If you’re a runner or triathlete, you’ve likely heard that you should be strength training. But between long workouts, work meetings, and family life, it’s easy to put it on the back burner and skip it all together. It’s even easier to get it wrong, which is why it’s important to know the strength training that actually works for endurance athletes, not just the latest tik tok trendy exercise.
Strength training doesn’t have to be long, complicated, or exhausting to the point of burn out in order to be effective. When done right, it can help you run faster, avoid injury, and improve resilience.
Let’s break down how endurance athletes, especially busy professionals, can lift smart and get results.
The Purpose of Strength Training for Endurance Athletes
Your goal is performance and durability, not bodybuilder muscle sizes. So it’s important to understand that the amount you lift, how many reps are performed, and how many sets are completed make all the difference. An endurance athlete’s strength training may include focusing on muscular endurance, power, plyometrics, core, and stability and mobility. Hypertrophy is rarely the focus. When and if any of these are focused on will depend on athletic age, athletic experience, time of year, training cycle, and goal race.
It’s also very important to include strength as we age to counteract age-related muscle loss.
The benefits of strength training include:
- Improved strength
- Improved endurance performance in cycling and running
- Increased time to exhaustion
- Improved running economy
- Enhanced power output
- Better posture and form later in a race
- Injury prevention
- Counteracting muscle loss with age
Think of Movement Patterns
Endurance athletes benefit from functional movements that carry over into their sport and general life activities. This includes core work, glute strength, pushing and pulling exercises, and single leg exercises. The strength you do in the gym will carry over into sport specific strength, like running hills, and activities of daily living, like lifting bags and climbing stairs.
Compound, or multi-joint, exercises like squats, deadlifts, and the clean & press, are both beneficial for their functional movement and time efficient by working several muscle groups.
Single leg exercise are also beneficial for building unilateral strength. They improve balance and stability and prevent imbalances.
Strength Sessions Should Fit Around Your Endurance Training
The goal is to support your main training, not interfere with it. Depending on where you are in your training cycle, strength sessions can be as short as 20 minutes or up to an hour, twice a week to four times a week. The shorter, less frequent sessions are generally performed when you are focusing more on your sport’s main workouts, while more frequent, longer strength sessions may take place in the off-season.
These sessions should not take precedence over your main sport’s workouts. Your key workouts are things like long bike rides, track workouts, or hill repeats whereas a strength session is considered a supporting workout that is performed either on a separate day or after your key workout .
Don’t Be Afraid To Lift Heavy
Light weights and high reps may feel safer, but they’re often less effective. Lifting heavy and challenging yourself not only gives you the benefits described above, but will also help minimize or reverse muscle loss due to age.
Remember that “heavy” is relative. Your “heavy” is different than another person’s “heavy”.
If you’re just starting out with strength training, body weight exercises might be heavy for you. But after building a base, you’ll be able to progress to heavier loads with good form. Good form is key here. If you can’t lift with good form, then the weight is too heavy.
Avoid These Strength Training Mistakes
- Skipping strength altogether for fear of being sore
- Overcomplicating it with trendy moves
- Not adapting your plan during race season, recovery, off-season, etc.
- Avoiding strength for fear of getting bulky
You don’t need to spend hours in the gym, but you do need a smart strength training strategy that complements your endurance training, not competes with it. With just a few focused sessions per week, you ‘ll build strength, reduce risk of injury, and set yourself up for both long-term endurance success and long-term wellness.
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