If you’re a runner, you need to strength train. No questions. Skipping out of the gym is a significant problem many runners face, and it’s to their detriment. Still, even when runners do strength train, they often make mistakes in their workout programs, frequently caused by simple misunderstandings. This article will cover the best training exercises for runners and explain how they can help you run faster and farther.
Benefits Of Strength Training For Runners
“I’m a runner; do I need to strength train?”
This is one of the most common questions you’ll see if you peruse a runners or strength training forum.
The answer is “yes”.
While many runners may understand that strength training can reduce the risk of injury, few realize how significantly it can enhance their performance. Here are some of the best reasons you should hit the weights if you’re a runner.
Improves Your Running Economy
Running economy refers to the amount of energy required to maintain a given pace. You can compare it to getting 10 miles per gallon or 50 miles per gallon.
Therefore, as a runner, you want greater muscle economy, and this is what strength training has been shown to do. It does this by improving neuromuscular control and running form¹
These gains happen because of strength training:¹
Improves muscle coordination and joint stability
Enhances the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC), which stores and releases energy like a rubber band
Reduces ground contact time
Improves force production and running mechanics
As a result of these improvements, strength training improves your running economy in two key ways:
Run the same pace with less effort (lower VO₂ = less fatigue = more distance)
Run faster at the same effort level (higher output at the same VO₂)
Increases Time to Exhaustion
Time to exhaustion refers to the duration for which you can maintain a certain speed before your muscles fatigue.
As mentioned above, strength training increases your neuromuscular control and running efficiency.² As a result, this leads to two circumstances;
Stronger muscles use less energy to produce the same force
This means you can maintain pace longer before fatigue hits
Either way, you’ll be a better runner!
Generate Greater Force Production
A stronger muscle can generate more force per stride. Again, this is due to greater neuromuscular efficiency.
Strength training allows your body to recruit more muscle fibers more efficiently.³ This leads to greater force production, resulting in:
Longer strides
Quicker turnover
Better overall power output
Another awesome performance benefit from running.
Stronger Core
Having a strong core is essential for running. Every single stride demands stability to keep your body from twisting with your arm pumps.
Core training, especially anti-rotation exercises, helps stabilize the spine and pelvis. This results in a greater ability to maintain your posture, ultimately leading to fewer injuries, especially during longer sessions.
Joint Health For Less Injuries
Strength training with weight-bearing exercises not only puts stress on the muscles but also stresses the bones and joints. This stress strengthens the bones, tendons, and ligaments — especially at loads over 70% of your 1RM
This results in a stronger body and fewer overuse injuries, allowing you to train and race more effectively.
Common Mistakes Runners Make With Strength Training
One of the best ways to train correctly for running is to identify common mistakes and learn from them. Here are the most common ways runners sabotage their training or false beliefs.
Don’t Think They Need To!
It’s a significant mistake for runners to assume that running alone is enough.
While running builds endurance and improves cardiovascular health, it doesn’t provide the level of muscular strength or joint stability that resistance training offers.
Modern exercise science clearly shows that strength and endurance training work through different physiological systems — and both are essential for well-rounded athletic development.
Just as strength athletes need cardiovascular training, endurance athletes need strength training to improve performance and reduce injury risk.
Fearing Muscle Gain Will Hurt Performance
This is a big one. A heavier runner will have to work harder, which will generally slow them down, especially over long distances.
However, building muscle is different from gaining fat.
Fat is dead weight that offers no benefit and can reduce mobility.
Muscle, on the other hand, is what drives your stride and stabilizes joints.
Plus, there’s a fine line here on what “too much muscle” is. If you’re a consistent runner and considering strength training, it’s safe to assume you don’t have a lot of muscle.
Further, as you’re a runner, the fear of “bulking up” is largely unfounded.
Unless you’re taking performance-enhancing substances or drastically reducing running volume, the high cardio demand of endurance training will limit muscle growth.
You would need to use a comprehensive program specifically designed to maximize your muscle growth – it won’t happen by accident.
