Strength Training for Runners: 4 Types of Moves You Should Be Doing

As a runner, you probably spend a whole lot of time on the streets, trails and treadmill. But adding some weight to your routine can improve your technique, speed up your time and lower your risk of injury. 

“Strength training helps strengthen and stabilize your joints, which helps optimize movement patterns and correct strength imbalances, decreasing the risk of overuse injuries,” says Kate Baird, MA, ACSM-CEP, CSCS, an exercise physiologist on the Sports Rehabilitation and Performance team at HSS.

When to Strength Train

Current U.S. guidelines suggest at least two days a week of full-body muscle strengthening. There’s no exact science about how much is too much, but Baird says that most running training programs allow for at least two days a week. 

“When you’re in the early stages of marathon training, for instance, you may be able to fit in three days, but as you start to rack up the miles, you’re going to need to decrease your strength-training frequency temporarily,” she says. “You want to think of doing enough to support your run training but not so much that you overwhelm your energy and recovery.”

If your primary sport is running, you don’t want to lift too heavy on a day that you’re running. You can still strength train, but you want to do stabilization and activation exercises, such as glute bridges, body-weight lunges and calf raises, to prime your muscles and help get them ready for your run. You don’t need fresh legs for every run, but certain types of runs (long runs, speed runs or hills, for example) do require more energy. 

“You want to be smart about how and when you schedule your energy and your recovery for the day, as well as for the week,” says Baird. 

Types of Strength Training for Runners

Strength training doesn’t always mean grunting while you work to get a heavy barbell over your head (although sometimes it does!). There are several different ways to strength train, all of which can complement running. If you’re new to strength training, start with the first phase; then after about 4 to 6 weeks, move to the second, then third, then fourth. 

Stabilization Endurance 

Slow, controlled movements require balance to promote muscular endurance. “A primary focus here is on increasing proprioceptive demand, which in layman’s terms is your body’s ability to sense where it is in space,” says Baird. It allows your feet to land on the ground in front of you without looking down, for instance, and overall, it helps prevent injury by increasing spatial awareness and balance.

“Running is jumping from one foot to another, and this type of work is going to help you optimally align your body on one leg, stabilize your pelvis, align your knees, help you absorb shock, and so on,” she says. One set of two to 20 repetitions with a weight that’s fairly light at first is enough to get started.

Examples: Single-leg deadlifts, lunges to knee lifts, overhead marches

Strength Endurance

These are supersets (two exercises back-to-back) that combine more traditional strength training with an exercise that uses a similar motion but requires more stabilization. This helps develop muscular strength and power and helps you acclimate to heavier weights and the volume of training you’ll need later. 

Repetitions are 8 to 12 per exercise for two to four sets, with weights that are a little heavier than stabilization endurance exercises. Since they’re two different exercises, you may not need any rest between sets, but if you feel you do, 30 to 50 seconds is probably enough.

Examples: Chest presses on a bench, then push up on a stability ball; dumbbell squats, then lunge to balance

Muscular Development/Hypertrophy

Heavier loads for fewer reps and sets increase muscle size and strength. Typically, repetitions are six to 12 per exercise for three to six sets with weights that are heavy enough that you feel you’re working at about 80% capacity. Rest between sets should allow your body to recharge, which usually takes about 1 to 3 minutes, depending on how heavy you’re lifting. 

Examples: Deadlifts, front lunges, calf raises

Maximal Strength

Progressively overloading muscles will help them to continue to get larger and stronger. Weights will be so heavy that you can only lift them 1 to 5 times, working to failure (meaning, you can’t do another rep with good form). Because the weight is so heavy, you’ll require longer rest periods between your 3 to 5 sets. Exercises consist of compound, multi-joint movements that integrate several muscles at the same time, to promote growth of muscle tissue. 

Examples: Squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows

Once you've built some strength and stability, you can add in plyometrics. These are explosive movements that generate a lot of force quickly, like skipping, jump squats, and skater hops, and are vital for runners to help add speed and power as well as build soft tissue resiliency.