The Strength Of A Runner's Body

In the 1970's, thousands of people took to the road with a new trend of exercise----running. It was fairly easy; just put one foot in front of the other as fast as you can and go as far as you can. Feel the burn in your chest? The sweat trickling down your face? The throb in your knees as your foot pounds into the ground with every step? Well then, you're exercising! You’re running! Since then, running has become a dominant factor in sports and fitness; a factor so prevalent that the number of musculoskeletal injuries due to running has also increased over the last quarter century. These chronic injuries are usually due to overuse, improper training techniques, or a combination of the two.

For example, this training method is commonly used in the fitness industry. Fitness athletes train with this intensity style because they feel this is the only way to stimulate growth. “Training with an emphasis on muscle damage and working to failure is definitely effective, but like anything, it can also be overdone” (Wilson). Knowing it can be overdone, athletes train differently everyday and change their routine to not stress the muscle. Wilson believes the four fundamentals of muscle growth are cell swelling, mechanical tension, mechanical trauma, and metabolic stress. All these methods are contradictory methods for any other athlete and are not recommended to follow. Overtraining is not always a negative method, if followed correctly with the proper recovery methods it can bring beneficial results. For a fitness athlete, resting is only partial when it comes to their recovery as athletes also have other key factors benefitting into their growth stimulation such as supplements and nutrition. According to Berning it is not recommended for endurance athletes to intake protein as it drops their nitrogen balance, but it is recommended for those who exercise as it is adequate for muscle growth and recovery

Muscular endurance is very important for people playing sports and who have to sustain an activity for long periods of time. Muscular endurance is determined by how well your slow twitch muscle fibers are developed. In case your wondering what slow twitch muscle fibers are, I will explain. There are generally two types of muscle fibers in your body, slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch muscle fibers cannot exert as much force as fast twitch, but can sustain an effort over a much greater period of time. Fast twitch muscle fibers can exert a great amount of force but for a very limited amount of time. Therefore, slow twitch equals endurance, while fast twitch equals strength.

There are five health related fitness components: body composition, cardiorespiratory endurance, flexibility, muscle strength, and muscle endurance. Consequently, body composition is the amount of muscle, bone, fat, etc. that makes up our bodies. Cardiorespiratory endurance is the body’s ability to continuously provide enough energy to sustain submaximal levels of exercise. Flexibility is the movement available at the joints, usually controlled by the length of one’s muscles. Additionally, muscle strength is the ability of a muscle to exert a force to overcome a resistance. Muscle endurance is the ability of a muscle to make repeated contractions over a period of time. However, understanding what these five health related fitness components are important, it is also

The FITT principle would drastically differ between an unfit person getting back into a fitness program and an Olympic marathon runner. The FITT principle would differ between each person’s training needs, and requirements through the frequency of training sessions, the intensity of the athlete’s workload, the time or duration of the sessions and the type of exercises performed.

For people who want to lose weight when they exercise they need to take a completely different approach. Instead of doing high-intensity workout for short periods of time, they need to do the exact opposite. Brian Parr from the Department of Exercise and Sports Science at the University of South Carolina says:

Over exercising can cause problems such as chronic pain, for runners this can be in the knee and heels from where their feet are pounding against the concrete, people who train with heavy weight are more likely to strain joints and pull muscles. If someone exercise’s at a high intensity for a long period of time, they may develop an increased appetite, which can be bad for the

The knee joints is one of the primary joints stressed when running and thus most of the

This article is about the fast growing technique of endurance running, which has evolved over the years significantly. Although it may seem like a bit trendy and popular, this particular type of running has its pros and cons. Due to the fact that endurance running includes a various amount of repetitive ground impact forces, it is not unlikely for one to develop a stress injury to the lower leg. In order to decrease the risk that comes along with endurance running, preventative measures should be enforced. When running some of the most common injuries that one may be at risk for are patellofemoral pain syndrome, tibial stress fractures, plantar fasciitis, and Achilles tendonitis. But in this article, a new study suggests that Barefoot running contains the potential to promote the healing process, increase performance, and decrease injury rates. Still to this day disagreement exists as to whether barefoot/minimalist running stimulates healing, increases performance and decreases injury rates.

