How can I train my hamstring and my calfs muscles? What is the most important part of my arm for running?

Question

How can I train my hamstring and my calfs muscles(excercises)?

What is the most important part of my arm for running?

Answer 1

Gotta step in for a moment and restate your question.  If you are looking at getting bigger calves, you can run up on your toes.  This will put you in danger of getting shin splints and possible knee injuries etc.  Hamstrings and glutes are the workhorses of running and by no coincidence, they have the most muscle fibers in the body.

Think about your legs and how much work they are being put through. You are putting your entire body weight on one leg for multiple miles. Not only that, but because you are moving, you are now increasing that body weight. World class sprinters put between 2-5x their body weight worth of power into the ground per stride. Because many of us have not been properly taught how to run, non trained athletes actually increase that level to 4-6 their body weight. For a distance runner the individual step will not generate those types of forces but even at 1-2x the body weight per step for multiple miles, you are in trouble if you form is not perfect.  Hence calf muscles are not as important to running.

Many runners tend to plantarflex our ankles when we run (i.e. point them). This means that the upper ball and toes of the foot lands first and their is a few inches of space between the ground and our heel. In order for the foot to do this, it lands out in front of us thereby acting as a brake and then we "pull" our body forward. The other incorrect form that is exhibited is a dominant heel strike. You are less likely to "pull" the body forward, but you are now increasing the braking forces into the ground. Instead of allowing your muscles to absorb the impact of your stride, you are now allowing the ankle, shins, knees, etc to take all the forces. You should be working your glutes, hamstrings and to a lesser extent, calves when you run. By running on your toes, you will tend to use their quads. The quads should act more as a shock absorber and helping the leg get back into position for the next stride. Anything else and you are risking injury.

Some running advice is to land on the balls of the feet with the heel slightly grazing the ground or a credit card worth of space between. You head/shoulders should be even to the ground (no bouncing movement) and the foot should strike just in front of the body. If you start moving towards longer distances such as marathon, you may need to have a little more heel strike as to limit the amount of stress on the calves. This is an advanced form of running so you should try to ask an expert who can properly see your form and make adjustments.  The big thing is to reduce the braking forces when you run.

Arms should be at a loose 90 degree angle.  It should never be less than that because then you flex your bicep and your shoulders will come up which will start to fatigue.  If you ever do this on a long run you will want a good massage because you will be tense.  Even in sprints it can be  bad.  On the backswing, it can go slightly more that 90 degrees.  To be on the safe side, you should stick to 90.

Good luck!

Answer 2

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TRAINING CALF MUSCLES

First off, I'd have to echo gfuzat's comments concerning training the calf muscles (the back of the lower legs) - for most running, you don't need to.  It's interesting that you ask about training the hamstrings (the back of the upper legs).  Most runners don't pay attention to training the "whole leg," and consequently their quadriceps (the front of the upper legs) are far more developed than the hamstrings.

And to their detriment!  Or at least to not coming closer to their running potential.

TRAINING HAMSTRINGS

Here's why.  The hamstrings are used largely in the "paw up" motion of running, in which you are drawing your leg back from its fully extended position and bringing it up under your body.  If you can stress, strengthen, and not strain your hamstrings, you can experience more speed.

You "can" strengthen your hamstrings, and increase the rate of the "paw up" motion, by simply concentrating on it while running short sprints.

One of the most natural ways of strengthening the hamstrings, increasing paw up speed and consequently leg turnover rate and comfort is by using a Spin exercycle or even a bicycle.

In either case, you need either very tight toe clips or else cleated pedals and bicycling shoes with cleats.

Once you're on the Spin exercycle or on a bike and cycling along, consciously focus on the bottom of the cycling stroke.  Don't push down, that's something that we all tend to do naturally, anyway.  Instead, at the bottom of the cycling stroke, "scrape" the ground under you and consciously, quickly, deliberately pull up with your hamstrings.  (Oh, for a picture here.)  If you're listening to music, hit the beat of the music with the "upstroke" of your legs.

Do this for 30 minutes or more, 2 or 3 times a week, and you'll find that your hamstrings will become stronger, and that this very important motion to the running stride will become ever easier to perform.

USING YOUR ARMS

An odd question, the most important part of your arm . . . you are better off with all the parts of your arms than with any missing!

Some things to work for as far as your arms are concerned:

-natural swing, likely slightly across your body

-relaxed arms, starting with relaxed hands

-strong arms.  One of the best running-specific arm exercises I know is using SPRI bands to strengthen your arms in the running motion.  An alternative that might be more available to you is using light weight (8 to 12 pound) dumbbells, and in a very controlled way while holding the dumbbells swing your arms in the same path you expect them to take while running.  Do this for 10-20 minutes 3 or 4 times a week, and you will notice a discernible increase in your shoulder strength and in arm strength, and an increased comfort in your arms when you want to use them to increase your pace.

Regards,

Phil