Running is an amazing full-body exercise that has incredible health benefits. It helps in building stronger bones, strengthen your muscles, boost your cardiovascular fitness, & helps in maintaining a healthy weight. Running is the gateway to achieving optimal health & overall wellness and can be a great way to get a lower body workout.
The number of benefits one experiences from this activity is one of the main reasons why fitness and health experts recommend it to more & more people. It doesn’t require you to have a fancy gym membership or any equipment running can be done anytime & anywhere. A cheap full-body workout is independent of equipment. You just need to have a good pair of running shoes and running clothes.
No matter if you are a competitive runner or run just for fun, running faster is something you look up to. For increasing your running speed, you will have to boost your overall power simply running more doesn’t help so much with improving your speed. Strength-training helps in building your hamstrings, glutes quads & core, by developing more power in the sprints.
Benefits of lower body strengthening workouts for runners
Reasons, why you should perform lower body strengthening workouts, are uncountable. Some of the benefits it offers are listed below:
- Increased Efficiency: Strengthening your lower body by performing workouts a few times a week helps with increasing the endurance level in your body. Stronger muscles take a longer time to get fatigued, which increases the period for which you can run before you get tired.
- Greater Calorie Burn: If you are running to shed the extra amount of weight, incorporating strengthening workouts will help you in losing it faster. These exercises increase your muscle mass which ultimately boosts your metabolism. It enables your body to continue burning calories even when you are at rest.
- Increase Speed: Stronger lower body enables you to run faster. A faster run requires a large amount of force that is only possible by bigger muscles in your lower body.
This is the reason why sprinters tend to have more muscle compared to long-distance runners. Bigger muscle mass helps you to take off way faster.
- Reduce Injuries: The stronger you are, the lesser there will be a risk of injuries. Also, strength training helps your body to maintain its balance & have better stability
1. Barbell Lunges
Lunges are a great lower body workout that target the glutes & quadriceps while activating the hamstrings. For performing this workout, start by putting your one foot at a distance of 12-18 inches in front of the other one. Keep the hips & shoulders straight. Then bend both of your knees and lower your till the forward quadricep becomes parallel to the ground, & the rear knee is about to touch the ground. After that return to the position form, you started & repeat the movement for 10 to 12 with each leg.
2. Leg press
Start this lower body workout by bracing your abs & pushing the platform away by using the heels & forefoot. Make sure your heels remain completely flat on the footplate. Take a deep breath and extend the legs. Keep the head & back flat against your seat pad. Then Extend with slow control. Hold there for a movement to avoid locking your knees. Take another breath while returning the footplate to its starting position. Keep both of your feet & back flat during this workout.
3. Squats
Squats strengthen all of your major muscle groups, including your hips, quadriceps, glutes & hamstrings. For doing a proper squat, lift your chest and get your spine in a neutral position. Make sure it isn’t rounded or develop an arch in it. Then bend both of the knees by keeping the weight on your heels. Lower down your hips as if you are about to sit on a chair. While standing back up squeeze the glutes for preventing the knees from bending from caving inward.
4. Jump rope
Start this workout by grabbing the handles of the rope in both of your hands behind you let the rope hang at your heels. For moving the rope, rotating the forearms forward & wrists for generating the momentum & swinging it overhead. As rope swings overhead, bend both of the knees slightly. Once the rope has passed the shins, jump up. Start this workout slowly and gradually increase the timing. As you hop, make sure you stay at the balls of the feet.
5. Thoracic Mobilization
Start this lower body workout faceup on your exercise mat along with a foam roller. Place it along the middle of your back, bending your knees, and place your feet firmly on the ground. Put your hands behind your ears by bending the elbows. Then let the head drop back towards the floor. If it feels so good, lift your hips slightly off the ground. Push both of your legs for rolling out the back half to your neck down the spine.
6. Barbell Squats
This workout targets the muscle of the thighs, calves, glutes & hamstrings. For getting the best of them try using a squat machine. Rest a barbell at your back with the legs opened shoulder-width apart, bend both of your knees & lower yourself down for performing the squat. Make sure you keep your back straight upright, while the chest is stretched out, then push the butt back like you are sitting on the chair. Do not let the toes overextend over the toes. Doing this will protect the knees.
7. Stiff-Leg Deadlifts
This lower body workout targets your glutes & hamstrings. It makes them stronger & improves the fast-twitch muscular reaction. For starting this workout stand on both of your feet opened hip-width apart. Hold the barbell at your front. Lean slightly forward by forming a hinge at your hip till the barbell you are holding in your hands reaches the midway of your shins. Perform it slowly and feel it in your legs. Borden your chest to avoid locking your knees; you can bend them slightly if necessary.
8. Box jumps
Start this workout by Standing on the box at your side. Then Lean up & turn your face towards the box and land on both feet. After that take a step off the box & repeat. Perform all of the reps facing away, and then turn your face to the opposite side. A performance box jumps from that direction.
9. Hip Thrusts
Make this workout a part of your regular workout routine. This exercise helps in strengthening the glutes and hamstrings which allows the production of more force while running especially when you are taking off. This exercise can be done by using your bodyweight dumbbells, barbell, or resistance bands. For an additional challenge try performing single-leg hip thrusts
Few Reminders
If you are new to running or strengthening workouts that we have mentioned above, start with low intensity & progress gradually. No matter at what fitness level you are or who simple these exercises are, do perform all of them at once. Visiting a website like Fitness Who offers great reviews on fitness products to help you choose the best ones for your workouts. Doing that will make you vulnerable to injuries & accidents, which will affect your running speed. It can become a reason to not run at all for months. To be safe, start performing these workouts slowly; do not incorporate all of them at once in your routines. Progress gradually till you get comfortable with a certain intensity and routine. In case your body aches excessively or experiences any Do not push yourself harder or beyond the limit doing that will set you back from running.