To get better, most runner run & run. But the best runners know that improving speed and endurance isn’t just about logging more kilometres, it also requires time to do some strength and core training. And one of the best ways to build the strength and go faster and longer is with TRX suspension training.
Not only does TRX simultaneously builds muscular strength and endurance, it also improves coordination, balance, mobility, flexibility, and core stability. These benefits are vital for improving a runner’s performance and full body strength.
I have been performing TRX workouts regularly for many years. To train with TRX feels amazing, it provides so many benefits to support our whole body. TRX is great suspension and bodyweight exercises, that type of training activates and strengthen all our muscles and core at the same time.
TRX workouts are also helpful because they challenge a runner’s standard movement such as the stride and gait. Runners constantly use the three-joint movement of the hip, knee, and ankle to propel themselves forward. The hip and knee joints flex and extend and the ankles dorsi and plantar flex repeatedly during our run.
By changing and challenging the condition of that movement standard with an unstable tool like the TRX, we’re strengthening those movement patterns in ways beyond the linear motion of running. So when runners head back out on the road after training regularly with the TRX, their standard (gait and stride) improves, improving the whole running form and performance.
Because the TRX uses gravity and our own body weight, it’s an amazing tool for a total-body workout. If we think about the best, strongest runners, we can see that they’re not just using their legs, they’re flexing their biceps and pumping their shoulders, their core is reacting to keep their spine supported and transmit power from the legs to their arms to increase speed. This TRX workout targets all of those areas with the added benefits, challenging coordination, balance, mobility, flexibility, and core stability, that they wouldn’t get from a more stable piece of workout equipment.
That said, just as it’s important to include cardiovascular exercise into our fitness plan, it’s also importance for runners and endurance athletes to include strength training into their routine. We need to maintain muscle mass while performing running training sessions.
Strength training can not only reduce the risk of injury in endurance athletes, but also improve performance in our runs. According to a study, TRX strength training programs improved the following in a group of an endurance athletes:
Endurance performance
Gains in maximal strength
Production of force
Neuromuscular function
To perform a safe and effective strength training program to complement our running can help us become a better runner.
TRX will provide so many health benefits, but it’s especially great for runners:
It can improve mobility in the hips and ankles- common trouble areas for many runners.
It makes us moving in multi-plane movements, whereas while running, we’re typically in the frontal plane the entire time.
It emphasizes unilateral training, which helps with muscle imbalances.
It improves stability.
Changing a couple of days of the week our training based on doing a certain race course for another sport practice or for a strength training with the TRX for runners, will provide us multiple advantages.
The benefits of TRX exercises for runners include:
Improvement of the running position due to the intense work of the core muscles.
Increased flexibility and range of motion.
Increased power and endurance. Exercising with the TRX is tough strength training even if we don’t use extra weight, so it really does improve our overall muscles.
Reduced risk of injury. We work our muscles with minimal impact.
We avoid falling into the boredom of always repeating the same type of training.
The degree to which we are angled to the floor for standing moves will make it harder or easier. We need to keep testing different angles so we can do the move, and over time we will work ourself to a sharper angle.
TRX is all about body weight. Again not only we can manage the effort level, but for runners we don’t need overall super intense lifting strength, we need to be able to move our bodies in the most effective and efficient manner.
The TRX also forces us to engage that important core.
Best TRX Suspension Training Exercises for Runners
Perform Great TRX Workouts, Feel Good and Strong, Enjoy Better Runs!