Strength work doesn't make a fresh runner much more economical. It keeps a tired one together. In a 10-week trial of well-trained men, two strength sessions a week left running economy unchanged early in a 90-minute run, improved it by the end, and lifted time to exhaustion at hard pace by 35%. That's the case for lifting that holds up best in the research, and it's the one the Australian Athletics strength poster is built around.
The eight categories come from that poster, each with the short version first and the research one tap away. The research is firmer for heavy lifting than for some of the categories around it, and every card says where the evidence runs thin. A worked week comes first.
Strength in the Running Week
Two strength sessions fit into a running week without crowding it. They go in the PM of the hard-run days, hours after the morning session, with the long run and the rest day kept clear. The dose changes with lifting experience, so pick the level below.
Short on time? Start with three
Coaching judgement, not a research finding. The poster ranks all eight equally, but the evidence doesn't. When the week gets tight, trunk, calf and foot, and upper body are the first to trim, because they have the least direct support for runners.
Two strength sessions in the PM of the hard-run days, using moderate loads for 8 to 12 reps. Add load only when the last set looks as good as the first, then move toward heavier, lower-rep work over a training block.
The same two slots with heavier work: 80% of one-rep max or more for 3 to 8 reps on the big lifts, with plyometrics alongside. That's where the running research sits.
Key running session Strength session
Ease Moderate Hard Strength and core, no running intensity
Dose per exercise
Poster guidance. For the heavy end, Phillips et al. 2026 put the strength zone at about 80% of one-rep max for 2 to 3 sets, and Eihara et al. 2022 found loads of 90% or more worked better than lighter ones.
Rules that don't change
Frequency2× a week, lifts and plyometrics in the same session.
Plyometrics3–6 sets of 2–5 reps. Poster guidance, not drawn from one trial.
After a run3+ hours before lifting.
Before a key session24+ hours clear.
Time to effect6–14 weeks at minimum.
Single Leg
This is the position running actually happens in: one leg, all the load, no help from the other side. Split stances through to single-leg work, and the carryover is direct.
- Start with split squat or step-up
- Build to rear-foot-elevated split squat, single-leg squat to box or single-leg Romanian deadlift
Read the evidenceHide the evidence
Strength on the leg that does the work
Running is a sequence of single-leg landings, so the useful question is whether training one leg at a time builds the strength you need there. Zhang et al. 2023 pooled 28 studies and 651 athletes to answer it. Unilateral training built more single-leg strength and more single-leg jump height than bilateral training, while the two-leg measures didn't separate the groups clearly.
Figure 01
Training one leg builds one-leg strength and one-leg jump height
Single-leg strength
Unilateral aheadUnilateral training built more strength on a single leg than bilateral training did.
Single-leg jump height
Unilateral aheadThe same advantage showed up in jump height off one leg.
Both-leg strength and jump
No clear gapBilateral training didn't pull ahead on the two-leg measures either.
Findings from Zhang et al. 2023, a meta-analysis of 28 studies and 651 athletes comparing unilateral with bilateral training. Direction of effect only: the paper reports effect sizes, and the athletes came from many sports.
The poster's order runs from the split squat and step-up, which keep the other foot close for balance, up to the rear-foot-elevated split squat, the single-leg squat to a box and the single-leg Romanian deadlift. That progression is a coaching convention, not something the studies tested.
References
Anterior Chain
Squat heavy and two things happen: your push-off gets stronger, and your legs stop folding under you late in a long run.
- Start with goblet squat or leg press
- Build to front squat or back squat
Read the evidenceHide the evidence
Where the economy gains sit
The heavy lifts have the strongest running evidence on the poster. Blagrove et al. 2018 pooled 24 studies of strength training in middle- and long-distance runners. Most of the 20 studies that measured economy showed gains of roughly 2 to 8% against controls, VO2max was typically unaffected, and time trials between 1.5 and 10 km tended to improve. The lifting isn't costing the aerobic engine anything.
