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The Benefits of Strength Training for Runners

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Strength training is something that many recreational runners, and even a lot of semi-serious runners, tend to omit from their training regimens.

The prevailing feeling of many runners is that to get faster, one simply needs to run farther and run faster.

And the prevailing feeling is wrong.

The Many Benefits of Strength Training

In most sports, the notion that lifting weights and getting stronger will improve performance is widely accepted. Football players spend hours in the weight room, as do hockey players, basketball players, and even baseball players.

So why do runners think we wouldn’t see a benefit from regular resistance training?

Here are just a few of the many benefits of strength training that runners can see if they commit to regularly doing resistance training.

  • Stay Healthy–Believe it or not, endurance runners have one of the highest rates of injury of any athletes. This may sound crazy at first, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Running requires that you repeat the same motion over and over and over again, sometimes for hours without a chance to recover. Any motion that is that repetitive in nature can cause muscle imbalances and overuse injuries. But regularly performing strength training exercises, runners are able to limit muscle imbalances and strengthen the muscles that are used in running, which helps to prevent them from breaking down over time.
  • Finish Stronger–Nothing is more frustrating for a runner than fading fast down the stretch (believe me!). Regular strength training helps to improve muscle endurance, so hopefully the fading will be minimized. For those of us crazies that run marathons or longer, this is especially important. Those last few miles are where you need that additional strength to make it through the finish line the most.
  • Improved Running Form–This is an addendum to the previous points, but as you fatigue your form breaks down. By working on your strength and improving muscular endurance, you’ll be able to maintain good form for a longer period of time which will help you finish stronger and stay healthy. To be clear, strength training won’t improve poor running form but it will help keep your form from breaking down over the course of a longer race.
  • Increased Metabolism–Strength training, without getting too technical, is a great metabolism booster because the effects of the exercise are felt for up to 36 hours after the workout is completed. Whereas running burns a lot of calories during activity, unless you’re really killing yourself in your workouts, running won’t keep burning a lot of calories once you finish your run. Strength training works exactly the opposite–not many calories burned during exercise but a continued burn for hours after exercise is complete. (If you want more info on the reasons this happens, shoot me a message and I’ll go into specifics.)

For most of us, we run to improve our overall health and push ourselves to new limits in terms of speed or distance.

Both of these goals are best achieved by including regular strength training to your routine.

If you’re not sure what kind of exercises are best for runners, stick around. I’ll be giving out some great ideas in the next post.

Do You Regularly Do Any Strength Training? What Does Your Routine Look Like?

 

PS–I’m working on a suggested exercise guide that I’ll be giving away to my tribe members, so if you want that just enter your best email address and I’ll get it sent out to you soon. (If you’re already in the tribe, stay patient. The guide is coming!)


Strength Training & Runners

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Runners are a funky bunch.

Image by Gamma Man via Flickr

Image by Gamma Man via Flickr

We have this thought in our minds that if we want to run longer races or get faster, we need to run more and run faster.

But we tend to forget one of the most important components of running farther and faster–strength training.

Runners Need Regular Strength Training

I don’t care what kind of race you’re running–from 5k all the way up to 100 miles–strength training needs to be a regular part of your routine.

At least it needs to if you want to get faster or run farther.

And strength training is a good way to avoid the injury bug as well.

Why Don’t More Runners Lift Weights?

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There are a number of reasons that many non-professional runners neglect lifting weights. But if you talk to most professional runners, no matter what distances they run, regular strength training sessions are just as important as logging their prescribed amount of miles.

The reasons that we skip strength training are many, but here are a few–

  • “I Don’t Want to Get Too Big”–This is an excuse used by many female runners, as well as some men. The thought behind this excuse is that by adding muscle size, it will actually get more difficult to run because you will have to carry around more weight. While this makes some sense logically, the fact is that if you are training properly you won’t add muscle mass, just strength and stamina. You know, the things that help you in the last third of your race.
  • “Strength Training Won’t Help Me Run Faster”–This excuse is shortsighted. In truth, just lifting weights won’t help you run faster. But by building up the strength of the muscles that you use to run, you will be able to train harder and run longer without tiring, both of which will help you improve your race times.
  • “I Don’t Have Time”–To be blunt, yes you do. You see, you don’t need to add 2-3 strength training workouts to your busy schedule to see the results. Instead, 2-3 15-20 minute sessions after a hard workout is enough to help you improve running economy, finishing kick, and stay injury free.
  • “I’ve Never Done Strength Training Before. Why Start Now?”–Seriously? We used to think the world was flat, that smoking cigarettes was safe, and that processed food was both convenient and nutritious. Just because you’ve always done something one way doesn’t mean it’s the only way or the best way. Give strength training a try, and see what happens.

There are so many reasons that strength training is important for runners of all speeds, sizes, and mileage levels that there really isn’t any good reason that you’re still putting off regular strength training.

But if you’re still not convinced, I’d love to know what is holding you back. Shoot me a message, and let’s have a conversation.

And make sure you check my next post, when I’ll be going over some of the many benefits of regular strength training in much more detail.

The Only Way to Run Faster Is….

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…to run faster.

Sage advice, I know. But how often is the truth so simple that we overlook it in order to try to find a “better” way. For us runners, we want to get faster so we try the newest shoes, the fanciest sports drink, different energy chews/gels, and whatever else is new and flashy and endorsed/promoted by Usain Bolt, Kara Goucher, or Runner’s World magazine.

But the only way to get faster is to simply run faster.

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