By Jason Blair As part of her ‘‘Resolve to Run Faster” class, Barber Physical Activity Center Fitness Director Veronica Nelson shows students how a properly designed resistance training program can be a wonderful compliment to running. The class stressed the importance of stretching, plyometrics, sprints, intervals and fartlek speed training work.

Of course it won’t. Not if done correctly. A properly designed resistance training program is a beautiful compliment to running. The key to success is light weight and high repetitions, the low resistance⁄high rep approach giving all the benefits of weight training without the excess of the bulky, fast-twitch muscles found in the Arnolds of the world. (See TWITCH sidebar, B3)

That’s why Veronica Nelson, fitness director at Barber Physical Activity Center, created the ‘‘Resolve to Run Better” lecture and exercise class. It’s her way to help educate Quantico’s large running population about all the misconceptions of working out to run.

‘‘There are so many things people do wrong out there,” said Nelson, who’s been in the fitness business for nearly 15 years. ‘‘They only run, or do too much cardio, or pick up two-pound weights when they should be doing more. If you’re looking for that magic pill, weight training is more than half of it.”

Resistance training helps runners in several ways. First, strength gains increase a runner’s power. Weight training also helps keep the supporting abdomen, back, and pelvis muscles in shape, providing a vital framework for running and giving the muscles responsible for forward motion a flexible, yet stable, platform.

‘‘I love getting people on the right track,” said the 43-year-old Nelson, a marathoner who could still easily pass for a woman half her age. ‘‘People have all these weird ideas about how to work out or just don’t know how to do something and I feel like it’s my responsibility to make sure they do it right. I hate seeing people wasting time in the gym – doing two mph on the treadmill, or doing an exercise wrong. If you want results, at least do it right and then put some effort into it.”

And not only does lifting weights make you strong, it helps you lose fat. As weight training progresses muscle mass increases, requiring a greater expenditure of calories. Thus an individual with a lower percentage of body fat will use more calories than an individual of the same weight, but higher percentage. The bonus is that the calories for an increased basal metabolic rate come primarily from fat.

According to Nelson, the Resolve class was tailored for a range of running abilities, and was a short show-and-tell period about run specific weight training; the importance of stretching, plyometrics – a power move that stresses explosive body movements; sprints, intervals and fartlek speed training workout.

‘‘You don’t do all these exercise all the time,” Nelson said. ‘‘On one or two days a week, instead of going for a run you incorporate one of these into your workout.”

As children, most of us aren’t taught to run; we learn by watching everyone else. This makes running almost instinctual, something nearly everybody can do. But Nelson says that to run right you have to learn to run effectively.

‘‘There are people who have a natural stride and it’s just easy for them, and there are those who lumber along and get it done; but it sure isn’t pretty,” said Nelson, who calls these types of runners gazelles and rhinos. ‘‘Biomechanically and physically rhinos just aren’t meant to run for long, while the gazelles look perfectly natural.”

Even so, as a trainer who’s seen hundreds of runners, Nelson knows that it doesn’t matter if you’re a gazelle or a rhino, everybody can still learn a little more.

‘‘The gazelles may just need to learn how to run faster; learn about leg turnover or stride length, but they’re already good runners,” said Nelson, adding that she focuses on her Marine rhinos, especially because they have no choice – they have to run. ‘‘Those guys have to be here so I try to help them. You may not ever be an elite runner but you can end up being the fastest slow runner that you can be.”

But Nelson wants every runner to remember that overuse injuries are very common. Muscles usually become short, tight and weak because of overtraining or a biomechanical problem. This often goes unnoticed until a ‘‘sudden” overuse injury occurs. A proactive stretching and training program will help in this case, with resistance training helping expose weak or tight areas before they can cause problems.

This is where pride can sometimes get in the way.

‘‘A lot of Marines won’t ask for help because they think running three miles every day is good enough and that they’ll eventually get better,” Nelson said. ‘‘Well, it isn’t and they won’t. To get better your workout has to get progressively harder. I’m trying to get people to realize that you have to do these extra things if you want to progress. You have to push yourself.”

But helping people push themselves is why Nelson and her staff are here.

‘‘I love watching people improve and learn to love working out,” Nelson said. ‘‘Being on a military base, some people work out only because they have to, but when they become that person you can’t get out of the gym, that’s what it’s all about. That’s when that light bulb turns on for them.”