There is no lack of knowledge in the world we live in today. Just about every bit of knowledge that’s ever been known to humankind is available to us in our hands, on our phones, in just a few …
263. Why You Need to Ditch the Diet Mentality
There are so many ads and promotions these days for different diets, it’s almost overwhelming. Everybody wants to sell you the magic pill - the easy, simple diet that will allow you to eat all the …
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260. 10 Hard Truths About Fitness No One Is Talking About
There is a lot of information out there these days on what it means to be healthy and fit. My social media feeds are full of health and fitness experts spouting all kinds of opinions and ideas and …
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253. Lessons Learned at Marine Corps Marathon
This past weekend I had the privilege to be a part of the 49th annual Marine Corps Marathon. Just to be clear, I did not run the race, instead, I was able to be a part of this amazing event from a …
Continue Reading about 253. Lessons Learned at Marine Corps Marathon →
Podcast Transcript
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, sports nutritionist, Master life coach and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you, properly fuel your body and your mind so you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to episode 253 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners and today, Lessons Learned at the Marine Corps Marathon. So this past weekend, I had the privilege to be a part of the 49th annual Marine Corps Marathon. And just to be clear, I did not run the race. Instead, I was able to be a part of this amazing event from a very different perspective, one that most people don’t get to ever experience. So it was awesome. It was also a very emotional experience for me. I came away from the race feeling all the feelings, and it kind of renewed my love of the sport of running. And there were several other big takeaways that I, you know, came away from this event with and so I wanted to organize my thoughts a little bit and share all this with you here on the podcast. So in this episode, I’m going to share some of the big lessons learned at Marine Corps Marathon and how this event has changed my life for the better.
But first listen, if you’re considering coaching, if you’ve ever thought about you know, I think I want to try coaching at some point. I think right now is the time where you need to take action. So for most of us, this is going to be the off season. So you’ve done your races, you’re starting to get into the off season. Here. We’ve got some time off before training picks up again in January. For most of us here in the US, at least in other parts of the world as well, but it’s really the perfect time to start doing some things differently, to start making changes to your diet, to start changing how you do your strength training, to start changing maybe how you’re approaching your running and creating, you know, more power, more endurance, you know, maybe getting faster. If you are interested in getting leaner, you know, and losing some of the fat and gaining some some muscle, so getting stronger. If you’re interested in being able to run longer, maybe longer distances, or just be able to make running feel easier. Or if you want to get faster as a runner, consider coaching. Coaching gives you the guidance, yes, the feedback, the direction that you need. You’re going to gain knowledge, but you also get support. You get accountability, you get encouragement, you get motivation.
Coaching is one of those things that will help you to stay on track. If you’re somebody that needs a little bit of help staying on track, I know that having that account, that accountability, and having somebody there in your corner that’s always helping you to stay on track is the key to being able to accomplish all these things. Listen, changing your diet, that’s hard, and it takes time to lose weight, and it takes time to improve your running or to get stronger. All these things take time, and it takes consistency, and it takes discipline, and coaching can help you with all of that stuff. Also having a coach means you don’t have to figure all this stuff out yourself. You know, you have somebody there with tons of experience that can help you stay on track and get to your results much faster than you could get to on your own.
I had such an amazing experience at the Marine Corps Marathon, and I want so many people now. I’m so fired up. I want so many people to be able to run marathons, to be able to run 10 Ks or 50 Ks, or whatever it is that you want to do for yourself, whatever goals you have for yourself, I want to help get you there. I’m so excited about this right now. Kind of renewed my love of running right now.
So if you’re interested in coaching, if you’re interested in working with me, let’s just have a conversation about it. It can’t hurt just go to my website, running, lean coaching.com, click on work with me, you and I will get on a zoom call, and we’ll talk about coaching. I’ll tell you exactly what’s involved, what it would look like for you, and then we can see if this is a good fit, if it is cool, if it isn’t, no big deal. We had a good conversation. You’re not going to waste my time or anything like that. I talked to a lot of people about coaching every day, and I love doing it. So just go to the website, runningleancoaching.com, click on work with me. Let’s have a conversation. Now is the time to take action if you’re interested in changing your life, if you’re interested in losing weight, now is the best time to do it. Cool.
