The science behind strength training for runners is simple. "Stronger muscles mean your body will find running at a steady pace easier," says William Kraemer, Ph.D., professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut. And if you really want to keep it simple, you can follow a well-rounded strength-training routine without setting foot in a health club. Here's a guide to creating a home gym with the coolest new equipment—along with some advice on how runners should put it to use.
Health & Injuries $249
Dumbbells are very effective at isolating muscle groups, and they're versatile enough to work just about every muscle in your body. While using a range of dumbbells allows you to target muscles big and small, working out with (and storing) multiple weights is cumbersome. This ingenious set (weiderfitness.com) elegantly combines nine weights—from 10 to 50 pounds, in five-pound increments—into a single pair of easily adjusted dumbbells.
Push Press
This exercise trains your core and upper body to channel more power into your running stride. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding the dumbbells in front of your shoulders, palms facing out. Sit down into a half-squat position, then imme-diately reverse direction and push up with an explosive extension of the hips and knees. Finish this continuous movement by pressing the weights overhead. Perform three sets of 20 reps.
Door Gym $47
The chin-up bar is as old-school as strength training gets, and it's often overlooked in gyms in favor of hulking, impressive-looking machines. But a basic chin-up taps a number of upper-body and core muscles. Unfortunately, most bars require brackets and are difficult to uninstall from your doorway. The Door Gym (doorgym.net) hooks onto the top of a door frame, where it can securely support your weight and then be removed in a second.
Chin-Ups
This classic engages the muscles of your back and arms that help propel you when you're climbing hills or sprinting. Hang from the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart, palms facing you. Pull yourself up until your chin touches the bar, then return to the starting position. Focus on doing each pull-up slowly, keeping your shoulders back, legs in place, and leading with your chest. Perform as many reps as you can before your form breaks down.
Vinyl-Coated Kettlebells $60
Kettlebells have large handles that make them awkward to lift. This forces you to stabilize an off-centered weight and work more muscles than you would with dumbbells. It's best to use vinyl-coated weights like the First Place Kettlebells (performbetter.com) since they're less likely to damage your floor. It's also wise to start small—no more than 12 kilograms—to ensure you don't wind up injured.
One-Arm Swing
This exercise is a great way to strengthen weak hamstrings. Start by squatting with your butt back and knees bent, holding the kettlebell between your feet with one hand. While looking straight ahead, swing the weight back between your legs as if you're hiking a football. Then reverse the direction while standing up and driving your hips forward, bringing the kettlebell up to shoulder height. Finish by letting the weight swing back between your legs. Perform three sets of 10 reps with each arm.
Reebok StayBall $25
Stability balls are a superb substitute for a weight bench since the act of balancing on one engages numerous stabilizing muscles in your pelvis and strengthens your core. But it can be tricky to work out when the darned things are rolling across the floor. That's why weighted stability balls like the Reebok StayBall (reebokfitness.com) use sand and other heavy substances to help them stay put. The extra weight doesn't completely stabilize the ball—that will be your job.
Running Shoes - Gear
Curls get your hip girdle to simulate the horizontal forces at work during the plant phase of the running stride. Lying on your back with arms out to the side and palms facing down, place your heels on top of the ball. Press your hips up and keep them elevated like you're maintaining a bridge. Roll the ball to your butt and then roll it back out before lowering your body back to the floor. Do three sets of 10 reps, keeping your core tight and your feet, knees, and hips aligned in the same direction.
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The Bosu (bosufitness.com) is a stability device that works the small muscles around your ankles and knees, and builds core stability as your body reacts to your shifting weight. Standing on a Bosu can be a challenge, but once you're comfortable, it's an effective platform to incorporate balance into simple exercises like arm raises or squats.
Standing stride
This exercise mimics a running motion on one side of your body to force the other side to work hard to maintain balance. Start by standing on the flat side of the Bosu with your left foot. Perform a slow, exaggerated running stride with your right leg and arm. You can steady yourself with your left arm if you must. Do 15 reps on each leg.
FlexBands $12—$34
These large elastic bands were originally designed for stretching, but they're also an effective strength-training device. Flexbands (jumpstretch.com) offer a useful alternative to weights since their elasticity changes throughout the range of motion, offering more resistance at the end of an extension and less at the start. Since they're made of many thin layers of latex, they can be constructed in a variety of resistances from light to strong.
Jump Squat
Stand with two bands hanging on each shoulder and crossing your chest. Place the bottom of the bands under your shoes, making an X across your body. Bend into a squat, with your weight on the back of your feet. Explode up off of your toes while keeping your weight back. Land on your toes and roll back onto your heels, then start again. Perform two 12-rep sets.
Weight Lifting 101
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If you're strength training for the first time, err on the side of caution when selecting weights for a new exercise, says Alwyn Cosgrove, author of The New Rules of Lifting. "If you complete your reps and could do two more, the weight is too light. If you can't complete the reps in good form, it's too heavy." Use that same rule for increasing your resistance. When you can add one or two reps on a set, it's time to step up. How much you lift, however, doesn't matter if you're performing an exercise wrong, adds Cosgrove. Bad technique hurts joints and rarely works muscles properly.
Strength training requires the same sort of structure you give your weekly miles, says Cosgrove. "You should plan steady increases to your lifting just like you'd plot increasing mileage over a month." He offers the following training regimen for runners:
2 sets of 12—15 reps for 4 weeks
3 sets of 8—10 for 4 weeks
2—3 sets of 10—12 for 4 weeks
3—4 sets of 6—8 reps for 4 weeks
Try to do six exercises per workout. And after 16 weeks, go back to the first period of 12 to 15 reps.
Shoes & Gear Bicycling and Runner's World magazines. He's run nine marathons and come heartbreakingly close to BQing three times. In addition to running and cycling, he's also covered beer for more than a decade and is a certified beer judge.
