Full Weight Lifting Routine for Runners with Sam Parsons 

Serious runners know how important strength training is. Balancing work, family, kids etc is tough and to even squeeze in a strength session after running 5-6 days a week is very tough. Kudos to everyone who still have the time to do these exercises, enjoy it while you can!

My two cents as a running focused strength coach, feel free to ignore my unsolicited advice lol: Firstly, quite a lot of exercises. Seems like there's a lot more going on than there needs to be. 3x4 light squats is an odd pick. 4 reps of light weight is in a weird no mans land where it's not really doing anything for you. Ideally you'd be doing a lot fewer exercises and go heavier on your squats with like, 3-5mins rest between your sets to develop force production and power output. Typically as a runner you're looking at 1-2 big bilateral compound movements (squat/deadlift etc) to develop pure strength and power, then 3-5 single leg exercises for injury prevention and muscle imbalances (although you can also factor power development into the single leg exercises). I'd preferably want to get you out of the smith machine asap to better work on muscle coactivation and stabilisation. Low volume, high intensity it the key. If you're doing low volume, low intensity then it's not doing a whole lot. You don't need three lots of calf exercises in one workout. If you like all of them do one in one workout and do the others in your second workout or during in warm ups (assuming you are doing two lower body focused workouts a week). BG split squats - great pick, but if you're doing 5 reps aim to get that knee to touch the ground. Lateral lunges - great pick, but it looks like you'd benefit from ditching the weight and concentrating on your range of motion for now. Add weight back in when you can lunge all the way down comfortably. Step ups - fantastic pick, knee drive is also great for your needs. Looks like you can definitely go heavier though. The 'Parsons' seems uneccessary if you're going to do a bunch of core work at the end of the workout anyway, but if you like it then it's not exactly doing any harm. Hamstring eccentrics are a solid pick, as are the isometric holds, but you probably don't need them both in the same workout. Leg pulse on the copenhagen side plank is a nice touch, I like that a lot. Arm stuff is good, although I'd typically lean more towards doing a more rounded approach and putting upper body into separate workouts to easily cover all your main muscles groups and keep everything in balance. Depends how much time you've got, not everyone can be in the gym four times a week. Jumps - fantastic, but ideally you want to do these when your legs are fresher, generally after the bilateral compund movements rather than towards the end of the workout Core all seems grand, core is often pretty boring to train so it's really just a case of doing exercises that are going to engage you Could all be streamlined a lot and definitely some programming and form elements that could be improved, although mostly I'm just happy to see more runners doing weight training haha. Well that was an essay, hope there was something helpful in there.

Really cool staff there! Thanks a lot for the content

Great video! Will definitely be incorporating some of these into my strength workouts

Super helpful. Thank you for posting this!

This is really good! Thank you!

Awesome information! Would love to see your pre & post run routine!

This is a brilliant routine. Thank you for sharing it. Will try and use plenty of these.

This is amazing, thank you

Nice routine! :) thank you for sharing.

Thanks for this!

Great video - going to give this a try starting next week

Super helpful- thanks!

Great routine. Thanks

These exercises are great. I copied the list into a checklist and do a few each day until I get to the end and then start over. I'm a mom of 5 so i can grab a few minutes here and there and do a couple. They are simple yet effective. Thanks!

Brilliant routine, thank you. I’ve started doing strength and conditioning ahead of my first ultra and this overview is ideal.

Outstanding routine and great explanations Sam. Perfect for runners, but also solid for anyone seeking overall improvement in core/stability/mobility. The combination if plyometric isometric and dynamic exercises is a triple threat.

Thanks, Mr Muscles! 💪💪

Video full of value! Everything we need and no fluff. Always looking for durability strength help from people who distance run at the highest level. I noticed Sam mentioned this was an activation lift…follow up video that I would love to see is ‘heavy lift training day’. And what phase of training cycle the Tinmen do heavy lifting? Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Thank you, these things are priceless!!!

Awesome routine... thanks 😉

Great stuff

Thank you Tim Elite

Hi Sam thanks for the instruction. I’ve seen a lot of “runner training vids” but once again your easy going commentary and relaxed attitude resonates with me. I WILL incorporate this session in my training block. Thanks for the inspiration ⚒///

Thanks!!

Thank you!!

