Optimal strength training for runners

Maybe mountain climbers, rolls and head/handstands?
Yah, got the mountain climbers as part of the mobility component of my CAMP (Core, Agility, Mobility, Plyometrics) workout. I do them with 10-lb ankle weights and also do them on the side and crossing underneath as variations. Headstands sounds like a great addition, but handstands are probably out of my league, especially with my gimpy left shoulder. Maybe in time if I can develop my presses better. What do you mean by rolls? If I could pick up a cheap Bosu ball, maybe some balance exercises?

Here's the latest version of the minimalist workout. I generated another page with all the exercises that were on my previous list, in case I have a day where I really want to push it, or a day where I'm not feeling the big lifts, and may want to fill things out with a bunch of assistance exercises:
ST 3 Minimal 14.04.20.jpg

In the CAMP section, bold-faced exercises are the main ones, as in the ST. Then I've divided the secondary exercises into two days, one with shading, the other without. So theoretically, I would only attempt to get through all the exercises once in a while, like on the weekend. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will do at least the main exercises, and if I have time, one of the two sets of secondary exercises.
 
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I like your CAMP exercises Lee. I am going to have to get me a plyo box. Probably gonna have to wait till I get a bigger garage though.
Thanks. I know I keep revamping things, but I think I'm starting to hone in on the essential, at least for me.

I got this box: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008F48BEK/ref=ox_ya_os_product_refresh_T1

I got it for $80 last fall, free shipping. The box is pretty sturdy, and is adjustable to 14"/18"/22". 14" is good for side-to-side step work, 22(.5) inches is a good height for step-ups and box jumps. I don't have any urge right now to jump higher than that. I usually warm up at 18", mostly for confidence.If you're a little nervous at first about jumping up and stubbing a toe, try a cinder block at first. They're bout 8" high.

I use the box together with my decline sit-up bench to make a parallel bench for my bench hops, flutter and bicycle kicks.

I think alternating CAMP with ST will work well for me. Keeps everything loose and trains different fitness components. The CAMP routine can take 10-15 minutes up to 40 minutes, depending on how many exercises, reps and sets one does. Yesterday I just did a quick 15-minute blast with the main exercises.
 
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Thanks. I know I keep revamping things, but I think I'm starting to hone in on the essential, at least for me.

I got this box: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008F48BEK/ref=ox_ya_os_product_refresh_T1

I got it for $80 last fall, free shipping. The box is pretty sturdy, and is adjustable to 14"/18"/22". 14" is good for side-to-side step work, 22(.5) inches is a good height for step-ups and box jumps. I don't have any urge right now to jump higher than that. I usually warm up at 18", mostly for confidence.If you're a little nervous at first about jumping up and stubbing a toe, try a cinder block at first. They're bout 8" high.

I use the box together with my decline sit-up bench to make a parallel bench for my bench hops, flutter and bicycle kicks.

I think alternating CAMP with ST will work well for me. Keeps everything loose and trains different fitness components. The CAMP routine can take 10-15 minutes up to 40 minutes, depending on how many exercises, reps and sets one does. Yesterday I just did a quick 15-minute blast with the main exercises.
Ya, I'm starting to really feel pretty good with my ST and plyo along with my running. I don't know if I will buy a plyo box or just make one. I'm pretty handy and I just cannot see spending that kind of money on one. Oh, and I figured out that if I do deadlifts AFTER I do squats that my hammies don't hurt much. Either that or maybe my body is starting to adjust to them. I'll wait a couple weeks and see, but if my hammies keep feeling like this I will be able to start upping the weight on the deadlifts and the squats. I am really liking the p90-x plyo video I have. I'll have to pay attention to the names of the exercises so I can list them for you, but it's a whole lot of jump stuff that really burns after a little bit. Very high intensity.
 
