Forums >General Running>Injury prevention
RunningEsq.
I am working hard at moving slow to avoid injury and as part of that I am only running every other day. I need to incorporate some other exercises to prevent muscle imbalance and potential injuries. Easy body weight stuff like squats, sit-ups, push-ups, whatever else the net says to do. Maybe even yoga.
Query: should I be doing these exercises after my runs? or should I do them on the off days? but then I have no true off day? Thoughts.
SMART Approach
A good time to do these is after your runs so your legs get some recovery on off day. Certainly upper body work is great on days off of running as is walking and easy biking etc which enhance recovery. I am a big fan of strength work on your feet and one leg work. Laying on the ground does not carry over well to running. Think about it. Focus on standing band work, squats, glute/hip work and one leg work since running is a one leg sport. This will serve you well. I would rather you spend a lot more time strengthening than doing yoga, stretching, rolling etc. These are all fine but many do in place of strength work with a 20/80 ratio. I say 80% strength and 20% stretch/relation work. Probably only about 10% of runners can get away with not doing strength/mobility work as they get older and older.
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At 59 I lift heavy twice a week .
i am back running after a foot injury.
the older you get the more important lifting becomes
RIP Milkman
I always do my lifting exercise for injury prevention after my quality days. Yes, they're much harder when your legs are trashed, but it gives you 2-3 days of recovery until you need to go hard again. I wouldn't do them on off days, that's just one day closer to your quality days which is where you are most prone to injury.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
thanks. Does anyone have a good list or site to visit to get the exercises. Never thought of doing one legged exercises but makes sense.
Tchuck mention standing band exercises which I agree are very good.
https://www.wellandgood.com/resistance-band-exercises-for-legs/
You might consider looking on youtube for split quats which are excellent. Here you will have one foot forward and one foot behind and then squat until the rear knee is close to the floor. After some time you can start holding dumbbells to increase the load.
After you get acclimated to split squats you can graduate to Bulgarian split squats. Kind of like regular split squats except you put the rear foot on a raised platform or step up stool with the sole of the foot facing up and then squat until the rear knee is near the floor.
I intend to live forever . . . or die trying.
Brad Hudson thinks all the strength work a runner needs for injury prevention is weekly steep hill sprints. https://www.podiumrunner.com/training/workouts/steep-hill-sprints/
Dunno if he's right but I find it pretty darn convenient to do my strength training while out running.
From my experience running fast isn't related with injury. Your poor posture while running and lack of stretches before running can be the cause of injury.