10 Tips to Supercharge Your Running Routine
Running can be a transformative activity for many of us. It can certainly help us reach our fitness goals but it can also be limiting to our overall movement goals. But by rethinking our running habits we can maximize running’s benefits and minimize its shortcomings.
Running bestows a broad range of health and fitness benefits, but those benefits are limited when you run the same way every single day. For instance, if you always run on a path, at the same speed, listening to your MP3 player, at the same time of day, on the same slope, in the same shoes, for the same distance…well, you are robbing yourself of some of the benefits you could be getting from all that valuable movement time.
There are many variables that affect the benefits your run can give you, and we rarely take the time to think about it. So, to help you spice up your running efforts and make sure that you reap the full rewards from each run workout, here are some ways to make your run workout more challenging and beneficial.
10 Tips to Enhance Your Run
- Vary Your Terrain
- Run Somewhere New
- Run In a Group
- Stop and Smell the Freakin’ Roses
- Wear Different Shoes
- Run Tech Free
- Try Multi-tasking
- Carry Something
- Vary Your Speed
- Run More Often
Let’s explore each tip in more detail.
- Vary Your Terrain
There are 33 joints in each of your feet and when you run over rocks, roots, slopes, dips, and bumps each one of those joints deforms your foot (in a good way). This deformation creates load in those parts of your foot and that loadbearing makes your feet and ankles stronger, more resilient and healthier in general. But if you always run on man-made surfaces, there is nothing there that will destabilize and mobilize these joints. So you are missing out on some real run benefits by limiting your terrain.
Whenever you can, add hills, slopes, and textures (dirt, gravel, sand) that will challenge your ankles, heels, and toes in ways that just don’t happen on flat, paved ground.
- Run Somewhere New
Running in familiar territory can automatically change your responsiveness, both cognitively and physically, and can allow you to fall into a movement rut. Let’s face it, mindless robotic running is not our goal.
Do anything that will help shake you out of being a dull running machine and into being an enthusiastic running human.
To minimize this issue, choose different routes, surroundings, directions, and distances. If you simply can’t mix it up, at least run that same route in a different direction so you get as many surprises as you can. Do anything you can that will help shake you out of being a dull running machine and into being an enthusiastic running human.
- Run In a Group
Running with others can often force you out of your “comfortable pace” and that change of pace can result in working your body in different ways. Not only will running at different speeds widen your cardiovascular response to the workout, but it also engages different muscles, a different geometry of your limbs, and makes you a more well-rounded runner in general.
Running in a group also means being social and that can change your mood for the better. It’s easy to focus on how tired you are or how much you “want this run to be over” when you are alone, but when you are engaged in a conversation or some friendly competition, the time can really fly by.
- Stop and Smell the Freakin’ Roses
Staying in your “running pose” for the entire run isn’t as beneficial as breaking up that repetitive movement with some counter movements. This can be a simple as taking a short walk break where you shake out your arms or deliberately take larger steps to release your hip flexors. But to really make the most of your full range of motion, you can throw in some squats, walking lunges, side gallops, jumping jacks, burpees, or even drop and give me 20.
Or, if you are out for a pleasure run (rather than a specific training run) why not actually stop running and examine those berries growing on the side of the trail? Or give that friendly dog a chin scratch? Or, literally, stop and smell the roses?
- Wear Different Shoes
When I was a serious runner and was putting in over 100 kilometres per week, I had four pairs of shoes that I cycled through. A minimalist pair that helped me build and maintain foot strength, a cushioned pair for my longer runs, some racing flats for my speed work, and another pair that I just liked the look of and wore to the gym.
Shoes with a narrow toe-box can reduce how much you use the muscles that allow your foot to widen as you put weight on it. When you do this, your toes should naturally splay away from each other. If they aren’t allowed to make this movement, at least some of the time, you could develop some foot issues.
Also, a large heel-drop on a shoe can change the range of motion that your ankles go through. Believe it or not, this affects your knees, hips, spine, and all the way up to your neck and head.
- Run Tech Free
Wearing technology every time you go out running can intrude on your mind’s ability to give itself over to the body, which is when you really experience that feeling known as the “runners high.” Plus, leaving your devices behind occasionally can free you from any preconceived notions you have of how far, fast, and long you are able to run.
It’s easier to be aware of your head position, arm swing, knee drive, and footfall when you aren’t mesmerized by the mad rhymes of the Beastie Boys.
Leaving your MP3 player behind can occasionally be helpful too. Learning to pace yourself using just your footsteps, the sound of your breath, and the feeling of your stride is a great way to perfect your pace. It is also easier to be aware of your head position, your arm swing, your knee drive, and footfall when you aren’t mesmerized by the mad rhymes of the Beastie Boys.