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Ya, I'm starting to really feel pretty good with my ST and plyo along with my running. I don't know if I will buy a plyo box or just make one. I'm pretty handy and I just cannot see spending that kind of money on one. Oh, and I figured out that if I do deadlifts AFTER I do squats that my hammies don't hurt much. Either that or maybe my body is starting to adjust to them. I'll wait a couple weeks and see, but if my hammies keep feeling like this I will be able to start upping the weight on the deadlifts and the squats. I am really liking the p90-x plyo video I have. I'll have to pay attention to the names of the exercises so I can list them for you, but it's a whole lot of jump stuff that really burns after a little bit. Very high intensity.
Yah, boxes should be easy to make if you have a circular or table saw. I like the adjustable because it doesn't take up much room. I would like a list of the plyo exercises, that'd be great.
 
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I would like a list of the plyo exercises, that'd be great.
Ok so while the son was eating I sped through on fast forward and transcribed a list of all the plyo exercises from the p90-x plyo video. Basically he does a warmup and then some stretching, and then he does a cycle of 3-4 exercises for a certain period of time (30 seconds to a minute depending on exercise) and does two sets of these exercises back to back and then a 30 second break. Start by warming up by marching in place with high knees, then march in place with knees spread out wide (still high knees), then jog in place, then jump side to side (like doing tires in football practice), jump with changing leg that is in front. Next are the actual workouts which start with lunges, deep prayer squats, jump squats, run stance squats (with jump on 4th one when switching front legs), airborne heisman, swing kicks, squat reach jumps, squat switch pickups, double airborne heisman, circle run, jump knee tucks, mary katherine lunges, leapfrog squats, twist combo (kinda like skiing moguls), jump spin (180 degrees), rock star hops, gap jumps, squat jacks (jumping jacks from squat position), military march, run squat 180 jump switches, lateral leapfrog squats, monster truck tires, hot foot, pitch and catch, and jump shots. Then last is a cool down with some stretches and minor exercises.
 
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The Asylum series also has some plyo. Click on the individual reviews on this page for descriptions of the exercises on each DVD.
http://www.charleslloydfitness.com/insanity-asylum-workout-videos/
Thanks Sid, some useful ideas in there (although the use of professional fitness models as pseudo consumers was a bit of a turn-off).

Here's some free videos of ladder agility drills I found:
http://www.kingsportstraining.com/b...lity-ladder-drills-videos-for-faster-footwork

I'm going to try them with the ladder raised up about 6". Hopefully, I'll get a chance to try these sometime this weekend. Right now I'm off to run home and do my ST. Then steak and wine time.

If you have any other links or ideas, just lemme know. I'm particularly interested in agility or balance drills, but more plyo ideas are always welcome too, especially full-body exercises, like burpees. Oftentimes in the fitness world, exercises are invented just for variety sake, but if I could draw from a range of sources to develop a nice little list that challenged all the planes and angles, that'd be great.
 
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Here's some free videos of ladder agility drills I found

I'm particularly interested in agility or balance drills
Thanks! I actually have the Asylum videos. While it was a nice workout, it got boring pretty quickly. I guess I'm just not a big fan of running and hopping around my living room.

I much prefer a real world experience such as trail running for balance and agility. Even easy trails have a bit to offer in terms of training. Winding sandy trails are better. Loose gravel with lots of twists and turns are most challenging. I'd say that the 400m of gravel on my local trail offers a more intense workout (being out of breath and sore) than the rest of the 7mi run (which is nice for the relaxing scenery). For me, it's worth the 35min roundtrip drive. Even going just a few times a month, improvement comes quickly.
healthyliving.azcentral.com/agility-make-run-longer-13475.html
 
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Thanks! I actually have the Asylum videos. While it was a nice workout, it got boring pretty quickly. I guess I'm just not a big fan of running and hopping around my living room.

I much prefer a real world experience such as trail running for balance and agility. Even easy trails have a bit to offer in terms of training. Winding sandy trails are better. Loose gravel with lots of twists and turns are most challenging. I'd say that the 400m of gravel on my local trail offers a more intense workout (being out of breath and sore) than the rest of the 7mi run (which is nice for the relaxing scenery). For me, it's worth the 35min roundtrip drive. Even going just a few times a month, improvement comes quickly.
healthyliving.azcentral.com/agility-make-run-longer-13475.html
Yah, I got a decent CAMP workout now. It hits a lot of areas, but isn't so intense that I dread doing it. The real key is the box jumps and then abdominal work, which is missing in my ST. I could do it at the beginning or the end of my ST sessions, but I prefer to do that high rep/low weight stuff on off-days.

