Strength Training for Runners: What 170 Miles to Land's End Taught Me About Lifting
- Jul 2
- 8 min read
Written and published July 2026 | Andy Hood
If you think strength training is just for gym bros and not for runners like you, stick with me. It might be the single best thing you do for your running this year.
🏃 Key takeaways
Strength training makes you a more durable runner. Stronger legs and ankles absorb the pounding, so the miles break you down less, meaning fewer injuries and more confidence on rough ground.
You don't need to train like a powerlifter. One or two focused sessions a week, slotted onto your non-running or easy days, is enough to feel more powerful on the climbs and fresher late in a long run.
Consistency beats complexity. Whether it's a coach, an app, or a set of resistance bands on your living-room floor, the runners who keep showing up are the ones who keep running.
Contents
How a 170-mile ultra convinced me to start strength training
Late in 2022 I set off on a 170-mile run from near home all the way to Land's End, following the South West Coast Path, a national trail that has never once heard of the word "flat." Five days, serious mileage stacked back to back, and thousands of feet of climbing on terrain that seemed to want to turn my ankle roughly every mile.
By day four, my left lower leg was talking to me. Not screaming, but complaining: the tendons were taking the strain of all that climbing and descending and asking, politely at first, for a word. And somewhere on one of those endless coast-path staircases it clicked. There were real gains to be had if I could just put more power into my legs for the climbs. My engine was fine. My chassis was the weak link.
So shortly after I finished, I went hunting for a strength coach.
How to start strength training as a runner: coach or app?
After a lot of conversations I found Steve Middleton, a British, European and World Champion powerlifter who, crucially, understands how the body actually moves rather than just how to shift heavy metal. We started a programme, then adjusted it, then adjusted it again, and again, until we'd worked out exactly what my body was responding to. That process matters more than any single exercise: a good coach doesn't hand you a template, they read you.
If you take one thing from this article, let it be this. Strength work pays off most when it's tailored and progressed, not copied off the internet and abandoned three weeks later.
Now, you might be here hoping I'll hand you a neat routine to print out and stick on the fridge. I'm not going to, and it's for a good reason: a generic sheet can't see you. It doesn't know your goals, your weak links, your training load or the race you're building towards, and following one blindly is exactly how runners end up overcooked or injured.
What I will give you is the two best pieces of advice I've got.
One: go and find a strength trainer. Someone who takes the time to understand you and what you're chasing. I won't pretend it's cheap, because good coaching isn't.
Two, if that's out of reach: download Runna and set up their strength programmes. This is the clever bit. Runna builds the strength work straight into your training block, makes sure you're not over-stressing the body, and tailors everything to your goal, whether that's a 10K, a marathon, an ultra, or anything in between. You get the personalised running plan and the strength programme in one place, which is exactly why it works. (More on Runna, and an extended free trial, further down.)
Should runners lift weights? The real benefits of strength training
I promised I'd keep the lab coat off, so here's the whole case in three plain sentences.
Strength training improves your running economy, meaning any given pace simply costs you less energy, which over a marathon or an ultra adds up to a lot. It meaningfully reduces injury risk, especially the nagging overuse stuff that quietly ends most people's seasons. And for those of us who go long, it builds durability: the ability to keep moving well when everything hurts and the wheels are threatening to come off in the final third of a race.
That's it. That's the science. You can feel free to nerd out on the studies elsewhere, but you don't need them to get going.
The best strength exercises for runners (my gym routine)
People always want the exercise list, so here's the honest one. This is my lower-body menu, and not all of it in a single session. During a training block Steve and I rotate and swap these around depending on what we're building.
Movement | Why it's in there |
Deadlifts (straight & hex bar) | Raw posterior-chain power, the engine room for climbing |
Squats (various bars & positions) | Hit the glutes and quads from different angles |
Standing leg curls | I hate these. They're brilliant for the hamstrings. Both things are true. |
Kettlebell lunges | Single-leg strength, which is what running actually is |
Leg extension | Quad strength for the downhills |
Calf raises (seated & standing) | Achilles and calf resilience, direct insurance against the exact niggle that started all this |
Bulgarian split squats | Balance, glutes, and ironing out left-right imbalances |
Leg press | Loadable strength without the technical demand |
Adductor / abductor machine | Otherwise known as the Victorian torture machine. Necessary. Undignified. |
On top of legs, we do a dedicated upper-body session. That surprises a lot of runners, but it earns its place: it reduces fatigue in the arm swing, it genuinely helps when I'm driving with poles in the mountains, and it strengthens the core that keeps my form from folding late in a race.
How to fit strength training around your running
This is where a lot of runners come unstuck, so here's my simple rhythm:
Strength: once a week, on my non-running day, usually Monday. That's deliberate. It gives the legs recovery time and keeps me from cooking myself.
Tuesday is a run, often a tempo or hill-repeats session, and I'll do it later in the day so my legs have had as long as possible to bounce back from Monday's lifting.
