The BEST Way for Runners to Plan Strength Training 

I do strength training in the same day of my hard running workout, running in the morning and strengthening afternoon, just to give my self time to fully recover for the next hard running workout.

I have been keeping it simple ...alternate days 7 days a week .. strength training/distance running...I want it all! Endurance and muscles haha.

Really need to get more of this into my training plans. Cheers for sharing 👍

God I need this. Literally cannot find the balance!

I haven´t done much of this (and I know I should) just need to find 10-15min for body weight exercise, or even adding a kettlebell into it. Good reminder for us to incorporate this into our schedule

This is so insanely helpful! Thank you!

Really helpful - thank you!

Thanks as always for the detailed motivation! Female Master’s Runner here (42 yrs of running, mostly healthy due to cross training w/yoga) & I say there are 2 kinds of strength training for runners: pre-hab & re-hab ;)

This video is awesome!!! I really appreciate the information! :D

You speak clearly and i can understand you very well,bravo 👌. Thessaloniki Greece.

This was extremely helpful!!!

Can you discuss more about how to schedule the terms of strenngth training like weightlifting, plyometric, stabilizers. How to structure them into a FM or HM training plans. Thank you 🙏

Cool I do that, I weight train on speed day. Now will add another gym day on either tempo or long run

I get the logic of lifting after runs but I just wanted to mention that on occasion. I have done a warm up on the treadmill, lifted, and then finished my run and that last part of my run somehow felt more efficient and easier . Its interesting. I'm thinking the weights activate all the muscle groups. If you lifted to exhaustion this probably wouldn't work

I disagree with lifting on hard days. Maybe elite athletes are capable of doing this because running is their job, but for the rest of us, I find it’s next to impossible. Sure, we can go through the motions of a hard track workout followed by a hard lifting session, but I’ve seen it over and over and over again….doing this on hard days means one of those will be a half hearted effort…and maybe both….not because of physical limitations but rather mental limitations. Have you ever seen athletes do a track session and the second from last rep is one of the slowest reps? That’s a mental thing, and it happens a lot even to seasoned runners. A runner doing a hard track session will naturally hold something back because of the suffer fest about to happen in the gym. It’s not all runners, but it’s a vast, vast majority. Unless a strength session can be high quality, it’s better to not step in the gym. Getting smoked at the track will affect form in the gym…..it happens. I do the gym days on ultra easy run days, and it’s been much higher quality than when I did them on hard days. Sometimes the brain loses just a little bit of edge from a track workout….not ideal for a lifting session.

Excellent ☺️ bravos

@jason - Love your content. I recommend that once you setup the video that you throw in another video of you running before transitioning. Additionally, throw in more action bits between each point. This video would greatly benefit from seeing you lift. It can be in the distance because you're not positioning yourself as a weightlifting guru. It would go a long way in getting your message across. Keep up the awesome content. I've been a fan of your podcast but video is a different thing in that it needs to be visually compelling. Just a thought.

Thank you for your help, I had iny my mind the wrong way around from reading a generic gym book many years ago as said you won't have muscle strength and form and freshness if after to build strong muscles and put that explosion into, But I guess I am considered a runner 45mpw so it not for me!? and today I just rejoined my gym from 2 years ago this new way round will make life better as run moderate with dogs in morning then straight into gym. Does it matter on that day if there was many hours gap or not!?

I credit ST for keeping my relatively injury free over 10+ years of running. I love weights, but I felt like I had to abandon them b/c I definitely felt I was hurting my running. I've been doing more calisthenics for ST, but I do like the efficiency involved with weight training. Maybe I'll cautiously try it again.

Great video. I’m just wondering if a strength training plan should progress alongside a running training plan? For example, should I be doing different types of exercises during the base, peak and taper phases of the plan? Also, how would a 5k runners training plan compare to someone training for the marathon. I’d love to learn more about this sort of stuff.

Does it make sens to combine the weightlifting with some Pilates or bodyweight exercises on different days/rest days since the lifting is done on run days?

