The Maryland town I live in is very hilly. It doesn’t matter which way I go, when I head out the door, there will be some big, long hills to run up.
To make matters more fun, my house sits at the top of one of those big hills so it’s an uphill finish EVERY 👏🏼 DAMN 👏🏼 TIME 👏🏼
But hills are physical and mental strength training in disguise and I’m so much stronger for doing them. In fact, training here means that when I do run on a flatter course, I feel pretty darn zippy — hello surprise race day PRs!
But you don’t just have to keep dragging yourself up every hill you find to get better at them, you can also train for them in other ways.
The right kind of strength training work will give you the strength and power you need to tackle those uphills as well as increase the durability of your legs.
So which moves are the right ones for stronger uphill running?
For maximum benefit, focus on single-leg or split-stance exercises. NOTE: this is a good rule of thumb for all runners since you’ll only ever have one leg on the ground at a time while running so it makes sense to train them to be independently strong and stable.
Check out this video for my favorite moves for stronger uphill running:
1️⃣ Split Squats
2️⃣ Reverse Lunges
3️⃣ Rear Leg Elevated Split Squats
4️⃣ Drop Reverse Lunges
5️⃣ Step-Ups
If you don’t have or aren’t comfortable with a barbell, you can use dumbbells instead.
Try these out and let me know which one(s) you’re gonna commit to add to your #hillsforbreakfast training.