Often considered to be at opposite ends of the exercise spectrum, but are they really?

Maybe, maybe not!

More frequently we see many different sports turning to strength training to improve performance, the more we understand about conditioning the body for a given sport the more we can tailor the workouts to help replicate positions, shapes and movements for that sport.

Understanding how to create the right mix keeps the right balance of speed and strength.

It’ll come as no surprise that those who lift tremendous weights may not do as much cardiovascular work, and marathon runners will do a little less weight training than the average weightlifter!

But, they still have a balance. Loading races for example require pace, and participants can move pretty rapidly when they need to – dangerous over short distances!

Top marathon runners such as Eliud Kipchoge undertake resistance training concentrating on the main stress points of their sport, this includes posterior chain, glutes, core and hamstrings, this can be done as a body weight exercise or incorporate bands or weights.

So how does one find out the right mix for them?

Everyone is different, constantly changing our routines makes it difficult to analyse what is working. Ideally, we should introduce the changes in a gradual way and give ourselves time to see how the new routine is working out for us.

6-8 weeks will typically allow a good insight into how we have adapted to the routine.

If we are starting with a cardio heavy base, adding in a resistance workout for 30-45 minutes a week, working on the areas that have a higher level of strain is a good starting point. We also need to remember that those areas will need to recover, making the following day active recovery or a lighter day is a good idea.

Starting from a strength background, add a little light cardio into the mix, we could look to hit a step goal by walking, outside or on a slight incline on the treadmill. Stair climbers and cross trainers are also a nice inclusion. Just remember to keep it at a reasonable level, heading in for a 45 minute cross trainer session straight off might not be optimal – listen to your body.

We have a couple of previous write-ups on incorporating cross training into your workouts, so I’ll keep this brief, the key is to get all parts of our workout pulling towards the same goal.

Use the change in training to support the overarching goal, work on areas that make themselves known when we are in our main activity and build up slowly.

Adding in these additional sessions will help make us perform better and reduce injury risk leading to more consistency.

For help with how to balance speed and strength effectively, speak to a member of Team SF on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652

When looking at the additional strength we’ve gained over the winter months, it could be easy to think “More power – I am Speed!”

As always, it’s not quite that straight forward, with additional strength we are able to activate muscles faster and with more ease.

Additionally, the pace at which we can move will be increased, this enables us to reduce our contact time when running, over increase up-stroke assistance when cycling and so on.

When looking at how to deliver the extra strength, we often say keep up the same pace for longer or to improve the touch points.

After increasing our output, this could be either volume (distance/time) or intensity (speed) we can call upon the adaptations made to our muscles.

Decreasing our contact time helps with speed, leg stiffness and the ability to deliver power in a more efficient way translates directly into speed.

The more time we are on the ground the less time we are moving through the air, faster more direct delivery of power increases the time and distance covered in the air.

In order to have a firmer landing with faster contact we need to be able to tolerate the loading that comes with it, this is where the additional strength comes in.

Does that mean strength isn’t just heavy weights then?

Absolutely, stability, balance and range of motion all contribute to strength and the delivery of strength.

Loading of muscles with unilateral or off axis movements will increase the strength of those muscles giving more wiggle room when undertaking our chosen activity.

Trail running would be a good example, adding in single leg movements, balance lunges or basic plyometrics will increase ankle stability and strength, increasing power delivery whilst decreasing injury risk.

The same is true of lifting weights, again this doesn’t mean heavy, we can actively increase the stiffness of muscles with pauses, holds and volume in a ‘lighter’ weight range when we can focus on the movement rather than the amount of weight.

A quick note on stiffness, we are looking at tighten our springs, at an appropriate point:

For running having a tighter spring will use more of the energy from the ground, if our spring had long travel we would bleed that energy into the ground which takes longer and decreases the force we can apply overall.

This doesn’t mean we land hard, it is about reducing the travel of our muscles and contracting to apply the force required faster than before.

Cycling would benefit from the increase in transition from downward push to the up stroke, typically improving the up stroke assists the pushdown, increasing our cadence.

For help with how to add extra strength and how to deploy it effectively speak to a member of Team SF on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652

Good old gym gravity, normally we would associate this with popping into a gym looking at all of the equipment and then choosing the one you know how to use and are most at home with.

Would it be fair to say that’s often the case, stick with what you know?

“If you only do what you can do, you’ll never be more than you are now.”

– Master Shifu

Yes, that is indeed a quote from Kung Fu Panda, I’ll consider myself judged.

The context is important, to acknowledge that we need to widen our skillset and challenge ourselves outside of our comfort zone.

