Strength Training for Runners
Running and Strength Training
Hitting a weekly mileage target or managing to get your 3 or 4 runs in a week can be challenging enough for most recreational runners. Finding the time and motivation to squeeze in a couple of strengthening sessions a week on top of this can be rather daunting. Most runners may be aware that adding in a strengthening program can be beneficial for their running. However are unsure of the why’s? the how’s? and the when’s? Subsequently, (and understandably) a large number choose not to strengthen as they probably lack confidence in doing so and lack an understanding of the background rationale behind it. The purpose of this blog is to provide a bit of detail and evidence about strengthening for running and how you can incorporate it into your weekly program.
“You won’t find a fast weak runner”
Unknown author.
What are the benefits of strength training for running?
Hundreds of research papers have explored the benefits of strengthening for runners and endurance athletes. It is thought strength training can improve power, speed, running performance, running economy, VO2max and many other variables. For those that maybe run just for enjoyment or as a stress-buster and maybe aren’t too interested in improving times or getting faster, strength training has also been shown to be effective in injury prevention. So its a win-win for strength training for runners with various motivations for running.
There is a growing evidence base to show the benefit of strengthening for runners. Some key findings from a few studies have been highlighted below :
Balsalobre-Fernandez et al’s systematic review and met-analysis (2015) concluded that strengthening is highly beneficial for running economy in highly trained runners. Running economy is defined as the volume of oxygen required at a given submaximal speed. So put simply, if your economy improves, you need less oxygen to work at a certain pace (see figure 1).
Several studies have shown that concurrent strength and endurance training can increase endurance performance in athletes to a greater extent than endurance training alone (Ronnestad et al 2010).
A study by Paavolainen et al (1999) examined the effect of a 9 week strength program on 5k times in well trained non-elite runners (18 min 5k standard). The authors found 5k times to reduce on average by 40-45 seconds with no changes in the control group, (who just continued with normal endurance training).
Strength training has also been shown to improve power and speed at V02max. V02max is your maximal oxygen uptake or the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use. So, by incorporating strength training to accompany endurance training, it has been shown to improve your speed + power when working at high intensity.
Some endurance runners are scared that heavy strengthening will lead to them developing bigger and heavier legs. Studies have found that by adding in strength training to an endurance program, no statistical changes in muscle fibre cross- sectional area or thigh girth were demonstrated, although 1 rep max leg strength increased on average by 30% following a period of strengthening (Hickson et al 1980)
A large review by Berryman et al (2017) showed that by introducing a strengthening program, this improved performance in middle to long distance athletes and these improvements were noted irrespective of ability. (see figure 2)
Interestingly, it has been shown that stopping a well defined strength program in the middle of the season is detrimental for endurance performance. Ronnestad et al (2015) demonstrated this and concluded that strengthening should be continued through the year for optimising and sustaining endurance performance.
Ryo et al (2019) concluded that long distance runners can enhance performance by incorporating sprint sessions as a means of strengthening. They found that incorporating sprint training led to an increased running economy, running performance, VO2max and glycogen content in muscles and may have a fatigue resistant effect (see figure 3).
An umbrella review was performed by Brunner et al (2019) to identify which component of exercise was most effective for injury prevention amongst team sport players. Strengthening was found to be the most effective, above stretching, agility work, warming up, functional exercise.
A large review by Lauresen et al (2018) (figure 4) concluded that performing strengthening is likely to reduce acute and overuse injuries in athletes by 66%. The authors concluded that these results undoubtably point towards the importance of strength training for all athletes, regardless of age or sport in the prevention of soft tissue injuries and time lost due to injury.
What muscles should runners strengthen?
We use many muscles when we run, predominantly around the foot/ankle, knee, hip and pelvis. Our core provides us with a solid base to work from and our upper limbs helps us with arm swing and propulsion. The graph below (figure 8) shows us some of the key muscles and their peak forces at different speeds when we run. The first speed is slightly slower than 7:30 min/miles and the last speed is flat out sprinting at approx 3 min/miles speed.
Figure 8: peak forces of different muscle used at varying speeds whilst running. Taken from Dorn et al 2012.
From this we can conclude that endurance runners would benefit from targeting the quads, calf, gluteals and hamstrings as they have a really important role at endurance speeds. As we move towards faster speeds such as sprinting, an emphasis may be placed further towards the hamstring and hip flexors and developing power in this group.
