Why EVERYONE Should Include Hill Running in Their Workouts

by Kathleen Parker

Hill runs….we LOVE to HATE them, but the benefits of doing these tough and challenging runs are HUGE and many!!

Here are just a few….

Improves leg muscle strength
Quickens your stride and expands your stride length
Greatly improves your cardiovascular system
MAKES YOU A STRONGER, FASTER AND HEALTHIER RUNNER!!
The benefits are QUICK to take to take effect. In as little as SIX WEEKS of weekly hill running, you can expect a significant improvement in your muscle power and SPEED!
Athletes who train on hill runs have much higher concentrations of aerobic enzymes — THE CHEMICALS WHICH ALLOW YOUR MUSCLES TO FUNCTION AT A HIGH INTENSITY FOR LONG PERIODS WITHOUT FATIGUE — in their quadricep muscles. Heightened aerobic power in your quads gives you improved knee lift while running and also accelerates each leg forward more quickly as you run, WHICH IMPROVES YOUR SPEED no matter what the distance you want to run!

Why Hill Running Works:
Hill runs force the muscles in your hips, legs, ankles and feet to contract in a coordinated fashion while supporting your full body weight, and your muscles contract more powerfully than usual because they are forced to overcome gravity to move you up the hill. The result is more power, which in turn leads to longer, faster running strides!

And Best of All…
COMBINING STRENGTH WORK WITH RUNNING STRENGTHENS TENDONS AND LIGAMENTS, REDUCES THE RISK OF INJURY AND IMPROVES OVERALL RUNNING FORM.

Knowing all of that, we should all try to incorporate some level of hill running in to our workouts. Try it out and let me know how it goes by replying below!

Keep moving!