Strength training for runners

Why it hurts

With every step your leg carries two to three times your body weight. A 10K is somewhere around eight to ten thousand of those steps, depending on pace.

When the muscles around the hip aren't strong enough, the pelvis can drop to the other side on landing and the knee can cave in. It's seen more often in injured runners. The load then goes to the knee and the tendons instead of the muscles.

Does it really help

A 2014 review of twenty-five studies across many sports found that of all the exercise types for injury prevention, strength training worked best. In the four studies that tested it, injuries dropped to a third.

For runners the results are weaker. A newer 2024 review found that injury prevention exercise helps them mainly when a coach is there and makes sure it's done regularly.

What we do

With runners I strengthen the legs and the core so that the tendons can take the kilometres they run. We start with these exercises, all done at a calm pace with a slow way down:

• single-leg Romanian deadlift, 3 × 8 on each leg
• single-leg step-down from a box, 3 × 8 on each leg
• single-leg calf raises with a slow lowering of the heel, 3 × 12 on each leg
• lateral band walk with the band above the knees, 3 × 10 steps each way
• side plank, 3 × 30 seconds on each side

When something already hurts

I'm not a physiotherapist and I don't diagnose pain. When a problem is fresh or getting worse, it belongs with a physio first. What they recommend I then build into your training, so the problem doesn't keep coming back.

How it fits with running

You can run and work on technique at the Saturday RUNclub, strength we train in personal sessions. The core can also be strengthened at the Core class, which is on Saturday too.