STRONG ENOUGH

Perceived wisdom says weightlifters are strong, and runners...aren't. It's time to bust that myth.

What is strength?

Or perhaps, who is ‘strength’? If you had to think of the embodiment of strength, who would it be? Simplistically, a movie character whose persona shouts 'strength' may come to mind – like Arnold Schwarzenegger, or more recently, Dwayne Johnson.

What of athletes? Boxing’s Anthony Joshua? Tennis’s Serena Williams?

Okay then, how about Sifan Hassan, who won the London Marathon in April, and has multiple Olympic and World gold medals over distances from 1 500m to 10 000m? Or Kelvin Kiptum, who won the London men’s race with an astonishing 59:45 second-half split?

Yep, they’re runners. Not strong, you say? I’d venture otherwise. Because when we think about strength, we must recognise that it’s very heavily influenced by the context in which we’re thinking about it.

If the word ‘strength’ conjures up images of bulging muscles and clanking iron in weight rooms, then I’m here to tell you you’re thinking about it in the wrong context; and you may be missing out on a vital ingredient for staying healthy and performing well as a runner!

For runners, strength means the ability of your muscles, joints and bones to withstand thousands of small forces or loads. In fact, that’s one of the dictionary definitions of ‘strong’ – the ability to withstand force, pressure or wear.

Insult to injury

The reason I’m labouring this point is because as runners, we tend to diminish the importance of strength as an attribute we need. Speed? We all want that – sign me up. Endurance? Hand it over; that’s what weekend long runs and peak training weeks are for.