Strength Training for Runners: What Really Matters?
If you’re a runner, you’ve probably heard that you should be doing strength training. But with so many different exercises, training styles and opinions out there, it can be difficult to know what actually matters.
The good news? You don’t need a complicated strength program to support your running.
The goal is to build the strength and physical capacity you need to tolerate your running load, run efficiently and perform at your best.
Why is strength training important for runners?
Running involves repeatedly absorbing and producing force, largely through a single-leg stance. Every stride places demands on the calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and muscles around the hip and trunk.
Strength training can help your body produce and tolerate these forces more effectively.
One of the strongest areas of evidence is running economy — essentially, how much energy you use to maintain a given running speed. A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis found that several forms of strength training, including high-load resistance training, plyometric training and combined approaches, can improve running economy in middle- and long-distance runners (Llanos-Lagos et al., 2024a).
Another 2024 systematic review found that strength training can improve several performance-related outcomes in middle- and long-distance runners, including running economy and overall running performance (Llanos-Lagos et al., 2024b).
So, what should runners actually be doing?
1. Prioritise the big muscle groups
You don't need dozens of exercises. A well-designed program should generally include exercises that challenge the major muscle groups involved in running.
Quadriceps and glutes
These muscles contribute substantially to producing force during running, particularly during stance and propulsion.
Useful exercises include:
Squats
Split squats
Step-ups
Lunges
Bulgarian split squats
Single-leg squats
You don't need to perform all of them. Choose a few exercises that you can progressively make more challenging.
Calves
Your calf muscles play an important role in absorbing and producing force during running.
Consider including both:
Straight-knee calf raises
Bent-knee calf raises
Training both variations helps challenge the calf complex through slightly different positions.
Hamstrings and posterior chain
The hamstrings, glutes and other posterior-chain muscles contribute to force production and control around the hip and knee.
Examples include:
Romanian deadlifts
Single-leg Romanian deadlifts
Hip hinges
Hamstring curls
Hip thrusts
2. Don't forget single-leg strength
Running is predominantly a single-leg activity, so it makes sense for your strength program to include some unilateral exercises.
Single-leg exercises can challenge strength, balance and coordination while allowing you to work each side individually.
Examples include:
Split squats
Step-ups
Reverse lunges
Single-leg Romanian deadlifts
Single-leg calf raises
This doesn't mean every exercise needs to be performed on one leg. A combination of bilateral and unilateral exercises can work well.
3. Progressive overload matters more than the "perfect" exercise
One of the biggest misconceptions about strength training is that you need to find the perfect exercise.
You don't.
What matters more is that the exercises provide an appropriate challenge and become progressively more demanding as your capacity improves.
This could mean:
Increasing the weight
Increasing repetitions
Increasing range of movement
Improving exercise control
Progressing from double-leg to single-leg variations
Increasing the difficulty of the exercise
If you've been performing the same 10 bodyweight squats for six months, your body has probably adapted to that stimulus.
Strength training should provide a reason for your body to adapt.
4. Consider plyometric training
Strength isn't the only type of training that can benefit runners.
Plyometric exercises involve rapidly producing and absorbing force — something that happens naturally during running.
Examples include:
Hopping
Skipping
Bounding
Jump squats
Box jumps
Single-leg hops
The 2024 systematic review by Llanos-Lagos et al. (2024a) found that plyometric and high-load strength training could improve running economy.
However, plyometrics are not necessarily something every runner needs to start immediately. They should be introduced according to your current strength, running experience, injury history and training load.
5. How often should runners strength train?
For most recreational runners, 1–2 strength sessions per week is a realistic and effective starting point.
Two sessions per week can be a useful target if your schedule and recovery allow it.
You don't need to spend hours in the gym.
A relatively simple session containing:
1–2 lower-limb strength exercises
1–2 single-leg exercises
1 calf exercise
1 posterior-chain exercise
Optional trunk or upper-body work
can provide a substantial training stimulus.
The most important thing is consistency.
A simple program you can perform consistently is likely to be more useful than an elaborate program you rarely complete.
6. What about injury prevention?
This is where the research requires a little more nuance.
It is tempting to say that strength training "prevents running injuries", but the evidence isn't quite that straightforward.
A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis of nine studies involving 1,904 endurance runners found that exercise-based injury-prevention programs did not significantly reduce overall injury risk or injury rate when all interventions were pooled (Wu et al., 2024).
Interestingly, when the researchers looked specifically at supervised interventions, injury risk was significantly lower. However, most of the included studies were considered to have a low quality of evidence, so more research is needed.
There is also evidence that specific exercise programs can be effective in particular populations. For example, a 2024 randomised controlled trial involving 325 novice recreational runners found that a physiotherapist-guided hip and core exercise program reduced lower-limb injury incidence compared with a control group (Leppänen et al., 2024).
So rather than thinking of strength training as an "injury-proofing" strategy, it is more accurate to think of it as a way of building physical capacity and helping your body meet the demands of running.
7. Your strength program should complement your running
Strength training is there to support your running — not compete with it.
If you are running four or five times per week, your strength program needs to fit around your running volume, intensity and recovery.
For example, you probably don't want to perform a very demanding lower-body strength session immediately before your most important long run or speed session.
Your program should also change throughout your training.
During a high-volume marathon block, you may need to reduce strength-training volume while maintaining some intensity. During a lower-running-volume period, you may have more capacity to build strength.
This is why there isn't one "perfect" strength program for every runner.
So, what really matters?
If you're a runner wondering where to start, focus on the basics:
✔ Train consistently
Aim for 1–2 sessions per week.
✔ Strengthen the major muscle groups
Think quads, glutes, hamstrings and calves.
✔ Include some single-leg exercises
Running is a predominantly single-leg activity.
✔ Progress your exercises
Your training should become more challenging as your strength improves.
✔ Consider plyometrics
When appropriate, jumping and hopping exercises can complement traditional strength training.
✔ Match your strength training to your running
Your program should support your overall training load rather than leave you constantly fatigued.
✔ Individualise your program
Your running experience, goals, injury history, current strength and weekly training volume should all influence what you do.
The bottom line
You don't need a complicated gym program to become a stronger runner.
A consistent, progressive strength program that targets the muscles and movement demands of running can help improve running economy and performance, while building the physical capacity needed to tolerate your training.
And perhaps most importantly, strength training should make sense for you.
If you're unsure where to start, a physiotherapist can help you develop a strength program around your running goals, current capacity and injury history.
References
Leppänen, M., Viiala, J., Kaikkonen, P., Tokola, K., Vasankari, T., Nigg, B. M., ... Pasanen, K. (2024). Hip and core exercise programme prevents running-related overuse injuries in adult novice recreational runners: A three-arm randomised controlled trial (Run RCT). British Journal of Sports Medicine, 58(13), 722–732. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2023-107926
Llanos-Lagos, C., Ramirez-Campillo, R., Moran, J., & Sáez de Villarreal, E. (2024a). Effect of strength training programs in middle- and long-distance runners' economy at different running speeds: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 54(4), 895–932. doi:10.1007/s40279-023-01978-y
Llanos-Lagos, C., Ramirez-Campillo, R., Moran, J., & Sáez de Villarreal, E. (2024b). The effect of strength training methods on middle-distance and long-distance runners' athletic performance: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 54(7), 1801–1833. doi:10.1007/s40279-024-02018-z
Wu, H., Brooke-Wavell, K., Fong, D. T. P., Paquette, M. R., & Blagrove, R. C. (2024). Do exercise-based prevention programs reduce injury in endurance runners? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 54(5), 1249–1267. doi:10.1007/s40279-024-01993-7
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