So you want to have better conditioning?
To help you perform on the field in your sport?
Or to help trim down a few kilos?
Most peoples go to for these goals is to do more conditioning work (or cardio depending on who you talk to, but in most cases, they’re talking about the same thing).
There’s a good reason for it, when done properly it can work super effectively. The only problem is most people avoid one of the best conditioning tools out there…
Running!
Yes, I know the airbike makes you feel like you worked hard… But have you ever ran a flat out 400m?
Give it a crack and I’m sure you will be feeling pretty close to the same as you do getting off the bike after a hard minute.
Now I’m not here to say that other conditioning work isn’t effective, in fact, I think there’s some awesome reasons to use the bike, rower or some other mixed modal conditioning like F45 and Crossfit style workouts. Rather I want to show some ideas on why you should consider including running in your training and a few reasons why you might be avoiding it right now and how to fix them.
There’s No Airbike’s On The Field
Play any team sport ever and there’s one thing that is guaranteed. There are no airbike bike’s out on the field. Have you ever seen the stats on how far rugby league players run in a match?
Most props will cover at least 5 km per game and some players will cover over 10km in a game. Even though a lot of this time is spent at fairly low intensity running. All on the ball efforts are at high intensities and require athletes to be producing high levels of force into the ground. How do you get better at this?
Get damn strong and work on sprints and high intensity running efforts.
It’s not uncommon to see elite rugby league players run in excess of 20km in a week’s worth of pre-season training. Sure mixed modal fitness training and some bike or rower sessions can have their place as a means of supplementing the running work the athletes are doing but, they’re not supposed to be in place of the foundational running work.
Running Helps You Get Fitter With Everything Else
I remember back playing footy when I was younger, our coach Ant made us run, run and run some more. I was super fit at the time and my training plan was simple, lift weights a few times per week and run in a bunch of different ways shuttles, short sprints, long sprints, intervals, distance… the lot.
Every now and then I had the urge to try something different with my training whether it was HIIT circuits, tabata’s, crossfit style workouts. I’d jump into a session like that and even though everything when you push yourself feels hard, I was always able to do pretty well in those sessions.
Once I had stopped playing footy I put more focus into general conditioning work incorporating airbikes, rowing, kettlebells amongst other exercises. I got what I thought was way fitter than I had been before only to jump into an interval running session and getting my butt kicked.
I thought I’d just gotten heavier so running had become harder to do so I continued my training and every time I tried the running sessions again they still kicked my butt again and again.
Now we would all know of plenty of runner’s who wouldn’t have the level of transferability of their fitness. The separation here is that running alone won’t transfer performance if you’re not strong in the first place.
Training All Energy Systems
Most people only view running as distance work which only builds the aerobic system and has little impact on developing the anaerobic systems which are heavily relied upon in high-intensity activities.
One of the huge advantages of running over other conditioning methods is how easily it can be manipulated to train different energy systems and target different adaptations. Sadly most people still only train running for distance and therefore miss out on a lot of progress that can be made by running repeated distances of 100m – 1km with varying intensities and rest periods.
A session as simple as 5x400m efforts can achieve a drastically different adaptation by using 60-90s rest (aerobic power) to a 4-5 minute rest (anaerobic capacity).
Don’t know what to focus on?
Start by getting some performance markers like 400m, 1600m, 5km times. Compare your times to see where your weakest point is and then focus on intervals that will develop your weak points.
Getting Outside
We spend enough time inside already between work, watching TV and driving. Most of us are deficient in vitamin D, do we really need to spend all of our training time inside the gym?
Just as little as spending half an hour outside exercising once a week can is a huge improvement and can help make you healthier, happier and if it’s in summer work on your tan (sunburn for the people like me out there).
So there are a few reasons why you should include some running in your training. Now to cover a few reasons why you might be avoiding it.
It’s Hard
I remember the first time I went back into a running interval session after I had been doing all my training in the gym. It kicked my butt, I was gasping for air, my legs were burning and my heart rate was through the roof.
I’m not painting a pretty picture right now, but let’s be honest we all get a little bit complacent focusing on the things we know are hard but we are prepared to handle. It’s no different to the guys who do endurance work for training that won’t touch heavy weights because they aren’t comfortable.
At the end of the day, you can always stick to what you’re comfortable with and nobody will hold that against you. But, if you want to grow as a person and get better results with your training you need to be prepared to do the things that you don’t always want to do.
Running Hurts Your …
I get it some people have some injuries that make it painful to run on like knees, ankles, lower back.
Here’s the thing… you probably suck at running!
Like everything else, running is a skill and you either do it well or you don’t. Most people that have injuries tend to not run very efficiently and that’s why they get pain.
Common things like overpronation, overstriding, poor breathing and bracing mechanics while running and poorly developed connective tissues all can place excessive stress on the body while running and lead to pain and injury.
The problem generally comes from us never being taught to run correctly and to a large degree the footwear we wear day to day and its impacts on our feet. If you’re interested in learning more about correct running technique, check out Tim Bransdon and The Running Lab.
A correction as simple as focusing on stepping lightly so you can barely hear your feet hit the ground can make a huge impact on how you run and the pain you experience in doing so.
Wrapping Up
If you’re wanting to make a big impact on your performance in sports and overall fitness, remember to not discount running as an effective training tool.
Want to learn more about conditioning training. Check out this article where we cover some of the conditioning methods we use at Newstrength.