run and not the day before. What are your thoughts on that? Sorry about the long comment but I really liked this blog.
Run Smart
Coach Tony

Reply
Gina Mauricio link
7/17/2018 08:02:51 pm

Hi Coach Tony!

Thanks for taking the time to comment on my blog and giving some feedback.

There is a lot of published research on concurrent training (endurance/resistance training). There is also a lot of opinions about it too, but I always try to go with what the peer reviewed evidence-based research supports, primarily because that is what I was taught in graduate school. That said, if a runner’s focus is to improve a distance race time, then that is where their training focus should go. As you noted, you suggest that your runners do not do leg a workout the day before a hard training run and I agree with you if they want to do heavy resistance training. Easier resistance training is okay, and I will give you my take on that later in this reply.

I don’t know the abilities of your runners, but my runners are the average recreational or slightly faster than average runner. Which means they are not gifted athletes. With the average person, I always want to be conscious of the training load they are taking, training of any type, endurance or RT. Just because of the inability to get proper recovery/rest with work/family responsibilities. Therefore, for many of my people, I wouldn’t even recommend leg workouts the day after a hard training run either. With everything I recommend, I always try to keep the laws of biomechanics in the forefront. Such as Davis’s Law, which states that soft tissues “remodel along the lines of stress”. Remodel means breakdown and build up. Depending on how “hard” the training run is, there could be damage and metabolic waste in the muscle and then the risk is greater than the reward to add a hard leg resistance training day after a hard training run day when not recovered. It is true, the elites hit it hard all the time, but I have found often with the recreational crowd, less is more toward the outcome goal. They do not have the time or the tools at their disposal to expedite recovery.

BUT…there is nothing wrong with doing body weight exercises the day before or after. I absolutely love the Bulgarian split squat without an external load, just body weight and because it is no load, it can be done after any run, like core work. Additionally, just going through the movement without a load, trains motor units, which increases strength without hypertrophy of the muscle. Big, bulky muscle isn’t great for runners to carry around anyway.

Sorry for the long two cents Coach Tony, but thanks again for commenting on my blog.

Fight ON!
Coach Gina

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Services
  • Testimonials