- Try Multi-tasking
On the other hand, if you can run farther or more often while getting something else done while you run, then let yourself indulge in some tech every once in a while. Mixing work-time and run-time is a great idea by taking a meeting on the run using some bluetooth headphones. Listen to an audiobook while you run (or a podcast) can help you learn something new. There is even some dictation software that could allow you to write the next great novel while you run.
Figuring out ways to be productive while you run means you may be inclined to make more time for it, and that is never a bad thing.
- Carry Something
Grab something moderately heavy right now. Hold it in front of your torso and make note of how that feels. Now hold it over your head. Feel that? Every way that we hold an object requires that we balance and rebalance with a particular set of muscles. When we change the position of what we’re holding we also change the muscles being used.
The same is true for the loads that we carry when we run. Backpacks, ankle weights, wrist weights, weighted vests, even the devices we carry or strap to our arms and wrists change the muscles we are using and how we use them. If you never carry anything when you run, give it a try. If you always carry your phone in your right hand, use your left. If you have access to ankle weights, try doing some short runs or sprints with them on. This isn’t an everyday type of idea but mixing it up occasionally can make us better runners and movers.
- Vary Your Speed
We touched on this a little bit earlier but not only will running at different speeds widen your cardiovascular response to the run, it will also engage different muscles.
New runners often go out for every single run at what is referred to as a “tempo” effort. They basically try and go as hard as they can, for as long as they can, and as often as they can. Not only is that not a lot of fun and not helpful for becoming a well-rounded runner (or mover), but you will also hit your performance ceiling pretty quickly.
One of the aspects that we avid runners struggle with is the idea of running easy on our easy days and hard on our hard days. Running truly easy seems like a waste of time and running truly hard is—well—truly hard. So, instead, we remain in that middle ground and go stagnant. Don’t let this happen to you. Vary your speed, pace, and cadence during one particular run and also from one run workout to another.
- Run More Often
If you always run once a day, most days of the week, and then spend the remainder of the day being sedentary, you are limiting your fitness, health, and general well being. Breaking up the repetitive geometry of being sedentary has actually been shown to change things like arterial function, muscle length, and mood. While those extended long runs do bestow some positive health outcomes, there are still more benefits that you are missing out on due to the fact that you are doing all your movement in one go.
Running to a yoga session is a great way to arrive warm and ready to be flexible.
Try breaking up your run into smaller chunks and intersperse them throughout your day. Or try running to your swim class and then jogging home. Running to a yoga session is a great way to arrive warm and ready to be flexible. Also, running is a great way to commute to and from work.
Finding creative ways to both indulge your running habit and also expand its effects on your body is a worthy endeavor.
I hope you are feeling inspired to get out there and mix up your running routine so that you’ll enjoy running for many more years to come.
For more info, tips, and to join the conversation, head over to Facebook.com/GetFitGuy or
11 Reasons Not to Skip Leg Day
What is often referred to as Leg Day is a day that some beginner weightlifters either don’t know about or actively avoid. More seasoned lifters know that if they skip leg day they will end up unbalanced, top heavy, injured, and also may end up being featured in the next “never skip leg day” meme on social media.
Brock Armstrong
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11 Reasons Not to Skip Leg Day
To some, leg day is the worst day of the workout week. They feel this way because they would rather be pumping up their arms, their shoulders, or (most often) their chest. As much as it is forgotten about, some lifters would even rather be working their back! But on leg day, they are stuck working a part of the body that shows the least but poops you out the most. That is what I think is the major issue that people have with leg day—too much effort for a body part they can’t admire 24/7.
All that being said, there are many great reasons not to skip leg day and today we are going to examine a few of them. So, if you skip leg day, a few things will happen.
- You Will Look Unbalanced
- Your Sports Performance Will Decline
- You Won’t Go As Fast
- You Will Burn Fewer Calories
- Your Hormones Will Suffer
- Your Back May Get Sore
- Your Injury Rate Will Go Up
- Your Range of Motion Will Decline
- Your Balance Will Deteriorate
- Your Everyday Life Will Suffer
- You Won’t Be as Smart
Let’s dive into each point one by one.
- You Will Look Unbalanced
I don’t like to focus on aesthetics too much because it just isn’t important when it comes to fitness (or at least it shouldn’t be), but let’s get this one out of the way first. If you spend all your time developing a defined and chiselled upper body but ignore your legs, you run the risk of looking unbalanced. It is easy to spot someone who lifts regularly but who clearly spends their time hammering their chest, arms, and shoulders. The result is a rippling torso piled on top of small glutes and quads, and even smaller calves.
