Strength Training for Trail Runners

This is a blog video today for anyone out there that is a trail runner or does some sort of trail running in their running routine. I want to talk about why strength training is really a must if you are a trail runner.

So when it comes to trail running, it’s different from like a track running or road running when it comes to elevation. You’re doing a lot more climbs and a lot more downhills. And that’s going to require a lot more out of your muscles.

So when we’re going uphill, it requires more power generation out of your ankle and your hip. And then when we’re going downhill, it’s a really big eccentric load on your quads and your hip flexors.

Within your strength programming, you’re going to want to emphasize some movements that are going to load those muscles a little bit more. So when I’m talking about what our strength program should look like for someone that’s a trail runner, we’re still going to have the main lifts that a typical runner does. We’re going to do a squat, a dead lift, a calf raise. But then we’re going to incorporate some lifts that emphasize those muscles that have more load on them when you’re trail running.

So for example, I like to assign a split squat, or a rear foot elevated split squat. That’s going to put more eccentric load on your hip flexors. I also like to assign a hip thruster. Which is going to load your hip extensors more. And then lastly, when it comes to doing a plyometric, moving laterally, (doing like a skater hop) can be helpful. That’s going to require some neuromuscular control out of your ankle. And it’s also going to get you used to moving side to side for when you’re running and you have that uneven ground.

So that is kind of the thought process between why strength training is important if you’re a trail runner. And then some things that you can include to help yourself.