Now, just before you head off and attempt to scale a mountain, let’s consider movement in general.

We walk, we sit, we stand, we will probably do all the same movements each day, so thinking on from last week, how do we add additional range and wiggle room to those movements?

Well, as if you didn’t see this coming, alternative movements can help!

Let’s take a little look at a couple of common movements that we could adapt.

Leg press, solid movement, targets the legs nicely:

• Dumbbell/Kettlebell squats
• Wide/narrow variations
• Trap bar deadlift/squats
• Bulgarian split squat
• Hack squat
• Cable/resistance band squats

Bench press, it has stood the test of time and is a staple of many people’s workouts:

• Dumbbell chest press
• Cable chest press
• Press-up variations
• Floor press
• Dips
• Cross body press

Having a variety of movements for our workouts can help us to keep consistency up, whilst also keeping the workout fresh.

Consistency is always key, but let’s not pretend that having some flexibility and change isn’t also needed.

Having lots of variations could look tricky on the face of it, making pairs or groups can help remove this, for example:

Leg workout 1

1. Kettlebell squats 3 x 12
2. Leg press 5 x 10
3. Bulgarian split squats 3 x 10 (each leg)

Leg workout 2

1. Trap bar squats 5 x 10
2. Hack squats 3 x 8
3. Wide leg press 4 x 12

The reps and sets would need to be tailored, however, this gives us a mix of equipment and a variety of positions, some are slightly more quad focused, some more glutes, and it also includes some single leg work to help with balance and stability.

Just using the 7 leg exercises above (not an exhaustive list) that’s a lot of combinations.

You may even find a new favourite exercise!

As always, Team SF are here to help, fancy adding a few alternative movements to your routine? contact us on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652

This is a shout-out to the little ones, you know, the clever, funny ones who let us know exactly where they are based on the body when we push a little too far!

We have 2 main types of muscles in the body:

• The movers
• The stabilisers (supporting muscles)

Movers are just as you’d imagine, the ones that do the bulk of the work, they engage and get it done, however, they have a fair bit of help, in fact the movers job would be significantly harder without the support of:

The stabilisers, yep that’s right, chalk a win up for the little ones who make sure we are keep good form, ensuring balance is in check and make sure the movers can deliver the goods when called upon.

That’s not all they do either, good posture and alignment happen because of these small muscles working quietly behind the scenes day in and day out for us.

If they are working all day long on the other bits, why do they need additional strengthening?

Great question, let’s take, well any exercise in fact.

To get better at it, we would need to perform more repetitions, increase the weight and increase the overall intensity.

As the supporting muscles get worked with the movers, they will naturally get strengthened, however, this is where the specific work comes in, during a movement lots of different things happen.

We could go slightly out of line, be on the edge of a tolerance or in a slightly different position, if we solely work them with the movers, then they will only be strong in the same range as the mover itself.

By working them specifically, we can widen the working range which will increase the wiggle room we have, not only this, but also making them stronger in the assistance of the mover.

With stronger supporting muscles, movements become easier, whether that’s daily movements, static holds (standing sitting for longer periods) or during our workouts.

Increasing the strength and range of supporting muscles can be done in a variety of ways:

• Slower movements with lighter weights
• Increasing repetitions with lighter weights
• Increasing the range of motion with a bodyweight alternative
• Incorporating balance and stability drills

As we age, muscle takes a back seat, the smaller the muscle the less we have to play with.

Let’s say we lose 10% of muscle tone, not a massive deal for a big solid mover, however, for the much smaller stabiliser it’s a much bigger deal.

Keeping them in tip-top shape will make life easier, both inside and outside of the gym.

To find out how to incorporate supporting muscles into your workout, speak to a member of Team SF on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.

There are many reasons to strengthen our joints, from supporting our daily activities to enabling extra movement or being able to increase our workouts. It all starts from the same place, increasing our movement and stability.

The increase of movement and stability increases our ability and capability to:

• undertake daily tasks
• make real world activities easier
• increase the range of activities we can undertake

Improving our real-world performance is often overlooked in the gym, particularly with the social media barrage of super toned, high performance images we are presented with.

When looking at how to strengthen our joints, mapping out our current movement profiles/shapes, can give us a great indicator of where to start and what to mimic.

If hinging (bending from the hip) takes lots of effort/energy, we can implement exercises that strengthen this movement, we can begin to strengthen movements from as little as 6 weeks into a program.

Improving efficiency within these movements becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading to undertaking it more often, which in turn strengthens the movement and makes us more energy efficient at it.