Okay, so let’s talk a little bit about lessons that I learned at the Marine Corps Marathon. So even though I did not run this race, this was a profound experience for me. I was able to be a part of the race from a kind of a different perspective, and I’ll tell you more about that in just a second, but just understand that it was something where I’ve never really spent an entire race, especially, you know, a marathon, where I just spent the entire time at the finish line, watching everybody cross the finish line. And I was able to do that at this event, and there was more to it than that.
But to see the first person cross the finish line and the very last person across the finish line. Was a profound experience. And, you know, moved me. It got me really fired up about running again, you know. And it was one of those things that I felt like I wanted to share with you guys, some of the things that I learned, you know, about running, about other people, about myself, about, you know, big events like this. And it’s not the norm for me to do this, you know, I’ve never talked about, you know, spectating an event before, but this is one of those things that was a pretty profound experience for me. I’ve run lots and lots of marathons.
I think I’ve run, like, 20 marathons and countless five Ks, 10 Ks, half marathons, 50 Ks, other Ultras, 50 mile, 100 mile, Iron Man, lots of triathlons. And I’ve never really spent an entire race just watching person after person cross the finish line. And so the first thing I want to tell you is that if you ever have the desire to do something like this, and maybe by the end of this episode, it’ll change your mind a little bit, but I would encourage you to do that, spend spend a day watching people cross the finish line of a marathon. It is amazing.
So the main reason that I was there and kind of participating in this event is because my girlfriend, Jill, is one of the race directors for the Air Force Marathon, and the Air Force Marathon is kind of partnered up with the Marine Corps Marathon and a couple other of the key Armed Forces races. And so she had a presence there during the expo. We had a booth where we were talking to everybody about the Air Force marathon and the armed Armed Forces series challenge. But also, you know, she was invited to the VIP tent during the race, which was right at the finish line of the Marine Corps Marathon to participate, you know, in a way where, you know, we got to stand there at the finish line and watch everybody cross the finish line. And, you know, I got to meet the people involved with putting on the event, the Marine Corps Marathon, the race director and the assistant race director and all the people that are involved with this. They have quite a team. But it was, it was quite an amazing experience.
And one of the first lessons that I learned was that runners are really the best people. I love runners, you know, one of the first things I did there was, you know, we set up her booth at the Expo, and we spent two days just talking to people about, you know, the Air Force marathon, of course, but just about running in general. And I think we talked to something like 30,000 people. Literally, there’s like 30,000 people that run the race. And I think we talked to every single one of them. But everybody’s so much fun and so positive, and they all have stories they want to share.
And you know, a lot of people are participating in the Armed Forces series challenge, which is a series of races that if you complete all these races, then you get this special medal. And those races would be the Marine Corps Marathon, the Air Force marathon, the Coast Guard marathon, and then the Space Force 10 miler and the army 10 miler. And so if you do that Armed Forces series challenge, you get this cool medal, and bragging rights that you were able to complete something pretty amazing.
So we got to talk to tons of people who were involved with all these different races, and that were here in, you know, that were in Washington, DC, to run the Marine Corps Marathon and/or the 10k or the 50k and it was so much fun just talking to everybody. And it just got me thinking about how much I love being around runners and being a part of, you know, that running community and how, you know, runners are just great people. You know, they’re all out there training and doing hard things, and, you know, showing up for themselves and other people and the stories that they have to share were just amazing.
