Ellis, Joseph. Running Injury-Free: How to Prevent, Treat, and Recover from Runner's Knee, Shin Splints, Sore Feet, and Every Other Ache and Pain. Rodale, 2013.
Another thing I learned from reading the book, “Running Injury-Free: How to Prevent, Treat, and Recover from Runner's Knee, Shin Splints, Sore Feet, and Every Other Ache and Pain” by Dr. Joseph Ellis is to alternate “hard” and “easy” training.
According to the book,” This is why most experts recommend never performing hard workouts 2 days in a row. Give yourself at least 1 day of easy running or rest between hard workouts. This is known as the "hard-easy” method of training. If you run fast 1 day, train slowly the next. You’ll simply cancel out the gains of the long or fast workout, because your body is desperately trying to recover. You’re stressing weakened tissues that the body is trying to repair” (Ellis, 259).
I started the test by doing a “hard” workout by doing a half mile jog, then did a few sets of suicide sprints, then a few sets of full-on 40 yard sprints.
The next day I did an “easy” workout by just jogging 1 mile on a treadmill. Before knowing about this “hard-easy” method of training I always tried to do as many “hard” workouts in a row as possible because I thought that the more you train, the more you’ll improve. I did think that having these occasional days of “easy” workouts or breaks are important for your body to rest and recover but i wasn’t 100% until now. Now I know that doing too many “hard” workouts without breaks will actually cancel your progress.
Another thing I learned from reading the book, “Running Injury-Free: How to Prevent, Treat, and Recover from Runner's Knee, Shin Splints, Sore Feet, and Every Other Ache and Pain” by Dr. Joseph Ellis is to alternate “hard” and “easy” training.
According to the book,” This is why most experts recommend never performing hard workouts 2 days in a row. Give yourself at least 1 day of easy running or rest between hard workouts. This is known as the "hard-easy” method of training. If you run fast 1 day, train slowly the next. You’ll simply cancel out the gains of the long or fast workout, because your body is desperately trying to recover. You’re stressing weakened tissues that the body is trying to repair” (Ellis, 259).
I started the test by doing a “hard” workout by doing a half mile jog, then did a few sets of suicide sprints, then a few sets of full-on 40 yard sprints.
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"Hard workout"
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The next day I did an “easy” workout by just jogging 1 mile on a treadmill. Before knowing about this “hard-easy” method of training I always tried to do as many “hard” workouts in a row as possible because I thought that the more you train, the more you’ll improve. I did think that having these occasional days of “easy” workouts or breaks are important for your body to rest and recover but i wasn’t 100% until now. Now I know that doing too many “hard” workouts without breaks will actually cancel your progress.
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| 'Easy workout" |
After trying this method out, I felt like I gained more from doing this than doing multiple "hard workouts" in a row. I would highly recommend trying this method out, not just for running but for anything you do for example: weight-lifting, drawing, writing, this could apply to anything.
What kind of routines do you have? Do you think they are efficient?
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Hi Alex. I've never considered giving myself an easy day in between hard workouts, but it makes a lot of sense to do so. Sore muscles mean that they are growing, but hard workouts consecutively on top of sore muscles can be difficult and can easily start an injury. I agree, I always thought that the more I train harder, the more effective the training will be, but now I know that that's not always the case. I will definitely take this into consideration when working out from now on!
ReplyDeleteHi Gaby. A lot of people think that having sore muscles after a workout is good but that isn't necessarily the case. Sore muscles just means that your muscles aren't used to the amount of work put on them so they break down to come back stronger. I'm glad that my blog has sparked an idea for you to think about.
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