Strength Training for Runners

What strength does for a runner

Strength work does two jobs for a runner. It lowers the energy cost of running at a given pace, which is running economy, and it keeps your economy from slipping as a long run goes on. Two 2024 meta-analyses of middle- and long-distance runners found that heavy training (80 percent or more of the heaviest weight you can lift once) improved running economy by a small amount¹ and time-trial and time-to-exhaustion performance by a moderate amount².

The late-run effect was shown in a randomized trial of 28 well-trained men. Fourteen added maximal strength and plyometric training twice a week for 10 weeks and 14 kept running only. Late in a 90 minute run at heavy intensity, the oxygen cost of running fell 2.1 percent in the strength group and rose 0.6 percent in the running-only group³. It is one 10-week trial in men, tested in a laboratory.

Lift for economy and durability, and do not expect it to make you injury-proof. In a 2024 meta-analysis of nine randomized trials in 1,904 endurance runners, runners who added exercise programs had no significant difference in injury risk or rate from runners who did not, though a post hoc look at supervised programs found lower risk⁴. The guide on core work for runners covers the hip and core side.

It does not add bulk. Body composition was typically unaffected by adding strength training in a 2018 review of 24 studies, and its authors concluded it was not negatively impacted⁵. A few heavy sets of low reps twice a week build force, and the studies do not show added bulk.

What kind works best

Heavy lifting has the best record. Moderate loads (40 to 79 percent of the one-rep max) and isometric holds did not improve economy compared with control¹. "Heavy" means genuinely challenging for you and well executed, a rep or two short of failure, and not a max test.

Plyometrics (jumping and bounding) have a smaller record. In the economy review they gave a small benefit only at easy running speeds, 12 km/h (about 8 minutes a mile) or slower, and in the performance review their effect on time-trial performance was not statistically significant. Programs that combined heavy lifting with jumps had the largest effects in both reviews (moderate for economy, large for performance), though the certainty of that evidence was rated low for economy and very low to moderate for performance¹². Jumps are an extra on top of heavy lifting, and they load tendons and bones quickly, so learn them with someone watching your form and start with small ones such as pogo jumps.

More is not better. Neither the number of sessions a week nor the length of the program changed the effect on performance². Twice a week is enough, and three sessions is the most that fits alongside running for most people.

What to lift

Build each session around compound, multi-joint lifts and cover a squat, a hinge, a push and a pull across the week, with at least one lateral move. Running loads one leg at a time, so give single-leg work a place: balance two-legged and single-legged lifts, such as a deadlift one day and a single-leg version the other.

Keep the movement patterns the same from week to week and change only the variation, so the lifts progress.

• Squat pattern: back or goblet squats, split squats, step-ups.
• Hinge: deadlifts or hip hinges, single-leg deadlifts.
• Single-leg work: reverse lunges, Bulgarian split squats, step-ups.
• Push and pull: rows and an overhead press.
• Calves: calf raises, straight-leg and bent-knee.

How heavy and how much

Heavy phase: 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps on the main lifts, a rep or two short of failure, with 2 to 3 minutes of rest between sets, in a session of 45 to 60 minutes including a warm-up. Do the big lift first and pair the smaller exercises as supersets with unrelated movements, and do not stack two heavy lower-body lifts back to back. Heavy sets of three or fewer reps are not very taxing, which is why heavy lifting fits alongside running.

Add weight when the sets feel under control. Do not test a one-rep max, and skip timed circuits and sets of burpees: they train endurance that running already gives you and they do not progress.

If you are new to lifting, build the habit first. Spend 10 to 15 minutes after runs on bodyweight work (bridges, side planks, single-leg squats, side-lying leg raises, clamshells), then add two gym days a week of 45 to 60 minutes built on compound lifts. Learn each movement with a manageable load, build toward heavier weight over several weeks, and get a form check from a credentialed trainer in person if you can.

After three or four weeks or more away from lifting, do a third of what you did before, such as one set of 10 instead of three. Use that session to see how you respond, watch how the next four to eight hours go, and build back about three days later.

Where it fits in the week and the season

Running stays the priority. Fit strength in without removing the key runs: shorten an easy run from an hour to 45 minutes and lift after it. If lifting leaves you with dead legs, or you can no longer hit your workout paces, cut the weight or the volume before you touch the running.

Strength is not a rest day. Put it on a hard-run day, after the run, or the day after a key run, so easy days stay easy, and skip heavy leg work the day before a hard workout or long run. When life squeezes the week, run a little easier, accept a compromised interval session, or take about 10 percent off the bar. A program that gets done beats a better one that does not.

Do the most lifting when running volume is lowest, and cut sessions and sets as running volume and intensity rise. Early in a build, two or three sessions a week with heavy loads. As weekly mileage peaks, one session a week with two or three sets of the main lifts. One session a week is a small dose that still holds what you built. Coaches of trail and ultra runners keep that one session through the last eight weeks before a goal race, because stopping completely means starting over afterward. In the taper, keep the sessions, make them lighter, and in race week turn them into mobility (see the guide on tapering).

For lifting built around hills and long days on your feet, see the guides on mountain legs and ultra legs, and for speed work in the gym see speed legs.