THE IMPORTANCE OF UPPER BODY STRENGTH FOR RUNNERS
When you're dealing with someone who is potentially a triathlete or a swimmer, explaining the importance of developing their upper body strength is obviously going to be an easier sell; the ability to pull yourself through the water is non-negotiable so there are clear benefits to developing your shoulders, back and arms. If this is you and you’re not including upper body work, there are massive holes in your game that you need to be addressing.
But when it comes to running there is a clear lack of recognition and understanding that to be the best runner you can be, you can’t ignore your upper body when it comes to your strength training.
The common perception in the running community is that running is primarily a lower body sport and any sort of conditioning or upper body work is neglected usually because it’s seen to be unnecessary or a waste of time and energy. However once athletes begin to experience the benefits this approach can bring, the improvements in their running form and performance are clear as day.
With increased upper body strength, comes more ability to hold the stronger running gaits & positions for longer. Meaning that your running economy and efficiency are going to have improved over the longer distances or higher intensities. What’s more, when you're going shoulder-to-shoulder with someone in the finish chute, or where you're ascending or scrambling up the side of a rocky outcrop, what are you calling upon?....drive from your arms, strength from your shoulders and core, the ability for your body to work in unison.
Prime Stabilizers
A key reason we work upper body strength is to bring stability to your body. One of the most important things when it comes to developing your full body strength is to be able to remove instability so that you can become a better runner; improve your running form, efficiency and economy. Stability is going to allow us to prevent any compensations starting to occur, hip drops, shoulder rounding or excessive arm and head movement, all which will either compromise our performance or lead to injury.
With improved stability throughout the body you’re going to be reducing the amount of wasted energy, whether you're running 5k or 100k. If we can bring stability to your body, from your ankles to your knees, your hips to your shoulders, your head position and even your arm swing, we're going to be able to get more out of your body more of every single stride.
Energy Transfer
In simple terms, strength training allows you to organise your body better, which in turn allows for more efficient transfer of energy from your upper body to your legs.
If you've ever tried running and taking your arms out of the equation (running like a pencil, arms by your side) it’s an odd sensation because we are used to deriving so much momentum, stability and coordination from our arms.
As runners we are constantly seeking to find the best way to efficiently transfer energy from top to bottom, bottom to top and just like we focus on our running gait we should look at the position of our shoulders, our chest and our head. These ‘optimal’ positions are easy to find when you're feeling fresh in the first few km’s of your run. But one of the most common parts to break under fatigue is the upper body, which then will start have repercussions down the body. And as soon as you start to crumble from the top down, your head position drops, shoulders start to roll inwards, internally rotate, your form starts to crumble, you're losing your posture, you're going to start breaking at the hip, overloading the quads and knees… you're done (cue shuffling wreck!)
And that's generally what we see, especially in novice runners, they've lost all shape and form simply because they lack conditioning across the whole body. So if you are someone who neglects their upper body, have this image in your head, because when you are next working on your overhead press, single arm row or pull up variations, this is your reason why.
“I think I was one of those people who thought that upper body strength probably wasn’t that important if you’re running - so I think that is where iv’e seen the most change is in my upper body and my core strength, more of a solid runner.””
Running with Poles or a Pack?
For anyone running ultra distances chances are you are using poles or wearing a pack. This is only going to ask more demand from your upper body and even more reason why you should be working on your upper body strength.
Because in these circumstances it’s more likely your upper body is going crumble first, and that's going to put more labor into your lower body. Lack of shoulder stability and strong postural positions in the latter stages of your run efforts are going to be evident, along with your inability to confidently use your poles across complex terrains.
Our goal is to develop your key upper body musculature; upper traps, lats, deltoids and triceps, not so much in isolation but in synergy so that you are able to perform consistently at high levels of fatigue.
Won’t I get too bulky?
A common concern when it comes to runners and upper body strength is the fear of “bulking up”. The fear of adding too much load to your upper body. As longer distance runners you are generally doing a lot wrong to build excess muscle in the way that you’re imagining. Remember the volume we are talking about, maybe two or three upper body exercises per session, two to three times a week. With 12-15 sets of work per week, it’s physiologically very unlikely that you're going to be gaining exceptional bulk up-top along side your running volume. What we will be doing however is creating lean muscle tissue.
What we are looking to achieve is to increase the cross sectional density of muscle fibres, increasing your ‘pound for pound’ strength to weight ratio, so that you as an athlete are able to produce greater levels of work more easily and for longer.
With any new improvements in body composition, hopefully it will bring a sense of confidence and empowerment to know that now you have got more potential, more strength and more power.
General Health Benefits
Often the most over looked benefit is that of your general health. It's very easy to get obsessed about your running times, pacing and splits, but if your body is broken and you are struggling physically on a day to day basis with upper body issues, postural imbalances, tightness, pain or restriction it's not only going to impede your performance but your daily quality of life.
“I am noticing the difference, for instance I can actually pick my son up and put him on my shoulders myself, whereas before I didn’t have the flexibility or movement and my wife had to put him on for me!”
So, which exercises?
Generally speaking with running clients we work on a 60/40 split time wise. 60% lower body and 40% on your upper back, shoulders, upper chest, everywhere from your waist upwards.
When it comes to the best exercises we want a balanced approach and if you're tight on time, a variation of the push up and chin up are a great place to start.
If you can't do a chin up, you're going to be doing some form of suspended row using either a suspension trainer or a set of gymnastic rings. Start with three sets of 10 repetitions and play around with the incline of your body to find the optimal intensity for you. Ideally we want to be working towards being able to perform a standard of 5 chin ups.
Chin Up or Supported Row
Push Up
With your push ups, if a full push up is too advanced, think about finding an inclined surface e.g. the edge of the couch, kitchen table or bench. The trouble with doing push ups on your knees is that it doesn't engage your full body - core, glutes, lower back, all the things that you want to be working on. So try to aim for incline and work up to full press ups.
There are then supplementary exercises that we can look to bring in to not only develop your push up and chin up capacity but also the general strength and conditioning of your upper body, the above two examples are a great way to start thinking about bringing upper body work into your strength sessions.
To Summarise
So if you haven’t already, start bringing a few of these key upper body exercises into your strength sessions, and you’re going to see and feel the benefits pretty quickly. Whether you're at the track, out on the trail, scaling the next big climb, if you're not developing these areas, you are leaving so much on the table, and you're going to be increasing the likelihood of niggles and injuries.
If you’ve got any questions about bringing upper body work into your sessions, don’t hesitate to send us a quick message.