Why Strength Training is Important for Endurance Athletes

Strength training dates back thousands of years with its earliest mentions in ancient China, Greece, Egypt, and India. Today, strength (resistance) training plays an important part and is a cornerstone of development for various sports including American football, basketball, volleyball, baseball, competitive dance, soccer, lacrosse, cheer, and Cirque du Soleil to name a few. And, like the aforementioned sports, it’s also an essential part of an endurance athlete’s training program. 

So, why is strength training often an afterthought in an endurance athlete’s training plan or left out altogether? And why do some endurance athletes who do strength training tend to train with lighter weights when they should be incorporating heavier weights within their mesocycles and microcycles?

Strength training myths

For many athletes, the fear that “bulking up” or adding additional muscle mass will slow down or hinder their performance tends to keep them from including strength training in their program. Or, athletes may be short on time and view getting these types of workouts in as a burden.

If athletes lack the knowledge of why a strength training regimen is important, they may not understand how to properly incorporate it into their overall training program and either downplay or skip it altogether to focus on more cardio-based workouts. Similarly, they may believe that doing strength training will hinder their gains and ability to perform in endurance training sessions and skip it altogether.

Why is strength training important for the endurance athlete? 

Well, without getting too deep and technical into the science, here are some practical examples of how strength training with heavier weight directly carries over into your performance as an endurance athlete. In a nutshell, strength training: 

• Helps increase muscular strength and power, which increases the rate of force generated, and therefore improves run, bike, and swim performance (3,4,5)

• Also helps to improve running economy (1,2) or the energy cost of running at a submaximal speed, so you can use less energy per step, making you more efficient at producing and absorbing force

• Decreases your risk for injury as stronger muscles and connective tissues can help prevent overuse injuries common in endurance sports

What does that mean for endurance athletes? 

With additional muscular strength and force production capabilities, athletes can tackle not just the flats, but also hills with confidence and give themselves the best chance to test their physical boundaries and put their skills on display.

And, as a bonus, they may also find that their body feels less fatigued during races! 

Of course, there’s so much that goes into building a customized training program for an endurance athlete including athletic background, prior strength experience, current health, etc. That’s why we recommend consulting with a qualified coach to tailor a customized training program to your specific needs. Happy lifting!

References

1) Balsalobre-Fernandez, C., Santos-Concejero, J., & Grivas, G.V. (2015). Effects of strength training on running economy in highly trained runners: A systemic review with meta-analysis of controlled trials. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 30(8), 2361-2368. 

2) Denadai, B. S., Alves de Aguiar, R., Rabello de Lima, L. C., Greco, C. C., & Caputo, F. (2017). Explosive training and heavy weight training are effective for improving running economy in endurance athletes: A systemic review and meta-analysis. Sports Med, 47(3): 545-554.

3) Muniz-Pardos, B, Gomez-Bruton, A., Matute-Llorente, A., Gonzalez-Aguero, A., Gomez-Cabello, A., Gonzalo-Skok, O., Casajus, J.A., & Vicente-Rodriguez, G. (2019). Swim specific resistance training: A systemic review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 33(10), 2875-2881.

4) Rønnestad, B. R., & Mujika, I. (2014). Optimizing strength training for running and cycling endurance performance: A review. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 24(4): 603-612.

5) Yamamoto, L. M., Klau, J. F., Casa, D. J., Kraemer, W. J., Armstrong, L. E., & Maresh, C.M. (2010). The effects of resistance training on road cycling performance among highly trained cyclists: a systematic review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(2): 560–566.