At the end of the day, we’re runners not bodybuilders. We don’t need rippling biceps and barrel chests to run a fast 5k or finish our first marathon, but neglecting our upper body entirely is a recipe for aches and pains that can negatively impact our running and our daily lives. Today we’re going to explain why runners should care about upper body strength, and then we’ll show you the best upper body exercises for runners!
Why runners should do upper body exercises
It’s easy to become completely leg centric in our running lives. If it doesn’t make our legs stronger or faster, we tend to look the other way. The trouble is that we only run an hour (maybe 2 if you’re Kipchoge) per day, and for the other 22-23 hours, we’re mostly focused on the other aspects of being humans. Having a resilient upper body is key to that 22 hours per day where we want health and happiness.
Running injuries happen when the demands of training exceed a specific body part’s training tolerance. The same thing is true for upper body aches and pains. If you do nothing to strengthen your upper body, the structures up there will probably have a low tolerance and be susceptible to pain and injury. Things like sitting all day at a desk or doing daily tasks around the house demand more of our upper body than we intuitively think. Also, problems like neck pain, upper back pain, and shoulder pain are incredibly common in runners. If they show up, we might have to miss a run. Far better to be a strong overall athlete with a large tolerance for daily life so we reduce our risk of pain and soreness.
Also, working on your upper body strength can be incredibly satisfying for runners like us. There isn’t any pressure to set a personal best. It’s something low pressure that we can do a few times per week to become stronger, healthier people. It also doesn’t need to be complicated. Bill Rodgers won 4 New York Marathons and 4 Boston Marathons on a steady diet of pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and mileage. Here are the three exercises you should try for a strong, healthy, and athletic upper body.
The best upper body exercises for runners
If you wanted to group these upper body exercises for runners into a simple circuit, you can’t go wrong with 3 sets of 10 reps with a few minutes rest in between sets! This is a good strength workout to incorporate post run when you’re not strengthening your legs!
Exercise 1. Bent Over Rows
A pushup is obviously a pushing motion, and a row is a pulling motion. This helps us maintain strength in the muscles of our back and arms. It can also help expand tolerance in the shoulders, upper back, and neck.
Exercise 2: Pushups
Why it works: this is a total body movement that strengthens your chest, arms, shoulders, back and core. It worked for Boston Billy, it works for the military, so it’ll work for us casual runners too.
Exercise 3: Overhead Press
The press is one of the most fundamental movements for building general strength. It requires we use our lower and upper back as well as the muscles of the arms and shoulders. If you could only do one exercise to build your upper body for the rest of your life, overhead press would probably be the one to pick!
We’ve built this routine, along with a few other key exercises, in the Recover Athletics studio. The Recover App helps runners fix aches and pains and prevent injury. A year’s subscription costs less than one trip to physical therapist and your first routine is completely free. Give the app a try today!
If you’d like to learn more about Recover Athletics and our mission to help everyone run pain free, meet our team here.