- Your Sports Performance Will Decline
In pretty much all sports, your power and strength come from a thing called ground force production. That simply means that the majority of your movement starts at the ground, moves up through your feet, then through your ankles, torqued through your knees and hips to create the force in your upper body. In many ways, your legs really are the foundation of your performance. Simply put, the stronger your foundation, the stronger, faster, and more powerful you will be.
Simply put, the stronger your foundation, the stronger, faster and more powerful you will be.
- You Won’t Go As Fast
Research shows that strength training can improve running economy in runners. And other research shows that cyclists who strengthened their lower body have more raw power during the crucial final sprint of a race than those who skipped leg day. Maximal strength training has been shown to improve work economy in trained female cross-country skiers. Explosive-strength training has been shown to improve 5-km running time by improving running economy and muscle power. I could go on and on. Suffice to say that science has found that lower body resistance training and speed go hand in hand.
- You Will Burn Fewer Calories
If you want to lose body fat then you are probably looking for a workout that gives you the best results. Once again, leg day to the rescue! Since the largest muscles in your body burn up the most energy when they are being used, leg day will increase the amount of energy you burn during the workout.
Since the largest muscles in your body burn up the most energy when they are being used, leg day will increase the amount of energy you burn during the workout.
One of the best exercises for this is the Squat (weighted or not). The squat really works the entire body, while it specifically hits the largest muscles in the body. This means that it burns a lot of energy during the workout and sets your body up to burn even more in the hours after your workout.
There is also the fact that adding muscle mass to your body actually increases your resting metabolic rate (the number of calories your body burns outside of the gym). With that in mind, focusing on the part of your body with the largest muscles (your legs) is a very effective tool for long-term fat loss.
- Your Hormones Will Suffer
As we just discussed, the largest muscles in your body are in your pelvis and legs. Making these muscles work hard causes a release of HGH (human growth hormone) and testosterone which are both key elements for building muscle, repairing tissue, and building strong bones—not just in your legs but all over your body.
Training all of your lower-body muscles releases the hormones that turn your body into an anabolic environment which will improve your muscle-building capacity in general.
- Your Back May Get Sore
Most of us in this modern sedentary society have weak hamstrings and short and tight hip flexors. That can lead to back pain if we don’t do something about it. Most of us try to “stretch it out” when we would be better off strengthening our hamstrings and glutes. Similar to increasing your sports performance, having a solid foundation in your legs means that your back doesn’t have to do all the work.
You should definitely consult a physiotherapist, chiropractor, or sports medicine physician before you start treating any existing back pain, but if you want to avoid it in the future, I suggest you make your legs strong.
- Your Injury Rate Will Go Up
Sometimes the athletes who come to me with an injury have fallen into the old trap of thinking that their chosen sport trains their legs sufficiently (runners, I am looking at you). Sure, many sports involve using the legs but most athletic movements overemphasize the quads, or the calves, or another single part of the leg which creates an imbalance. In fact, the injury that is referred to as “Runner’s Knee” is often a direct result of an imbalance between the quads and the hamstrings.
The injury that is referred to as “Runner’s Knee” is often a direct result of an imbalance between the quads and the hamstrings.
If you want to stay injury-free, it is absolutely essential that you regularly do legwork. This usually means planning your training around leg day (so you aren’t too fatigued to get your sport-specific workout done) but long-term this is a worthwhile strategy.
- Your Range of Motion Will Decline
If you think weightlifting has nothing to do with flexibility and mobility, just take a second to consider the squat. In the article 5+ Benefits of Squatting and How to Prepare, we talked about how awesome and important the squat movement is (in and outside the gym) and the same goes for the deadlift, the calf raise, the kettlebell swing, and so on. By simply getting into a squat or deadlift position, you can keep your body loose and mobile while also undoing some of the mobility and strength issues we see from sitting in chairs much of our day.
- Your Balance Will Deteriorate
In the article called Going Barefoot and 8 Other Ways to Improve Balance, I talked about how important strength is to your balance. Once again it comes down to having a solid foundation. Having strong legs and a strong lower body, in general, is what I am talking about!
Incorporating exercises like side lunges, calf raises, and deadlifts can seriously increase your stability, re-invigorate your proprioception, and help you to stay on your feet when the world is trying to knock you over.
- Your Everyday Life Will Suffer
If you ever have to pick up a box, carry some groceries, or move a piece of furniture, you will find that it is much easier if you have some solid lower body strength. Yes, even if you have super strong arms and a powerful back, you will still be much happier when you lift something heavy if you have some power in your glutes, quads, hams, and calves.
You will be much happier when you lift something heavy if you have some power in your glutes, quads, hams, and calves.