Later reviews narrowed down which kind of strength work does it. Llanos-Lagos et al. 2024a pooled 31 studies and 652 runners and found high-load training improved economy by a small amount (effect size 0.27), more at faster running speeds, with certainty rated moderate to low. Head to head, heavy work beat plyometrics:
Figure 01
Heavy lifting against plyometrics, pooled across 21 studies
Outcome / tap to change
Running economy bigger bar = bigger improvement
Heavy work pulled ahead. Heavy resistance training gave a small improvement in economy. Plyometrics on their own gave a trivial one, and the confidence interval crossed zero.
Running time trial bigger bar = bigger improvement
Same order, smaller gap. Heavy training again beat plyometrics. The review also found heavy loads of 90% of one-rep max or more worked better than lighter ones, and 10 to 14 weeks worked better than 6 to 8.
Pooled effect sizes (Hedges' g). The paper reports improvement as a negative number, shown here as a positive bar. The authors label 0.32 and 0.24 small, and 0.13 and 0.17 trivial. Data from Eihara et al. 2022.
The lift pays off when the runner is tired
The trial that makes the sharpest case is Zanini et al. 2025. It split 28 well-trained men into running only or running plus strength. The strength group added heavy lifting and plyometrics twice a week for 10 weeks. Before and after, everyone ran 90 minutes at about 80% of VO2max with economy measured every 15 minutes, then ran to exhaustion at a harder pace.
Figure 02
Same runners, same 90-minute run: early versus late
Point in the run / tap to change
Strength group, running economy at 15 minutes, before and after 10 weeks (ml/kg/km)
Endurance-only group, same measure, same weeks
No difference early. Running economy in the first 15 minutes didn't change with training in either group (p = 0.32). It was the same at 10 and 12 km/h. A fresh runner got nothing extra from the lifting.
This is why "does lifting improve running economy?" gets muddy answers. It depends when you measure.
Running economy at 90 minutes better →
Time to exhaustion at hard pace, straight after longer →
Late in the run, the gap opens. By 90 minutes the strength group's economy had improved while the endurance-only group's drifted the wrong way. Then both ran to exhaustion at 95% of VO2max, and the strength group lasted 35% longer, against 8% shorter for the others.
Schematic. Bar lengths are proportional within each row, with separate scales for economy and time to exhaustion. Data from Zanini et al. 2025: 28 well-trained men (10 km in under 50 minutes), randomised to 10 weeks of running only or running plus twice-weekly strength and plyometric work. Economy was measured every 15 minutes through 90 minutes at about 80% of VO2max. The 35% and 8% changes are time to exhaustion at 95% of VO2max, run straight after.
References
- Blagrove, R.C., Howatson, G. and Hayes, P.R. (2018) Effects of strength training on the physiological determinants of middle- and long-distance running performance: a systematic review. Sports Medicine, 48(5), pp.1117–1149.
- Llanos-Lagos, C., Ramirez-Campillo, R., Moran, J. and Sáez de Villarreal, E. (2024a) Effect of strength training programs in middle- and long-distance runners' economy at different running speeds: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 54(4), pp.895–932.
- Eihara, Y., Takao, K., Sugiyama, T., Maeo, S., Terada, M., Kanehisa, H. and Isaka, T. (2022) Heavy resistance training versus plyometric training for improving running economy and running time trial performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine – Open, 8(1), 138.
- Zanini, M., Folland, J.P., Wu, H. and Blagrove, R.C. (2025) Strength training improves running economy durability and fatigued high-intensity performance in well-trained male runners: a randomized control trial. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Posterior Chain
Your hips do more of the propulsion than most runners give them credit for. Hip-hinge lifts build that engine, the one still firing when everything else fades late in a race.
- Start with glute bridge or romanian deadlift
- Build to hip thrust or trap bar deadlift
Read the evidenceHide the evidence
The hinge that protects the hamstring
The best recent evidence for this category is narrower than a poster has room to say. Otani et al. 2025 followed 77 high-school sprinters, jumpers and combined-event athletes, who added single-leg Romanian deadlifts to their warm-up. Mild to moderate hamstring strains were about two-thirds less likely.
