New year, new habit – Will 2023 be your strongest year yet?

If I ask a runner if they strength train, they often say no, followed by several excuses. I get it. We only have a certain amount of protected time from family, work and other commitments to exercise and we want to use that time running. You love running. But have you ever thought about what your running could be like if you were stronger?

Why Strength Train?

Strength training (e.g. low to high intensity resistance and plyometric exercises performed 2-3 times per week for 8-12 weeks) has been shown in many studies to increase running economy and speed (Balsalobre-Fernández, 2016; Blagrove, 2017; Ramirez-Campillo, 2021), without negatively influencing body composition (Blagrove, 2017).

Beneficial effects of completing a strength training program alongside endurance training has also been shown to benefit athletic performance in youth (Gäbler, 2018). More evidence is needed before we are 100% confident that strength training can reduce injury risk (Šuc, 2022), but it makes sense that strengthening muscles important for running would prevent injury by providing more support to joints and potentially reducing time to fatigue. 

So, for those wanting to improve their economy and/or speed, you might want to consider adding some strength training to your program. But how do you get the motivation to add more exercise to your week, or *gasp* replace some running time with strength training?

The EAST Framework – making adopting new behaviours easy.

The EAST Framework is one of my go-to frameworks to support people to change any behaviour. Here I am going to use it to help you, dear runner, to integrate some strength training into your running program.

E = Easy

You need to find a way to make doing strength training easy. Decide on what strength exercises you are going to do and make sure it’s not too many (my “favourites” are single-leg squats, calf raises and bridges with enough repetitions to provoke fatigue). Learn how to do them and practice a couple of times so they become easy. 

A = Attractive

Once you know how to do the exercises, you need to decide on when you will do them and how they will best fit into your life. Are you currently warming up before your runs? If the answer is yes, then great! If the answer is no, then we need to talk.

Anyway, you can integrate your strength exercises into your warm up and before any plyometric (e.g. skipping) and strides you do. Ensuring the strength exercises don’t take a lot of time and can be ‘hidden’ in a warm up makes them not only attractive but also easy.

S = Social (normalise)

Have a chat to some of the stronger and faster runners you know. Do they do strength training? If so, how do they do it and when? Can you join them one day? Discovering that runners who are doing the paces you dream of also strength train makes strength training appear normal. If you don’t know any fast runners, just look up some elite athletes like Sinead Diver who manage to do 2-3 strength training sessions a week despite having a heavy running training load (RunnersTribe, 2018).

T = Timely

Think about when you can benefit from running faster or with better economy. Have you got an event coming up where you want to run your fastest ever time? Having something to aim for that is time based (e.g. a future date) can help you commit to doing what you need to do (e.g. strength training) to achieve your goal (e.g. new PB at a future race). Remember that some of the studies I mentioned above used a 12 week strength training period, so consider starting some form of strength training at least 12 weeks before you want to see greater running speed.

Wrap up

I have hopefully convinced you that doing some strength training each week will help you improve your running performance. For those who dream of faster running times but don’t currently strength train, you will need to undergo a new behaviour change to go from not doing any strength training to doing some. Behaviour change can be intimidating but just remember to make the process easy, attractive, social and timely and you’ll be running a new PB sooner than you think!

References

Balsalobre-Fernández, C., Santos-Concejero, J., & Grivas, G. V. (2016). Effects of Strength Training on Running Economy in Highly Trained Runners: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis of Controlled Trials. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 30(8), 2361–2368. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000001316

Blagrove, R. et al. (2018) Effects of Strength Training on the Physiological Determinants of Middle- and Long-Distance Running Performance: A Systematic Review. Sports Med 48, 1117–1149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-017-0835-7

Gäbler, M. et al. (2018). The effects of concurrent strength and endurance training on physical fitness and athletic performance in youth: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in physiology, 9, 1057.

Ramirez-Campillo, R. et al. (2021). Effects of plyometric jump training on repeated sprint ability in athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 51(10), 2165-2179.

Service, O. et al. (2014). EAST Four simple ways to apply behavioural insights. United Kingdom, Behavioural Insights Team. https://www.bi.team/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BIT-Publication-EAST_FA_WEB.pdf

Šuc, A. et al. (2022). Resistance Exercise for Improving Running Economy and Running Biomechanics and Decreasing Running-Related Injury Risk: A Narrative Review. Sports, 10(7), 98.

RunnersTribe (2018). Sinead Diver Q and A – In top form and working towards Tokyo 2020. https://www.runnerstribe.com/interviews/sinead-diver-q-and-a-in-top-form-and-working-towards-tokyo-2020/

Need some help achieving your running goals? Book an appointment with Performance Medicine’s run coach and physio, Dr Brea Kunstler, to see how she can help you. There are several in-person and telehealth coaching options available to suit your needs!