What Are the Benefits of Strength Training for Runners?

Running makes you better at running. But running alone does not necessarily develop every physical quality that can make you a stronger, more efficient and more resilient runner.

That is where strength training comes in.

For runners, strength training is not about replacing miles with hours in the gym or trying to build as much muscle as possible. Used alongside a well-structured running programme, it is about developing the strength and power needed to support the repetitive demands of running.

Whether you run 5K, marathon or beyond, strength training can have a valuable place in your training.

Key Takeaways

• Strength training can improve running economy, helping the body use less energy to maintain a given pace.
• Greater muscular strength can help runners produce and control force more effectively with every stride.
• Strength and power become particularly useful when running uphill, accelerating or changing pace.
• A stronger musculoskeletal system can improve your capacity to cope with the repeated loading involved in running, although strength training should not be presented as a guarantee against injury.
• Runners do not need to train like bodybuilders. The objective is to complement running, not compete with it.
• Strength and endurance training can be successfully combined when the overall training load and recovery are properly managed.

Why Should Runners Strength Train?

Distance running is often thought of primarily as an aerobic activity, and understandably so. Your cardiovascular system plays a major role in your ability to sustain effort over distance.

But every running stride is also a physical interaction with the ground.

Your muscles, tendons and joints have to absorb force, control movement and then generate force to propel you forwards. Repeat that thousands of times during a run and it becomes easier to see why cardiovascular fitness is only part of the picture.

Strength training develops qualities that running itself may not develop to the same extent. Instead of asking whether a runner should choose between endurance and strength, it is more useful to consider how the two can complement one another.

Strength Training Can Improve Running Economy

One of the most interesting benefits of strength training for runners is its potential effect on running economy.

Running economy describes how much energy your body requires to run at a given submaximal speed. Two runners can have similar aerobic capacities but use different amounts of energy while maintaining the same pace.

Think of it as the running equivalent of fuel efficiency.

Research supports the role of strength training here. A systematic review and meta-analysis of highly trained middle- and long-distance runners found a beneficial effect of strength training on running economy. Other reviews have similarly reported improvements in running economy following programmes incorporating heavy resistance, explosive and plyometric training.

Importantly, this does not necessarily mean increasing your VO₂ max. Strength training can improve some of the qualities that contribute to how effectively you use the aerobic capacity you already possess.

For a runner, that is an important distinction.

Greater Strength Helps You Deal With the Forces of Running

Running may look like a relatively simple movement, but the forces involved are considerable.

Each time your foot hits the ground, the body has to manage the impact before producing force for the next stride. The faster you run, the greater the demands can become.

Strength training gives the muscles involved in running a greater capacity to produce and control force.

This is one reason exercises targeting the calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and surrounding musculature can be valuable to runners. Strength developed away from running can contribute to the physical capacity required to repeatedly absorb and produce force when you run.

Strength Training Can Help When the Road Goes Up

Running on flat ground at a steady pace is only one part of running.

Hills increase the demand on the muscles of the legs. Accelerations require you to generate more force. Sprint finishes, surges and changes of pace all ask something different of the body than settling into an even rhythm.

This is where strength and power become particularly relevant.

A stronger runner has a greater force-producing capacity to draw upon when the demands increase. Plyometric and explosive exercises can also develop the ability to produce force quickly — a quality that becomes increasingly important as running speed rises.

You may not think about the work you have done in the gym when you reach a hill late in a race, but your legs certainly know the difference between running on fresh ground and having to produce force after miles of accumulated fatigue.

Can Strength Training Help You Maintain Running Form?

Fatigue changes the way we run.

As a run progresses, maintaining posture, stability and effective movement becomes harder. Anyone who has watched the closing stages of a marathon — or experienced them — will recognise what happens when fatigue begins to win the argument.

Strength training cannot make fatigue disappear, and it would be too simplistic to claim that stronger muscles automatically produce perfect running technique.

What it can do is improve the physical capacity available to control movement.

The trunk, hips and legs all contribute to stabilising the body as we run. Developing strength in these areas gives the runner a stronger physical foundation from which to maintain movement as the demands of the run increase.

This is particularly relevant when strength training includes unilateral, or single-leg, movements. Running is essentially a repeated series of single-leg contacts, so exercises that challenge each side independently can expose and develop qualities that bilateral exercises alone may miss.

Strength training can help build the physical capacity needed to maintain effective movement as the demands of running increase.

Does Strength Training Prevent Running Injuries?

This is an area where claims should be treated carefully.

