Hypergravity Running Training

Hypergravity training is using gravity to work against you to give you a better workout. It is usually used with sports like cycling, where you would make the bike heavier; but with running, you have to make the body heavier.

The obvious reason for hypergravity training is to build muscle strength; it’s the running equivalent of lifting a heavier weight. When you make your body heavier you will need more energy to run, and your muscles will get stronger. Obviously you can’t just get fat, so you have to load your body up.

The best way is to wear a heavy rucksack while running. Because you are putting weight onto your back the rucksack must fit you properly. You should always buy a pack with proper padded waist straps and a chest strap. The best place to buy is from an outdoor specialist shop as they can find the ideal product for you and make sure it won’t damage your back.

When starting to train using this method you should only use weights that don’t damage your back. This can vary from person to person but 10kg should be a good weight to start off with and then adjust it from there. This is a proven method of training: the SAS for part of their selection process make the candidates run the fan dance, which is an extremely long run with insanely heavy packs.

There are other ways such as weighting your shoes, but this can be expensive as you need to buy another pair of heavier shoes.

When using any form of hypergravity training it is important to monitor your body for fatigue such as the knees from excessive pronation etc. If this occurs, cease training immediately until you've rectified the problem.