Figure 01
One hinge exercise in the warm-up, and three kinds of hamstring strain
Mild to moderate strains
RR 0.34About two-thirds lower risk. 95% confidence interval 0.12 to 0.94, so it clears the line for no effect.
Overall strains
RR 0.50Half the risk, but the interval (0.21 to 1.19) spans no effect, so the data can't rule out chance.
Severe strains
RR 2.84Too wide to say anything. The interval runs from 0.30 to 27.28.
Risk ratios from Otani et al. 2025: 77 high-school track and field athletes who added 3 sets of 3 single-leg Romanian deadlifts per leg to their warm-up. A risk ratio under 1 means fewer strains.
We found no trial of the hip thrust or the trap bar deadlift in runners. They sit in the build list because they load the same hinge pattern more heavily, and that is reasoning from mechanics, not from a result.
References
- Otani, R., Nishikawa, H., Matsunaga, S., Hiroshige, Y. and Nakamura, M. (2025) The effect of single leg Romanian deadlift on the risk of hamstring strain injuries in track and field athletes: a cohort study. International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, 20(5), pp.657–665.
Trunk
Running twists you stride after stride, and your trunk's job is to resist it. That's why this category leans on anti-rotation holds and carries, not crunches.
- Start with dead bug or side plank
- Build to Pallof press or farmer carry
Read the evidenceHide the evidence
Resisting the twist
The poster leans on dead bugs, side planks, Pallof presses and carries, not crunches, and that's a reason from mechanics. The direct evidence is mixed.
The best recent review, Gao et al. 2025, compared unstable with traditional core training in athletes. Across 12 studies it found moderate gains in abdominal core strength and in sprint time, with very high heterogeneity, so the studies disagreed a lot with each other. The runner-specific evidence is a 7-runner pilot, Drum et al. 2019, where a 24-minute weights circuit that fatigued the trunk was followed by a higher oxygen cost at threshold pace.
Figure 01
What the trunk evidence does and doesn't show
Abdominal core strength
ES 0.54Unstable beat traditional core training across 12 studies in athletes. 95% CI 0.30 to 0.77, heterogeneity I² 84%.
Sprint time
ES 0.40A moderate benefit for the unstable group. 95% CI 0.04 to 0.75, heterogeneity I² 89%.
Runners, trunk fatigued
Not significantIn 7 well-trained runners, fatiguing the trunk raised oxygen cost at threshold pace, but the difference didn't reach statistical significance.
Data from Gao et al. 2025 (athletes, not runners) and Drum et al. 2019 (7-runner crossover pilot). Effect sizes as reported by the authors.
References
- Gao, X. et al. (2025) Instability core training vs traditional core training on trunk strength and sprint performance among athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PeerJ.
- Drum, S.N., Rappelt, L. and Donath, L. (2019) Trunk and upper body fatigue adversely affect running economy: a three-armed randomized controlled crossover pilot trial. Sports, 7(8), 195.
Hips
Watch a tired runner's knee cave inward and you're looking at this category breaking down. Strong hips keep the knee and shin tracking properly, stride after stride.
- Start with band walk or lateral lunge
- Build to single-leg bridge or Copenhagen plank
Read the evidenceHide the evidence
Keeping the knee where it belongs
The best direct evidence is a single randomised trial, Lashien et al. 2024, in 40 recreational runners with medial tibial stress syndrome. Eight weeks of functional hip abductor strengthening, added to a standard physio programme, reduced pelvic drop and knee valgus more than the physio programme alone.
Figure 01
Hip abductor work changed how injured runners moved
Participants
40 runnersAll had medial tibial stress syndrome (shin pain from load). Randomised into two groups.
Programme
8 weeksFunctional hip abductor strengthening added to a standard physiotherapy programme, against the physio programme alone.
Result
Less collapsePelvic drop and knee valgus reduced more in the group that added the hip work. Single-blind trial.
Findings from Lashien et al. 2024. These runners were already injured, so the trial shows the training changes how they move, not that it prevents injury.
References
- Lashien, S.A., Abdelnaeem, A.O. and Gomaa, E.F. (2024) Effect of hip abductors training on pelvic drop and knee valgus in runners with medial tibial stress syndrome: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research, 19.
