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2012

Which Muscles Do I Use for Running?

Running uses the muscles in the thighs (quadriceps), the backs of the legs (hamstrings),
calves, hips, low back, and buttocks, and the upper body cannot be ignored since you use
your torso (back and abdominal muscles) as well as your arms and shoulders to help you
stabilize, balance, and move forward. Here are a few tips for running-based muscle
building.
1. Run up and down hills to focus on tightening and toning your thighs and
buttocks.
2. Doing speed work or intervals (where you sprint for a few minutes at high
speeds and then recover at a slower pace) is comparable to leg exercises in the
gym (leg press, leg extension, etc.), so you can skip your leg work on the days
that you do these workouts.
3. Run backward if you want to work your ankles, lower back, and thighs
(hamstrings and quadriceps) and improve your balance.
Educating ourselves on the muscles we use while exercising is important. The more we
know about our body, the better we can protect it by treating it with care and avoiding
injury.
Running on a regular basis has many benefits, including weight loss, stress relief and
maintaining a strong and healthy body. As it is one of the more physically exerting
activities, it can also cause damage to your body such as a pulled hamstring or dislocation
of your kneecaps. With a little knowledge, we can help prevent these injuries with the
right equipment and by properly stretching your muscles before the run.

Primary Muscles Used While Running

Primary muscles will get the most impact from your movement and therefore should
receive more care.
Your primary muscles while running will include your quads (quadriceps femoris),
hamstrings, gluteus maximus, iliopsoas, and your calf muscles.

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quads

Quads (Quadriceps Femoris)

Your quads are muscle groups of four basic muscles located on your front thighs. You
will be able to see and identify these muscles on the picture to your right. They are:

The rectus femoris,

The vastus medialis,
The vastus lateralis, and
The vastus intermedius.

Your quads are responsible for moving two of the joints used in running, your knee joint
and your hip joint. The work together to straighten your knees and bend your hips.
If you are interested in strengthening your quad muscles consider doing squats and
lunges. Increasing strength in your muscles apart from running can decrease your risk of
injury and increase your speed.

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hamstrings

Hamstrings and Gluteus Maximus

Your hamstrings are made up of four muscle-parts on the back of your thighs. As
pictured, these are known as:

The semitendinosus,
The semimembranosus, and
The biceps femoris (two parts: long head and short head).

These four parts of your hamstrings allows you to flex your knees. The semitendinosus,
semimembranosus and the long head biceps femoris work together to extend the hips. As
you may have noticed, your hamstrings work opposite your quads in how your knees and
hips move, creating a systematic medley that works well for you body.
The gluteus macimus, also pictured though not labeled, is the largest of the gluteal
muscles. You will recognize it easily as it is the muscle that contributes most to creating
the shape of the buttocks, better known as butt or rear-end.
This muscle will help you keep proper erect posture by extending your hips.

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iliopsoas

Hip Flexors (Iliopsoas)

Your hip flexors (or iliopsoas), like your quads, is comprised of a muscle group of two
muscles:

The iliacus and

The psoas major.

As you can see on the picture to your right, the shortest muscle, the iliacus, begins on
your pelvic crest (the iliac fossa) and stretches over to your thigh bone (femur). The
larger of the muscles, the psoas major, stretches from your T-12 spinal vertebrae to your
L-5 spinal vertebrae and there attaches to the femur.
These two muscles work together to help your hips flex.
The iliopsoas are often the culprit behind sever hip pain. If you experience hip pain while
running, you should stop your routine immediately, and go see your doctor or a

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chiropractic specialist. Do not begin running again until they have determined it to be
safe.

calf muscles

Calf Muscles
Your calf muscles are located on the back of you leg, below your knee. Though many
anatomists see the calf muscle to be a single muscle (triceps surae), most say that it is a
muscle group, like your quads and hip flexors. This group consists of two main muscles,
the:

The gastrocnemius and

The soleus.

Your calf muscles will allow you to flex your knee and planter flex your ankle. Like your
quads, your calf muscles can be strengthened by doing squats. Other good strengthbuilding exercises would include calf muscle raises and skipping!

Supporting Muscles Used While Running

Though your supporting muscles may not come under as much strain as your primary
muscles, it is a good idea to educate yourself about them and protect them as well. Your
supporting muscles are:

The abdominals (both upper and lower) and

The biceps brachii.

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Your abdominals are located at your abdomen. These muscles will allow you to maintain
good posture during your workout, helping you to prevent injury and maximizing your
time.
Your biceps brachii (better known as your biceps), are located above your elbow and
allows you to rotate your forearms and flex your elbows. You will only use this muscle if
your elbow is bent, making your running more efficient.

