#71 - Muscle Confusion, Running, And Changing Things Up
In this week’s blog/podcast we will help you remove the boredom from your runs. We will discuss the importance of strength training, and doing various speed drills. But, wait, there is more! We will talk about spicing up those long runs too. All of this will keep you running strong and each week will bring on a new challenge.
We also will celebrate Joanna Robbins, a mother of three children, that has competed in her first 5k in over 8 years.
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Muscle Confusion:
What is muscle confusion and why do I need to worry about this as a runner?
Muscle confusion is a training concept that is centered around variety in workouts. The goal of muscle confusion is to avoid hitting a plateau during strength training cycles. The thought is if you perform the same workouts for a long enough period of time that your body will become used to the workout. In turn, you will not see further growth.
Some believe that you should switch up your routine daily, or weekly to see the results. While others believe that, in order for the new workout that you perform to work you at least need to perform it for four to six weeks.
Coach Tadris Thoughts:
With my experience of doing push-ups day after day or running my same schedule week after week, I can tell you for sure it is best to switch things up. It is not that your muscles get confused. It is the simple fact that each body part that we have is so complex that we must work out different parts of the same muscle. The calf muscle has at least 3 different ways to attack it. We all know there are upper and lower abdominals and we can’t forget about the obliques. One style of push-ups only works one portion of your chest.
So the muscle confusion will come in when you start to be mindful of which exercises you choose to target on a given workout. Perhaps you will feel slightly sore the next day, and that will be due to you not hitting that body part in a while. I will talk more about this under-strength training.
As far as why we need to worry about muscle confusion as a runner? Simply put, we run with more than our legs…… Oh by the way, when was your last leg day as a runner? As for running enthusiasts, at times we may forget about strength training. To run to your optimal ability, do not neglect your strength training. It will make you faster in all your races. Power comes from a strong core, shoulders, back, and arms. Running is a full-body workout. Do you need a gym for leg day or gaining a powerful upper body?
Strength Training:
Of course, if you have a gym membership use it. If you have a gym membership and you are just paying for it month after month and you only went six times in the last six months, then it may be time to cancel. Let the world be your gym. Bodyweight exercises are amazing. Also known as calisthenics. Push-ups, dips, wall squats, air squats, planks, and pull-ups just to name a few. I recommend doing a routine 20-30 minutes 3x per week. Or if you choose, do something five or six days a week for 15 minutes in the morning.
Have no clue what to do?
I actually used to do only one style of push-ups daily. There was a point where I did 1,000 in one day. That was all well and good, but something was missing. That was only hitting one part of that muscle. Recently I purchased a deck of cards called RE Factor Tactical Combat Fitness Deck (Push-Up Edition). This deck of cards brought helped me switch things up for sure. For example, if you shuffle the deck and flip the first card over, you perform what the card says. On a Sunday while watching football, I had decided to workout at the same time. I flipped the card and got the great 10 of hearts, 200 wide grip push-up, rest as needed. I'll tell you what, the next day I felt like I was bench pressing 225lbs the day before.
I am not getting paid to endorse this product. I am sharing my experience on how you can make your workouts fun and interesting. I was also intre in their other cardio deck, so I purchased that one as well. My first card to flip was 5 of hearts. Workout:
4 ROUNDS
25-meter lunges
2-minute abdominal plank
25 air squats
25 v-ups
1 min wall squats
Now that is creative and switching things up. 52 cards 52 different challenges.
Now let’s talk about switching up your runs and actually how long you should keep switching up your workouts.
Switching Up Your Runs:
This same principle can be applied to your running as well. Especially during this pandemic, how hard are you training since races may not be happening in your area? Are you getting Virtual Race fatigued? Time to make adjustments to your training days. For example, on your long run planned for the weekend, if it is a 5-mile run, run 10 x 800’s (Half Mile Repeats). Take a 2-minute rest between sets. Have a 10 mile run planned, do 20 x 800’s. TWENTY?! You ask! Have you ever run 10 miles at an easy pace and you are so used to it that you didn’t even break a sweat? Now have you gone out for a mile sprint and came back soaking wet. Which was the better workout?
The point is whether it is a 5 miler or 10 milers, challenge yourself to do them in 800 repeats. This will condition your body to be able to handle the last half mile of your race with strength as you have been training for the moment.
Add Speed Days Weekly:
Tuesdays are our speed days. If you are new to running and don’t like the sound of speed day, change the name to endurance days. This is where you would go to the track and perform quarter-mile, half-mile repeats, and even a mile with speed intentions. For our beginners who practice the run, walk, run method, they could use their intervals. I like for them to challenge themselves and run the whole quarter or half-mile non-stop. This is why I call it endurance day for them. I know if they can develop the endurance to run the quarter-mile or half-mile non-stop, then I know that they will handle their run, walk intervals with ease.
For our experienced runners, don’t forget to switch up your speed days also. If you are used to running repeats, look into different variations. I recently found the Triple 7’s workout on the Nike Run Club app very enjoyable.
Warm-Up 5 min (Pause then stretch)
Resume workout and run for 7 minutes
Pause and rest for 2 minutes and 30 seconds
(Repeat 2 more times)
It was a great workout. Now here is the part where I agree with those that say do the workout for 4-6 weeks to see the results. This workout was enjoyable and a challenge. I would like to do this workout every Tuesday speed day for the rest of the month and at the end compare my times. In my first round, I covered 3.09 miles in the 26 minutes. 3x 7’s plus the 5 min warm-up was included. Within 4-6 weeks can I hit 3.5 or even 4 miles. One shall see. Connect with me so that I can keep you posted.
Congratulations To A Special Mother:
Joanna Robbins a mother of three lovely children ages 11, 10, and 6 ran her first 5k in over 8 years. Joanna joined my Next Level Coaching plan in July, 2020. Joanna considered herself as a non-runner. In the month of July, we helped her focus on what she was eating and what times of day she was eating. We helped her make adjustments and added just 3 days of run, walking to her schedule. The best part about it, is that Joanna was super coachable. Joanna followed everything that Coach Tadris told her to do, and lost 14lbs in July. Week after week her confidence would grow as she made continuous improvements in her mile times.
The Icing On The Cake
Joanna got to bring her 11 year old daughter Adeline to the event to run with her. Adeline took 2nd place in her age group! Way to go Adeline. Joanna finished with a time of 34 minutes. Not bad for 8 years off.
Joanna say:
“It was really good, and we stuck to 90/30. My time was slower cause I was trying to not break an ankle, lol” (The race was through a vineyard on grass) We had a blast and I wasn’t dying, lol. Adeline winning a medal and being so excited, she can’t wait for our next run now.”
A Love Note To Running:
Sean Scullin:
Dear Running: What did I ever do to you? Is it something I said? Why do you knock at my door every single day? It's not like we're friends; all you do is whine: run faster...run longer...sign up for more events...blah blah blah...
Thank you for submitting your love note to running Sean! Please submit your love notes to running to me at coachtadris@gmail.com and I will read it on the next podcast
I hope this blog/podcast was helpful, if so please subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcast, Rate and Leave a Review. Also share this post on your favorite social media platform.
Thanks have a great week of training and running!
-Coach Tadris
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