So it was one of those things where I was just really inspired just by being there talking to people, you know, this is the day before, two days before the race, and just being able to be a part of their experience, you know, and having them share some of their stories, we got to see lots of athletes who were disabled, you know, they were at the Expo. They were picking up their bibs and stuff. And they were, you know, disabled. They were, they were walking on, you know, sometimes one or two blades because they’ve been injured in combat, or, you know, disabled for other reasons. But it was really inspiring to see these people and to talk to some of them, and, you know, tell them that we’d be looking for them and cheering them on during the event. So that was really amazing to be able to talk to so many people. Runners are really awesome people. They are really, really awesome people. They’re really the best people, in my opinion.
The second lesson that I learned was how important running is, not only for me as an individual or for the running community, but for cities and for our country and for you know, just the world in general. The Marine Corps Marathon has been going on for 49 years. Next year is going to be the 50th anniversary. This is one of the best marathons in the US. It may not be the biggest. You know, there’s other marathons that are bigger. You got New York, and Chicago, Boston that are going to be bigger, but this is just one of the best because you’re running in our nation’s capital, you’re running in Washington, DC, and you’re running around all the monuments. You know, you start and finish in Arlington National Cemetery, and it was just such a great setting for a race.
And it just goes to show you that, you know, running, we’re just out here running. This is just a bunch of people running, like, why? Why is this such a big deal? You know, has this been going on for 50 years? You know, something that was really cool is that the Marines actually support this event. So they get a choice. They can either run the event or they can work the event. I think those are their only two choices. So a lot of Marines do run, but you know, for the rest of them who aren’t really necessarily runners, or they don’t run marathons, or whatever they’re working. And so they had over 4000 Marines working the event, which was really cool to see, you know, but it’s just amazing to see this huge race, and it was just an amazing example of how important running is for everyone involved.
And who would think that a bunch of people running could create so much hope and inspiration and motivation, so many people, you cannot watch 30,000 people cross the finish line of a marathon and not be moved in some way. And it just goes to show me that you know running is incredibly important to us here in the world. I think running is just one of those things that we need to keep, you know, supporting running in all the ways. You know, if you’re a runner, keep running. If you’re not a runner, then consider supporting in other ways, volunteer at an event. But running is important. It’s important to us as a community, and it just really shines a light on that.
For me, you know, it was like, wow, this is a big deal, and we’re doing all this, just what because a bunch of people want to run? Like, who would think that 50 years ago, that this would turn into what it is today, like, it’s just so amazing. So that was just, it really put it into perspective for me, you know, I’ve been involved in all kinds of big races and stuff, and it just hit me this weekend, like, man, running is such an important part of our country and this world, you know, I mean, other countries have amazing races, huge races that have been going on forever, and so running is important. So just keep that in mind, that that is important. We gotta keep these races going. We gotta keep these things going.
Another lesson learned is that you are capable of way more than you think you are. It is an emotional experience watching people cross the finish line, not only for me watching, but for them. I saw so many people getting emotional, crying, crossing the finish line, just completely amazed at themselves because they did something that was really hard. They’re so proud of themselves. You know, there was people that were crossing the finish line for their first marathon. And you know, we saw the Achilles team, which is the disabled athletes I mentioned earlier, who are running on the one blade or two blades.
And you know, they’re doing things that most people would never dream of doing. They’re doing it and they only have one leg, you know, or you know they’ve had both their legs amputated, and they were running on blades. This, like, eliminates all the excuses, you know, like if you see somebody crossing the finish line of a marathon on blades. This changes your perspective on things. You know, there’s also so many wheeled athletes that are using hand cycles to complete a marathon that are, you know, maybe injured in combat or whatever, I mean, just to see these people and the determination that they put into this thing and that they get the job done, it is amazing, there was a friend of Jill’s who finished her first marathon. She crossed the finish line. It was really emotional.
She ended up, she had to go into cancer surgery the very next day. Oh my gosh, you talk about lots of tears at the finish line for this amazing woman that was, that was big, right there, you know? So she trained for and ran her first marathon, knowing that the day after, she had to go in and have this surgery, who, you know, and I’m just thinking to myself, like no excuses for anything. You know, there’s so many people that have given so much of themselves during training and in the race itself. Running a marathon, is hard. This is hard work, and for a lot of these people, it’s going to change their life forever.
