Sure, your body has trained hard to be a running machine, but what else do you do to improve your bodies ability to hurtle itself forward?  If you were to take conventional wisdom, you might believe that one of the following would help:

• Crosstraining
• Yoga
• Working out
• More running

All of the above can certainly help to improve the bodies ability to run, but do they specifically improve the bodies ability to run?  Even more specifically, do they improve the bodies ability to absorb impact?  This is key to consider, since we can improve our bodies ability to accelerate through each stride, but what about how the body reacts and responds when it hits the ground?

So lets go through your options for what conventional methods would have you do.

CrossTraining:

Positives:

• Depending on activity, probably one of the best options
• improves general strength
• Focus on different muscle patterns not already overloaded by running

Negatives:

• Fails to address potential weaknesses that may already exist in the body

Positives:

• Improve flexibility
• gain inner peace

Negatives:

• Are you stretching muscles that are already loose, increasing muscle imbalances?

Working out:

Positives:

• Chance to work upper body
• Improve power, speed and strength

Negatives:

If done incorrectly, can:

• tighten up the body
• shorten stride length for running
• increase chance of injury

More running:

Positives:

• You already know how to do this very well

More practice on technique

Negatives:

• Joints do not get rest
• Muscles do not get rest
• Strong muscles get stronger, weak muscles stay weak
• Traditional workouts have you working out in a completely different way to which you run

Confused?  Don’t be – make the best, more informed decision based on your schedule and do what works for you.  Remember that every body is different and that your training should be different for you.

Yours in health,

Jamie Atlas

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