I do 3 hard lifting/mobility sessions per week for 30 minutes. Any day is good except the day before a hard run. I do 3 hard runs a week and 4 easy runs. I always give myself plenty of time to recover from the run before I go to my gym. I never lift before a run. I came to running from CrossFit. I tried that. It led to injury pretty fast. IMO strength and mobility are 2 sides of the same coin. I think they go together. I don’t do anything after a run. I don’t do any static stretches. I don’t think a gym or barbell is a requirement.

Is my current sched ok? Running t-th-s, PPL mwf, that's Push, Pull, Leg weight training. I've been weight training since Jan, doing Leg Day mondays. arms tues, chest wed, etc, and core workout mon-fri after each workout. When i returned to running 6 weeks ago, i switched to PPL to separate the running days. I'm thinking of doing just two weight training days sometime. I bike too from time to time. Is it ok doing this kind weight training or should i ditch them and do running specific strength training.

so what would be some of the excercises appropriate for sandwiching?

It was my first gym session today!!! Great timing :) I planned 2 to 3 days of gym sessions after tempo, interval and long run sessions. I did these exercises in order: Squat Bench Press Deadlift Lateral Pull Downs Overhead Press Core (Plank and Crunches)

What I do is see if it’s right Thursday midday is my Hill repeat day usually that night I do at the gym for so hours later legs I do legs and Corvette day then Saturday is my long run when I get back home and get situated for a little bit me and my son go back to the gym and I do upper body and core again it seems to work good but I have some friends that are runners that they do a smaller work out with full body two days a week so that was my only question

For beginners like me who wants to hit the gym, what’s a safe intensity in terms of body weight percentage or are there other parameters I can use to determine the safe intensity? Thank you in advance.

Hey jason do u think bench pressing upper body strength chest work is good for distance runners? Or are deadlifts and squats better for runners getting faster?

So if you’re doing the two days in the gym, is it still optimal to do the body weight/core stuff store and after workouts?

What I won't do again is doing intense strength training a day before my long run. Last time my glutes were tired and that messed up my form. Every muscle got tense, even my traps. :-D

What if I done my strength training before work and ran approximately 10 hours later that just suits me better when the gym is quiet

I find it a bit weird that I find my legs heavier in running when I resume the day after I perform strength training for my legs

Do you stop strength training a week or two before race day?

Volume (number of reps) is much more likely to cause DOMS than intensity (weight). If you are getting sore from lifting, try to put more weight on the bar and do fewer reps. Sets of 5 to 8 reps is more than enough to stimulate strength gains. Consistency also reduces soreness. A body used to the stress of a logically applied program doesn’t feel so beat up.

according to a research we shouldn't train running and lifting weights (strength work) at the same time and should give 8 hours of gap between them because the brain dont respond to these two different activities so we confuses the brain. Please correct me if Im wrong @Strengthrunning

After the gym workouts how long do you take to recover for a run.

7/8 miles it's not a long run or recovery run. To me a 10K is a marathon and 5K is half marathon. lololol.

The key is full body

How long does the body take to recover after a strength session? Is it okay to do an easy run/bike within 12-18hrs

I run 4 times a week , strength train 2 days and 1 day off .

I am a noob body builder wanting to be a functional natural version of Captain America. I want to run again like I used to in my younger years. I want Running to improve my Weight Lifting, is it possible in reverse?

Usually I leave 24 hours between the strength training and the Running to avoid injuries?!

Lift then run

It would probably take thirty seconds for you to say what you actually have to say.

You talk a lot about strength training for running. Well, talk is cheap, SHOW US!

Runners DON’T have to do strength training to achieve goals. Runners have to run and strength training with very heavy weights sometimes can benefit. Instead - do plyometrics, hill sprints, flat sprints. All that BS about strength training doesn’t have any scientific proof.

Runners and streinght trenig 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Bla bla bla

You talk too much.