Weight training is an essential component of a proper training program for female runners, as it improves performance and decreases the chance of injury. While all runners should strength train, women have an additional need to improve leg strength because of their biomechanical differences. Information from the Rome Athletic Club in Rome, Georgia, states that it's more effective if a woman begins a strength-training program before beginning her running component.
Benefits
Weight training improves a female runner's strength. This provides a woman with a better-equipped base, both in terms of performance and injury prevention. Research by Ronald Johnson from the University of New Hampshire, published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in 1997, demonstrates that weight training significantly improves a female runner's economy, meaning women are able to do more or run longer without working as hard. The Rome Athletic Club asserts that strength training also prevents injuries, and increases speed and leg power in runners.
Program
According to the Rome Athletic Club, a female runner's weight training program should consist of three different areas of emphasis. First, a woman should focus on creating a general strength base by training two days a week for three weeks, and performing general strength exercises. After that three-week period, the female runner should move into more running-specific training for two weeks, which focuses on improving strength and power by incorporating some explosive exercises among the two-day-per-week workout. The last period focuses solely on running-specific movement training, which is a two-week period that focuses primarily on plyometric and explosive exercises, such as box jumps and hops in place.
Muscles
Human Kinetics states that a female runner should not just focus on lower body strength training, but should participate in a full-body weight training program. All of the leg muscles, plus the upper body, core and neck muscles should be strengthened. Efficient and injury-free running takes adequate strength in all areas, and the upper body, core and neck muscles keep female runners in an appropriate posture. Female runners, however, should concentrate on adequately strengthening the legs even more, because as Peak Performance states, women have an increased chance for anterior cruciate ligament injuries in the knees.
Exercises
The weight training exercise that runners perform should focus on body-weight exercises, or ones that use the body as resistance, such as push-ups and pull-ups. Common leg exercises that female runners should use are squats, lunges and calf raises. Push-ups, pull-ups, rows and overhead presses are notable upper-body exercises. Abdominal exercises, such as crunches and front planks, as well as lower back exercises such as superman and bridges, should be done as well.
Considerations
While weight training is an important component to a female runner's workout regimen, it's important to not train at an intensity that ends up creating fatigue and limiting running performance. Training information from the Rome Athletic Club notes that it's ideal to schedule weight training sessions on scheduled cross-training days, which are the ones that don't involve running.
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