
#1 Get stronger
This one is a no-brainer: stronger athletes are faster, less likely to get injured, and bounce back from hard runs or exercise quicker than those who don’t do any strength exercises. One of the Primal Blueprint Laws outlined by Mark Sisson is to be more like our primal hunter gatherer ancestors and to Lift Heavy Things.
This is great in theory, but how exactly do you get stronger? What exercises are best? When should you do them?
The three strength routines I do each serve a purpose and each one is athlete-specific and should make you stronger and faster.
The MSP (maximum sustained power) is a power/stamina workout for endurance athletes. It is designed to avoid muscle fatigue on the back end of long exercise. It builds strength in all the areas that athletes need, like the hips, glutes, abs, and lower back.
The Runner Specific Workout is a more challenging strength workout that focuses on hip and glute strength. These muscles are critical for injury prevention and speed, power and endurance during your runs (or any activity).
The Upper Body Strength Workout is specifically designed to increase the strength that you will need during your Spartan Races like grip strength, upper body strength, and the ability to carry odd loads. It helps functional fitness and strength and has a cross over into life in general. It should make you more mobile, injury free, more resilient and be able to carry out daily task with seemingly less effort. Exercises include the bench press, the deadlift, squats, presses and carries.
#2 Exercise Long-Endurance
Most athletes need more endurance. If you take that simple concept to heart, you WILL run faster.
See, too many runners think they have to run faster to race faster. But most of the problem is not being able to maintain a fast pace – and that’s a problem of endurance.
And the long run is one of the best ways to develop that endurance. On your long runs aim to run 5-7 kilometres longer than your next longest runs of the week.
Even if you’re not training for a race, it helps to run one long run per week that’s about 20-30% of your weekly mileage. Keep working at it and focus on very gradual increases in distance every 1-2 weeks. This concept can be used for developed endurance for life in general and being able to run, swim, bike, hike etc when called upon and can be used for any endurance exercise.
#3 Run EASY!
As you are aware my training philosophy is in alignment with the Primal Endurance principle of making your easy days really easy, and your hard days harder.
Polarizing your training this way helps you gain more fitness on hard days while boosting recovery on easy days.
Not sure what “easy” really means? Just follow the “3 C’s” of easy running. Easy runs should be:
- Comfortable
- Controlled
- Conversational
Prioritizing recovery and mobility on easy days will help you run even faster during more challenging workouts – and ultimately, your races.
These three strategies can help you cut your injury risk, gain more endurance, run a lot faster and be ready for any type of exercise when its needed.
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Wide Push Ups (chest) 8
Mountain climbers (abs) 20 each leg
Side lunges (Legs) 6 each side
Plank (abs) 30 sec
Burpees (Full body) 8
Air squats (Legs)
Bench Dips (arms) 15
Rest 2 min