Posted on July 12, 2017 by Jenny Cromack

Educating our clients is one of our main goals here at motive8 North, surprisingly though it is the more experienced exercisers that often need a tip or two. Many of the endurance athletes that come to us, especially runners, are not fully aware of the benefits that resistance training can have on performance.

The physiological factors influence endurance exercise:
1. Aerobic Capacity (VO2max)
2. Lactate Threshold
3. Economy
4. Anaerobic output
Out of these 4 key factors, Economy is talked about less and less understood than the other factors – naturally it is the one I am going focus on!!

Economy of exercise is simply expending as little energy per stroke, stride, cycle as possible – being super-efficient. It has been shown that specifically running economy is a better predictor of performance than VO2max. Improved economy = lower oxygen consumption and improved economy = lower rate of fuel consumption. The question is what strategies can be put in place to improve running economy?

Resistance training – it’s difficult to give specific exercises for endurance events because each of them differ so much. But the key for all is stability and strength in the lower extremity joints, this will come controlled plyometric exercise and compound strength lifts e.g. Goblet or Front Squat. Also, trunk strength is massively important to maximise efficiency.
Nutrition – Ingestion of dietary nitrate, especially beetroot juice, also appears to be beneficial as a natural means to improve economy of exercise (Barnes & Kilding, 2014). On to top of this it is still important to have sufficient protein for repairing muscle tissue. Look at our blog on protein to see how much that should be.
Stretching – it can improve economy, although, it appears that there is an optimal degree of flexibility and stiffness required to maximise this factor (Barnes & Kilding, 2014).
Environment – acclimatization results in better oxygen delivery and utilization, mechanics that potentially could progress the economy of exercise (Barnes & Kilding, 2014).