Fast Running Blog

I would like to hear everyone's opinion on if distance runners should weight lift.  I'm curious to hear if people think it helps improve times or not.  I have seen arguments both ways, and am interested in the blog's opinion.  When I say weight lifting, I am referring to low weight/high rep for both upper and lower body. 

Also, if it does provide a benefit, is it a bigger benefit than if you just spent the extra time running more, instead?

I think weights are a good thing.  Although I mostly do upper body, abs and back.  My legs get enough with running.  I feel that upper body strength helps you in the end of a marathon.  You use the upper body alot when you are tired and trying to hold a good pace. 
I will add lower body in when I am injured or in the winter time to build strenth.  You can easily do a workout in 20 mins with free weights at home 2-3 times a week.

I think I mostly agree with Josse. I've done the type of weight training you described for a lot of years and I do think it helps  late in the long races to hold form and finish a little stronger. On the other hand if you get too much bulk up top it's bound to slow you down overall so I'm still undecided on whether what I've been doing is a net benefit or handicap. The last year as I've cranked up the running training and mileage I've also cut back on the weights (2 sets vs. 3 sets and only twice a week instead of 3 times). I guess it's a matter of experimentation trying to find that optimum balance.

Tom-For distance runners I only recommend a light weight-high rep weight program this build strength and not bulk.

Depends...if you are a low-mileage runner, I think weights can help performance a bit. If you are a high-mileage person, your time is probably better spent running more. The best way to get better at running is to run more, right? In my mind, the best benefit of weight lifting is not increased speed, but is injury-prevention. Runners who can stay healthy can therefore get more consistent (no interruptions), higher-volume training. Improvements in speed will come from the ability to train more, and weight lifting can indirectly facilitate this.

I think it really depends on your event.

If you are looking at marathon type training, some lightweight lifting can be helpful in overall muscle conditioning, and injury prevention. It will probably not help much with speed increases in this event.

If you are looking into middle distance running, it can be helpful in increasing speed. For this I think it is a trial and error type of thing. Some people respond very well to heavier weights, others to lighter weights, and some to no weights at all.

If you are looking at anything less than the 800m, I think it is vital training. Heavier resistance training targets fast-twitch muscle fiber groups needed in the shorter sprints. They don't definitely won't become faster runners by running 100 mile weeks.

Jon, I agree with Paul. In that injury prevention is the benefit the weight lifting gives you. Also the over all health benefit for quality of life down the road can't hurt. After you exit your teens you are fighting your body for dwindling muscle mass so may as well help it all you can. I think it also helps in the last miles of the marathon. I've noticed on training cycles that I've focused on something upper body I've been stronger in the finish. But it doesn't have to be weights. I find consistent push-ups will do the trick just as well. Also, as far as "other" exercises go my high school coach and Olympic trialist swore by sit-ups. Anything for the core. She would do three hundred a day split between 2-3 sessions...

I've tried lifting weights on and off, both using upper body and lower body. I've also tried other form of upper body and core strength work. No measurable  improvement or decrease in performance. I was getting exactly my mileage's worth in all distances from 5 K to the marathon with our without the weights. No impact on injury prevention for me - I was not getting injured with or without the weights. Lifting resulted in better performance during Elders Quorum moves, but gave me less time to run the mileage.

I think the notion of stronger arms helping you maintain better form when you are tired is not true. The cause of slowdown at the end of a race is decreased neural output to the leg muscles. You lose the explosiveness of your step. In some cases it may be possible to reboot your nervous system by swinging your arms harder, but they do not need to be very strong at all. You need to have them neurologically activated, and they have to be wired to the legs the right way for it to happen. But you should not have to lift to create that wiring and activation. And you might be able to find another way to send a better signal to the legs.

I agree with what Paul said. I do a lot of core strength drills and preventative style strengthening exercises mainly because my form is not excellent. I tend to do high repetition exercises to not bulk up, and only work out 2-3 times per week. I am fairly weak as far as form is concerned, and these excercises help me out a bit. I feel like they have helped me improve, but everyone needs to do whats best for them.

I think light weight training is essential for anyone, runner or not! Especially for women! I know running is great but it doesnt keep me completely toned. And hate to say it but I do run to burn calories and keep my weight down, when I dont weight train my weight fluctuates up. I dont burn calories as efficiently when i am a little flabby. I do light weights on my upper body, pushups, dips and lower body squats/lunges, ect. Not enough to build bulk but just keep toned. I also believe working your legs helps prevent injury. Regardless if it helps your running or not, I think its so important to do especially as we all age! There is a ton of literature and studies on why weight training is essential for everyone.

