Strong & Skinny, Huh?

Summer is here, Fall is not to far away, which means the Cross Country season is on its way, Yippee Skippee! As a high school cross country coach I can not over-emphasize the need for doing General Strength work. By General Strength I do not mean squats in the weightroom, but rather activities that work the three planes of motion sagital, frontal, and transverse. One of my favorite coaches is Jay Johnson,

If you want to run faster then you'll need to run more or run harder, but you shouldn't lose all of your innate athleticism as you become a serious runner. I believe too many high school and collegiate distance runners are injured more than they should be (injuries happen, but many U. S. runners can't run more than eight weeks at "full volume" without injury) and that the primary reason for their injuries is that their running needs to be supported by other types of physical training.