As we are always keen to promote at Physiohub, the ‘one size fits all’ approach doesn’t always work and strengthening needs will vary from athlete to athlete depending on their individual needs and their history.
As well as these key muscles highlighted above, a recent research paper has shown that strengthening muscles in our foot/ankle can have a significant impact on reducing injury. The video below from the PhysioHub team summarises these findings
Study review: Foot and Ankle strengthening to reduce running related injury.
As well as this, strengthening our ‘core’ muscles is thought to be beneficial for running performance and injury prevention too. It is thought that working from a more stable base by developing a stronger core can improve efficiency. A nice analogy of this is to imagine how far you can throw a ball wearing roller-skates on an oily wet surface (a very unstable base)? Compare this to how far you could throw the same ball wearing trainers on hard, dry ground? You would expect to throw the ball a lot further due to working from a much more stable base.
A recent study by Hung et al (2019) (see figure 5) showed that an 8 week program of core strength training may improve running economy in recreational athletes.
“These results undoubtably point towards the importance of strength training for all athletes, regardless of age or sport in the prevention of soft tissue injuries and time lost due to injury”
How do we strengthen the key muscles for running?
As mentioned above a one sized fits all approach doesn't work for strengthening and will depend on the runners’ needs. A physiotherapy assessment will highlight an individuals area of weakness or reduced work capacity in order to target strengthening more specifically and individually.
There are hundreds of exercises and ways to strengthen each muscle group with various progressions and regressions for each.
Below is a very simple example of a small generic strengthening program that could be incorporated into a runners weekly training plan that targets the key muscles for running. All diagrams/explanations courtesy of physiotec.
How often should a runner do strengthening exercises?
There are various schools of thought with regards the intensity and frequency of resistance training and which is optimal for performance and will depend on the runners specific requirements. A large review by Berryman et al (2017) (figure 7) concluded that 2 sessions per week of maximal force strengthening carried out at least for 24 sessions (12 weeks) was optimal for improving economy. So rather than lifting light weights for lots of reps, it is suggested to aim to lift heavy weight for less reps (i.e 3 sets of 6-8 reps).
A study by Sedano et al (2013) has shown that endurance athletes who strength train with loads >70% 1RM exhibit larger changes in movement economy and endurance performance than endurance athletes who strength train with lighter loads
To minimise injury risk and to reduce significant muscle soreness, it is advised to build upto this slowly. (so starting with lower weights and higher reps initially). Once working at heavy loads has been established, it is then advised to consider exercises that aim to increase power (lower weight/resistance but with higher speed) such as plyometric exercises. (Byzelar et al 2015) (figure 6).
When should runners perform strengthening exercises?
Again, this depends on the individual and their specific training regime. The general consensus amongst running coaches is that strengthening exercises are performed on the same days as running, ideally on an easy run day and/or before a rest day, to ensure there is optimal rest. So if you are doing a run in the morning, then strengthen later that afternoon and rest the following day. This will obviously depend on the runners schedule and availability. If you are only running 3 days a week, there would be time to incorporate 2 strengthening sessions on non-running days and still have 2 days rest.
As far as we are aware, there is no evidence to support/refute specific scheduling of strength and conditioning sessions around running sessions in a weekly program. If you are returning from injury and using strength and conditioning as part of your rehab, then it is likely your scheduling may change to optimise recovery time. We’d advise you consult your physiotherapist about this.
Conclusions
Performing a strengthening program (inline with your normal training) twice a week for at least 12 weeks is thought to be most beneficial for running economy, performance and injury prevention.
Maintaining strengthening throughout the season is thought to be optimal for performance.
Aim to increase the load of the exercises to work maximally. i.e build up resistance/load/weight to perform 3 sets of 6-8 reps of each exercise.
Strengthening a selection of muscles of the lower limb as well as the foot and core may be most beneficial.
Incorporating a sprint session into your weekly program is also known to enhance endurance performance.
SUPPORTING DIAGRAMS (COURTESY OF YLM SPORT SCIENCE)
Figure 1: Strength training and Running economy.
Figure 2: Strength training for middle and long distance performance
Figure 3: Sprint training for distance runners. Illustration by YLMSportScience
Physiohub - Online Physiotherapy Explained
Figure 4:
figure 5. core strength improves running economy.
Figure 6
figure 7
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