The most effective way to fix your muscle weaknesses and imbalances
Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running
RunnersConnect: Coaching Community, Running Experts, Inspiring Runners, No Fluff Blog
4.5 • 936 Ratings
🗓️ 3 December 2021
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Most recurring running injuries are caused by some kind of muscle imbalance or weakness.
The imbalance or weakness in one part of your body causes another part to compensate by doing more work, usually resulting in some type of overuse injury.
Strength training is the best way to fix this…but not just any type of strength training. Specifically, you'll want to focus on what's called unilateral training.
On this episode of the Run to the Top Podcast, I'm going to explore:
- What unilateral training is
- Why unilateral strength training is so important for runners,
- Which exercises benefit runners the most, and (this is important)
- When not to use unilateral movements, because as good as they are, they do have limitations.
If you're constantly suffering from recurring injuries, this is a must-listen episode!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there my running friend this is Coach Claire Bartholic, the Planted Runner, and this is the |
| 0:14.8 | Run to the Top Podcast, one of the first and only running podcast dedicated to making |
| 0:19.7 | you a better runner with each and every episode. We are created and produced by the |
| 0:24.6 | expert team of running coaches at runnersconnect.net where you can find the |
| 0:29.7 | best running The simplest difference between running and walking is the airtime. |
| 0:45.0 | When you walk, there's always a moment in your stride when both feet are touching the ground. |
| 0:50.0 | This is called a double supported or bilateral movement. |
| 0:54.0 | When you run, only one foot touches the ground at a time, |
| 1:00.0 | which is called single supported or unilateral. |
| 1:03.5 | There's a brief moment of air time |
| 1:05.0 | as you hop from one foot to the other. |
| 1:07.4 | You'll take thousands of these hops every mile |
| 1:10.2 | and the impact force with each foot strike |
| 1:12.2 | can be five to 12 times your body weight. |
| 1:15.7 | With that kind of repetitive force, it's no wonder that so many runners get injured each |
| 1:20.3 | year, and many runners simply don't take the time to do anything else besides |
| 1:24.6 | to run and that leaves them vulnerable. |
| 1:30.2 | This is where strength training comes in and specifically unilateral training. |
| 1:34.8 | By working on our muscle weaknesses and imbalances one side at a time, |
| 1:39.6 | we can help buffer some of those impact forces. On this episode of the Run to the Top |
| 1:44.2 | podcast I'm going to explore why unilateral training is so important for |
| 1:48.8 | runners, which exercises benefit runners the most, and this is important when not to use |
... |
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