I gained 3-5 pounds since I started running 120 miles a week. But I am running faster, so I do not consider it bad. Probably blood volume + bone density increase + muscle weight. My dream is to convince every woman to care more about how fast she runs than about how much she weighs :-)

I look better when I lift weights and guys don't kick sand in my face as much. It definately helps me when I play basketball (jumping, first-step, etc). I feel more "in control" when I run, but if I gave up the 5 lbs. of muscle mass lifting adds to my frame, I might improve my times.

When I started to run at Idaho State I was only 5'9" weighed about 145lbs.  They put me on a weight training program, upper body only and I gained almost 10 lbs in one year and my times improved.  My upper body strength increased especially my abs.  As for connecting the improved times to increased upper body strength I don't know if that was the case or if it was just the workouts but I did feel like I was a stronger runner and and my form improved.

For all those who say that they get enough lower body workouts from ONLY running, I guess I will play the devil's advocate a little here.  Before I started running last Feb., I had two different leg workouts that had been made up for me by a personal trainer.  When I started running more, I lifted my legs less, not wanting to injure something.  All I can say is that on the few occasions that I have gone back to do either of these workouts, it has really made me sore afterward, regardless of how many miles I was running at the time.  I think that lifting wieghts will work muscles that will never be worked out very well by running alone.  Same with the one and ONLY  spin class that I have done at the gym!  I was sore for like 5 days!! :)

Dawson, that's an excellent observation. If the only thing you aspired to was running, then you probably wouldn't need to work any muscle groups other than those used to run. But, as I said, I want to run and discourage people from kicking sand in my face, so I lift. I don't bulk up if I'm logging a lot of miles, but I don't lose strength, either. i have a friend who is an ultrathoner and she swears that lifting improves her durability big time. She strongly advocates lifting for all runners. She's a PhD in exercise physiology, but she's not as fast as most of the people on the blog... so who knows? It all seems to come back to (how many millions of times do we hear this on this blog?) what works best for you.

It depends on what works best for you, but also what you have/make time for.  There are a lot of things that could make us better runners (more running, more stretching, more sleep, weight lifting, etc), but a finite amount of time.  So you have to judge where your time is spent most effectively (which is, by definition, what works best for you, I guess).

I was primarily a "weight lifter" before I started competitively running.  I have really cut back on my weight training as I have focused on increased mileage for my endurance training.  While I have noticed a decrease in most aspects of my "strength", my overall fitness and running effciency has improved.   I am about 15 lbs. lighter now that I was 3 years ago based on my training routine and am in much better overall shape.  I would advocate, as Paul does, that some weight training could be beneficial to running (injury prevention, etc.) and is definitely good for overall health (especially as you get older, like this old guy) but you have to weigh the time factor as Jon indicates.  With my time commitments, I have chosen to focus on my running training to maximize my benefits and throw in hill training to get a "strength" workout from time to time (as does my running in the near constant winds here in SE Idaho). 

As most of you who know me can tell - I, too, was "primarily a "weight lifter" before I started competitively running."

Dave, now you are just showing off!  We all know you were on the "juice" and that built that Arnold like physique.  :-)

I know I am jealous of Dave!  Maybe I should change my avatar to Arnie instead of Hulk...

Nick - what made you think you do not have good form? I remember when I first saw you I thought you were on the CU team and it was your form that made me think that.

My experience with weight training. Stronger arms allowed me to lift more weight, but running did not change in any way I could notice. Stronger abs increased the number of sit-ups I could do in 2 minutes, but again I noticed no changes in running. Stronger back made me think I was running better, but I noticed no difference in running performance over any distance. Here is the most perplexing one. Leg weights  increased  the leg extension by 10% and the hamstring curl by 30%, but there was no measurable difference even in 100 meter sprint. Which suggests that at least for me even the top end speed is not limited by muscle strength, there is something else that comes into play before I am able to max out my strength limits. Which does make sense - you simply do not have the time to push off with 100% force even when running at top speed. So it is all about how much force you can apply in that short amount of time.

My opinion is that while top end speed could be limited by muscle strength a marathon is not. Most people will hit cardiovascular, fuel storage, muscle durability and other limits a lot sooner. I suppose you could argue that extra muscle strength can help when you've torn up half of your quad at the end of a marathon and are badly out of fuel to be running primarily off blood sugar or be in some other situation where your muscles are getting an external source of fuel not local to the muscle, and there is not enough of a muscle left to use it all. Which probably is what is happening with Fred's ultra friend. But under normal circumstances I believe you would be hitting different limits.

Sasha - I tend to flail at the end of races if I am hurting a lot (which is most of the time since I go out hard too much :)) When I am not tired my form is ok, but I have to concentrate to keep it relatively good. I don't really know if any of this has affected my running pace, though. Our coaches harp about proper core strength, and I think it does help to an extent when I concentrate on form, but when I am really fatigued I don't know if it helps. I think that running often is the best way to increase form and strength. When you saw me running in Boulder, I was not really thinking about form, but I didn't really run back then either (maybe once a week). Haha, to think about it, that run was the furthest I had ever ran before. I remember you were effortless and I was hurting. Are you coming back through Boulder again? It would be awesome to run sometime.