Weekend plyometrics. I head to the gym for a plyometric session built around hill climbing. It's a session from the team at RunLab, and I'll drop the link below so you can try it yourself https://youtu.be/TIcyOLoLjQ4?si=Su2Nfzq0E-9T0-JF
The theme running through all of it is respect for recovery. Strength work is a stimulus, not a badge of honour. Stack it on top of your hardest running days and you'll just be tired and slow at both.
Ankle strengthening for runners: my daily band routine
Remember where this whole story started: a lower leg complaining on technical ground. So I do daily ankle work, a quick banded session at home, every day, no drama. Honestly, go and get yourself a set of resistance bands from Amazon and give your ankles five minutes a day. They will thank you, and so will your confidence next time you're bombing down something loose and rocky.
Does strength training really improve your running?
Yes. Unequivocally.
I get fewer injuries. I feel genuinely more powerful on the climbs. I suffer less muscle fatigue on the long runs, and that's most noticeable exactly where it counts, deep into the ultras. And I've got a lot more confidence on technical terrain, with stronger ankles and legs that now positively enjoy a bit of fast, chaotic downhill. The thing that was my weak link at Land's End has quietly become a strength.
Strength training for 10K, half marathon, marathon and ultra runners
The right approach shifts a little depending on your distance and experience, so here's where you fit:
Newer to it? Start with movement quality over big weights. Bodyweight squats, lunges, calf raises, planks and that daily band routine will take you a long way. Build the habit first.
Shorter, faster racing (5k–10k)? Lean into strength and a bit of explosive, powerful work: you want force and pop.
Marathon and beyond? Prioritise resilience and economy. Compound strength like squats and deadlifts in your quieter training periods, kept lighter when your mileage is peaking.
Ultra and mountain (my world)? It's all about durability and eccentric strength: the muscles that control you downhill and keep working when they're trashed. Downhill legs win races as much as uphill ones.
The best strength training app for runners: why I use Runna
I'm lucky to have Steve. Most runners don't have a World Champion powerlifter on speed dial, and you absolutely don't need one to get the benefits.
I'm a proud ambassador for Runna, the team who were central in rebuilding me after cancer took me out of my running shoes for a while. Their app has excellent strength-training programmes built in, for both gym and home, alongside genuinely brilliant personalised running plans. It's a tiny fraction of the cost of a personal coach, and for most runners it's more than enough structure to get real, lasting results.
If you want to try it, I've sorted you a double-length free trial, two full weeks of Runna Premium:
👉 Download the app and enter code ANDY2, or click here: https://web.runna.com/redeem?code=ANDY2
Set up your personalised running plan, then go and explore the strength sessions. Your future, sturdier self will be grateful.
(Disclosure: I'm a Runna ambassador and the link above is my ambassador code. Using it costs you nothing extra and gets you the extended free trial.)
Strength training for runners: FAQs
Should runners lift weights?
Yes. For most runners, one or two focused strength sessions a week improves running economy, builds power for hills, and meaningfully lowers injury risk, particularly the overuse injuries that derail training.
Will strength training make me bulky and slow?
No. Runners training for strength and durability, rather than maximum muscle size, put on very little bulk. What you gain is efficiency and resilience, which make you faster, not heavier.
How often should runners strength train?
Once or twice a week is plenty for the vast majority of runners. Quality and consistency matter far more than volume.
Should I lift on run days or rest days?
Ideally keep hard strength work off your hardest running days. Lifting on a non-running day, or separating a lift and a run by several hours, lets your legs recover and adapt.
Do I need heavy weights, or is bodyweight enough?
Bodyweight work, resistance bands and single-leg exercises are a brilliant, effective starting point. As you progress, adding load in your quieter training periods pays off, but you can get real benefits at home with no gym at all.
The bottom line: is strength training worth it for runners?
I went looking for a strength coach because a coast path tried to break me. What I found was a whole other gear: fewer injuries, more power, more confidence, and legs that finally match the engine. You don't need a 170-mile epic to reach the same conclusion. Start small, stay consistent, look after your ankles, and let the miles reward you.
About the author: Andy Hood
Andy Hood is an ultra and endurance runner, cancer survivor, and unapologetic advocate for men's health. After a diagnosis tried to take his running shoes off, he laced them back up and turned the experience into a mission: designing bold, attention-grabbing ultras each year to raise awareness and funds, particularly around testicular cancer.
That mission includes his cheeky-but-serious menswear brand, Check Ya Balls, kit with a message that quite literally saves lives.
His running CV runs from the 170-mile Running WestwardHo! to Land's End (the run that kicked off this whole strength-training story) to 160km around Mont Blanc, a self-designed 54K "Burger Run," a Krispy Kreme-fuelled London ultra, and, yes, 50K on a treadmill in a shopping centre. He's a proud Runna ambassador and has raised tens of thousands of pounds for cancer charities along the way.
Follow his runs, read his race reports, and grab a pair of Check Ya Balls at runningwestwardho.co.uk.
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