- You Won’t be as Smart
I have talked about the connection between physical activity and brain health before in an article called How Exercise Affects Your Brain but there was a recent study that dug even further into this relationship. To tell us more about that, I asked our friends, Ashley and Cody, over at the Curiosity.com podcast, to fill us in.
CODY: Alright Ashley, do you ever skip leg day?
ASHLEY: NEVER.
CODY: Me neither!
ASHLEY: Leg day’s the best!
CODY: I actually like leg day because it’s so efficient! Squats and deadlifts and you’re kinda out there, right?
ASHLEY: I mean…
CODY: I mean, you CAN go deeper. But are you getting a pretty thorough workout between two exercises?
ASHLEY: They are your biggest muscles, and you are burning the most calories with those huge muscles, and you’re doing great things for your body.
CODY: I like efficiency! Well a groundbreaking new study from just last month has shown that leg exercise is critical to brain and nervous system health. We already knew that not using your legs can reduce bone and muscle mass, like in astronauts in low gravity or in bedridden patients. But a team of researchers wanted to know if restricting leg mobility would affect the brain. They ran tests on some mice by immobilizing their legs for 28 days. The result was a 70 percent reduction in the number of neural stem cells in their brains, compared to the freely moving control group. That’s huge. Without those cells, neurogenesis doesn’t happen — that means new cell development. Brain health also declines as dead cells aren’t replaced. So the takeaway is this: don’t skip leg day!
ASHLEY: Little caveat that it is an animal study, so it doesn’t necessarily extend to humans. But there’s a good chance that it does.
CODY: Yeah. Better safe than sorry, right?
ASHLEY: I mean, leg day’s great.
CODY: Also, you don’t want to be a tank on stilts.
ASHLEY: That’s right.
Thanks, Ashley and Cody! I am pleased to hear that you are both such big fans of leg day. Which means that you might enjoy this next section.
A Quick and Dirty Leg Workout
Now that you know why you should do it, you might need some inspiration for how to do it. There are many awesome leg workouts available if you do a quick search, but here is a Get-Fit Guy quick and dirty leg workout that you can add into your workout regimen today.
In the following workout, RM stands for “repetition max,” which is the number of reps that you are able to do before your form starts to fall apart while using a particular weight. So, 6RM means that you would choose a weight that allows you to do six solid reps.
Instructions
After a good warm-up, do the following workout as a circuit. That means you alternate between the a and the b exercises three times before you move to the next set of exercises. If you have the time and the energy, go through this entire routine two times.
- Set 1a. Squats – 6RM
- Set 1b. Jogging on the spot (high knees) – 60 seconds
Rest for 30 seconds between exercises and sets.
- Set 2a. Step-ups – 6RM per leg
- Set 2b. Jumping jacks – 60 seconds
Rest for 30 seconds.
- Set 3a. Elevated Hip Thrusters – 6RM
- Set 3b. Walking lunges – 10 per leg
Rest of 30 seconds.
- Set 4a. Deadlifts – 8RM
- Set 4b. Lateral Lunges – 10 per leg
Rest for 30 seconds.
- Set 5a. Glute Ham Raises – 8RM
- Set 5b. Squat jumps – 60 seconds
Rest for 60 seconds and (if you can handle it) start from the beginning again for a total of two times through.
When it comes to squeezing in a good leg workout, we have all struggled at some point. Excuses come pouring in: it’s boring; I would rather work my chest again; sick kid at home; the car is in the shop; or, perhaps the most common, no time to get to the gym. But hopefully now you know that leg day should not be optional. If you want to be a strong and well-rounded mover, it is worth the time and effort. Not to mention that you don’t want to become just another internet meme, now you do, bro?
For more leg info, lower body tips, and to join the balanced body conversation, head over to Facebook.com/GetFitGuy or getfitguy on twitter.com. Also don’t forget to subscribe to the Get-Fit Guy podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play or via RSS.
About the Author
Brock Armstrong was the host of the Get-Fit Guy podcast between 2017 and 2021． He is a certified AFLCA Group Fitness Leader with a designation in Portable Equipment, NCCP and CAC Triathlon Coach, and a TnT certified run coach. He is also on the board of advisors for the Primal Health Coach Institute and a guest faculty member of the Human Potential Institute.
. Also don’t forget to subscribe to the Get-Fit Guy podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play or via RSS.
About the Author
Brock Armstrong was the host of the Get-Fit Guy podcast between 2017 and 2021． He is a certified AFLCA Group Fitness Leader with a designation in Portable Equipment, NCCP and CAC Triathlon Coach, and a TnT certified run coach. He is also on the board of advisors for the Primal Health Coach Institute and a guest faculty member of the Human Potential Institute.
