Most coaches and athletes have known for years that strengthening your legs will help you to run faster, but only recently have scientists shown that strengthening your arms can also help you to run faster. The stronger your legs are, the greater the force that your legs can exert against the ground and the greater the force that the ground can exert against your feet to drive you forward. On the other hand, the basic rules of biomechanics would make you think that arm strengthening would not help you to run faster. Your arms help to maintain your center of gravity, so you won't fall over when you run. When your left leg moves forward, your right arm also moves forward and your left arm moves backward. The only way that strong arms can help you to run faster would be if you raise both arms up at the same time during running and you don't do that. The most recent research presented at the American College of Sports Medicine meetings (May 30, 1995) show that having strong arms helps you to become more efficient in your arm movements so that you require less fuel and oxygen and therefore run faster. So competitive runners should train by running very fast two or three times a week and plan to do resistance exercises, using free weights or machines on those days also.
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