You know, when I crossed the finish line my first marathon, my first marathon was the Flying Pig here in Cincinnati. You know, there’s probably 15,000 or so people running that particular event. You know, when you combine the full and the half marathon people, but when I crossed the finish line of that, I felt like my life had changed, like it shifted something in me, like I just did something that most people will never be able to do in their life, and I trained for it. Didn’t really do a great job of the training, but I trained for it, and I ran the marathon, and crossing that finish line was truly an emotional experience for me and an amazing experience for me. And it changed me. It put me in the direction that I’m here talking to you about running right now.
You know, it really shaped the course of my life, you know, because that was such an amazing accomplishment for me. So just know that, you know, we are all capable of way more than we think we are. You can do things that you never thought were possible, you know. And I used to think doing stuff like that, that’s not me. That’s not who I am. I could never do that until I did, you know. So you’re capable of way more than you think.
Another lesson that I learned is that you really can run forever. And I know we all like to say this, and I’ve always had this as kind of like in the back of my mind, but seeing so many older people crossing the finish line of that marathon, people in their 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, that are crossing the finish line of this marathon.
My new goal in life is just to be able to run forever. I don’t need to be the fastest. I don’t need to be doing, you know, all kinds of crazy stuff like I’ve done in the past. I just want to be able to run forever no matter what, it’s so important to me. It’s been, it’s become such an important part of my life that I don’t ever want to lose sight of that. I want running to always be a part of my life from now on.
Another lesson that I learned is that I’m so grateful to be a part of the running community. So I mean, I love running. I love runners. I love everything about running, but especially being part of the running community. You know, here in Cincinnati, we have a huge running community, lots of running groups. We have races all year long. I’m part of a local running group, so I run with people on Saturday mornings. And of course, I get to sit here and talk about running to you every week on the podcast, I get to talk about running every day with all my clients. And, you know, I’ve never really felt so good about a quote- unquote job ever before in my life.
Like the fact that I get to do this every day as my job is just amazing. It blows my mind, you know, just blows my mind that I get to do this every single day. I get to talk about running. I get to run, I get to talk to runners. I get to coach runners. And it’s just an amazing thing for me being a part of this running community. And when I say community, I don’t just mean local, I just mean like the running community at large. You know, it fills me with a sense of purpose. It’s fulfilling for me, and it really supports my mission, my mission, which is to be an example of what’s possible and to inspire others to do the same being part of this running world. It just really supports that mission, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
You know, I’m so grateful for the running community. Seeing people at Marine Corps who are part of this running world and who have given themselves to running for the last three months, six months, whatever it is, however long they’ve been training for this event, and people that have done this race so many times, it’s just it fills me with a sense of pride, like I’m super proud to be a part of this, and I’m just like, so grateful, so grateful that I get to be a part of the running community.
Then lastly, I just want to say that I’m really grateful to have a partner in life in Jill, who’s also very involved in the running community, and who shares my love of running, Jill is just as passionate about running as I am, maybe even more so, and like me, running isn’t just, you know, part of her job, it’s an important part of her life.
So having a partner who gets it when it comes to running, it’s amazing. You know, we speak a common language. We share common goals. We swapped stories about running and all the incredible people that we get to work with and how inspiring they are. We support each other in so many ways that, you know, non runners just don’t get it. So I’m incredibly grateful to have Jill in my life. I hope you have someone in your life who gets you, who supports you, who shares your love of running, whether it’s a partner, a family member, a friend, you know, we runners, we’re a little bit different, you know. So we definitely need to stick together. We need to support each other, and to have a supportive partner is amazing. If you don’t have a supportive partner, then look to friends, look to other people in the running community reach out to me. I’ll be your supportive running friend.
