Beyond General Fitness: Running: Cross Trainning.

Running works the legs so I don't have to worry about doing any other leg exercise right?  That is what I use to think and I know others have thought that as well, but we couldn't have been more wrong.  This post I'll talk about why cross training is important and how if you don't you could actually cause yourself injury. 


Running works several muscles in the legs.  This work causes those muscles to break down and you body will repair them stronger then when they started.  This is great new for people who want to build muscle to fill in the area's that they lost weight in it helps with saggy skin.  I used to think that with running I didn't have to do any other leg workouts because running works my legs muscles.  I couldn't have been more wrong.

As you can see from the picture running actually only works about half of the legs.  Now this doesn't include running up hills, but on flat surfaces.  Running up hills does work more muscles, but the majority of the work stays in the back half of the leg. 

Now if all you do is run, then you can and will build up a muscular imbalance in your legs.  That means that the back of you legs are much stronger then the front.  Having an imbalance of any sort in the body will cause problems.  Problems of coarse can and will lead to injury.

So the way to solve this imbalance of muscular strength is by cross training your other leg muscles and even doing some core or AB work will aid you running ability.

So lets lay out some cross training exercises that can help work the muscles that running doesn't work. 

Cycling:  Road or mountain biking will work some of the muscles that running works, but much less because it is a different mechanic to pedal a bike. 


As you can see from this picture the muscles used are a lot more focused on the front of the left, the backside and even a little in the hip flexor.  The hamstring and calf is still worked while riding, but not nearly as much as with running. 

Since cycling is also generally an aerobic exercise athletes wouldn't have to work to much about losing or not working on their endurance while still working different muscles to keep the imbalance at bay. 












Weight Training:  With weight training athletes are able to focus train muscles in order to build up the muscles that running doesn't use while taking a running break.  The benefit of weight training is that workouts can range from body weight exercises all the way up to going to the gym to do squats in a large rack.  Just a few exercises that you can do at home listed below.


Wall Sit:  As you can see from the picture to the left a wall sit can be done just about anywhere with zero equipment.

The exercise works all the muscles in the legs.  Generally speaking it is best to do wall sits for a prescribed amount of time like 30 seconds.  Then a small break before going down again for another round.  Doing this rotation three to four times will work the muscles nicely. 

Of course doing only one extra workout wont be enough to keep the imbalance at bay so I'll have a few other pictures below.
































Now these are only a few lifts that can be done at home.  There are plenty of other things that can be done in gyms that will work the muscles that need to be worked in order to keep the imbalance at bay.  It is very important to supplement these additional exercises into a running workout routine in order to keep your muscles balanced and the keep from injuring the body.

In the end it is important to keep a well balanced body.  Focusing to much on a single workout can and will cause injury.  While running is a great way to get exercise it needs to be supplemented with these other exercises.


Pictures from dreamstime, pintrest, Amazonnaws and rippednfit.