Strength Training for Runners: A 2-3x Weekly Routine You Can Take and Run With

Strength train two days a week, three if your mileage allows, 30-40 minutes a session. Start with a 10 minute prep of jumps, calves, and hips, then do three strength jobs: produce force, produce force on one leg, and absorb force. The full routine is below!

Why two to three: it's the range most of the research on runners used, and running economy improved in many of those studies. Two is the baseline. A third is a bonus, not a requirement.

A client of mine came to me after 20 years of yoga, running, and the occasional Pilates class, and an ankle injury during a half marathon. She was shocked that nothing had changed her body the way strength training did. It was the first and only thing that worked, for visible progress, muscle definition, and confidence running again.

Who am I to teach strength training for runners?

I'm not a running coach. I coach women to get visibly stronger and more confident in their own skin, and some of them run. I'm also a retired high school cross-country and track athlete. What I bring is the strength side: the research on strength training and running economy, and what I see in the runners I coach. Where the evidence is thin, I’ll say so.

What is the best strength routine for runners?

Four prep checks and three strength jobs, each with an easier way in and a harder way up. Running builds your running, but it doesn't build the force and control every stride asks of you in order to perform your best or mitigate injury risk.

How do you put it together? (copy and save)

Two to three days a week: Day A, Day B, then Day A again if you have a third day.

Prep, both days (about 10 minutes)

• Pogo hops: 2 sets of 10 to 20 seconds
• Calf raise: 2 sets of 8 to 12 per leg
• Hip abduction hold: 2 sets of 20 to 30 seconds per side
• Proximal walk: 2 short bouts

Day A

• RDL: 3 sets of 8-12
• Bulgarian split squat: 3 sets of 6-8 per leg
• Step-down with an arm raise: 2 sets of 8 per leg

Day B

• Hip thrust: 3 sets of 6-10
• High step-up: 3 sets of 8-12 per leg (or counterbalance skater squat)
• Slow eccentric split squat: 2 sets of 6 per leg

Move up when the top of the range feels clean for two sessions in a row: more load first, then the harder version. Ensure you’re building in upper body push (i.e. chest press, push ups) and pull (bent over row, 3-point row, cable row, pull up variation, etc) into your training; this routine is focused on your running-related qualities specifically.

The proximal walk. I learned this one from Alex Kanellis of Landmine University. Stand tall with your arms crossed in a hug. As you step, let the elbow dip and scoop with the shoulder in an underhand figure eight, keeping your head over your middle toe. The proximal run is the same pattern, faster.

How do you fit it around 3 runs a week?

• Lift after a run, not before and not on a separate day. Your recovery days stay recovery days. Keep your heaviest lower-body day away from the day before a long run or hard intervals.
• Space your days apart when you can. If life stacks them, do Day A and Day B back to back and keep both short.
• When mileage peaks, hold one session a week instead of dropping strength entirely.

What does the research say?

Heavy lifting and jumps have the strongest case. Running economy is how much energy you spend to hold a pace. A systematic review of middle and long distance runners found strength training improved it by 2 to 8 percent compared with running alone, though not in every study. A later meta-analysis found heavy lifting, jump training, and a mix of the two helped, while lighter loads and isometric holds looked less effective. High-load work was most effective at faster speeds and in runners with higher VO2max. A meta-analysis of 21 jump training studies in 511 endurance runners found small to moderate gains in economy and in 2 to 5 km time trial performance, with no change in VO2max. Plyometrics helped most at 12 km/h or below, roughly an 8-minute mile or slower. Hops are impact.

How often. The review above points to two to three sessions a week, and a meta-analysis in highly trained runners found benefits from two to three sessions over 8 to 12 weeks. No study has compared two against three head to head. Women who added one or two 30-minute sessions lasted longer on a maximal treadmill test, though their economy didn't change. If you only have one day, do one.

Calves are the engine of the leg. They produce up to roughly 12 times body weight at higher running speeds, and your Achilles tendon returns more than half of your push-off energy. That's mechanics. I found no trial testing calf raises as a stand-alone running intervention.

The hip hold is for control, not speed. I use it myself and like it. The evidence is an association only: a 2024 review notes hip weakness shows up more often in injured runners, but nobody has shown the weakness causes the injury.

The arm and trunk work is the least proven. The spinal engine is a 1988 theory that the spine, not the legs, drives gait. It's a theory, not settled biomechanics. What is documented: your spine and pelvis rotate and side bend as you run, and in a 2014 study, running with hands behind the back took 3 percent more energy than swinging your arms normally, arms across the chest 9 percent more, and hands on the head 13 percent more. That makes arm and trunk drills a sensible way to practice. No trial shows they make you faster. Keep the crossed arms in the drill and out of your actual runs.

The bottom line

Two days a week, three if you can, 30 to 40 minutes: prep, produce force, produce force on one leg, absorb force. It won't raise your VO2max (a 2024 review didn't find that), and it isn't a guarantee against injury. It builds the strength your running can't build for itself.

If you're a runner who wants strength built around your real week, apply for a free Wellness Strategy Session. Want to learn these moves in person? Join a monthly workshop in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.