Calf & Foot
Every stride, your lower leg and foot act like a spring, loading up and firing back. Train that spring and it holds up to the kind of mileage runners actually rack up.
- Start with tibialis raise or standing calf raise
- Build to bent-knee calf raise or isometric calf hold
Read the evidenceHide the evidence
The spring nobody has tested alone
Calf raises, tibialis raises and calf holds all train that spring, and runners rack up an enormous number of loadings on it. The honest summary of the research is short: nobody has tested calf work on its own in healthy runners.
Figure 01
What exists on calf and foot work for healthy runners
Trials of calf work on its own
None foundNo study we found tests calf raises by themselves in healthy runners, for injury or for economy.
Calf work inside a package
One trialThe Zanini programme included seated isometric calf raises at near-maximal effort, 4 to 5 sets of 4 to 8 reps. The calf's share can't be separated from the lifts and jumps around it.
Based on our search of the strength-training literature for runners, and the programme in Zanini et al. 2025. Absence of a trial isn't evidence of no effect.
The best you can say is that the one trial with a clear late-run benefit, Zanini et al. 2025, included near-maximal isometric calf work as part of its package. That makes it a sensible companion to the heavy lifts, not a proven stand-alone fix.
Upper Body
A driving arm and a tall trunk hold your form together as fatigue tries to pull it apart: posture, breathing, all of it. Running is all push, so pulling work here keeps you balanced.
- Start with push-up or row
- Build to half-kneeling press or pull-down
Read the evidenceHide the evidence
The arms and trunk hold the form together
That's the case in practice. In the research it's a thinner story: we found no trial that trains the upper body to change running performance.
Figure 01
A tired upper body raised oxygen cost, but not significantly
Oxygen cost at threshold pace
+0.75–1.5ml/kg/min higher after a 24-minute weights circuit that fatigued the upper body or the trunk, against the control condition.
Statistical result
p = 0.2Not significant. Seven well-trained runners in a three-armed crossover pilot.
Data from Drum et al. 2019.
Power
This is where strength turns into speed. Plyometric work sharpens how fast you can produce force, and pairs with heavy lifting rather than replacing it.
- Start with pogo hops or low box jump
- Build to squat jump or bounds
Read the evidenceHide the evidence
Plyometrics work as a partner, not a replacement
The research is clear on one point: plyometrics aren't a substitute for heavy lifting. Two meta-analyses found plyometrics alone did little for running economy. Programmes that combined heavy lifting with plyometrics showed the largest effect on running performance.
Figure 01
Plyometrics alone against the combination
Plyometrics alone, economy
g 0.13Trivial effect, interval crossing zero. A second review found effect size 0.12, also not statistically significant.
Heavy + plyometrics, performance
ES 1.04The largest effect of any method on running performance in the review. The interval runs from about 0.1 to 2.0 and the studies varied a lot (I² 67%).
Data from Eihara et al. 2022, Llanos-Lagos et al. 2024a and Llanos-Lagos et al. 2024b. The two numbers measure different outcomes (economy and overall performance), so they sit side by side here, not on one scale.
What the winning programme looked like
If you copy one thing from Zanini et al. 2025, copy its shape before you swap the exercises. Loads climbed across three blocks, reps dropped as they did, and the jumps moved from vertical pogo hops toward long bounds. Strength first, speed expression last.
Figure 02
The 10-week programme behind the late-run result
Block / tap to change
Lighter loads, vertical jumps and short hops. Learn the movements.
Reps drop, load climbs, and the jumps get harder and more horizontal.
Near-maximal loads, long bounds. The heaviest work comes last.
Sessions. Twice a week, about 45 minutes, supervised by a strength coach. The band on the scale is the load range for the squat and leg press in each block (% of one-rep max). Programme from Table 1 of Zanini et al. 2025. Of 38 men enrolled, 28 finished.
References
- Eihara, Y., Takao, K., Sugiyama, T., Maeo, S., Terada, M., Kanehisa, H. and Isaka, T. (2022) Heavy resistance training versus plyometric training for improving running economy and running time trial performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine – Open, 8(1), 138.