In short, our workouts should improve life in the real world.

Things to consider…

Start out slow, introducing stability exercises can tire muscles quickly, we still need to be able to do all the daily tasks that follow!

Ensure we are engaging the muscles correct, form and quality are top priority, quantity is a way down the list.

Increase range of movement within the movement, we need to create a buffer zone.

Add additional stability, as above, having extra stability never hurts.

Adding movement and stability transfers into so many other aspects, this could be easier daily routine activities right through to performance delivery in competitions.

If you would like to discuss how to incorporate strengthening your joints into your workout, speak to a member of Team SF on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.

Whether its 10,000 steps a day, going for a bike ride or hopping on the rower, being active is important.

We don’t need to overdo it, and it doesn’t need to be in huge chunks or even for a specific distance or time.

Little and often, building ourselves up and enjoying it should be the main focus.

Starting off, we could walk around the block 1-2 times a day, aim for an extra 1000 steps or use the stairs at work.

Once we start to increase our distance or time, we can look at how to improve ourselves in slightly different ways:

Speed

Hills

Mixed activities

Again, adding in activities that we like will make it that much easier to stick to, so, if we are time bound we could add some short bursts of speed in, or a little hill in our route.

We can also introduce other activities to enhance what we are doing, maybe our current routine becomes the start of our own little circuit, something like a 10 minute walk then a few squats or press-ups or even a bit of skipping!

This list is endless, if you like targets then you could aim to get 10,000 steps in before 5pm, then each month shave an hour off! Or even completing them in as few outings as possible.

Adding some strength work in, will help to support your goals and help increase your targets, as per normal we’ll drop into that next week.

Speaking of targets and increases, one of the easiest ways to work it out is to use the 10% rule, it works really well for starting out, however, be aware that adding 10% continuously can result in some very large times/distances!

Start off and make small steps, because if we finish by thinking I could have done a little more, we are likely to want to go back….

Lastly, not every day is the same. We have golden days when everything falls into line, and days when someone has attached an anchor! The goal is to move and be active, if that means a shorter distance or less speed, so be it!

If you would like to find out how to best to be more active in your daily routine speak to a member of Team SF on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.

So, we’ve been at it in the gym, working other area’s and building ourselves up – awesome work.

Now time to take this back on the road, well outside, what should that look like?

I know, you’ve put all this effort in and want to see the results of the work – you will, we just need to make sure we let that build in line with getting used to the other factors again.

What other factors?

If we were talking running, we need to ensure stability is ready, our lungs and body need to get used to the temperature again, oh and elevation as incline and elevation are different animals.

We also (unfortunately) can’t just turn on all the improvements we’ve made, they need to filter through and be built up as we train.

Think of it like a car engine, we need to build up the revs, then change gear, build up again and so on. Now I’m not suggesting we start off in first gear, just that we allow a sensible amount of time to build up to our new high gear.

Often, going out without a measuring stick can help, so ditch the watch/computer and enjoy the first couple of outdoor sessions.

Pre-plan a route with an achievable distance and enjoy it, we can then think about the areas we have worked on and allow more flow, rather than watching a slower time/pace.

Include some of the alterations we’ve made during the winter months in our outdoor training:

Been working on hills? Maybe change your route to include a few more hills to allow the training to flow into your outdoor routine.

Worked on endurance? Try a different speed profile, push a little harder in the middle, then ease off and see if you are ready to go again faster than previously.

Been looking into supporting areas? How do they feel after being outdoors – did they feel stronger, do they ache less?

Once we have a few under our belt, we can then start to record and analyse our results and see where we are improving against our previous self.

If you would like to find out how to best to transition back to an outdoor routine speak to a member of Team SF on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.

Whilst we are sat indoors with our warm hot chocolate, thinking about how long ago summer feels, reviewing how our bodies felt during our training can serve us well.

What would we change?

Did our lower back ache when cycling long distances?

Did our ankles feel under tension when doing speed work?

What did we feel the most after a training session?

When we review our performance, and importantly look at it objectively, we can uncover areas which will lend themselves to being included in our ‘off season’ or winter training plans.

Equally what we don’t do can also feed into our winter training:

Let’s pick on a runner who prefers roads, rarely ventures to the trails as it makes their calves and ankles sore for a few days afterwards which interrupts their overall weekly training.

With that as our example, what should we be doing in the gym?

We could start with some simple heel and toe touches to improve ankle stability (this will also help the knees and build strength in the non-dominant side, we’ll save that for another day)

We could also use a balance dome to increase stability, and of course staples like calf raises to add strength.

