Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Strength training
Ladies (or anyone else reading this!), I need help. I haven't been to the gym in months--it's terrible. I've been doing pretty well with running, but I really need to get back into a strength training routine. What do you do? Classes, free weights, weight machines? Do you do it on the same days you run or on off days? What keeps you motivated? I always get so bored when lifting weights! But I know that weight training is important to overall fitness. Please help!
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Netto,
ReplyDeleteI am really bad about strength training, too! I hate using free weights and the gym machines scare me... especially with all the Georgetown undergrads around pumping iron!! :) I really like Pilates and Yoga though and I wonder if that would count as strength training???
Also, while we're on the questions... do you do any intervals and speed work during the week?! I also think spinning and swimming are good x-training activities.
t.
I went to the gym on Thursday and lifted weights for 30 whole minutes! :) I'm going back tonight. I figure that I'll probably be bad about lifting once I start half marathon training in earnest, so I might as well do some strength training now!
ReplyDeleteWhen I train for races, I do some intervals/tempo runs (maybe 1x/week). Now, since I'm not in training mode, I'm just doing three easy runs and one long run (currently 7.5 miles) per week. I don't want to burn myself out before I start training!
Have you heard of the book "Run Less, Run Faster"? It's actually written by a group of professors at Furman (I should ask Michele if she knows them!) I randomly read it a year or two ago, and it's a cool training method. The idea is that you can train for a marathon, half marathon, etc. on only three runs per week, if they are carefully planned. One run a week is intervals, one is tempo, and one is a long run. They say that training intensity is more important than the number of miles you log, but their training plans still look like a lot of miles to me! While I think the method is sound, I haven't tried it. Partially because it looks so intense! They have you calculate your paces based on a recent race time, and they really have you push the speed on all the runs. You're supposed to supplement the three weekly runs with two cross-training activities (they recommend swimming and biking). Here's the website: www.furman.edu/first