Strength Training for Runners: What It Can and Can't Do

Why Strength Matters for Runners

Running involves repeatedly landing on one leg and absorbing and producing force through the calf, thigh and hip muscles, and through tendons, bones and joints. The capacity of these tissues to tolerate that repeated load is one part of the injury picture, alongside training load, previous injury, recovery and individual factors.

Lower strength has been associated with some running injuries in research, but association is not causation. A runner may be weaker because they are injured, rather than injured because they are weak, and many strong runners still get injured. The familiar story of "weak glutes lead to knee collapse, which leads to runner's knee or IT band pain" is much more deterministic than the evidence supports. Running injuries are multifactorial, and the relevant contributors vary between runners.

For runners, the more useful question is often not simply whether a muscle is "weak", but whether the runner has enough capacity to meet the demands of their current training.

Does Strength Training Prevent Running Injuries?

The honest answer is that the evidence is encouraging in sport generally, but less clear-cut in runners specifically.

A widely cited meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials across multiple sports found that strength-training interventions reduced sports injury risk. However, the included populations and sports were heterogeneous, and the evidence cannot simply be assumed to apply to recreational runners.

In runners, the results have been more mixed. In one randomised trial of more than 700 first-time marathon runners, a self-directed, 10-minute strength programme targeting the hips, quadriceps and core, performed three times per week, did not significantly reduce the rate of overuse injuries that stopped runners completing the marathon.

That doesn't mean strength training cannot contribute to injury prevention. It does mean that a short, generic, largely unsupervised programme should not be assumed to prevent running injuries on its own.

In practice, strength training is best considered as one component of a broader approach that also considers training load, recovery, previous injury and the individual runner's goals and capacity. Strength training can improve capacity, but it doesn't replace sensible progression of running load.

See: Is the 10% Rule for Running Real?.

Strength Training and Running Economy

The evidence for improving running economy is more consistent than the evidence for preventing running injuries. A 2024 systematic review with meta-analysis found that high-load resistance training and combined methods improved running economy in middle- and long-distance runners, and that plyometric training improved running economy at slower running speeds. The certainty of evidence ranged from moderate to low, depending on the training method and outcome.

Running economy describes how much oxygen or energy is required to maintain a given submaximal running speed. Improving it means a given pace costs a little less, which is a meaningful benefit in its own right, separate from any effect on injury risk.

How Often, and What Kind?

Regular strength training, commonly 2 sessions per week, can be incorporated alongside running. That's a practical starting point rather than an evidence-based injury-prevention threshold; the programmes in the running economy research ranged from one to four sessions per week over several weeks to several months.

Exercises often used with runners include:

• Single-leg squats or step-downs
• Romanian deadlifts
• Hip abduction exercises
• Progressive calf raises, including heavy slow resistance where appropriate
• Progressive plyometric work such as hops and bounds, once a good base is in place

These are sensible options rather than a required list. What matters more than finding a "perfect" exercise is choosing movements that address the runner's needs and applying an appropriate, progressive training stimulus over time.

Getting Started Sensibly

• Introduce it gradually. New strength work is itself a new load, so avoid adding a heavy programme in the same week as a big jump in running.
• Plan it around your key runs. Many runners prefer to avoid heavy lower-limb sessions the day before a long run or a hard workout.
• Prioritise consistency at first, then build towards heavier loads as your technique and tolerance improve.
• Target what you actually need. Testing can help identify meaningful differences in strength or capacity, making your time in the gym more targeted and efficient.

How IP Physio Can Help

We use objective strength testing to assess key muscle groups involved in running, such as the calf, quadriceps and hip musculature, and can compare sides and track changes over time. We use those results, your running history and your goals to build a strength plan that fits around your running, then retest to check how you're progressing.

For the full picture on running injury risk, including training load, previous injury and when to act on symptoms, read How to Prevent Running Injuries: Evidence-Based Strategies for Runners.