Strength Training for Runners
Strength & conditioning for runners: how much is enough?
Strength and conditioning should support your running, not compete with it. When done well, it improves performance and protects long-term health with minimal disruption to training. There’s a lot of misinformation out there - remember that just because one method is most effective it doesn’t mean it’s the only effective way to train! It has for instance become fashionable to say that lifting heavy is the only way to protect bones, or that runners must lift heavy or not bother. Neither of these statements are true.
Why runners should lift
There are two primary reasons to include strength training:
Improved running economy: stronger muscles and tendons reduce the energy cost of running at a given pace, particularly through better force production and stiffness.
Health and longevity: strength training helps maintain muscle mass and bone density. It plays a key role in protecting against osteoporosis and age-related decline.
How many times per week?
The minimum effective dose for most runners is 1–2 sessions per week
One session can maintain strength and health benefits. Two sessions are usually enough to improve strength and running economy without compromising run training.
More is not better if it interferes with key runs or recovery.
Does it need to be heavy?
Fewer reps with heavier weights is most effective for muscle growth, however, as runners our primary purpose is using strength training to get better at running, not to set PRs in the gym.
Certainly heavier weights are effective for improving neuromuscular strength and running economy, but this doesn’t mean that a more muscular-endurance focused session is useless. In fact consistency matters far more, so doing two moderate sessions every week that don’t impact your running is obviously far superior to lifting heavy but only sporadically because you can’t recover. Keep the main thing the main thing.
For bone health, the key is stress. So heavy weights will work, but so will plyometrics and short fast hill sprints. With plyometrics start small and build very slowly.
When should it be incorporated?
Ideally on hard running days, 6+ hours after your run. This means you are (usually) doing your key running sessions relatively fresh and can get the most out of them. If you can’t do strength and hard runs the same day, at least avoid placing strength work immediately before quality runs.
Most elite athletes periodise their strength training with a higher load over the winter and a lighter load through race season.
What if 2 sessions is too much?
For some runners, the amount of strength they can sustain and run well is lower, especially during high-volume or high-intensity phases.
A practical alternative:
1 full-body strength session
1 lighter session focused on plyometrics and rowing (use high resistance)
This approach maintains strength, tendon stiffness, and power while minimising fatigue.
Strength training for running
Strength training for running is not the same as strength training for lifting sports or aesthetics. You can do full body training in one session, you don’t have to do deep squats (you can even use a heel wedge if it makes it easier to maintain good form!). Once you have the strength and stability then it’s a great idea to incorporate unilateral exercises like split squats and RDLs. For upper body you can tweak exercises to be more running specific (e.g. “running arms” with dumbbells).
Strength training for runners should be:
Minimal but effective
Heavy enough to matter
Timed to protect run quality
Adapted to what you can sustain long term
If strength work is hurting your running, it’s not supporting it.