Why Do Runners Need To Strength Train?

There are a lot of misconceptions about strength training, especially in the running community. It can often feel like the strength training world (saturated with big biceps and broad shoulders) is at odds with running at your best. It’s no doubt that carrying around a bunch of extra muscle isn’t functional for endurance athletes, but it takes a very specific type of strength training and diet to build that kind of muscle. Strength training has so much variety, and at the other end of the spectrum we’ve designed movements that won’t build bulk and are functional for running. In fact, we believe that every runner should do strength training to prevent injury and boost performance.

Strength Training is great for increasing your resilience as a runner. Our athletes have seen it personally, but this has also been backed up by research. There’s no better way to bulletproof your running than strength training. A meta-analysis of sports injury studies by Jeppe B. Lauersen et al. shows that strength training is one of the best preventative strategies for all kinds of sports injuries. They found that strength training reduced acute sports injuries to less than ⅓ and nearly cut overuse injuries in half. So, if you want to run longer, more miles might not be the answer. Your best bet at avoiding injury is strength training a few times a week.

Strength training isn't just about staying healthy though, it can improve performance as well. It may be less obvious how this works than it is with injury prevention. But, think about it this way, the stronger you are the less each step takes out of you. A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that strength training for even just 6 or more weeks could improve running economy by 2%-8%. That is an incredible margin for endurance athletes, not to mention much safer than increasing your weekly mileage.

Strength training isn’t a vanity, it’s a powerful tool for increasing your running economy and resilience. As tempting as it may be to continue to increase your weekly mileage, we recommend trying strength training first. Not only will it save you time, it may just save you from injury as well.