Strength and Conditioning for Running and Overall Fitness Awesomeness

As of late, my programming is focused on increasing our overall strength and conditioning, primarily for a half-marathon that we are all running.  For my clients, many want overall conditioning balanced with a busy life.  But they also want to get into sick shape to push themselves in events they are traning for.

Myself included, I am training for several things--a run and a kettlebell event--but I don't want to lose my overall strength and power.  So I have to strike a delicate balance with my training.  That is usually a hard thing to do when training for a running event while also training strength.  One thing I have been doing is supplementing my training with finishers and mini metabolic conditioning routines. (Check out www.minimetcon.com for more details by Mike Stelhe.) Also, I have been doing workout splits on running days: I do an upper body mini-circuit in the morning, and a run in the afternoon.  I still hit strength on 3 other days during the week.

Examples of mini-metacons: Do them in short bursts or loop them together for a full body workout!

I am finding that I am  not losing my overall power.  Further, because my body is recovering well and I am getting stronger from functional lifts on quality strength days, my runnng is more programmed, I am faster, and I am not getting injured.  To boot, my clients and I are only running between 2-3 times per week.  Yet we are all adding disctance and speed without injury.

Too many times I see people run too much and get injured training for such enduracne events.  They also lose overall strength.  Thus, that is the beauty of kettlebell training: You don't have to sacrafice one type of training for the other.  Rather, it improves your overall all fitness and health.  With many of the circuits at Rogue Kettlebell Fitness, we do full body workouts that consist of the following:

Upper Body Pushing and Pulling: Rows, Presses, Pullups, Pushups.  All these help maintain strength in the back and shoulders, as well as the core.  These are all keys to running healthy and upright.

Lower Body Pushing and Pulling: Squats, Deadlift, Snatch, Swings, Plyo Box Jumos.  All these help strengthen the legs, knees, and hips; as well as promote their synergenic use.  Also, working the posterior chain adds running power and core stability on the trail.

Overall, when programmed the right way, this type if training pays out amazing results to your overall fitness.  Check out how we do it!

Great strength and conditioning circuit for runners and endurance athletes.

Metacon Finisher: Pushups and Swings do a body good.

Metacon examples from the week:

Sunday: Long Mountain Bike Ride Tuesday: 15 min. 400 meters rower 100 Jumpropes 5/5 KB Snatches (32K)

Thursday: Metacon and Running Split AM Workout: 5/5 Seesaw Press (26Ks) 7 Deadhang Pulups 5/5 Snatch (26K) PM Run: 6 Mile Trail Run Up Bullrun Mountain