Proper strength conditioning helps you create and maintain your ideal body and is a vital step on your way to an injury free lifestyle in sports and in general. Good strength training can add that extra "umph!" to your movement when you're out and about simply handling your business. Proper strength training regimen is very important and will also help you develop a great looking, super performing and well balanced body without any "bodybuilder" bulges or endurance athletes' trademark muscle-free frames.
In running, when the objective is to move the body forward through space and time, every fiber of your being has a role to play and must be prepared to contribute to the overall successful functioning of the integrated system. The old saying "the chain is only as strong as it's weakest link" is a perfect way to describe the inadequately developed muscle system of a runner that will eventually and undoubtedly become the cause of injuries.
This simple truth was forgotten when running became perceived as an escape, a getaway, a stress-free zone during America's running boom back in the 70-ies. Virtually no one paid attention to strength training or it's importance to running. The result of this mistake is more than just one generation of injured people that have a "love and hate" relationship with running.
Specific strength conditioning is very important in training for running, it gives you the physical capacity to run and do it well. You need to be able to take disparate muscle systems of your body and fuse them into one system ready to run. If your body is not prepared, i.e. it lacks sufficient strength, it will show immediately in a form of all classical signs of poor running form - clumsy movement, elongated stride, general slowness and facial evidence of discomfort. Whereas a well prepared runner will move with quickness and grace with a serene and focused face.
Strength conditioning is not a luxury that you don't have time for, it is your ticket to better results, better performance and a "better feeling" you!
