I am often asked by runners whether they should be doing “strength work” to help their running. By “strength work” they are asking whether or not they need to be going to a gym and lifting weights.

Before answering this question it is important that you understand the difference between strength and stability.

Strength refers to a muscle’s ability to generate force. For runners, this means having the power to push off the ground, maintain speed, and run up hills efficiently.

Stability is the ability to maintain control of body movement, especially in dynamic or unsteady situations. Stability helps you control your movements while running, so you can stay aligned, balance on one leg, and respond to uneven surfaces.

In essence, strength gives runners the power to move, while stability enables them to control that power and maintain form under changing conditions.

In my experience, the percentage of runners who lack stability far outweighs the percentage of runners who lack strength. The most common and obvious example of this is seen in the muscle groups around the hip and pelvis.

You might be able to do 50 body weight squats for example – which means you have plenty of strength in your glutes and quad muscles. But, when you stand on one foot an bob up and down, you might wobble all over the place.

If you are a runner who can “pass” the strength test, but “fail” the stability test – no amount of “clams” or “crab walks” or even weighted squats at the gym will improve your stability. Performing strength exercises at the gym will make your already strong muscles stronger, but you will be at just as much risk of picking up knee injuries, ITB injuries and glute injuries.

Working to improve your strength, before you have improved your stability is counter-productive.

It is a bit like putting a Ferrari engine into the chassis of a Mini. As soon as you start revving the engine too much, the chassis is going to break.

The most important factor in becoming a stronger and faster runner is to stay injury free. Staying injury-free allows you to train consistently, and training consistently gets results. If you can train consistently for 6 months, for example, then you will have developed enough resilience in your body tissues (muscles, tendons and bones) to increase your training load. This increase might come in the form of hill reps, stair climbing sessions, speedwork or longer runs. These harder training sessions, when managed properly in your training program, will add further strength and resilience to your body, and help you to run faster.

Watch this video for a demonstration and explanation of stability

 

Should you lift weights?

Not until you have proved that your body is stable enough to cope with lifting. The easiest way to find this out is to try this one minute stability test.

If you can’t maintain your balance for 60 seconds then your focus for the next 3 months should be on improving your stability NOT your strength.

Should you lift weights one day?

The answer to this question is probably yes. Once your stability has reached a good level and you are able to run a good consistent weekly mileage, then you should be ready to progress to strength training.

Fast runners have something in common which a lot of slower runners are lacking. Fast runners produce a lot of force, meaning they are capable of strong muscular contractions. These strong muscle contractions translate into speed. Just think: if you want a bouncy ball to bounce higher, you throw it down to the ground with more force. Your legs are just like a bouncy ball. More forceful contractions give you higher levels of force, which gives you a longer stride and a faster running pace. BUT – these stronger contractions require improved stability to be sustainable, so first work on your stability, then your strength.

What stability exercises should you do?

We have a huge range of workouts in our training section that you can check out including:

The Essential Core Workout For Runners

The 10 Minute Kettlebell Workout For Runners