Okay, they say that running is mostly mental, so you got to be mostly mental to do what we do. You know, I love that, but these are just a few of my thoughts from this weekend, and some of the things that I wanted to share with you. If you haven’t done it, I encourage you to do the Marine Corps here in Washington, DC, in October, the 50th running will be next year. And as soon as you can, I would sign up for that, because I think it’s going to fill up pretty quickly.
And if you’re interested in doing that Armed Forces series challenge, I think that would be amazing, too. So it’s Air Force marathon, Marine Corps Marathon, Coast Guard marathon, and then you got the Army 10 and the Space Force 10. So really, really fun.
I’m so grateful that I got to be a part of all of this. This weekend I came away from this thing, just fired up about running, and fired up about the running community, and fired up about runners in general.
I love running. I love you all. That’s all I got for you today. So keep on Running Lean. I will talk to you soon.
251. How to Run Smarter with Brodie Sharpe
If you’re a runner and you’ve ever dealt with a running-related injury, then this episode is especially for you. I recently sat down with Brodie Sharpe, a physiotherapist from Melbourne, Australia …
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241. The Best Cross-Training Exercises for Runners
A lot of runners believe that when it comes to exercise, running is more than enough. They love running, do it 6-7 days a week, and don’t feel the need to do anything else. Then there are those …
Continue Reading about 241. The Best Cross-Training Exercises for Runners →
Podcast Transcript
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, sports nutritionist, Master life coach and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you, properly fuel your body and your mind so you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.
Hey there and welcome to episode 241 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners, and today, the Best Cross-Training Exercises for Runners. So a lot of runners believe that when it comes to exercise, running is more than enough. They love running. They run six, seven days a week. They don’t feel the need to do anything else. Then there are those runners, and you know who you are out there, who believe in the power of cross training, and some believe in it so hard that they find themselves doing some form of cross training six or seven days a week. In addition to running wherever you fall on the spectrum, you know, whatever end of the spectrum you’re on, there are some forms of cross training that provide more benefits to you as a runner. So in this episode, I’m gonna explain what cross training is, what it isn’t, and offer suggestions for the best cross training exercises for you as a runner.
But first, if you’re interested in getting leaner and stronger, if you’re interested in running faster or longer, then you need to change your behaviors, because doing the same things is not going to get you there. Nothing changes, if nothing changes, right? But the real secret is doing these new things, making these changes and making them consistent. If you decide you want to get stronger, so you go to the gym once a month, it’s not going to get you the results that you want. If you want to get faster and you do speed work once a month, that’s not going to get you there. You need to adopt new behaviors, and you need to start doing them consistently. And this is where coaching really helps, because trying to stay on track yourself is very challenging. I know I’ve tried it a million times, and it never really worked for me until I got a coach. Then everything changed. Now, you know, I had somebody there was that guiding me every step of the way, holding me accountable, calling me out when I started slipping back into old behaviors. But most importantly, I had a coach that would never let me quit. So if you’re ready to start doing new things, adopting new behaviors and doing them consistently, consistently, then let’s get you there. Just go to running lean coaching.com. Click on work with me, and I’ll show you exactly how to become the most badass version of yourself yet.
Cool. Okay. The reason I wanted to talk about this today is because a lot of runners think that just running is enough of an exercise to do. I talk to runners all the time who tell me they don’t do any kind of cross training, they don’t do any kind of strength training, and that they run, and that’s good enough. And you know what? Running is great for you. There’s a lot of benefits for running. And then there are some runners who do all the cross training, and they work out all the time. They don’t take time off. They really don’t take enough time off, probably. And so there’s people on both ends of the spectrum here, like I mentioned at the intro here. So wherever you fall on that spectrum, let’s kind of get into what might be some of the best exercises that you can engage in so that you can start getting better results.
Okay, so first of all, what are we talking about here? What is cross training? So cross training is really, it’s engaging in one or multiple forms of intentional exercise in order to improve performance in your main sport. So for us runners, this would be any type of intentional exercise that complements your running goals or helps you to achieve your running goals. And your running goals might be to run faster or to run longer, to improve your running efficiency or to reduce your risk of injury. Okay, so any type of intentional exercise that complements your running goals helps you to reach those running goals.
