How Runners Can Start Strength Training

Too often, runners try to improve their skills by focusing solely on running. They aim for faster workouts, more mileage, faster overall pace, or more frequent workouts. This approach can lead to injury, as more training is inherently risky. (We don’t call them “overuse injuries” for a reason!) Instead, if runners focus on their ability to train more, they will eventually be able to run more.

Capacity building training improves your ability to exercise even more, whether that means more volume, more intensity, or both. And the best way to improve your ability to run more is through strength training.

A consistent strength program provides many benefits for endurance runners:

• Faster finish times because you can use more muscle fibers and therefore run more powerfully.
• Fewer overuse injuries because strength work improves the strength of your muscles, connective tissues and joints.
• Better running economy because you are more coordinated.

In fact, strength training is so important to runners that it shouldn’t be seen as cross-training – it’s part of the workout that all runners must do if their goal is to reach their true potential.

But if you’re a runner who is intimidated by the gym, or has never done strength training before, where do you start?

It is important to remember the development principle.

Where to start if you’re new to strength training

Most runners understand that in order to improve, their workouts must become more challenging and challenging over time. This is called progression and helps runners gradually achieve more as they adapt to higher levels of mileage and overall intensity.

You can also do this through strength training. If you’re new to strength training, start out with relatively simple bodyweight exercises, paying particular attention to consistency.

It is most helpful at this stage in your running career to develop a consistent strength training habit, so start with a series of bodyweight workouts that follow each run. By finishing each run with a little basic strength training, you will develop a long-term habit that will last.

Stick to basic exercises such as:

• Squats (and their varieties on one leg)
• Deadlift (and one-legged deadlift)
• Planks
• Bridges
• Lunges
• Ascents
• Push ups
• Press (and push press)

The following one-leg club program combines many of these exercises into one single-leg strength workout:

The Standard Basic Program is a basic bread and butter workout designed specifically for runners:

These exercises help you build strength, which is challenging but affordable for most athletes. By doing one exercise after each run, you will gain the basic strength you need for a more difficult lift if you choose.

How to add weights and more complex movements

If you’re new to strength training, you shouldn’t do a series of heavy deadlifts right away. Instead, start with the procedures in the previous section, which are much more general.

Overall strength forms the foundation that allows runners to progress to more challenging exercises in the gym. After 4-6 weeks of regular bodyweight training, you will be ready to move on to more challenging exercises.

A valuable way to overcome the transition from basic bodyweight exercises to challenging gym workouts is to start with simpler implements such as bracelets, medicine balls, and weights. These tools add to your weight or add only relatively little weight.

You will be doing many of the same movements you do in the gym, but with less weight. Routines such as the Tomahawk workout are great for intermediate workouts when bodyweight exercises are too easy, but you’re not quite ready for a gym session.

After another 3-5 weeks of strength training with home equipment, you can move on to more challenging exercises in the gym. These more challenging gym workouts will include many of the same exercises ( squats , deadlifts , abs ) but will be performed with a weighted barbell.

The planning is also different because you can’t lift heavier weights every day, so you won’t be keeping track of every run with one of these workouts. Instead, you can lift a relatively heavy weight in the gym twice a week and maintain your bodyweight workout after other workouts throughout the week.

Useful Tips for Building Strength

The goals for runners with strength training are simple: get stronger, improve performance, increase injury resistance, and increase power to improve race performance.

Because of this, you do not need to lift weights like bodybuilders, focusing on individual muscles and long training sessions. It is not that useful for runners.

Rather than isolating specific muscles, runners should train their movements. Complex multi-joint exercises such as squats and deadlifts will not only help runners get stronger, but will also improve coordination and overall athleticism. So ditch the biceps curls and concentrate on the main lifts.

And since our goals include efficiency and power, you need to lift relatively heavy weights . Light weights will not sufficiently affect your muscles and nervous system; for these desired attachments, you need to lift complex weights.

But with that said, prioritize your running. Lifting weights is secondary to running, so if in doubt, lift a little less weight than you think. Runners coordinate resistance training when they do weightlifting, so the exact amount of weight is less important than the correct movement.

If you feel too tired or sick to run because of lifting heavy weights, or are unable to reach your desired pace or split the splits during your workout, you are probably lifting too heavy. Reduce the weight and you will likely find your running energy return quickly.

After all, runners don’t need to be afraid to lift weights. This will not make you bulky or too stiff to run. But it will make you stronger, improve body composition, increase your running speed and economy, make you more powerful, and reduce your risk of injury while running. And that’s all every runner wants.

Jason Fitzgerald is the head coach of Strength Running , 2:39 marathon runner and host of the Strength Running podcast.