Exercises to Improve Running Speed and Endurance

Throughout the pandemic, there has been a steady increase in the number of people who have taken up running as their primary form of exercise. This was, of course, largely due to gyms up and down the country being forced to shut their doors and, in the early stages of lockdown, we were allowed to leave the house once a day for daily exercise.

Ask any keen runner and they will tell you that running is addictive and, once you catch the bug, suddenly you start chasing down personal records. You want to run faster and for longer. First, it starts with the couch to 5K and before you know it, you are signing up for your first long-distance run.

Running on its own will only get you so far as to improving your performance. Yes, you will improve your technique which will go some way to shaving the seconds and minutes from your time, but incorporating a wide range of exercises to improve running speed and endurance is what will elevate your performance.

Here, we look at some of the exercises that you should incorporate into your regime if you are serious about reaping the rewards on the road.

Leg Press

Working on the strength of muscles located in the lower half of the body will provide you with the explosive acceleration that you are looking for to take your runs to the next level. The leg press works your quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes, strengthening and toning the muscles that are most relied on for running.

Not only will working these muscles help you to run faster, but they will also help to prevent injury – especially on longer runs. Runners can suffer from a multitude of injuries mostly associated with running, such as runner’s knee, IT band syndrome, hamstring strains and more. By strengthening the muscles during cross-training sessions in the gym, it won’t be long until you reap the benefits in your running performance.

Squats

Squats will target the same muscles as the leg press but they offer a touch more flexibility, especially if you do not have access to a leg press or the machine doesn’t happen to be free in your gym. You can choose to perform a squat using only your body weight for resistance, or by adding additional weight through the use of a medicine ball, dumbbells or barbell.

Performing squats will also help to develop your core muscles, which is important for your balance and maintaining a good running technique. When you watch elite runners, you will see that, primarily, the mid-section of the body remains stable, with arms and leg movement propelling the runner. An unstable core will not help your performance and will increase the chances of injury because of poor balance.

Deadlifts

Believe it or not, deadlifts are a great exercise for runners looking for gym exercises to improve. This is because the exercises emphasise the hip pattern in the runner’s stride through the hip extension required to perform the exercise. The majority of the work in the deadlift is in the glutes, provided the exercise is performed with the proper technique with the correct alignment between the chest, knee and foot.

Correct head and neck posture are essential for doing the deadlift safely. The head and neck should remain perfectly in line with the angle of the body, parallel to the waist, which means that you should not hold your head up whilst performing the exercise. 

Lunges

In many ways, the lunge is the perfect exercise for runners as it is a replication of running because the body is off balance and more emphasis is placed on one leg at a time. Just like with the leg press and squats, lunges target your hamstrings, glutes and quads – the main muscles utilised for running.

Lunges should form part of any running and gym schedule as they serve to protect against injury by strengthening the muscles around the knee. When running, whether on the road or the treadmill, the knee is subjected to heavy impact which is the cause for numerous running-related injuries (such as IT band syndrome). 

Interval Runs

What better way to improve your running speed and endurance than by running? Crazy, right? Interval runs are fantastic for runners of all abilities, whether focusing on long or short runs. Long, slower-paced runs will help in the way of building stamina and your endurance, but introducing interval, highly intensive runs will force you to reach your aerobic capacity. This will help to improve speed and the strength in your muscle fibres.

Depending on your preference, you can choose to perform interval runs on the treadmill – whereby you can alter the intensity level – or outside in a park (if you can find a good hill, this will be a great accessory to your interval training).

By adding any of the above exercises to your regime, you will soon see stark improvements in your running speed and endurance!

For more information on the range of equipment that you can utilise to help you to achieve your goals, please get in contact with UK Gym Equipment today or browse our incredible range of products on the website.