Treat Their Training Like Endurance Training
This is a big one. When runners do hit the gym, many try to mimic endurance training – this is not necessary. Consider this;
Running a mile requires approximately 2,000–2,500 steps and, on average, takes around 10 minutes of continuous effort.
There’s no way you can replicate this volume in the gym!
While muscular endurance is essential, it differs from cardiovascular endurance. If you’re fatiguing quickly during runs, it’s likely due to:
Poor cardiovascular conditioning (e.g., low VO₂ max), or
Running distances that go far beyond the support strength training provides.
Strength training in the gym should focus on improving neuromuscular efficiency. You can then use this to enhance your muscular efficiency during runs.
Weight Lifting For Runners – The Right Way
Now that we know what not to do, let’s examine what makes good training for runners.
1. Big, Compound Exercises – Runners focus on increasing strength and power. This is achieved through larger, compound exercises. These exercises demand greater neuromuscular efficiency making them perfect for runners.
2. Primary Goal Is To Produce Strength And Power – Keep in mind your primary goal is to increase your strength and power. This can be done by;
Use heavier loads in your programming of 80% 1RM or greater
Incorporate maximal intent in your training. This consists of attempting to push a weight as
Including power exercises
Using these training techniques increases the quality of your muscle which means it will be able to generate greater levels of force. This translates into greater running efficiency.
3. Use Plyometrics And Ballistics – Plyometrics and ballistic exercises are types of power exercises that involve jumping or propelling objects. These are excellent methods to enhance power without relying on heavy weights or barbell lifts.
Working through slightly different mechanisms, they improve your body’s ability to generate high levels of force quickly.
If you’re a runner and new to plyometric training, check out this article with the best beginner exercises!
The Best Strength Exercises For Runners
We’re now going to go over the best strength exercises for runners based on various types;
Lower Body
Upper Body
Core
Plyometrics
These exercises target the major muscle groups involved in running — the hips, glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves — and emphasize movement patterns that directly translate to stride efficiency and injury prevention.
Lower Body Strength Exercises For Runners
1. Back Squat (With Or Without Resistance Bands)
The squat is a foundational movement that trains the entire lower body – it’s the king of lower-body exercises. This makes it an essential movement pattern for runners to build strength.
If you have the ability, you can use resistance bands with the movement.
2. Trap Bar Deadlift
The trap bar deadlift is an excellent lower-body exercise that’s great for increasing lower-body strength while taking stress off your back.
3. Romanian Deadlift (RDL)
RDLs are perfect for increasing the strength of your posterior chain. This includes;
Glutes
Hamstring
Lower Back
These muscles are responsible for propulsion as they “pull” your body forward.
3. Walking Lunges
Of all exercises, walking lunges are the most similar to running.
However, they also have another unique benefit – they’re a dynamic exercise in which your body actually moves across an area.
Excellent for building strength and coordination across multiple planes of motion.
Improves knee and hip joint stability
Increase balance
Unilateral strength, which mimics running
4. Sled Push
The sled push is another effective functional training exercise that trains the body with a movement pattern similar to running. It will save your back while increasing lower body strength and propulsion.
Stimulates muscle activation similar to squats⁴, with lower joint strain.
Great for high-volume leg work and conditioning (e.g., HIIT or EMOM).⁵
Push with a forward lean to emphasize leg drive.
Upper Body Strength Exercises for Runners
Upper body training supports posture, breathing mechanics, and arm drive. While it’s not the main focus, you’ll still want to hit key movement patterns with minimal volume.
Include one exercise per movement pattern:
Overhead Press – Strengthens shoulders and upper back (Military Press, Dumbbell Press)
Overhead Pull – Targets lats, biceps, and scapular muscles (Chin-Up, Lat Pulldown)
Horizontal Press – Works chest, shoulders, and triceps (Bench Press, Pushup)
Horizontal Pull – Strengthens upper back, biceps, and scapula (Bent Over Row, Dumbbell Row)
These can be performed with bodyweight exercises or free weights. The primary purpose of these exercises is to strengthen the upper body muscles and build resilience, while also helping to maintain proper form.
Core Strength Exercises Runners
Runners benefit most from anti-rotation core exercises, which improve spinal stability and running economy.
