Many runners suffer from various forms of imbalance that can negatively affect their running performance, sometimes from injuries and other times from quick stops and one-sided runs on relatively flat ground. Many runners forget that in addition to fitness it is important to maintain a certain level of mobility, stability, strength, explosiveness, coordination and balance. This is especially important if you want to increase your performance and avoid injuries.
A good form of exercise is one that is functional; where training is adapted to the environment and the type of activities your body will be most used for. Generally, functional training focuses on strengthening the body from the inside out. Where you seek to mimic movements that you perform in your everyday life, as well as activities and exercises that challenge balance, coordination, strength, mobility and core stability. For runners the focus lays on creating stability and strength in the back, torso, pelvis and hips in order to reduce the risk of injury in those areas. When strengthening the weaker areas muscles will cooperate better and reduce the risk of overload damage.
Remember that functional training is different for each individual and focus should be placed on those muscle groups and areas of the body that are important for the individual to develop. BungyPump Walking can be a great compliment for runners that want to vary their workouts, improve fitness and avoid the strain that is caused by running.
BungyPump Walking and its unique resistance mechanism both strengthens and challenges the stability in shoulders, arms, core and back muscle groups, which are usually neglected by runners. A strong upper body promotes and increases the overall strength in the body, which allows you to exercise more but still reduce the risk of overload damage. The poles can also be used for multi-functional training since the built-in resistance can be used for strength and endurance exercises in addition to BungyPump Walking and/or running during a training session.
Like other sports it is desirable for a runner to perform better and avoid injuries. Thus I can highly recommend incorporating BungyPump training for a more varied workout during any type of weather conditions, whether it be summer, autumn, winter or spring.
– Rovena Westberg, Reg. Physiotherapist
BungyPump – a smart exercise tool for runners that train pulse based
When it comes to low-intensity exercise you can walk instead of running, and when using the poles your heart rate is on the right level (60-75%) and with good pulse control whether it is flat or uphill. Many runners find it boring to perform low-intensity workouts and therefore exercise too much at a high pulse level. The low-intensity workout is just as important as the one with high pulse if you want to develop and excel.
To e.g. perform uphill intervals with the poles is smart and gentle. One can stay at 80-85% by own drive and let the poles take the last stretch up to high-intensity pulse levels. This way you avoid using self-drive all the way and allow the poles to take some of the strain and pressure off the hips, joints and other impacts. The upper body is included and assisting. This also helps the body to feel fresher the day after high-intensity workouts.
– Jonas Ulander, Running coach