What cross training isn’t for one. Cross training is not a substitute for running. So if you want to improve your running, you have to run right. You just can’t do cross training solely and then hope to run a marathon right? I think we kind of know that, but cross training should be used as a supplement to running, not a substitute for running, okay? And the one exception to that would be if you are injured and you can’t run, then cross training is a great way to, you know, supplement running and to maintain some level of fitness or without actually running. A lot of people who have maybe an overuse injury, let’s say something like a stress fracture of their, you know, tibia, or something like that. And they’re they can’t run, they need to take some time off running, but they can do other things like swimming or elliptical. So those are considered cross training exercises for runners that really help to improve your cardiovascular system, to keep your fitness up, to improve your endurance, but they’re not running, you know? But that’s that would-be one exception there. So in that case, it’s kind of a substitute for running, because you can’t run.
The other thing cross training is not, it’s not strength training necessarily. So there are types of cross training that are exactly that, that are strength training. So like weightlifting comes to mind, and I’m going to talk all about this in a minute, but keep in mind that all cross training is not strength training. And I talk to people all the time who tell me, you know, ask them specifically, are you doing anything to build strength? Are you getting stronger? Are you lifting weights? Are you doing regular strength training? Oh, yeah, I do yoga, or, you know, I swim, or I cycle, those things. You know, you might build a little bit of strength, but there’s a limit to which you’re going to get there. It’s really not intentional strength training. A lot of that stuff is more cardio type of behavior. So just keep that in mind, that cross training is not a substitute for running, right? It’s a supplement, and that it’s not necessarily strength training, but it could be so.
Is cross training recommended for runners? Is it good for you as a runner, or is it harmful? And this all depends on how you do it, how often you do it if you’re recovering properly between workouts and things like that. So there are tons of benefits to cross training for runners, and there are also some downsides. You know, there are some things you got to be careful of, and most of the downsides are based on when you start doing too much and you’re not recovering properly. In other words, when you start to cross over into overtraining, doesn’t matter what you’re doing. If you’re overtraining, this can lead to injury, you know? It can lead to burnout. It can lead to exhaustion, lethargy, like there’s all kinds of things that you can experience if you’re overtraining. So you got to be careful not to overtraining.
But cross training. If you want to do cross training, you should be incorporating some sort of cross training into your weekly training schedule. You know, I’m a big proponent of cross training for runners. I think it is good for you. I think the benefits really outweigh any kind of negatives. As long as you’re doing it properly, you should be training to run, not just running to train. In other words, use cross training to help improve your running, but don’t overdo it. Obviously. Don’t just run and make that your only form of training. I think that as a well rounded fit athlete, if you want to reach your peak performance, if you want to reach your full potential, you should be doing some sort of cross training.
And then another question comes up a lot, which is, how often should I be doing cross training? And again, I hate to keep saying this, but it really depends on your goals and on the individual. If you’re training for the Olympics, let’s say you’re training for the Olympic, you know, 5000 meters, you know. You might be cross training every single day, you know. But if you’re a normal human being like me, then maybe you want to run a faster half marathon, you know. So one to three days of cross training per week is probably where you want to be. That could be enough for you.
Okay, you can do more as long as you are properly recovering from the previous workout. So let’s say you start your workout on Thursday morning and you’re absolutely wiped out from the previous day’s workout, whether it’s a run, you know, cross training session, whatever, if you’re absolutely wiped out, then you might be over training. And some forms of cross training are easier on your body than others. So if you’re doing some mobility or flexibility work like foam rolling, stretching, yoga. These are not as taxing on your body as, you know, high impact intervals or, you know, plyometrics or something like that. So you can get away with more cross training sessions per week if you’re incorporating some of these types of trainings into your weekly schedule.
