Improve Your Power with Elastic Muscles

By Rick Morris

Effortless running would be great wouldn't it? Imagine running on automatic pilot without any significant effort on your part! Is that a pipe dream? Realistically, yes. You can't run without effort, but you can minimize the energy and effort you use to run by using the ability of your muscles to store and return energy.

In many ways your muscles are much like big rubber bands. When you stretch a rubber band you are building elastic energy in the band. If you suddenly let go of the band the force that was built up is suddenly released and it flies across the room. The ability of that rubber band to store and return the force built up when you stretch it is a result, in part, of its elasticity.

 
When your foot strikes the ground in your running stride, the muscles of your leg and hip are stretched, just like the rubber band. Force and power are built up in your stretched muscles. Your muscles then “rebound” off the ground and the force is released, resulting in forward motion. Just as the rubber band, the ability of your muscles to store and return the built up energy is a measure of your muscles elasticity.

A muscle with higher elastic properties will return more stored energy than a muscle with low elasticity. The final result - a more elastic muscle will allow you to run faster and longer while using less energy. It makes you a more efficient runner. That is all well and good, but how do you improve the elasticity of your muscles?  You can improve the elasticity of your muscles by including strength training on a weekly basis. Your strength training program should start with general strength training to improve your base of strength followed by running specific exercises to build the strength of your running motions and finally plyometrics to increase both the power and elasticity of your muscles.

Improve the strength and power of your muscles through strength training, make sure you are running with an efficient stride and your running will become more powerful, more efficient and you will run with less effort.