Hopefully soon, I will write much more about the benefits of strength training. My love for fitness actually started in the gym and I have some experience with weights and body weight exercises.
I love to feel strong, and even in the summer when I am ramping up the running miles and spending a lot of time on the trail, I make it a point to squeeze in a few days a week of strength training. It improves my running form and performance and improves my physical ability to get around in daily life easily.
I am just starting out with this whole thing, so this first post is just to get a page started where I post a specific workout I have done. It is meant to inspire and allow you to cherry pick what you want to try and what might work best for you.
Keep in mind, I am a trail runner and I usually do exercises that directly benefit my running. My goal is to be toned, light and lean. I am not interested in bulking up. I just want to be strong in places that matter when I run and when I engage in daily physical activities as a part of living. In order to accomplish this, I do a ton of body weight exercises and only occasionally add light free weights.
**If you try this at home, adjust reps to your ability. You most likely will be weaker or stronger in the exercises.**
Workout for 9 January, 2019:
3 sets each:
Round 1:
Burpees 8 reps.
Wide-legged squats 10 reps
Plank 30 sec. – switched to forearm plank for second set
Side crunches 20 each side.
Crunches 15 reps
Round 2:
Pull-ups 10 reps (I own a body tower)
Dips 15 reps
Hanging Leg Raise 10 reps
Jump Squats 15 reps
Round 3:
Sliders 15 reps (mixed up what I did with them each time)
Pistol Squat 3 each side
Push-ups 12 reps
Lunge into single leg stance 10 each side
I did 3 sets of each round and I didn’t rest until the end of the third set. That way I had 10 or 15min. at a time of an elevated heart rate, improving cardiovascular and respiratory strength. This workout took me 50min. If I become more consistent with strength training, I could probably get the time down or I could start to add more reps to each workout to keep the time the same.