The key though is really just listen to your body. Make sure you’re seeing improvements in your fitness. You don’t want to be breaking yourself down. So how often you should train is really an individual. It’s up to the individual. Again, one to three days a week is probably good for most people. But, you know, for example, I lift weights five days a week, you know, I do yoga once a week, and then I do some other forms of, maybe some rucking, or some, you know, brisk walking a few days a week. So it just depends on the individual and what types of exercises you’re engaging in. Okay, really, it’s just, it’s mostly about making sure you’re improving and that you are recovering from the previous workout.
Okay, so if you’re interested in getting into some cross training, then the first step is to determine your goals for cross training. So you have to have one or more goals in mind in order to get the most out of the cross training that you choose to do. So instead of just saying, like, oh, people say I should be doing, you know, some swimming or rowing, you know, just determine what your goals are, you know, first, and then you can just decide what exercises might best help you reach those goals. So a few goals that I would challenge you to kind of think about would be to prevent injury, to gain strength, you know, to actually get stronger, to run faster, to run longer, so either increase your speed as a runner or increase your endurance as a runner. You know maybe you want to PR a race, to build lean muscle, to improve your bone density, to increase mobility, to improve flexibility, to improve your cardiovascular system, to improve your explosive power, or maybe it’s all of the above, or some combination of aforementioned goals. So whatever your goals are, and there might be more than I’m not thinking of, but those are the ones that, the big ones that kind of came to mind. Once you know your goals, you can start looking at different exercises, different cross training exercises that actually help to help you to reach those goals.
Okay, so let’s go through some of these. So if you want to prevent injury, a few cross training exercises you might want to consider would be strength training. You know, when you get stronger muscles, you’re less likely to get injured. You also build stronger connective tissues, ligaments and tendons, which is where most runners tend to get injured. You build just a stronger structural system, you know, stronger bones as well. So if preventing injury is one of your goals, then regular strength training will go a long way to help with that, also preventing injury. Mobility work like stretching and foam rolling, and flexibility work like stretching, yoga, Pilates.
So all of these things can help you if your goal is to prevent injury, right and, and you don’t have to do everything I just mentioned under that category, but you can just pick a few things. You know? Maybe you do pilates and some foam rolling every week, and some regular strength training, and then you’re doing enough to prevent injury, okay? Maybe your goal is to get stronger. Again, strength training like this is intentional resistance training like weightlifting, right? You have to have some resistance. You got to overload your muscles. You know? We want to progressive overload the muscles in order to get stronger. And we want to be doing upper body as well as lower body exercises that work various muscle groups will give you the best overall results by just doing a few exercises.
For example, the three big ones that come to mind that work the most muscle groups are deadlifts, squats and bench press, like these are the big power lifting moves. But they work a lot of muscle groups, and they cover pretty much all your bases right there. Rucking with a weighted backpack or a vest. So this is just, you know, power walking or hiking in the woods, however you want to do it. This will get you stronger, and this helps to directly improve your running as well. If your goal is to run faster than obviously, you need to be doing some speed work, like some high intensity intervals, but also some things like pool running or jumping on a stair climber, doing hill repeats. And then again, strength training will help you to run faster as well, because you’re going to have more powerful muscles you know, to propel you down the road or on the trails. If your goal is to improve endurance as a runner, then any exercise that raises your heart rate and keeps it there is going to go a long way to help you improve your endurance.
So things come to mind like swimming, cycling, elliptical, stair climber, pool running, cross country skiing. It’s kind of hard to think about that. We’re in the middle of summer right now, but you know, maybe you’re on the other side of the world, and cross country skiing is something you can engage in. It’s awesome, awesome exercise to build endurance, and then strength training goes a long way to help improve endurance as well, because strong muscles take much longer to fatigue than weak muscles. So you want to improve your endurance as a runner, you know, get stronger. Do that regular resistance training, maybe one of your goals is to build lean muscle.