Good video 👍🏻

Awesome wisdom

Did this workout twice and amazing difference in my runs thanks for sharing

Nice job Sam! That’s a workout in itself

Brilliant exercises for strength

Finished from Brazil 🇧🇷 thank so much😊

Thank you

Sweet ! Hanks

Great video, Im using this as my core rutine one or two days a week. I feel like a Kenian athlete

Awesome thanks

Just found this channel, great! Would love some more small comments like "the string pulling you up" or "pushing the hands against the wall is key". I've bben working out for a very long time and HATED some exercises, only to realize that I've been doing them wrong all this time. So the small tips and share knowledge of how it's supposed to feel is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks

Very nice. Will add that single leg standing with moving weights around. Thanks

I think that the coverage here is similar to what I do though I only do it about twice a week. I use Yoga, barbell, dumbbells, and machines. This is far more comprehensive as most running strength videos give you 3-5 exercises. Three exercises that I like not included here are barbell squats, barbell or trap-bar deadlift and barbell shoulder press. Those 3 exercises hit a lot of muscles and it's a good option if you just want to get some strength in quickly.

Brilliant

Tremendous video. Everything is explained well and easy to follow. From a lifelong runner, kudos!

Weighted side planks are super tough!

Just started doing strength training on the daily (usually 15 mins, nothing crazy, 2-3 activities plus Calf Raises and Split Squats). Been doing related stuff but tried a lot of the new stuff he mentioned in the video these couple of weeks. Two weeks in of doing strength work consistently and I'm already starting to notice that the running is easier and more stable. Thanks Parsons. Loving "The Parsons" and the Copenhagen Plank. This video gave me the motivation to do strength work more consistently. Edited for clarification.

I brought my PB from 4:37 marathon to 3:47 @ 51 without weight training. I will add this workout and some palates this time. The goal is to close in on Boston qualifying. Thanks, I’ll report back.

This is so good. How many times a week and also how heavy were those weights?

For those with Achilles issues, doing 50 eccentric calf raises o each side on a stair daily fixed my pretty bad Achilles tendinitis. Daily would be ideal but I’ve been doing them 3-5x/week for ~6 years now and they work great. Build up starting with something easy like 3x8/side and make sure you really go down all the way and stretch out that Achilles.

Do you lift or do any resistance exercises prior (1-2 days) to a race? If it isn't weights, do you do body weight stuff to work core, cns, etc...? Thanks.

Some really creative exercises. I've taken notes! Suggest getting rid of the Smith machine movements though and try a Safety Squat Bar (SSB). So much better for the shoulders and allows for more upright torso. Step-ups are fantastic with SSB. Also, heavy rack pulls for hammies without risk of deadlift.

Super helpful Sam - thank you!

good stuff. just like you periodize your run program you need to break up your strength into specific training blocks so there is progression. there should be an eccentric training block followed by an isometric training block. they are two different modalities. oh and get off the smith machine, really don’t want to squat in a closed cage position. begin with the jumps/pogos. you want to complete those with fresh legs. there’s really no need to press overhead, lateral arm raises with bands are better for range of motion. ditch the weight with the lateral lunge and work on range of motion. you have tight hammies & feet need to stay flat in extension.

Please exercise ischio-jambiers / hamstrings

What is that band you're using for the first 2 exercises?

Right about that “bad form” from the gym bros comment. Running is definitely your sport 😂

When should I do it? After a run? A day before?

How many sets? And rest time between each exercise?

How long does the session last in total?

Love the Tin Men

Question is, what about plyo ?

Do runners never train upper body ? Everytime i see legs and core but never upper...

No shoes. More people need to understand how beneficial this is.

can you tell the weight of each dumbell?

How many hours is this 😭 I do strength training and damn not sure if because it’s long in a way with less exercises but 3 hours my guy

Probably the best weightlifting for runners video I've seen yet

LIGHT WEIGHT BABYYYYYYYYY

Sammy Boy Parsons I’d my idol

When does the weight lifting start? Is there a part 2?

Whats his PRs?

more velocity is more strength in the final lap, you should do each exercise at the fastest possible speed

It’s funny they didn’t show the depth on squat. I don’t know anything about weightlifting but I’m curious if runners have tight hips or limited mobility on squats.

Bare feet too 💪

he knew on the form lmao. those lateral raises. oof.

He's like me all that work at the gym and still skinny af.

Just firin

I’d give the routine a B after doing it

He is cute

huge mistake to do weightlifting barefoot. You might injure a footfinger from having to bare your weight

Frankie de jong but skinny😂

Damn bad form bro. I’m only joking by the way.

Lol he’s skinny i bench 225