Crazy drill: Running with Extra Weight

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• Iam a huge fan of running with extra weights. I have found great results in terms of fitness and weight loss. I use it for cross training with 3 days of running, 1 day hill sprinting & 1 day with weights running.Its great for the lungs as well. We tend to breath atleast 2 times more than what we do during normal running. This by itself has so many advantages.

  I however dont agree with the concept of having the weights at the back. if you are 70kgs and if you tie 10kgs to your back and measure your weight, you will see a number less than 80kgs. And its not good for the back if the workout goes for more than an hour.

  Best posture would be the way commandos get trained in military. Weight carried by the hands. In this way, over 60mins, the extra weight works equally on shoulders, biceps, neck, triceps,back & chest(surprisingly)...

  With weights, we cannot run for more than 20% of our normal capacity. So we need walk for atleast 3mins between each run. The trick is to keep the weights on your hands irrespective of whether you are running or walking. Obviously, a particular part of your upper body will reach muscle breakdown for every 10mins. Just shift the weight to a different posture. In this way, we get an excellent workout for the entire upper body( plus other benefits of running) and you will find yourself breathing much better for next 2 days.. You read it right.. for next 2 days..

  Make it a more memorable workout with a long hot shower followed by a glass of Wine.. :-)

• i am in the process of training for the police. i have found that having put 4kg in my backpack and then increasing i have gained more muscles in my legs but i also hve added strenght. and the run is alot easier. you will notice the difference.

• Very interesting subject, here you have a link where you can calculate the different times/weights:

  It is very interesting also to read what they say about this.
  The relation with loosing weight/training increasse/better nutrition/...
  With reference to running with weights, I agree with Bob Little, cannot be too good for the joints and for a correct running technique.
  I would use the weights for testing purpouses only, but it is only my opinion.
  Regards from Spain.

• I think the weights are great experiment, but running with weights long-term is a bad idea for your joints. The best thing is to reduce weight if we can.

• Im just impressed at how fast you are WITH the weight. Ive been running for 10 years now and cant run miles as fast a you. I can hang an 8 minute mile maybe once, but thats it. im more like a 9:00 pace when its a really good day. how do you get that fast even with your extra weight , as you call it?

• Mike...Thanks for posting a comment on my blog. Also, I'm honored that you list my blog alongside links to Becky Lavelle and Desiree Ficker. (see Mike's site http://www.mikeashonline.com/ )

  I had another idea to stuff the ankle weights into the water bottle pockets of my fuel belt. Maybe tie them in so they don't fall out. Or, perhaps fill the feul belt water bottles with sand, which would be messy. I'll post how it goes if I try either of those ideas. It hurt my shoulders too much to use that sport sak that has just strings as shoulder straps.

• That sounds like a great workout! I'm interested to hear how this works long term. I am hoping to try some variation of this soon.

• I have estimated I slow down about 2.5 to 3 seconds per mile per pound. So your test matches with what I have found. I also found that extra weight really hurts the most as distance goes up. It takes more energy out of you and long distances like 1/2 marathons or International distance tris and longer seem to be worse than the 2.5/3 second rule. You run out of stored energy sooner.

  I am frustrated at my weight gain this winter. I know my performance will be hurt if I don't get it off.

  Bob