So hypertrophy training, this is going to be probably the best type of cross training that you can do to build lean muscle. So this is resistance training done with lighter weights and more sets and reps. So your volume is going to be much higher but the amount of weight you’re using is going to be quite a bit lower than strength training. If you’re actually training to build strength. You’re going to be working with heavier weights and fewer sets and reps. And I did a whole podcast about this a while back. I don’t remember which number it is. I’ll try to put a link in the show notes to that episode.
Rucking is another way of building lean muscle, especially lower body, but also core, back, neck. You know, if you’re doing anything with a weighted backpack, you know, it does put some type of strain on your shoulders and your upper body, and so it does help to improve strength all over. Let’s see, improve bone density.
So impact activities like running actually help improve bone density. So bone stress is one way that this works. So when you run, your muscles pull on your bones, which causes them to reform and become stronger, right? It’s called Bone metabolic activity. And then the higher impact stuff like running is a high impact exercise, and higher impact activities generally have a greater effect on bone density than lower impact activities.
But in addition to running, since we’re talking about cross training here, strength training helps to build stronger bones, rucking, hiking trail running, Plyometrics, jumping rope, any time you’re engaging in any kind of high impact or higher impact activities is going to help improve bone density.
Keep in mind, though, that again, when we talk about over training, you know, there’s a point of diminishing returns where you could be over training when it comes to too much impact, and this could start to have some diminishing returns on bone density, so just be sure to stay out of that over training zone. Make sure you’re not over training if your goal is to increase mobility, then you want to be engaging in functional mobility exercises like kettlebell swings and yoga and stretching and foam rolling. So all of these things can help improve your mobility.
Plyometrics is a good one for that as well, if we’re talking improving flexibility, yoga, stretching. I love my power Yin class that I take every week. So this is a yoga class. The first half of the class is building strength and endurance. So this is the power part of the class. Second part of the class is the Yin yoga part of the class. So this is where we are holding poses, and not, you know, it’s not building endurance. So you might be seated and you’re holding a stretch for a longer period of time. That part I love. I love that part of the class, because I just feel whenever I leave there, I feel more flexible.
If your goal is to improve your cardiovascular system, you might want to consider HIIT training, you know, again, high intensity intervals, stair climber, elliptical, swimming, cycling, cross country skiing, hiking, even just brisk walking, anything again to get your heart rate up and keep it there.
And then, if your goal is to improve explosive power, then plyometrics and any type of resistance training done with power, as opposed to, like, slow lifts. So if you’re doing, you know, bench press instead of just, you know, pushing the weight up very slowly, you’re going to power that weight up and power that weight up like, that’s how you’re going to do your reps, if you want to build power into your muscles. So improving explosive power can be done with, you know, plyometrics specifically, but also with explosive resistance training as well.
And then, if your goal is maybe to improve your running form, HIIT training like sprinting is an awesome way to improve your running form. Because if you think about this, try this the next time you’re out running, go sprint for a few minutes, you know, or 30 seconds at a time, or whatever it is, and you will find that your running form is much different when you’re sprinting, it’s much more efficient, like you just run differently when you’re sprinting. It’s really hard to run with bad form when you’re sprinting, so practice intervals like sprinting to help improve your running form, but also things like yoga and pilates can help with that too, because they help improve your core. Pilates is an awesome core and back strengthening type of exercise.
So as you can see, there are a ton of awesome cross training exercises that you can do, that you can choose from. So the first step is to figure out your goals, and then decide which of these might help you to reach those goals, and pick a few from some of these categories, you know, just be sure that you’re not over training right. Again, maybe one to three days of cross training is enough for you. You can do more as long as you’re recovering properly from each of these workouts.
The important thing is that you are doing some sort of intentional exercise to help supplement and improve your running and help you to reach those running goals that you have. You know, running is great and you need to keep running in order to get faster as a runner, or to run longer distances or improve your running form. All those things are going to help, but consider some of these cross training exercises that will help you to also accomplish those goals and maybe a little bit faster and stay injury free in the process.
Cool, that’s all I got for you today. I know you guys got this. Love you all. Keep on Running Lean and I will talk to you soon.