Leg Muscles Used in Running

To understand how leg workouts can benefit runners, it helps to have a basic knowledge
of the muscles in your legs and how they work together. Nearly all the leg muscles are
used in running. By strengthening each group, you will improve your running form and
balance.
As you move your leg forward, you use mainly the quadricep muscles at the front of
your thigh. They bend your hip and straighten your knee. The quads also stabilize the
knee and help absorb the shock of impact as you land.
As your body moves forward, the action switches to your hamstrings, the muscles at the
back of your thigh, which straighten your hip and begin to bend your knee. The
hamstrings also work to help you lift your knee behind you.
At the same time, the muscles of your lower leg, the soleus (inner calf) and
gastrocnemius (outer calf) extend and flex each foot as you land and push off. These
muscles also help absorb impact and give your stride spring.
In addition to these primary running muscles, several other muscle groups play a role in
running form and are important to include in your leg workouts. The gluteal muscles
form the buttocks. They help extend the hip, straightening it beneath you. Just as
important, they stabilize the trunk and keep you upright. Strong glutes contribute to good
running form and alignment.
The hip muscles are also important. Because they lie deeper than hamstrings and quads,
they are often neglected in workouts. Hip flexors and extenders work with the quads and
hamstrings to move the legs forward and back. The hip rotator muscles stabilize the hip
joint and contribute to good running form.
Your leg workouts should be aimed at strengthening all these muscles and achieving
overall development, especially where opposing groups are concerned. Exercises aimed
at the quadriceps, for example, should be balanced by a hamstring workout.
Read on to learn how some simple exercises that you can do at home can strengthen the
muscles and improve your running form.

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Muscles Used When Running

There are three types of muscles used when running:

Primary
Supporting
Auxiliary

The Primary Muscles

The primary ones used in running include:

The quadriceps femoris

The hamstring
The gluteus maximus
The iliopsoas
The calf muscle

The quadriceps femoris also called the quadriceps or the quadriceps extensor or the
quads is actually a muscle group that comprises several ones on the front of a thigh,
including:

The rectus femoris

The vastus medialis
The vastus lateralis
The vastus intermedius

A quadriceps muscle group on a thigh moves two joints the hip joint and the knee joint
specifically to flex (bend) the hip and to extend (straighten) the knee.
The hamstring comprises four on the back of the left or right thigh, including:

The semitendinosus
The semimembranosus
The biceps femoris long head
The biceps femoris short head

All four in a hamstring move a knee joint specifically to flex the knee.

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Three of the four in a hamstring move a hip joint specifically to extend the hip.
Because the biceps femoris short head crosses only one joint the knee it does not
participate in hip extension.
The gluteus maximus is one of the three gluteal muscles, is the most superficial and
largest among them, and is the primary contributor to the shape of the buttocks.
The primary purpose of the gluteus maximus is to maintain the trunk of the body in the
erect posture that is, to extend the hip. This explains why other primates, which
ambulate on all fours, tend to have much flatter buttocks than the buttocks of humans.
The iliopsoas also called the hip flexors is actually a muscle group that comprises
two muscles:

The iliacus
The psoas major

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The iliacus, which is the shorter of these two, originates on the iliac fossa of the ilium (on
the pelvic crest) and attaches on the femur (the thigh bone). The psoas major originates
on the T-12 to L-5 vertebrae (of the spine) and attaches to the femur.
The iliopsoas with the psoas major doing the majority of the work supports hip
flexion.
The calf muscle considered by some anatomists to be a single muscle called the
triceps surae is usually seen as a muscle group that comprises:

The gastrocnemius
The soleus

The purpose of the calf muscle is to plantar flex the ankle and to flex the knee.
The Supporting Muscles
The supporting ones used in running include:

The biceps brachii

The upper abdominals
The lower abdominals

The biceps brachii also known more simply as the biceps is a muscle on the upper
arm whose purpose is to rotate the forearm and to flex the elbow. Because running is
more efficient when the elbow is bent, the biceps brachii supports running.
The upper abdominals comprises the muscles in the upper half of the abdomen.
The lower abdominals comprises those in the lower half of the abdomen.
Together, the upper and lower abdominals support the core strength that runners need for
maintaining good posture, which is crucial for maximizing performance and avoiding
injury. Because running can cause a lot of rotation of the spine, it is important to have
strong upper and lower abdominals to stabilize the spine and to minimize the dissipation
of energy during the transfer of power to the extremities.
The Auxiliary Muscles
Some would say that technically there are no auxiliary ones used in running. But others
would point out that your entire body is involved when running and therefore that you
could list ones such as these:

The external intercostals

The internal intercostals

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The external intercostals aid in forced inhalation.

The internal intercostals aid in forced exhalation.
And the list could be supplemented with others in the body, such as those that help you to
keep your head erect while running.
When running, the muscles of the lower body help to move the body through four stages
- heel strike, single limb support, push-off and leg swing.

Running on Level Ground

When running on level ground, the muscles that are most activated are the adductors, the
gracilis and the hamstrings, which consists of the semitendinosus, semimembranosus and
biceps femoris. These muscles assist with knee flexion, hip extension and stabilizing the
pelvis during single limb support, push-off and leg swing. The abdominals are active
when running at all times to help stabilize the pelvis and maintain balance during the
different stages.

Running Uphill
During uphill running, the muscles most activated are the adductors, biceps femoris,
gluteals, gastrocnemius and the vastus group of the thigh -- vastus lateralis, vastus
medialis and vastus intermedius. This is due to the greater forces generated to extend the
knee and hip while running uphill. The biceps femoris is one of the hamstring muscles
used during push-off and at the beginning of the swing phase. The gastrocnemius is used
mostly during the push-off phase, but is also active during heel strike.

References

Jap.physiology.org: Lower extremity muscle activation during horizontal and

uphill running
Jap.physiology.org: Muscle coordination in cycling: effect of surface incline and
posture
Dynamoty: Dynamic Human Anatomy; Whiting, William C.; Rugg Stuart, 2006