Barbell Rollouts
Of all core exercises, the rollout is the single best movement. It trains every single muscle in your core to its maximum level.⁶
Further, it’s ultimately an isometric hold that builds your strength and ability to maintain a solid core. This is crucial for long runs as it helps you maintain proper form.
Pallof Press
A Pallof press is a great core exercise for runners, as it involves an anti-rotation movement. This means your body must resist a force wanting to rotate your body.
It’s simple yet highly effective – it’s one of our favorites, especially for performance.
Plyometric Exercises for Runners
Plyometric drills improve explosive strength, ground contact efficiency, and reactive ability — ideal for improving stride power and turnover rate.
Box jumps, skater hops and jump squats are excellent options.
Complex Sets (e.g., squats → box jumps)
Complex sets are a type of resistance training for runners that utilize a compound resistance exercise immediately followed by a biomechanically similar plyometric exercise. For example;
Squats → Box Jump
Bench Press → Plyo Pushup
Deadlift → Broad Jump
When performing the compound exercise, you typically use a heavier load, but you’re not training to fail. The theory is that compound exercise will activate more muscle fibers, leading to greater explosiveness.
Not only has this been found to improve force production and reactive force, but research has also shown that it can directly enhance running performance.⁴
Strength Training Program For Runners
Below, we’ll list what a sample strength training program looks like. However, you can also check out this article for another strength training workout plan for runners!
Session 1: Strength
This session is similar to a basic strength program. The only power-specific exercise will be your first exercise, the trap bar squat jumps. As this is a stand alone exercise, you’ll perform it first when you’re fresh.
Trap Bar Squat Jump – 3×3 @ 60%
Back Squat – 4×4 @ 85%
Barbell Hip Thrust – 4×6
Bench Press + Bent Over Row – 3-4×6-8
Romanian Deadlifts – 3×8
Barbell Rollout – 3-5×5
Session 2: Complex Training
In this session, you will use complex training for your first two exercises. On the sled push, your goal is to sprint, focusing on acceleration and reaching max speed as fast as possible.
3-5 Rounds: Squat (With Maximal Intent) 85-90% X 2 → Vertical Jump x 3-5
3-5 Rounds: Romanian Deadlift X 85-90% 3 → Single Leg Bound x 10
Chin-Up + Overhead Press (Super): – 3-4×6-8
Sled Push (Sprints) – 5x10m
Walking Lunges – 3-5×20
Pallof Press – 3×5 (With 3-5 second pause)/each side
The Top Strength Exercises For Runners: Summary
Strength training plays a pivotal role in runners, either to improve performance or mitigate the risk of injury. Understanding the body’s response to training and how it enhances running is crucial – it also highlights the benefits of this approach. Above, we laid out what you need to do in the gym as a runner to take your running to the next level. Just keep in mind it’s now up to you to be consistent with your training to reap the rewards!
References
Balsalobre-Fernández, Carlos1; Santos-Concejero, Jordan2; Grivas, Gerasimos V.3. 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 30(8):p 2361-2368, August 2016. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001316 https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2016/08000/effects_of_strength_training_on_running_economy_in.36.aspx
Sawyer, Brandon J.1; Stokes, David G.2; Womack, Christopher J.3; Morton, R. Hugh4; Weltman, Arthur2; Gaesser, Glenn A.1. Strength Training Increases Endurance Time to Exhaustion During High-Intensity Exercise Despite No Change in Critical Power. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 28(3):p 601-609, March 2014. | DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31829e113b https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2014/03000/strength_training_increases_endurance_time_to.3.aspx
Blagrove, R.C., Howatson, G. & Hayes, P.R. Effects of Strength Training on the Physiological Determinants of Middle- and Long-Distance Running Performance: A Systematic Review. Sports Med 48, 1117–1149 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-017-0835-7
Li F, Wang R, Newton RU, Sutton D, Shi Y, Ding H. Effects of complex training versus heavy resistance training on neuromuscular adaptation, running economy and 5‑km performance in well‑trained distance runners. PeerJ. 2019;7:e6787. doi:10.7717/peerj.6787 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31086736/
