Why 2 legs are not enough for your running and cycling!

TRAINING BREAKDOWN

“Use your data to become a stronger, faster and more resilient runner and cyclist”

By Emma O’Toole

Hi there,

I hope you’re having a great weekend so far. In this week’s newsletter we’re going to look at why training both legs at the same time is not enough. Here I’m talking about your squats, your deadlifts, your glute bridges, your hamstring bridges etc. All of these great exercises that should form part of your strength training program as a runner - these exercises where you’re working on both legs at the same time.

Before we start, let’s just take a step back and look at running and cycling.

Running and cycling are said to be unilateral exercises- that is exercises where you’re using one leg to generate force - be that propelling yourself forward from the foot on the ground to initiating the power phase of your pedal stroke.

How do you know if you’ve got a weaker left leg or right leg?

This is where your data comes in - really understanding what is going on in your body when you are running and riding and you can do it right now by looking at your training app, eg. Garmin Connect!

A good task for cyclists with access to a dual-sided power meter* is to compare the power output from each leg over a few rides:

• Do you have close to a 50/50 split between your left and right leg?

After I broke my back my left hip, my left leg was substantially weaker than my right- I had roughly a 60/40 power split between my right left to my left leg. I didn’t focus on an abundance of single leg cycling with my left leg, although I certainly did some. My main focus was getting that strength back using weights and working on one leg to challenge my body in a way that it wasn’t getting from cycling alone, nor from just doing loads of double-legged squats where my right leg overcompensated. Here in 2019, we can see there is still a 2% difference in the L/R Balance, yet in 2020 that’s back to a 50/50 split. I’m back at that 50/50 split due to strengthening my left leg independently as part of a strength program where I am of course working to get stronger across the board.

*If you don’t have access to a dual-sided power meter, (some gyms have bikes with them fitted), then get someone to record you from behind whilst you’re cycling on an indoor trainer and see how you’re body changes at various power outputs and cadences.

For runners, a good task is to look at your latest 3 runs and check out the ground contact time balance*:

• Do you have a balanced ground contact time or is one leg spending longer on the ground than the other?

*If you don’t have access ground contact time data on your training device, get someone to record you from behind whilst you’re running on a treadmill and see how you’re body changes at various running speeds.

Training one on the leg (unilaterally) can help us address these imbalances that you may be experiencing- just like it did for me after my injury and will for you. Addressing these imbalances will make you a stronger, faster and more resilient runner and cyclist.

And there’s more!

As well as this, it’s not enough to only ever train both legs at the same time as a runner and cyclist because of The Bilateral Strength Deficit.

The Bilateral Strength Deficit is a fancy way of saying that we generate less force when working on 2 limbs compared to if we were working each limb independently. It can happen in the upper body- aka your arms, but it’s more commonly seen in the lower body - aka your legs.

Here’s an example:

Amy can squat 60KG on a back squat.

However, on a split squat Amy can use 32.5KG load on each leg.

… so, why can’t Amy back squat 65KG?

We’d expect Amy to be able to back squat 65KG as 32.5KG + 32.5KG = 65KG. However that is not the case because of the Bilateral strength deficit, which is going to look very different for each individual.

What this means for you as a runner and cyclist over 30?

So, should you only ever train on one leg? No. There is lots to be gained from your compound big lifts, eg. deadlifts, squats - these lifts allow you to use a heavy load, relative to your strength and challenge your body in different ways.

What this means then is that we want to have a mixture of exercises in your strength training plans - 2 limb (bilateral) exercises, and single limb (unilateral) exercises.

We don’t want to to only ever work on 1 leg - nor only ever work on 2 legs.

What does this look like in your strength training program?

We’ll start off with those heavier loads on both legs and progress into single leg work with lower load making sure that you’re taking that rest in between sets.

A sample from an example session could be as follows:

Back squat- 4 sets of 6 reps @ 8/10 RPE with a 2 minute rest between sets.

Single leg deadlift- 4 sets of 4 reps @ 8/10 RPE with a 2 minute rest between sets

Single leg “drop” calf raises- 3 sets of 6 reps @ 8/10 RPE with a 2 minute rest between sets.

Don’t forget your strength sessions should train your entire body, so you’ll also want to be working the core - that is anything in-between your neck, elbow and knees!

More on this next week!

If you’re unsure of what your data means or you don’t know how to go about training each leg independently, please reply to this email or drop me a message here and I’ll be in touch with some suggestions to help. Don’t forget to also check out our fantastic free community for ongoing support and help with your training!

Have a great Sunday!

Emma

Each morning, The Sample sends you one article from a random blog or newsletter that matches up with your interests. It’s a great way to discover new content on your favourite topics, sign up here.