Shouldn't running be considered a form of leg strength training?

MyiahRose
MyiahRose Posts: 183 Member
edited November 8 in Fitness and Exercise
I know that running is cardio but i also run up hill a lot and i feel as though it should count as a part of leg day. I still workout my hamstrings, quads, and glutes so i won't have muscle imbalance but can running be considered strength training?

Replies

  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    No, it's cardio.

    After an initial adaptation, general running isn't going to build strength. Same with sprints and hill intervals. It will increase endurance and fitness though.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    If you can do more than 15ish steps it in not strength training.

    Even if you lift weights in the 30 rep range, it is no longer strength training. You could call it resistance training, but not strength training.
  • GillianMcK
    GillianMcK Posts: 401 Member
    Hills and sprints are great for endurance and speed, but not really muscles.
  • LeanButNotMean44
    LeanButNotMean44 Posts: 852 Member
    Running is not strength training. Period.
  • scupit
    scupit Posts: 32 Member
    I used to run a lot and I used to think that it could be considered strength training. That is until I started doing lunges and squats:) Then I realized, wait a minute, my legs never feel like this after a run. So no it can not be considered strength training.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    scupit wrote: »
    I used to run a lot and I used to think that it could be considered strength training. That is until I started doing lunges and squats:) Then I realized, wait a minute, my legs never feel like this after a run. So no it can not be considered strength training.
    lolz. I know... I already dislike running, if I had jelly legs after a run like I do after a good squat session... I'd never run.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,992 Member
    Strength training is based on overload principle. While initially you might build some strength, unless the inclines are steeper or you're carrying more weight, you're just building muscular endurance if you're just running the same routes/paths daily.

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  • cms721
    cms721 Posts: 179 Member
    It helps with pelvic thrusting (on the dance floor).
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    Arguably any form of training which prompts neuro muscular adaptation due to resistance under load could be classed as strength training and so running, under some circumstances, could fall under this description.

    That said, it's a bit of a stretch to class it that...
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
    Absolutely not.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Not really. The results from exercise training are specific to the type of exercise being performed. Performing a movement (e.g. Running) hundreds or thousands of repetitions without reaching muscle failure cannot give the same results as performing a movement (e.g. Squats) with a weight that results in muscle failure in 4, 6, or even 12 reps. Physiologically it just doesn't work.

    Having said that, the same principle says that a body WILL adapt to the specific physical demands required by any exercise movement. So a sedentary person will experience some measurable gains in muscle strength when they start doing an exercise that is primarily cardio (and vice versa if a sedentary person started doing only weight lifting). However, these strength gains will occur ONLY to the degree necessary to perform the activity and then they will stop.

    Bottom line: if you start a cardio only program and think "my legs feel stronger after doing this", you are probably correct. However that is a transient adaptation and your cardio is NOT a substitute for resistance training.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    While there is some element of resistance work involved with running, particularly trail running and hills...it isn't "strength" training. Strength training is an actual thing and not all resistance training is "strength" training.

    Strength training involves heavy weights and low reps...it's an actual thing. Low reps and heavy weight optimize strength gains.
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,208 Member
    edited December 2014
    MyiahRose wrote: »
    I know that running is cardio but i also run up hill a lot and i feel as though it should count as a part of leg day.

    Part of leg day, yes. You still need some leg exercises.
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
    MyiahRose wrote: »
    I know that running is cardio but i also run up hill a lot and i feel as though it should count as a part of leg day. I still workout my hamstrings, quads, and glutes so i won't have muscle imbalance but can running be considered strength training?

    The confusion is more about the labels I think. There's endurance training and resistance training. Both strengthen your legs in different ways. Resistance can help build more muscle mass and endurance strengthens the muscle you have and improves the blood flow to the muscles so they can do more work. Both of these strengthen you. Neither is better than the other. It depends on what your goals are.

    There's the whole fast and slow twitch muscle fiber issue along with this. Resistance training is more about the fast twitch muscle fibers and endurance is more for slow twitch muscles.
  • peter56765
    peter56765 Posts: 352 Member
    It's a question of definitions, really. Running and other cardio exercises do strengthen the heart muscle and so to a certain degree they can be called strength training. However the most common meaning of the term strength training involves strengthening just the skeletal muscles.
  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
    A person may see some strength improvement but generally speaking running elicits an improvement in anaerobic or anaerobic capacity, depending on the type of running. Similarly, strength-training can elicit some cardio-vascular improvements but it's in no way a substitute for anaerobic or aerobic exercise or also considered cardio in-nature.

    Resistance Training can really be broken down into sub-categories
    - Corrective Training: Post surgery, post-injury, etc
    - Strength & Stabilization: Improve neuro-muscular control and core stability
    - Strength & Endurance: enhance stabilization and prime mover strength
    - Strength & Hypertrophy: mostly muscle size
    - Maximal Strength: improves recruitment of CNS in heavier loads and rate of force production
    - Power: title defines itself.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    peter56765 wrote: »
    It's a question of definitions, really. Running and other cardio exercises do strengthen the heart muscle and so to a certain degree they can be called strength training. However the most common meaning of the term strength training involves strengthening just the skeletal muscles.

    No.
  • rogerOb1
    rogerOb1 Posts: 318 Member
    Sprinting can be both aerobic and anaerobic
This discussion has been closed.

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