I should make more of an effort to get out to some of the nearby trails, but the first cool spot, by the St. Croix River, is about 35 minutes one-way. Maybe I can convince my family to have a picnic there and let me disappear for 30-40 minutes. In a few years hopefully the kids will be old enough to start hiking with me.

Ultimately, for balance and agility training, I could take up karate again, or jazz dance, but for the time being I need workouts that I can fit into my daily routine easily, which means doing them alone for the most part. My office CAMP fits in well.
 
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If you can't go to the gravel, bring the gravel to you!
http://www.marshallconcreteproducts.com/BulkMaterials
Ha! Thanks, but no need; we have gravel in our driveway. I was thinking trail more in terms of developing balance and agility. I mostly run on concrete and asphalt, where the only agility needed is to avoid blocks of sidewalk upturned by tree roots, areas of grit and asphalt chunks thrown up by street plows, and degraded patches of asphalt.

The trails around here tend to be compacted dirt for the most part, with a few gravelly patches here and there, close to runoff areas.

Side note: I was amazed at the ease with which our son first walked across our gravel driveway barefoot. Didn't faze him in the least.
 
Well, making up my Friday ST on Saturday, I was doing the bench press, then moving on to the rows, when the family woke up. No rows, no squats. The rest of the day my left shoulder started to really act up. A lot of electric massaging got it back to close to normal.

Easter Sunday I managed to get in a 4.5-mile run, but it wasn't until yesterday, Monday, that I was able to get back to the ST. So I decided to attempt Friday's workout once again, instead of moving on to the next workout scheduled in my four-week cycle. So Bench, Squats, and Rows again. On the Squats, I did 3x at 225 for the first time, and felt pretty solid, so I got out the safety-net sawhorses and put on another 20lbs. Did 2 reps but nearly stalled out on the second, so then I did another 1rep set at 245 and then drop sets 3-5 reps 2-3 sets at 225 and 175.

A few observations:

1.) Even if I don't do squats twice a week, I'm making good progress.
2.) Working off a four-week cycle isn't going to be flexible enough to handle interruptions.
3.) My gimpy left shoulder may be mostly a trigger point issue, so need to become more vigilant about massaging and stretching my upper body as well as my lower body. If this helps, then perhaps I can get back to doing Power Cleans more regularly.

This leads me to think that I need to go back to a one-week schedule, and just do each major lift once per week, adding in Power Cleans and a bunch of the assistance lifts on the third weekday workout. Something like this:
ST 3 1-Week 14.04.22.jpg
 
I tried something today before I lifted, just some silly windmill like warm-ups for my shoulders 3x20 for each arm. It seemed to help with the usual shoulder soreness/clicking that is there after a good workout.

Also something else I read in easy strength is to do your main workout on wednesday and use Monday as your warm-up for the week routine. I thought its interesting as often times Monday I am generally more tired than Wed.
 
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I tried something today before I lifted, just some silly windmill like warm-ups for my shoulders 3x20 for each arm. It seemed to help with the usual shoulder soreness/clicking that is there after a good workout.

Also something else I read in easy strength is to do your main workout on wednesday and use Monday as your warm-up for the week routine. I thought its interesting as often times Monday I am generally more tired than Wed.
Yah, I think I noticed some improvement in my left shoulder when I did the clubbells, which is similar to windmills. Both should work about the same, and the latter are easier, so I'll give them a try. Thanks for the suggestion. In general, with more of a focus on heavy lifting, I need to be more attentive to maintenance-type mobility and stretching. Also, in my case, the shoulder started acting up when I did the bench press for the second time last week, so I don't think warmup was the problem. It seems like it was more a over-training issue. Another reason to ditch the four-week training cycle, which has me doing heavy upper body stuff twice a week.

