Works the upper body to help improve running speed
Dec 20, 2023
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Running is a project that relies on alternating legs. The lower limbs seem to be more important. Does that mean that the upper limbs can be ignored? A recent Harvard University study, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, found that neuromechanical connections between the head and arms are activated while running, but not during walking, and that the effect is enhanced by holding a heavy object in each hand. The researchers suggest that long-distance running boosts this synergistic muscle activation. Simply put, working your upper body will help improve running speed.
"Running is a full-body sport. Your upper limbs need to be as strong as your legs. Good upper body strength will give you wings for running." Numerous studies have found that runners can improve their performance by nearly 12 percent by properly swinging their arms. The powerful upper limbs provide balance, power, and coordination during running, thus improving running efficiency. Some running friends run torso "a twist", it is likely because of the lack of upper body strength, they rely on the waist to balance the rotation of the body, over time will be back pain. Therefore, only the coordination of hands can make the human body show a coordinated and elegant running posture. The faster you run, the more rotational force you have on your torso, and the more powerful your upper limbs need to swing to balance your torso and lower limbs. Not knowing how to use arms or even knowing how to use arms is a great loss to runners.
"When you run, you generally need to bend your elbows 90 degrees." It may seem effortless, but the longer you run, the longer you swing your arms and hold your elbows bent, and the more tired your arms become, Dai said. Therefore, runners in the daily physical training, appropriate arrangement of upper body strength training is essential, good upper body strength can help improve the running ability. Push-ups and arm flex&extension are two of the most common and easiest exercises for freehand upper limb training, especially push-ups, which have been confirmed by recent research to be the easiest predictor of fitness. In February 2021, Harvard published a heavyweight study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that followed 1,104 men for 10 years and confirmed a significant negative correlation between push-up strength and future cardiovascular disease risk, meaning that the more push-ups you do, The probability of future cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease and sudden death is significantly reduced.
Experts say there are also different push-ups options for different groups of people and runners at different levels:
Beginner exercises: Kneel push-ups. Suitable for women, beginner runners, weak people, hands slightly wider than shoulder. On the basis of the kneeling push-up, some variations can also be completed by changing the position of the hands, slightly increasing the difficulty. For example, the narrow elbow push up, this movement requires hands shoulder-width apart, elbow clamping training, which is closer to the arm swing required by running, is a combination of running special upper body training; Diagonal kneeling support, one hand position on the other hand position on the next; Diamond kneeling supposition, hands in a figure-eight support on the ground, this movement is the most difficult kneeling push-up exercise, can effectively strengthen the upper body strength.
Advanced exercises: One - foot kneel push-ups or regular push-ups. Suitable for strong women, intermediate runners, medium strength men. The one-legged kneeling push-up is based on the kneeling push-up by lifting one leg off the ground. Ordinary push-ups can also be suitable for men with strong strength and veteran runners through movement changes, such as narrow distance push-ups, diamond push-ups, etc. If you're confident enough in your strength, you can also try one-legged push-ups, which add a core control component and are more difficult.
Experts remind, do push-ups is not the more the better, should pay attention to the following points:
1. Do push-ups, keep the waist and back straight, shoulder blades tightened, collapse not only can not reach the training effect, but lead to increased lumbar pressure and lumbago;
2. There is no absolute standard for the number of times, which is based on the completion of high-quality actions. Excessive pursuit of times often leads to a large number of compensatory actions in the last few actions, which can not reach the purpose of training upper body strength.
3. Appropriate training movements should be selected according to one's own ability, and the above diversified training movements can also be used to enrich training;
4. Upper body strength training can be arranged 1-2 times a week. Generally, upper body strength training is integrated into core and lower body training.
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