Strength Training, my favorite cross training days!
Why strength training? It makes me feel strong and I love the look of toned sleek muscles that cannot be achieved just with running. Many women who first begin a weight training program express concern that they will develop bulky muscles. Women do not and cannot naturally produce as much testosterone as males, it is impossible for women to gain huge amounts of muscle mass by merely touching some weights.
Strength training and running perfectly compliment each other. Running increases your endurance while resistance training increases whole body strength.
Like most women, I'm looking for the greatest calorie burn in my workouts. My previous training partner (Jamie) and I would often incorporate a strength training circuit into our weekly training program and exercise routine. This often consisted of a lower body lift (squats, lunges, leg press and extensions), and an upper body lift (bench press, curl, tricep extensions, dips and pull-ups) and always performing an ab exercise as part of the circuit. Each lift consisted of 8-10 reps and repeated 3 times. Strength Training is a vital component of any runners training regime. Benefits: increased muscle = more calories burned, injury prevention, increased power, increased stride length, and increased speed. After all the calories I consumed over the long holiday weekend I'm going to run ...of course! and then enjoy a "lift"!
MyPod - I Need a Hero - Bonnie Tyler (truly a favorite!)