I dunno about that easy strength recommendation. Monday has always been the day when I feel like really hitting it. Since I'm most focused on improving my squats right now, I'm doing them on Mondays for the time being. I'm also putting my heaviest upper body stuff there, the bench press and the rows. And then since I want to get back to doing longer runs on Saturday, at least 5-8 miles, but more like 7-10, it makes sense to put most of the lighter assistance exercises on Friday, the day before, so I'm not too sore for the long run. That leaves Wednesday for the deadlifts, which are equal in exertion to the squats, and the two less heavy upper body lifts, military presses and pulldowns.

On this morning's 5K, I didn't feel much interference from the previous day's extra effort with the squats, so perhaps I'm overthinking how ST and running should fit together, but it seems to make sense to have some separation between the two biggest lifts, the squats and the deadlifts, and my long run.

Could it be I've finally got it right?

I'll try my CAMP workout at the end of the afternoon, but I may not get through much of it. I'm feeling kind of stiff after yesterday's ST and this morning's run.

Funny thing: the thighs on my jeans are getting tight. The squats are doing their job I guess.
 
I tried something today before I lifted, just some silly windmill like warm-ups for my shoulders 3x20 for each arm. It seemed to help with the usual shoulder soreness/clicking that is there after a good workout.
Did some shoulder windmills, backwards and forwards, periodically throughout the day yesterday. Seems to help a lot, and much easier than club mills. No coordination required. It's one of those things that seems so obvious that you can't understand why you didn't try it much earlier. Thanks again for the tip.

I Googled "windmill exercise", but the results show people mostly touching their toes or else doing what I've been calling the "Iron Cross" laying on the floor. It would be nice if there were some kind of fitness congress that could meet and standardize all the names floating around. You meant "windmill" as in Pete Townshed's windmills, right? Like 3D snow angel wings or something.
 
Did some shoulder windmills, backwards and forwards, periodically throughout the day yesterday. Seems to help a lot, and much easier than club mills. No coordination required. It's one of those things that seems so obvious that you can't understand why you didn't try it much earlier. Thanks again for the tip.

I Googled "windmill exercise", but the results show people mostly touching their toes or else doing what I've been calling the "Iron Cross" laying on the floor. It would be nice if there were some kind of fitness congress that could meet and standardize all the names floating around. You meant "windmill" as in Pete Townshed's windmills, right?

Haha yeah exactly, I'm trying to figure out why they do help? Increased mobility and blood flow? I haven't had any shoulder/trap pain or soreness since I have started doing them in the morning.

Iron crosses are good and the touching your toes windmill thing is kind of fun too. All for a warmup that is.
 
Increased mobility and blood flow?
Sounds right to me. I had thought my left shoulder problem began 5-6 years ago in Mozambique, when I tried to do upright rows with a barbell made out of cement, paint buckets, r-bar, and 3/4" pipe. It was ungraded and too heavy for me at the time. I felt something in there snap a little. From then on it would click from time to time, sometimes a lot, and actually lock up once in a while too.

An orthopedist checked me out when I got back Stateside though, and did all these tests and looked at x-rays, and said my shoulder looked like that of a man 20 years younger, and I did just as well on some of the strength tests as the college football players (Division III I think) he sees.

So it's been a bit of a mystery to me, and it kind of comes and goes, but once I started to do strength training again it's gotten a lot better, and has even disappeared for periods of time. So I guess instead of thinking I have some structural issue caused by my tweak in Mozambique, I should approach it as a simple aging/unlimber issue and just spend a little more time and attention on keeping it mobile and properly warmed up, same as I do for my legs and hips with stretching and mobility exercises. Besides the windmills/3D snow angel wings, I'll add some upper body and arm stretches into my routine. I've also been using my electric massage around the shoulder blade and on the delts, and got one of those back massagers arriving today:​
I probably need to get back to doing the face pulls more often too. Maybe the posterior delt is weak in comparison to the anterior delt?​
One other consideration. I sleep on my sides with one of my arms tucked under my head. I wonder if keeping the shoulder at this angle all night has anything to do with it? I would be pretty hard for me to sleep differently though, so I'll first try all the other stuff first.​
BTW, here's an example of the most common kind of windmill I found on my Google search, here with a dumbbell.​