The BEST Strength Training for Runners
Why runners need strength training
Injury Prevention:
At some point, 80% of runners report an injury during their training. Increased running volume, intensity, and duration all can contribute to aches and pains that sometimes linger around. The most common running-related injuries we see are RUNNERS KNEE, IT band pain, heel pain, and Hip/Back pain. Building up muscle strength trains the body to tolerate the high forces required for running. Excessive force through your muscles, bones, and joints is the most common cause of most all running-related injuries. Every runner knows the benefit of adding strength training into their running program yet few do it. Most runners skip strength training because they don’t know what to do or how to do it. Runners like to run so going to a gym to weightlift for 60 minutes is not enjoyable for them. This is why efficiency and working the best muscles is important, but more on that later. The fear of doing the wrong exercise or the uncertainty of whether you are doing it correctly should not be the reason you skip strength training.
Performance:
We love to help runners become more efficient, strong, and resilient athletes. The greatest side effect of building muscular strength is it leads to faster speeds while running. Many athletes see a drastic improvement in speed after training their hamstring muscles to pull efficiently when running. While the skill of running isn’t easy to master, building a solid muscular base is a great way to run faster.
The BEST ways to be a stronger runner
When prescribing strengthening exercises for runners, we try to keep them SHORT and SIMPLE. We emphasize the muscle groups will lead to better running and fewer injuries. We know that runners don’t like to strength train, that’s why we cut out fluff and get straight to the movements that will maximize gains in the shortest amount of time. During a visit this past week, an athlete asked “what are the most important muscles to strengthen to be a better runner.” While we prefer to customize depending on someone’s individual needs, movement patterns, and asymmetries here is a general framework of a way to priooritize the BEST strengthening exercises for runners.
Strengthen Larger Muscles before Smaller Muscles
Prioritize Back Side Muscles
Running takes muscle activity in the entire body but primarily uses the legs for propulsion. The largest muscle groups in the legs include the gluteal maximus, hamstring, adductors (groin), and quadriceps muscles. So it’s important to prioritize those larger muscle groups. Due to our daily amount of sitting and movement patterns, most runners have adequate strength in the quadriceps on the front of the leg. However, most all runners do not have adequate gluteal maximus and hamstring strength on the back of the legs. The second priority we need to consider is improving the back side muscles including the calf muscles. A robust calf and Achilles tendon help transfer energy from the ground to propel runners forward. Once those muscle groups are strong and robust, then work on foot stability, shin muscles, knee over toes training are perfect to add in. Typically, people are quad dominant and due to the amount of sitting we do, have underdeveloped glutes, hamstring, and calf muscles.
Now onto the exercises that are best for runners.
Gluteal Max and Hamstring Strength
Hip Hinge/RDL- a hard movement pattern to learn, this is by far the best way runners can build strength. Easily add weight for resistance with a free weight or band.
Bridge Hamstring Walks - no equipment is necessary to destroy your hamstrings with these walkouts
Modified Side Plank- Hip Raise- great to work your core, low back, and the outer glutes in both hips.
Adductor Strength
Copenhagen Plank- the inner thigh muscles NEVER get trained and are a large muscle group that plays a huge role in running and especially sprinting. Want to run faster, work on this plank variation
Calf Strength
1-Leg Calf Raise- two-leg calf raises are fine, but one leg adds your entire body weight as resistance and mimics the demands of running. Easily progress holding a weight.
If you are a runner, you know you need to strength train but are unsure what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. You don’t want any extra work than you need because you are already busy running. We can help, coaching runners is our specialty. We have both in-person and remote options to build a customized program for you to work on becoming a stronger more efficient runner. We do a comprehensive analysis of your Range of Motion, Strength, Endurance, Technique, and Training to find inefficiencies and build out a custom program unique to you to be a pain-free runner for life. If you enjoy running, you’d benefit from our Running Analysis and our comprehensive training assessment to determine what you can improve to be a pain-free runner.
If you want to see how it works, click the link below to set up a Free Strategy Call so we ca determine what would be best for you.
Dr. Ryan
