So, your big race is coming up. You’re hitting the pavement and increasing miles each week. Runners run, and running is cardio. Obviously, you’re not going to finish a marathon if you don’t put some miles in during training. But you may be missing a key part of training – strength! Strength training gives you something you can’t get from running alone and will help increase your pace and reduce the risk of injury.

In running, we need to produce force to propel yourself forward. The stronger you are at propelling yourself forward the more efficient and faster you will go. The stronger you are, the more force you can generate and a pace we struggled to hold may now become your cruising pace.

Strength training will also help against injuries as the muscles will be better able to absorb the loading and impact of running. The forces that go through the body, particularly muscles like the calves, quads and glutes can be huge so we need to ensure our bodies are best prepared to handle them.

Here are my top 3 strength exercises to help you with your running:

The Jump Lunge

In our strength training, exercises that have the most carry over to running are the ones that work the same muscle groups, in a similar fashion.  That way the force we are developing is going to put down on the road in the way we want it. The jump lunge is great for this as it develops explosive power through the legs, targeting the glutes, quads and hip flexors, as well as core stability. Using additional load such as dumbbells will make this more advanced.

It’s not all about the jump however. The landing of this exercise is also going to help your running. The deceleration as you land will train the muscles under load, preparing the legs to handle the impact of running and set up for the next step. See my article on stability to learn more!

The Split leg deadlift

The deadlift is a total body exercise, but mainly targeting the posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes and low back). This is again another one for developing power. The split leg position will bring the exercise closer to our running gait than the traditional deadlift, but having both feet grounded adds more stability to the exercise than the single leg variation. This allows us to load the movement with heavier weight and overload the muscle to handle those high impact forces.

The deadlift also work the mid back, keeping the shoulder blades retracted and helping with thoracic extension. Having good thoracic extension allows better airflow through the lungs, keeping your muscles fuelled adequately.

The Front Squat

While this one is more traditional, with both feet in line for the movement, there is still some great carry over to running. In the front squat, the knee will track more forward, putting greater demand on the quads and calves compared to the back-squat variation. Increasing the demand on these muscles will again help condition the body for the impact on every stride.

The front squat also requires a good level of thoracic mobility (it forces you to keep your chest lifted, otherwise the weight will fall forwards). As with the deadlift, this will help keep your chest open and allow better air flow, fuelling your muscles right when they need it most. (For more on the front squat and how this ties to olympic lifting, see my guide here).

I’m not saying you have to become a gym rat and sacrifice your running. Adding these into your routines and building up your condition will make you a stronger and healthier athlete. Ready to take on any race!

If you have any questions about the topics covered above, or are interested in finding out more information, please contact dave@hunter-movement.com