I was asked to add my input to this forum since I study this area both in the lab and in training elite athletes. Strength training adds a number of benefits to running performance including improving speed and injury prevention. However, in distance running adding weight has a negative effect on performance. so with that in mind, here is my advice for serious runners.

Weight training should take a runner no more than 10 minutes. Stick to multi-joint exercises (i.e. push ups, chin ups, bench press, leg press). Don't do high reps with light weights. This does nothing good, it is a waste of time. Instead, do one set of ~6 exercises with 6-10 repetitions for the upper body. Always move the weights slowly shorten the muscle on a 2 count and length on a 4 count. When you can lift a weight 10 times increase the weight until you feel that you are adding muscle mass (may never happen for you) and go back to the last weight and maintain that level. In the lower body, don't do leg extensions since they put too much stress of the patellar tendon. For the hamstrings, do 8-12 leg curls. and for the rest of the legs do 25 calf raises, leg press, or backwards lunges. When you can do 25 increase the weight.

A good workout would be: Bench press, pulldowns, shoulder press, leg curls, leg press, and calf raises. or Dumbbell lateral raises, chin ups, push ups, leg curls, backwards lunges, and calf raises.

Core strength/stability:
Three key areas here. The first is the abdomen but most people spend too much time on this and do the wrong exercises. The second key area is the hip and the third is the ankle. For the abs don't do crunches! concentrate on pulling the stomach in and using the transverse abdominus. Here, do cave ins where you suck your stomach in as far as possible and draw up your pelvic floor muscles, hold this for ~30 seconds. After this try maintaining that position while you do a plank (in push up position). For the hip, sit up strait on a bench, put your toes together and you heels apart, and then squeeze a soccer ball with your knees while you contract your gluts (I know this sounds ridiculous, but it is great for relieving back pain and loosening the hip). Next, lay on your side with the lower leg straight and the upper leg bent with your foot on the calf of the lower leg. Leaning forward, rotate the knee of the upper leg out. You should feel a small muscle in the side of you glut contract (this is your gluteus medius). Do 25 of these. For your ankle, before and after you run, close your eyes and stand on one leg for 30 seconds, switch legs and repeat.

Injury prevention:
The most common injuries for runners are the tendons of the hamstrings, patella, and Achilles.
•   To protect the quads and the origin of the hamstrings, try step back lunges or assisted leg press;
•   For lunges, hold a weight in both hands, step back, touch the knee to the ground and step forward again. These are better focused on the lengthening contraction than the more common forward lunges.
•   For assisted leg press, press the weight out with both legs and then lower the weight to 90 degrees on a 10 count with one leg;
•   To hit the insertion of the hamstrings, add some negative leg curls by curling a weight with both legs and letting the weight down slowly with one leg;
•   For the Achilles, negative heel raises are very effective: on a step, go up onto both toes and slowly go down on one, adding weight when this becomes too easy;
These are similar to the exercises that I suggested above for the weight training. So when you start the weights you won't need to add these. Add five to ten reps of each of these exercise once you have been weight training for 3 months. Do one session a week up until the peak phase of your training to maintain tendon function without adding any more muscle mass.

I hope this helps.

Wow, that is great info!  Kbaar- do you by chance know any websites that show pictures of all/many of these exercises?  I'm a very visual learner so that would make it easier to make sure I understand them and do them correctly.

There is an excellent article in the April 2008 Muscle and Fitness which explains the weight training techniques of Bruce Lee. He spent alot of time working the core, and did high repitition exercises with multijoint exercises, and learned through experimentation what worked best for him to increase power and speed while maintaining weight. He did this because early in his career he realized that he lacked significant endurance, power, and speed, though he was in decent shape. It took him a while to find weight programs that worked for him, and was continually evaluating their effectiveness- rotating intesities and repititions and exercises. In the end, it was this continued resistance training in addition to his daily endurance training that helped create his quick speed and strength for his small size. Two quotes from the article I like are:

"[Bruce] always said, "You can be strong but if you can't use your strength and speed, then you are not powerful, which is key"

"At 135 pounds weight, Lee could stand holding a 125-pound barbell parallel to the floor and kick a 300-pound heavy bag hard enough to hit the ceiling on the resulting swing. He also performed 50 one-arm chins and held a v-sit for more than 30 minutes"

I am beginning to think that the idea of weight training for runners is severly limited to our perception of what weight training entails. Traditional weight training ideas held by runners and their practice may not bring the results they are looking for-but a dedicated experimentation and implementation of resistance training may bring out significant benefits we did not know we could achieve.