As runner, you want as little weighing you down as possible. The leaner you are, the less bodyweight you have to carry as you go on a run, whether it’s fat or muscle. For that reason, some choose to avoid strength training when they are working on improving their running fitness because they think strength training exercises either don’t help with running or may hinder their running by building muscle.
But even runners should practice strength training exercises as part of their running routine.
Below, we’ll explain why strength training is important to include in your routine, five top strength training exercises runners should practice, and some tips for adding these to your routine.
Table of Contents
Why Runners Should Practice Strength Training
In our Introduction to Strength Training, we explained some of the great benefits you can get from strength training, which included improved bone health and boosted metabolism, but here are some key benefits from strength training runners need to consider.
Improved Performance
Depending on the type of running (i.e., distance vs sprinting), strength training can help build your leg muscles to improve your form over a longer period or help with snap movements, increasing your power during sprints.
Balanced Muscle Development
When you run, your quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves feel most of the work while the rest of your legs and core don’t experience the same stress. By adding strength training, you can focus on other leg muscles, such as glutes, hip flexors and abs, to ensure a balance between your primary and supporting muscles during a run.
Injury Prevention
The balanced muscle development supports injury prevention by balancing your strength across your muscles, but by also strength training your legs, your muscles absorb the impact from running better, reducing the strain on joints and ligaments.
Strength Training Exercises for Runners
Now, let’s go over five key strength training exercises for runners.
These exercises primarily focus on your legs, but one also works your lower back and one focuses entirely on your core, supporting your body’s overall stability while running.
Squats
Squats are a great exercise to hit some of the biggest muscle groups in your legs.
To properly perform a squat, begin with your feet hip-width apart and your toes pointing slightly outward. Then, keeping your chest up, shoulders back, and core engaged, begin lowering your hips until your thighs are parallel to the floor (or as low as you can comfortably go).
Once you’ve reached your depth, begin pushing through your heels back to a starting position while continuing to keep your chest up, shoulders back, and core engaged.
Lunges
Lunges are similar to squats in terms of how they challenge the leg muscles, but a side benefit to lunges is they work one leg at a time, which can help overcome muscle imbalances where your stronger leg does more work than your weaker leg.
To perform a lunge, start by standing with your feet hip-width apart and then, while keeping your chest up, shoulders back, and core engaged (see, just like a squat!), take a big step forward with your right leg so that your right leg is bent at a 90-degree angle, your thigh is parallel to the ground, and your left knee is bent but not touching the floor.
From this point, you will push through your right leg back up and bring your left leg up to return to the starting position. Next, repeat this same motion for the other leg and continue this cycle for the number of reps you’re targeting.
Deadlifts
Deadlifts are another great exercise that work several large muscle groups at once, but due to how the motion of a deadlift works, improper form can result in injury, prioritize form over weight.
To perform a deadlift, begin by standing with your feet hip-width apart and at the center of a barbell on the floor in front of you with the barbell above the middle of your feet. Next, grip the barbell with both hands, either with an overhand grip or a mixed grip, with your hands at shoulder-width apart. Now, bend your knees and lower your hips while keeping your back flat, chest up, and core engaged, begin pushing through your heels and stand up, pulling the barbell up as you extend your hips and knees.
To finish, complete the motion until you’re standing straight up with your hips fully extended and your shoulders back. To continue, hinge at your hips and bend your knees to lower the barbell back to the floor. Again, proper form is incredibly important on deadlifts, and at no point should you round your back.
Calf Raises
Calf raises may not exercise as much of your legs as squats, lunges, or deadlifts, but they are key exercises to practice to help improve ankle stability while also improving walking, running, and jumping abilities.
To perform a calf raise, start by standing with your feet hip-width apart and slowly lift your heels off the ground as you rise onto the balls of your feet. Hold this position momentarily and focus on squeezing your calf muscles, and then slowly return your heels back to the floor to complete one rep.
To increase the difficulty, you can perform these on a step to increase the range of motion or hold weights to add to your body weight.
Planks
Finally, a strength training exercise that runners should do that doesn’t directly work your legs, but is still critical to any athlete. Planks are a key exercise that strengthen your core muscles, and your core muscles, as you can see from the previous four exercises, are important to safely performing these exercises while also stabilizing your body while running.
To perform a plank, begin on the floor on your hands and knees. Place your forearms on the floor with your elbows under your shoulders and extend your legs behind you so your body is straight from head to heels. Focus on maintaining this position by keeping your back flat and maintaining tension in your core.
Hold this position for about 30 seconds when first practicing planks, but gradually increase the time as your core muscles grow stronger.
Strength Training Tips for Runners
The same tips and best practices we shared in our Introduction to Strength Training still apply to runners, but there’s a few things we should reiterate for those mixing strength training into their running routine.
Frequency
Part of any exercise routine, whether it’s cardio, strength training, or yoga, is to allow your body enough time to rest, especially when getting started. A good rule of thumb is to give your muscles one day of rest between workouts, so you may want to avoid doing an intense run on one day and a strength training leg workout the next.
As you first start adding strength training to your routine, start with 1 or 2 strength training workouts per week and gradually increase as your body adapts to the change.
Warmup and Cooldown
Never skip your warmup and cooldown stretches. First, your warmup helps prepare your body for your workout, loosening your muscles to help prevent injury. Secondly, your cooldown stretch helps reduce how sore you feel after the workout.
Proper Form
Proper form is the #1 priority for any exercise to ensure you stay safe during your workout, but to also ensure you get the full benefit of the exercise. Sacrificing form to lift more than your body is capable is not only dangerous for yourself and those around you, but you also don’t get the same benefit had you used a lighter weight with good form.
Strength Training for Runners: Summary
Strength training is a key part of a runner’s overall routine. Yes, runners practice running to improve their performance, but adding strength training complements that performance while also helping to protect from injury. By adding squats, lunges, deadlifts, calf raises, and planks, you help injury-proof yourself during your runs.
Now that you understand how strength training can benefit your running, go try out a strength training workout. It doesn’t have to be perfect: you can simply practice the motions without any weights until you feel you can do the exercises with good form.
We hope this guide helps set a good foundation for you if you plan to pursue Chair Yoga. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to Contact Us so we can continue to help!