It is common to see strength training described as a way to “prevent running injuries”. In reality, running injuries are rarely that simple. Training load, previous injury, recovery, sleep, biomechanics and numerous individual factors can all play a part.

Strength training can, however, increase the capacity of muscles and associated tissues to tolerate load. For runners who repeatedly ask their bodies to absorb thousands of foot strikes every week, developing that capacity makes sense.

That is different from promising that lifting weights will make you injury-proof.

No exercise can offer that guarantee.

A sensible strength programme should therefore be viewed as one part of a broader approach to becoming a more robust runner — alongside appropriate progression of running volume and intensity, sufficient recovery and listening to the warning signs your body gives you.

Will Strength Training Make Runners Bulky or Slower?

This concern has followed strength training for endurance athletes for years.

The short answer is that lifting weights does not automatically mean developing large amounts of muscle mass.

Muscle growth depends on the type, volume and frequency of training, together with nutrition and recovery. A runner undertaking targeted strength work alongside a substantial endurance programme is training for a very different objective from someone whose primary goal is muscular hypertrophy.

Research examining strength training in distance runners has also found improvements in running economy and performance without corresponding detrimental changes in body composition.

For most runners, the more useful question is therefore not “Will strength training make me too heavy?” but “What type and amount of strength training will support my running?”

What Type of Strength Training Is Best for Runners?

There is no single exercise or strength-training method that every runner must do.

Research has investigated several approaches, including:

• heavy resistance training;
• explosive strength training;
• plyometric exercises;
• traditional resistance exercises; and
• combinations of different strength methods.

Each develops slightly different physical qualities.

Heavy resistance training can increase maximal force production, while explosive and plyometric work places greater emphasis on producing force rapidly and using the elastic qualities of the muscle-tendon system.

For runners, the answer is therefore unlikely to be endless repetitions with very light weights simply because running is an endurance sport.

The strength programme should have a purpose.

Squats, split squats, lunges, step-ups, deadlift variations and calf exercises are examples of movements commonly used within strength and conditioning for runners, while jumps and hops can introduce a plyometric component where appropriate.

The exact exercises matter less than selecting movements suited to the individual runner, performing them correctly and progressing them sensibly.

How Often Should Runners Strength Train?

More is not automatically better.

Research showing improvements in running economy has commonly used strength programmes performed around two to three times per week, but the right frequency for an individual runner depends on their running volume, training experience, goals and ability to recover.

A runner training three times per week has a very different weekly workload from someone preparing for a marathon with six or seven running sessions.

Strength training has to fit within that bigger picture.

This is also where the timing of sessions becomes important. Trying to add strength work indiscriminately on top of an already demanding running programme can simply create more fatigue.

We look at this in more detail in Combining Strength and Endurance Training Successfully, including how concurrent training can be structured so that the two types of training complement each other rather than continually competing for recovery.

Strength Training Becomes Increasingly Important as We Age

There is another reason not to view strength training purely through the lens of faster race times.

Muscle mass and strength naturally tend to decline as we get older. For runners who want to remain active for decades rather than simply prepare for their next race, maintaining muscular strength becomes increasingly valuable.

Running provides an excellent endurance stimulus, but it is not a complete replacement for resistance training.

Strength work can therefore serve two purposes: supporting running performance today while helping maintain physical capacity for the years ahead.

For the lifelong runner, that may ultimately prove to be one of its most important benefits.

Final Thoughts

Runners have traditionally measured training in miles. It is an understandable habit: running performance is built primarily by running.

But mileage tells only part of the story.

Strength training can improve running economy, increase the ability to produce and control force, support the physical demands of hills and faster running, and develop the muscular capacity required to tolerate repeated training.

The aim is not to turn runners into weightlifters.

It is to build a stronger runner.

Used intelligently alongside endurance training, strength work becomes another tool in the training programme — one that can help you get more from the miles you are already putting in.

References

1. Balsalobre-Fernández C, Santos-Concejero J, Grivas GV. Effects of Strength Training on Running Economy in Highly Trained Runners: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis of Controlled Trials. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2016.
2. Blagrove RC, Howatson G, Hayes PR. Effects of Strength Training on the Physiological Determinants of Middle- and Long-Distance Running Performance: A Systematic Review. Sports Medicine. 2018.
3. Trowell D, Fox A, Saunders N, Vicenzino B, Bonacci J. Effect of Concurrent Strength and Endurance Training on Run Performance and Biomechanics: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. 2022.
4. Trowell D, Vicenzino B, Saunders N, Fox A, Bonacci J. Effect of Strength Training on Biomechanical and Neuromuscular Variables in Distance Runners: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine. 2020.