We’ll switch to the cyclist, lower back ache after long rides (or staying in aero positions for longer periods).

Firstly, checking our bike setup is correct for us is vital – there are many excellent providers of this.

Onto the muscles, having a strong core is vital, when our core is fatigued, our lumbar has to work much harder to stabilise us.

How about the hips? Ensuring we can be seated comfortably and maintain a natural spine will assist in preventing back aches, this is achieved by being able to tilt our pelvis forwards.

Areas that play into the hips include over dominant quads/hamstrings and weaker glutes.

There are many examples, hopefully the ones above show the benefit of reviewing our performance and highlighting areas of improvement to get us back out in the better weather with a nice little winter performance boost.

If you would like to find out how to best identify areas of improvement into your current routine, speak to a member of Team SF on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.

Group training has many benefits and before we look into how it can fit into our winter activities, let’s look at some of the general benefits we can all get from it.

Group training is a great way to get fit, healthy and active.

Having an instructor to guide the session and help with form, technique and any questions you may have helps keep you going and concentrating on working out not working out what to do!

Working towards your goals in a group environment, helps to push you a little further and have a good laugh at the same time.

Shared dislike of the instructor can be very powerful!

Keeping the sessions fun, inspiring and lively help get the best performance from you, whilst ensuring we are keeping everything safe for you.

With our group training being in groups of 4, you can be sure that you’ll get lots of interaction time with the instructor, ensuring that you are getting the maximum from the class.

Now, back to the winter training and supporting our cardio efforts!

We could suggest that, maybe, sometimes there are some exercises that we aren’t so fond of or might skip now and then.

Being in a group training class means that these are baked in and we undertake them as part of a wider set of exercises and they actually get done….

Sessions will be created to cover a wide set of muscles, allowing us to be confident that we are working everything we need to, whilst also building supporting muscles that will assist in different movements.

Being challenged in a different format to our outdoor cardio pursuits, will help keep our engine ticking over and even increasing it in many cases.

We may even find that a different type of buzz sticks with us and forms part of our routine!

If you would like to find out how to best integrate small group training into your current routine, speak to a member of Team SF on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.

Stronger muscles deliver more power and increase stability – increasing performance.

That doesn’t mean we need to have a bodybuilder physique, we need to be strong for our bodyweight and for the activities we undertake.

Resistance (or strength) training is important for all distances, it’s easy to link strength to something like sprinting as this is a fast, short and explosive activity.

Looking to the longer distances, Eliud Kipchoge who broke the 2 hour marathon mark undertakes resistance training to support his vast weekly running milage so it also helps at the other end of the spectrum.

So what should we be looking for?

• Specific zones of stress
• Interconnected and supporting muscles
• Increase weekly workout intensity

Let’s drop into each of these areas for some detail.

Specific zones of stress – these are the areas that are taking the heat during the activity, so knees for running, ankles especially if we hit the trails or venture off road.

We need to look at how these are loaded and how to create additional workload that assists the joint(s) while under load during our chosen activity. Starting with bodyweight exercises focusing on stability and mobility. This could be balance exercises, lunging or single leg work such as toe and heel touches with either a box or trx.

Interconnected and supporting zones – so this follows on and is linked to specific zones of stress, ensuring that the upper and lower leg as well as our hips are providing support to the knee is important as this will reduce the stress that’s created or encountered.

This will be resistance based looking to improve the strength and endurance of the muscle groups, building upon the stability, mobility and balance we gain from above. Examples would include resistance leg work, so leg press, extension or curls, weighted squats or hip thrusts.

Increase weekly intensity – so if we are training 3 x per week, then fitting in another high intensity run probably isn’t going to be top of the list! We can however undertake another type of workout which doesn’t have the level of impact that running does.

We could undertake a resistance workout or a circuits class, these will help us increase our weekly work volume without the impact of our chosen main activity. Circuits would include many different shapes and movement types including the upper body helping you work up a sweat whilst evening out the load on your body – more on this next week.

If we were to look at this in a pyramid form (and we do for performance) it would have:

Movement at the base, this is our stability, balance and mobility we should have as wide a range as possible.

Strength and power on the second level, having the ability to deliver power or strength is only as good as the movement base we have.

Skill is at the top, we can have all the skill, but without the power, strength and underlying movement it won’t be fully realised.

Undertaking cross training allows us to increase our base and balance our pyramid, a well-balanced pyramid increases performance and decreases injury risk.

If you would like to discuss how we can help with strength training, speak to us on info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.