This information is based on personal experiences and general knowledge. It is not professional medical advice. Always consult a healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, lifestyle, or treatment plans. This content was created with the assistance of AI tools to ensure thorough research and readability.
Strength training for runners doesn’t need to take much time, and the benefits can be significant.
If your goal is to improve as a runner, increasing your running volume is a good place to start. That could mean running a bit longer or adding an extra day each week. But eventually, there’s a limit to how much running you can do safely. This is when adding strength training becomes essential.
Why Strength Training Matters for Runners
There are two big reasons runners should lift:
Injury prevention and performance improvement.
When done correctly, strength work builds a foundation that supports your body through tougher mileage and faster training.
Research shows that strength training can improve running efficiency, increase muscular endurance, and support better body composition and higher resting metabolism.
As you age, strength training becomes even more important. Running alone doesn’t prevent the loss of lean muscle mass, including fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are important for speed. Losing those fibers is one reason runners slow down over time.
Adding strength work may help slow that decline and keep you running stronger for longer.
Endurance runners don’t need to bulk up. Compare a sprinter like Sha'Carri Richardson to a marathoner like Molly Seidel. Both are strong, but in different ways. Sprinters rely on explosive power. Distance runners need strength for sustained effort.
If you’re a distance runner, your strength training should support your running, not compete with it.
When to Strength Train
Timing matters. If you lift twice per week, avoid doing it on your easy run days, which are for recovery. Lifting adds muscular stress, even with light weights.
A better approach is to lift on the same day as your hardest run. For example, do a tempo run in the morning, then a short strength session later that day. This lets you recover fully the next day.
It also reduces soreness that might interfere with your runs. Trying to run hard the day after lifting heavy often leads to poor performance.
If your schedule is tight or if you don’t enjoy long lifting sessions, break your strength training into shorter sessions spread across the week.
How Much Is Enough
Most long-distance runners benefit from 30 to 60 minutes of strength training per week. Even 10 to 15 minutes after each run can help.
One long session per week usually isn’t enough. Instead, try short, frequent sessions. Lift slowly with heavy weights to get more done in less time.
If you have a hard running session the next day, go easy on the legs and focus on the upper body or core instead.
Top Strength Exercises for Runners
Here are four essential exercises. You can do them with body weight, dumbbells, or resistance bands.
Squats
Squats work the quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, and core. You can modify them by doing heel lifts, sumo squats, or jump squats to increase variety and difficulty.
Deadlifts
Deadlifts target the hamstrings, glutes, back, hips, and core.
Try the Romanian deadlift for a hamstring-focused variation. Lower the weights slowly while hinging at the hips, keep a slight bend in your knees, and drive through your hips to stand back up.
Lunges
Lunges strengthen your legs, glutes, and supporting stabilizer muscles. You can lunge forward, backward, sideways, or add a torso twist to engage the core even more.
Planks
Planks are excellent for full-body core strength. Keep a neutral spine, engage your core, and focus on steady breathing. Try different plank variations for added challenge.
While gym machines can be useful, they often remove the need for stabilizing muscles. For example, a leg press machine doesn’t require core engagement, unlike free weights or body weight moves.
What About Core Training
When most people think “core,” they think crunches or sit-ups. Those moves are fine, but unilateral training is often more effective for runners.
Unilateral Training
Unilateral training means working one side of the body at a time. Examples include lunges, single-arm presses, and single-leg squats.
These moves engage your core stabilizers by challenging your balance. You’ll build real-world core strength without needing crunches.
How to Lift for Best Results
Some runners stick with body weight exercises only. While these can be hard, don’t shy away from lifting heavier weights.
What matters most is how you lift. Use slow, controlled movements:
-
2 to 3 seconds to lift
-
A 1 to 2 second pause at the hardest point
-
2 to 3 seconds to lower
This eliminates momentum and ensures your muscles do the work. It also reduces joint stress and injury risk.
Power at the End
If you want to work on power, save the fast or explosive reps for the end of your set. When your muscles are already tired, fast movement becomes naturally slower and safer, but still stimulates fast-twitch fibers.
Choose a weight that fatigues you between 8 and 20 reps. When you can no longer maintain good form, stop.
Quick and Effective Strength Work
Each rep might take 7 seconds (lift, pause, lower). If you do 8 reps, that’s under a minute of work per muscle group.
Divide your body into:
-
Chest
-
Back
-
Arms and Shoulders
-
Core
-
Legs and Glutes
That’s about 5 minutes of lifting, plus some rest. You can finish a total-body session in 10 minutes.
If you like higher reps and lighter weights, that’s fine. Just avoid turning it into a cardio workout. Instead of doing 20 reps of one move, do 10 reps of two different exercises to train more muscles.
For example, 10 heavy hamstring curls, followed by 10 heavy calf raises.
Consistency Is Key
More than anything, consistency matters. Strength training a few times a week, even for short sessions, can make you a stronger, faster, and more injury-resistant runner.
If you're serious about your running, strength training is one of the best ways to improve performance and stay healthy long-term.
Ready to squat?
Resources:
- theplantedrunner
- Personal experience and running knowledge.
