Strength Training For Runners: The Complete Guide

Most runners love to run. Our passion is what motivates us to get out of bed in the morning, it’s what we discuss with our friends, and it’s what makes us feel alive.

We train hard regardless of the weather conditions. We run further on days when it feels as natural as a gazelle running on the savannah. We examine our data from the workout as soon as we get home.

Despite the fact that strength training for runners can be the most critical adjunct to mileage, many runners lack the motivation to head to the gym or pull out the dumbbells at home.

If you are a beginner runner and want to start a strength training program or if you are an experienced runner who wants to get stronger and make your body more resilient, read on for our guide to strength training for runners.

What Is Strength Training For Runners?

One type of strength training that runners can do is weightlifting, which involves lifting weights to increase muscular strength, power, size, or endurance.

The form of resistance used in a strength training workout can include dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, bands, sandbags, weight machines, or even just your body weight, as long as it pushes your working muscles under some sort of load.

8 Benefits Of Strength Training For Runners

You will become a better runner by supplementing your miles with strength training. This will also have positive effects on your overall health and performance.

Benefits of strength training for runners include the following:

#1: Strength Training for Runners Helps Prevent Overuse Injuries

You feet land 1400-1600 times per mile when you run. Each step has a force that is 2-2.5 times your body weight. Even just calculating the amount of impact your body takes during a single run will quickly illustrate the tremendous amount of pounding your body withstands during a given week of running.

Running puts a lot of stress on your body, and over time, this stress can lead to injuries. Strength training can help prevent these injuries by making your body stronger and better able to handle the impact of running.

When you do strength training, it helps your muscles and connective tissues become better at handling higher loads. This decreases the amount of stress on your cartilage, joints, and bones.

Single-sided strength training exercises can help to fix muscle imbalances, that often cause injuries.

#2: Strength Training Improves Running Economy and Efficiency

Workouts that involve strength training help to improve the connection between the brain and the muscles, making it easier for the brain to recruit the existing muscle fibers to signal them to contract. This means that your movements are stronger and more powerful, which can help you run more efficiently.

The better your running economy, the faster you can run and the further you can go without getting tired.

#3: Strength Training Can Improve Your Running Form

More stability in your core and supporting muscles can improve your running form, biomechanics, and stride. As you improve the strength in your core muscles, you will be able to keep a straighter posture even when you are tired near the end of a race.

If you hunch over or keep your shoulders tight at the end of a run or race, it may prevent you from taking a full breath. This could also lead to side stitches or injuries.

If your glutes and hips are stronger, it will take some of the load off of your hamstrings, making you a more powerful runner on uphill slopes.

#4: Strength Training Can Increase Overall Running Performance

Research indicates that lifting weights can help runners improve their aerobic capacity and how long they can sustain submaximal exercise. This is because strength training results in neuromuscular changes.

#5: Strength Training Increases Bone Density

It is important for runners to have strong bones in order to be healthy and have a long life. Osteoporosis, or low bone density, is a common problem for post-menopausal women. It can also affect runners of all ages, especially if they don’t get enough calories.

Research indicates that strength training leads to increased bone density because bones adapt to the pressure that strength exercises put on them, growing back stronger than before. Exercise that places bones under stress can help those bones to become stronger.

This in turn results in the bones getting stronger as well. The more force your muscles can exert on your bones, the stronger your bones will become. The stress also means that your body will save more minerals and make your bones stronger.

#6: Strength Training Can Improve Your Overall Health

Strength training helps to improve your general health in many ways. Studies have found that strength training can help lower blood pressure, improve blood sugar control, and reduce triglycerides and cholesterol levels.

#7: Strength Training Increases Your Metabolic Rate

A strength training workout helps runners by building up their bodies, while a running workout wears their bodies down.

Strength training can help to increase your lean body mass, which in turn can help to increase your metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn in a day). If you want to lose body fat, one of the best things you can do is to put on more muscle mass. This will help your body burn more calories, which will in turn help you lose body fat.

#8: Strength Training Can Boost Your Mental Game

Strength training is an activity that many runners find helps them feel more empowered and confident. It can also help improve focus and self-esteem. This can help you cross the finish line of a race with more self-efficacy and resilience.

Basic Equipment For Strength Training Workouts

You don’t need to have access to a full circuit of weight machines at a gym to get in a good strength workout. Dumbbells and resistance bands are usually more beneficial to runners than free weights.

It’s possible to strength train in a gym with different machines, but you can also do it at home with just a few items and your body weight.

Getting adjustable dumbbells is a good idea if you want to do strength training at home. They occupy less space than traditional dumbbells, and they let you increase or decrease the amount of weight you’re using for different exercises as your strength improves.

The Right Strength Training Strategy for Runners

The shoes you wear for strength training and running should be versatile so that they can be used for both activities. and other high-impact activities Make sure you have a strong base of support to transfer the force effectively into the floor during exercises like squats and deadlifts, but also enough cushioning and stabilization required for running and other high-impact activities.

