A runner asked me this the other day:
“Hey! Question for you – how important do you think weight training is for running and how often do you do it? Do you think it actually strengthens muscle for running more than/equal to running alone or do you think its just beneficial for injury prevention?”
Response (transcription of voice note):
Okay, this is a big one, because it’s just not settled. So this is just my opinion.
I think for some people it really helps. But it’s not a cure-all, and it has to be the right kind of strength training. Where I’m at currently is that I’m not prescribing it to the runners I coach anymore.
Upper body stuff is great, because we don’t want to lose muscle as we get older, or we want to slow the loss, and it’s helpful for general wellness and fitness. But running is a lot of strength training for your legs. It’s a lot. So I think just focusing on the running is really good.
If certain injuries start to come up, then by all means, working with a physio to find a few exercises to do in the gym could be really good. But you know on Instagram it’s like, do these three things if you want to be good at running. I don’t think you have to do deadlifts or squats or single leg deadlifts. I don’t think you have to do plyos.
This is a bit of a ramble, but here’s where I’m at as a coach. I’ve seen myself and I’ve seen runners be injured throughout their running careers. And I’ve actually had a runner get injured in the gym, which is the worst case scenario. But the other thing is this.
If you see training as a dose, we want to find the right dose. Well, each run is kind of similar. You do a couple of easy runs, and if we’re actually checking our heart rate, they’re about the same intensity each week. Hopefully the right intensity. Maybe one longer-ish run, same idea. Then a few workouts. They’re pretty similar. So you’re knowing how your body responds. You give it a dose and you see.
I think one main problem with the gym is that it’s really hard to predict how your legs will respond.
That’s also part of the reason we do this golden zone intensity. It’s very predictable. There’s a higher intensity, basically VO2 max, and it’s unpredictable. Say instead of doing three minutes with one minute easy, you do three minutes really hard and then two or three minutes rest. You can just go a lot harder. And even for the same athlete, it’s hard to predict how long the recovery is. So then you don’t know if you should do your next workout, because you don’t know if you actually recovered.
I think the same thing’s true with gym. It just adds this unpredictable element.
So that’s it. I think it’s an unpopular opinion. But again, if you have an injury, if you have some specific weakness that’s been identified, that’s great. But just going in the gym and doing legs twice a week — first off, it’s not going to do what you think. You’d be better off spending more time running, if your body can handle it. And that’s a whole other part of this that I’m not going to go into, because I’m going to bore you. But you’d be better off just running. And then the gym adds this unpredictable element to it.
So I think there’s this thing now where people feel guilty about not doing gym. They’re like, I’m not doing everything I’m supposed to do as a runner. And it’s like — just run a little bit more, at an appropriate dose, and build it in appropriately, and don’t get injured. That’s the doing more.
And I’m not making this up. There’s a coach I really prescribe to who’s also a medical doctor, and he knows a ton about muscle tension. (Marius Bakken)
If you have more questions, let me know.
A postscript I did not plan.
I wrote that answer earlier in the week. Then, over the next few days, two different runners from Island Endurance messaged me about missing our session.
“I also have to miss tonight. I did something weird in the gym to my hamstrings…”
And:
“Hope you’re having a good day. I tweaked my back at group strength training on Sunday and won’t be able to run tonight. I took off yesterday and today to rest. At the chiropractor now so hope to be on the road to recovery soon.”
I promise I did not arrange this. Two runners, same week, both missing a run because of the gym rather than because of running.
Anyway. I rest my case, though apparently they are resting more than I am – I did a double threshold session yesterday!