- Llanos-Lagos, C., Ramirez-Campillo, R., Moran, J. and Sáez de Villarreal, E. (2024a) Effect of strength training programs in middle- and long-distance runners' economy at different running speeds: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 54(4), pp.895–932.
- Llanos-Lagos, C., Ramirez-Campillo, R., Moran, J. and Sáez de Villarreal, E. (2024b) The effect of strength training methods on middle-distance and long-distance runners' athletic performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 54(7), pp.1801–1833.
- Zanini, M., Folland, J.P., Wu, H. and Blagrove, R.C. (2025) Strength training improves running economy durability and fatigued high-intensity performance in well-trained male runners: a randomized control trial. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Programming Notes
Injury risk is the other reason to lift, and the post leaves it for here because the best number isn't runner-specific. Lauersen et al. 2018 pooled six trials and 7,738 participants aged 12 to 40 across sports and found strength training cut injury risk by about two-thirds (relative risk 0.338). Every 10% increase in strength training volume went with more than four percentage points lower risk. It's the same result the Strength card in the Types of Weekly Training Sessions article is built on.
The 2026 ACSM position stand (Phillips et al. 2026), an overview of reviews in healthy adults, says to train every major muscle group at least twice a week and puts the strength zone at about 80% of one-rep max for 2 to 3 sets per exercise. It wasn't written for runners. It does match the shape of the poster's dose.
Timing is where runners trip. Zhang et al. 2026 reviewed the order of strength and endurance sessions and found that order didn't consistently change endurance gains. When running comes first, the review recommends leaving more than 3 hours before lifting to limit the acute interference, and running economy was lower within 8 hours of lower-limb strength training. Concurrent training didn't impair VO2max compared with endurance training alone. So the poster's first timing rule, 3 hours or more after a run, matches the review. The 24-hour gap before a key session is Australian Athletics' cautious reading of the 8-hour finding, not a tested rule.
Lift after easy runs or key sessions, never before racing.
Keep quality high, soreness low.
Progress load gradually, and prioritise consistency over complexity.
What this research can't tell you
The headline trial has no women in it, and about three in four participants across the two Llanos-Lagos reviews were men (472 of 652 in one, 651 of 894 in the other). Zanini et al. 2025 also lost 10 of its 38 enrolled men before the end, to illness, injury and other reasons.
The hamstring result in Otani et al. 2025 comes from high-school sprinters, jumpers and combined-event athletes. It compared one season with the next, so anything else that changed between seasons could be part of the story. The core-training and upper-body evidence comes from athletes in other sports and one 7-runner pilot, and the economy review behind the heavy-lifting claim rates its own certainty moderate to low.
Read the doses as an opening bet on the athlete in front of you, then adjust from how they feel and run. This is general advice based on research and guidelines, and it doesn't replace correct coaching or periodisation for your athletes. Warm up properly before any heavy session: see the RAMP Warm-Up guide.
References
- Eihara, Y., Takao, K., Sugiyama, T., Maeo, S., Terada, M., Kanehisa, H. and Isaka, T. (2022) Heavy resistance training versus plyometric training for improving running economy and running time trial performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine – Open, 8(1), 138.
- Lauersen, J.B., Andersen, T.E. and Andersen, L.B. (2018) Strength training as superior, dose-dependent and safe prevention of acute and overuse sports injuries: a systematic review, qualitative analysis and meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(24), pp.1557–1563.
- Phillips, S.M. et al. (2026) Resistance training prescription for muscle function, hypertrophy, and physical performance in healthy adults: an overview of reviews (ACSM position stand). Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, April 2026.
- Zanini, M., Folland, J.P., Wu, H. and Blagrove, R.C. (2025) Strength training improves running economy durability and fatigued high-intensity performance in well-trained male runners: a randomized control trial. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
- Zhang, F., Wang, Y. and Wang, J. (2026) The effects, mechanisms, and influencing factors of concurrent strength and endurance training with different sequences: a semi-systematic review. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 7, 1692399.
Figures and citations checked against the published papers, October 2026. Category references sit inside each card.