Femaleathletetriad.org states that one of the causes is weakened bones, which, in the most severe form, is known as osteoporosis. This state of weakened bones leads to an increased risk for injury, especially when it comes to stress fractures (femaleathletetriad.org). Many runners get stress fractures in their shins, located on the most forward side of the calves. Stress fractures originate mainly from over exercising with not enough recovery, not eating properly balanced meals, or from a mixture of the two. I can personally advocate for this, as a few years ago on my own cross country team a sophomore girl cut meat and milk out of her diet while continuing to do the very demanding varsity practices. Because she lacked the protein and calcium to fuel her muscle and bones, she developed a very bad case of shin splints, making it nearly impossible to run at her full

Common lower extremity injuries for runners are iliotibial band syndrome, patellofemoral syndrome, patellar tendonitis, and plantar fasciitis. Iliotibial band syndrome occurs in runners who perform long distance training because of excessively bending and extending their knee (Grau, Maiwald, Krauss, Axmann, & Horstmann 2008). This will cause the distal iliotibial band to rub or brush against the lateral femoral condyle which will cause inflammation and swelling of the iliotibial band (Grau, et al., 2008). Patellofemoral pain syndrome or “runner’s knee” can cause excruciating anterior knee pain because of weak hip abductors, quadriceps, and external rotators (Petersen, Ellermann, Gösele-koppenburg, Best, Rembitzki, Brüggemann & Liebau, 2014). This will wear down, disrupt and ultimately damage the cartilage under the knee cap. Patellofemoral pain syndrome will cause imbalance and instability of the patella, hamstring

As a young athlete, running had always been my least favorite activity. Unfortunately, every sport I played was dependent on that very act. Countless suicide runs and lay-up drills in basketball, and even more base runs in softball, served as a distraction from this mundane activity because at least I was running for a purpose. My brief time on the cross-country team demonstrated that while I may have excelled at sprinting, long-distance running was not my forte; and also materialized by my omnipresent side stitches. However, my senior year of high school came and to my surprise, running would be the one thing I missed dearly. My short time as a starting varsity player in basketball came to an end when I tore my left ACL. A host of changes came from just this one incident. After sustaining this injury and enduring surgery and physical therapy, my career goals took a dramatic turn; I went from an aspiring visual artist embarking to Rutger's Mason Gross School of the Arts, to extremely interested in the field of physical therapy.

This conclusion was supported by the biological background. The greater amount of previous exercise would cause higher release of lactic acid, inorganic phosphate and also would increase the likelihood of micro damage to the muscle fibres. Thus, greater the amount of previous exercise could lead to greater muscle fatigue which affected the rate of contraction of muscle fibres. Consequently, lower number of cycles was counted within a given time limit, as the

Surprisingly, there are multiple factors that will guide a person to become a runner. Genes have a way to influence running, but they are not the deciding factor if an individual will be talented. A “Runner’s Body” is an advantage that may push a person to run, although this on its own is not what will make an individual succeed. Society also decides if a person will be successful or if a person will try to be a runner. Genes have a way to influence running, but in America, they are not what determines if a person will be a successful runner. As said by runner, David Bradford (2017, pgh 29), “Talent isn’t destiny decipherable from DNA; it waits to be realized hard work, like a sculpture inside of a boulder.” Running is based upon the amount

As a young athlete, running had always been a least favorite past-time for me. Unfortunately, every sport I played was dependent on that very physical act. Millions of suicide runs and lay-ups in basketball, and even more base runs in softball at least distracted me because I was running for a purpose. My short stint on the cross-country team demonstrated to me that I may have excelled at fast-twitch running, but long-distance running was not my forte, made clear by my omnipresent side stitches. My senior year of high school came and to my surprise, running would be the one thing I missed so dearly. My short time as a starting varsity player in basketball came to an end when I completely tore my left ACL. A host of changes came from just one incident.