The Best Strength Exercises For Runners

This is a powerful routine that you can try adding into your easy or cross-training days. You can expect the workout to take about 45 minutes to finish, and you can do it two times each week. You only have to invest a small amount of time for a big payoff.

1. Planks

The plank is an excellent core exercise that can help improve your overall strength and stability.

This exercise is great for your core because it engages all the muscles, as well as your lower back and shoulders.

Proper Form

1. Lie on your stomach
2. Prop yourself up on your elbow with feet slightly apart, toes hip distance apart with shoulders directly above the elbows
3. Aim to straighten your whole body, so it’s forming a straight line from the top of your head to your heels.
4. While engaging your core and keeping a straight line (your butt should not stick up in the air), hold the position for 30 seconds to a full minute.

You should add more time to your routine as you get stronger.

If you want to make the workout more challenging, you can put a weight plate on your back.

2. Russian Twists

This exercise targets many muscles, including the abs, obliques, lower back, and hamstrings. You can increase the difficulty of the exercise by using a medicine ball or a plate for extra resistance.

Proper Form

1. Grab a weight, then lie on your back with your upper legs perpendicular to the floor and your knees bent at a 90-degree angle.
2. Hold the weight in front of your body while keeping your back straight.
3. Twist your torso as far as you can to the right side, tap the weight on the floor, then reverse your motion to the other side.

3. Overhead Lunges

The overhead lunge is a great way to work all of the major muscle groups in your body, including your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, shoulders, and core muscles.

This move is perfect if you’re short on time and need to get a lot done.

It also increases flexibility and mobility in the muscles around your hips.

Proper Form

1. Hold a pair of dumbbells or a weighted bar above your shoulder, with your arms straight, and your elbow locked, feet shoulder-width apart, and knees slightly bent.
2. While holding the weight directly overhead, step forward with your right leg into a deep lunge position, bending both your knees.
3. Return to the starting position and repeat on the other side. That’s one repetition.

Do 12 steps, then turn around and do 12 more steps to complete one set.

4. Air Squats

Bodyweight squats are a great way to build strength. Strength-oriented training programs should include these exercises.

Squats target a lot of running-specific muscles.

They are easy to do and can be added to your post-run routine.

Proper Form

1. Stand with your feet hip-distance apart with your toes facing forward
2. With your arms out in front at shoulder height, squat down by bending your knees, leaning forward at the waist while keeping your back flat and your knees tracking behind your toes
3. Squat until your thighs are parallel to the ground.
4. Press up through your heels to return to starting position.

5. Single-Leg Deadlifts

Slowly lifting one leg at a time while deadlifting is a great way to build strong hamstrings and glutes, making it easier to walk up steep hills.

This exercise not only improve your balance, but also boosts your stability.

Proper Form

1. Start by holding two dumbbells or a weighted bar in front of your body.
2. While standing tall, shift your weight to your right foot
3. Hinge forward by slightly bending your right knee and raising your left foot behind you in line with your torso, letting the weights hang down
4. Lower the weight while keeping it close to the tops of the legs.
5. Once the weight goes past your knee, pause, then return to the starting position.

6. The Pistol

The pistol is a powerful squat variation that builds strength and balance in your lower body, also known as the one-legged squat. If you can’t do a full pistol squat on your own, use a chair or bench to help you out. That’s how I got pretty decent at doing pistols.

Proper Form

1. Standing tall, balance on your right foot,
2. Squat down by bending at the knee and sitting your hips back.
3. Once your right knee is at about a 90-degree angle, push back up by extending your leg to starting position.

7. Rotational Shoulder Press

This move targets your upper body muscles, with the emphasis on the shoulder and core muscles.

Proper Form

1. While standing tall with your feet hip-width apart, hold a pair of dumbbells just outside your shoulders.
2. As you press the weights up with your right hand, rotate your body to the right side.
3. Lower the weights to your shoulder as you rotate back to the center, then rotate to the left as you press your left again upward this time.

Magnificent Seven

There are no secrets when it comes to the best strength training exercises, just simple moves that are effective.

The following seven weight training exercises builds strength throughout your entire body by causing your muscle systems to work together as opposed to individually.

This means that the exercises known as the “magnificent 7” should be the foundation of your strength-training workouts.

While you are first learning how to lift, stick to doing low repetitions to make sure you are doing the lift correctly. focus on practicing and perfecting your form for a few months before increasing the amount of repetitions.

The goal is to do two to three sets of seven to 12 repetitions, with about 90 seconds to two minutes of rest in between sets.

Related posts:

How To Choose A Running Coach Why You Should Rotate Your Running Shoes Achilles Tendinitis, Symptoms & Treatment for Runners – keep it simpElle How to Run a Sub 2 Half Marathon