Cross Training

jbee27

Anyone doing other work outs to supplement the C25K program? I'm interested in shaking things up a little, and interested to hear what people do.

btsinmd

Strength work is a great complement to the C25K program. It can be body weight training, weight machines, or heavy lifting, but it's something you really should do.

As far as cardio, hiking/walking, biking, and swimming are great cross-training activities. Just have fun!

And as far as fun, try some games; tennis, golf, or team sports if there is an adult league near you, are all good.

hoyalawya2003

I am doing (sort of) the Body By You program, which consists of body weight exercises. I like it so far, but I have difficulty committing to 3x per week and doing C25K 3x per week (hence the sort of). Especially because I also horseback ride once a week, which is my main focus.

likitisplit

I like Pilates and I'm doing a progressive body weight program.

Last year, I did New Rules of Lifting which did awesome things, but my half marathon training became too intense to run and lift heavy (so I lost 4 pounds of muscle from skipping resistance training for five months).

I'm hoping that a body weight program will be easier to manage with everything else I have going on.

asp415

Lifting to help w/my upper body, spinning & calisthenics for the core.

likitisplit

I am doing (sort of) the Body By You program, which consists of body weight exercises. I like it so far, but I have difficulty committing to 3x per week and doing C25K 3x per week (hence the sort of). Especially because I also horseback ride once a week, which is my main focus.

LOL. I just checked out the Body by You reviews on Amazon. I was doing the You Are Your Own Gym app, and there's a lot of stuff that I really like about Mark Lauren.

However, one of the reviews says "The exercise section is wonderful and reminds me of another book - Convict conditioning. The strength is in the progression of exercises in order to achieve more and more challenging exercises. But, unlike Convict conditioning, this is for women and includes more steps of progression. This is exceptional since a woman's strength gains are different and not as great as a mans."

I'm actually doing Convict Conditioning. I'm not sure that women's strength gains are really that different.

Another great resource for bodyweight training is:

http://rosstraining.com/blog/

jbee27

Thanks for the suggestions everybody!

I will check out some of the body weight suggestions. Everyone on MFP seems to hail at the alter of heavy lifting, which I am hesitant about trying for a few reasons, so body weight sounds more my speed.

Will definitely be incorporating biking and hiking into my activities once it thaws around here (Wisconsin has not been a fun place to live this winter...ugh.)

I'm also thinking about doing a few sessions with a personal trainer once I'm through with C25k to put together a full workout program of some kind.

MeanderingMammal

I'm another advocate of bodyweight, its pretty good for runners as its time efficient. An alternative would be rowing. Personally I have a WaterRower but the Concept is very good as well. They give a thorough full body workout with a proportion of resistance effect.

From a running perspective you're looking at injury prevention, rather than anything else.

likitisplit

Also speed and stamina....

MeanderingMammal

Also speed and stamina....

For upper body stamina, yes I'd agree as there is much less activation from running. I'm less convinced that the same applies to running performance, at least as a recreational runner. Both of those seem to be more improved by pounding out the miles than anything else.

I guess that's largely a function of time, I'll run for not less than 45 minutes but I'll only do 30 minutes of resistance training. I'll row for 45-60 minutes routinely though.

likitisplit

Actually, heavy lifting activates fast twitch muscles. Not only has resistance training been shown to "bleed" into other areas (people exercising just one leg show fat loss/strength gains across their entire body), if you are doing whole body compound lifts, you are working the explosive force of all the muscles in your body - legs and core as well as upper body.

Additionally, I saw myself drop minutes when I initially did New Rules for Lifting and gained core strength. Eliminating the wasted energy from dropping one leg and gaining the additional force and better muscle loading from a cleaner motion made running easier and perceptibly more efficient. Good form is everything in running.

http://www.runnersworld.com/workouts/two-new-approaches-to-strength-training-for-runners

Where this actually becomes an issue is at the elite levels where every 5 pounds of body weight (no matter where it comes from) can translate into a slower time. At the "recreational" level, working to squat/bench your body weight is going to do you nothing but good.