Running Efficiency Training Part 2

I want to make you aware of how beneficial it is to cross train as a runner. Now when I say Cross train, many think of circuit training on various pieces of cardiovascular equipment. To truly Cross train requires a completely different take on this. This style of training is designed to complement the stimulus that running represents to the muscular system. As I have mentioned in several philosophy and training posts, you must always look at the negative side effect of any exercise you ask your body to do. 

Well lets look at the negative side effects of running. First unless you have an absolutely perfect gait pattern (running stride) the the most obvious negative side effect is compensation. This means that rather than your body having a natural stride to it, you body instead must create a stride by asking muscles in the body to perform tasks they are not designed to do. 

Look at the following picture;

Here are 4 different athletes running up a grass hill. Look at the variations that exist in each of the strides. In the first athlete you can see that as they lift their left knee it causes their femur (the long bone in the thigh) to turn in causing the lower leg to be forced out to the side. Also look at the pressure in the back leg as they tries to push off it. The foot is turned out to the side and he is pressing much more with the outside of the foot.

The second athlete is just the opposite. Look at their left leg. Here is a femur that is twisting to the outside causing a tremendous amount of twisting in the knee. Also look at how far the left foot is turned to the outside as he is trying to press off. 

Now in the third picture this individual looks pretty decent. The Right femur is turning in just a bit but the joints are really in pretty good alignment. The back leg is also for the most part straight and there is even pressure being used on the back foot.

Then in the fourth athlete, they have a femur that also is turning out as they run, again causing some unnecessary torque in the knee joint.

So going back to the negative side effects. Looking at athletes 1, 2, and 4, they are all causing the muscular system in the lower body to compensate for a lack of efficiency in their stride and instead must create a stride by twisting the joints around to generate a linear movement. This can lead to both acute (instant) or chronic (develop over time) pain symptoms. Imagine each of these athlete in a football game. Now imagine that athlete #2 is planting off his left leg as he gets tackled on his right side so the force pushed him to the left. Can you visualize how easily he could injure his right leg. That would be an acute injury because he would most likely cause immediate damage in his ligaments. Now take the same athlete and make them a distance runner. Could you see how they could develop injuries such as shin splints or plantar fascitis? these are injuries that occur when there is more pressure being placed on a certain part of the body than there should be. For instance of when running you put more pressure on one side of the foot than another. 

So there is the biggest negative side effect of running, muscular compensation that will lead to injury. 

Next what about other parts of the body. Remember that your muscular system is a machine. Every part has the ability to affect other parts of the body. If you are compensating in your lower body, trust me your also doing some serious compensating in your upper body. 

Look at this photo;

Here is another example of some serious compensation in the legs. Femurs are twisting all over the place and in turn they are also causing the arms to swing wildly across the body. This can cause some serious muscle problems in the shoulders and neck and back. Again you are now asking certain muscles of the body to be involved in generating an non efficient running stride. This means that muscles that normally would not be a part of this are being asked to compensate for the muscles that should but are unable to due to the compensation. 

So to address the negative side effects of running you really need to cross train in such a way that increases the efficiency of your muscular system. I think you can tell from the pictures that many of the problems with poor running form exist in the hips. The Femur in most of these pictures is twisting as it comes out of the pelvic bones. So the lack of muscular efficiency actually starts there, at the origin of the femur way up in the hip socket. 

Thanks to Geocites.com we can look at a cool picture of the muscles around the pelvis and femur;

Look at how many muscles are responsible for the positioning and movement of the femur. To keep this action working correctly you must make sure that each of those muscles is even in strength, and flexibility, and most importantly is working efficiently.

So your cross training then must be done in such a manner to try and provide an even amount of stimulus to every single muscle that is involved in running. If you have been paying attention, that would mean all of them, well almost all of them. Basically every single muscle in the body is in some way responsible for the proper movement of running. 

So how can you be sure you are accomplishing this in your training? Please send $1999.99 and I will send you the secret. Just kidding in the next post we will start going over some of the important factors involved in this as well as some examples of what to do.