One of my runners sent me this message a month back.
And I realized, these were traps and lies about strength training as a marathoner looking to prevent running injuries, that you might have fallen into, too.
(because I did before going into PT school)
“Can you share more of the science behind the workouts and how you program them? I wasn't expecting the same workout week after week with just 2 weighted exercises per day (that's only 6 a week!). This feels like less than I was doing and I'm feeling like I'll need to add to it. I'm also worried it won't remain interesting. Can you tell me more? What's the theory/science behind it?”
Yea, this blog will look a little different.
Because NEWS FLASH:
Sometimes you don’t need MORE.
More exercises
More strength workouts
More fancy gym equipment.
Often, as a runner, you need a plan.
Just from her message, I found 5 lies that all of us runners believe at one point or another.
I need to be constantly changing exercises for this to “work”.
I need a butt-ton of strength exercises to get stronger.
I need a crap ton of volume (both exercises and reps) to get the injury-proofing results I want.
I’m doing less. That’s bad. I need more. Because more is always better.
If I keep following this plan, it won’t work because I’ll be bored. And because I’m bored, it won’t work.
And just to clarify: there is no shame here.
Because I believed all these, too.
I’ve made all the mistakes.
That’s why I talk about them, so hopefully, you learn from my oopses and skip your own.
Let’s debunk these lies.
Lie #1: I need to be constantly changing exercises for this to “work”.
A lot of times, we as runners get stuck in the trap of more is more.
We need more mileage for a bigger base to run a better race; more miles in our long run; more intervals in our speed work out, and the list keeps going. And while it's true, you get better at running by running more, we still want our workouts and miles to serve a purpose.
Otherwise, we would all just run 30-50miles a week, at whatever pace, and say "Yup! ready for a marathon!"
lols NOPE.
The same applies to weight lifting/strength training.
We get better by doing more of it.
By getting consistent. And consistency mean, we REPEAT.
Just like we do mile repeats.
Hill repeats.
We deliberately do these again and again to get stronger, better at them, improve our aerobic work capacity etc.
If we don’t repeat our hill or speed workouts on the regular, we never truly get fitter or make the progress we want to.
The same applies to strength training.
The exercise DO work, but are YOU doing the work?
Lie #2: I need a butt-ton of strength exercises to get stronger.
Nope.
This is the “more is more” trap.
What you need is progressive overload.
In runner language, this means gradually lifting heavier and heavier but aligned and periodized with your running/marathon training plan.
Yes, we want to be deliberate with the exercises we chose, especially as runners. We want them to target all the right muscle groups that keep us strong and injury free.
But let’s be honest:
doing strength training consistently 2-3x a week means two-a-days.
That’s a LOT to ask from the typical, non-profressional-athlete, person.
So why make it harder only yourself, loading yourself up with a butt-ton of strength exercises…when you don’t need to?
If you lift HEAVY enough, correctly, consistently, you get stronger.
If you lift moderately, cycling through 10-12 exercises every workout, getting breathless and sweaty, you get exhausted, burned out, and potentially injured.
Lie #3 I need a crap ton of volume (both exercises and reps) to get the injury-proofing results I want.
I know for a lot of runners, only 2 weighted exercises doesn't feel like much.
And I would agree.
I would seriously question a program like this…
But at the start of my strength programs, I do this deliberately.
I provide the opportunity for the runner to REALLY LEARN to lift heavy.
Because there’s no point in giving you the exercises when you don’t really know how to lift effectively.
It becomes a “choose your own adventure”, but I’m still guiding you 110%.
And you learn that you’ve been compensating.
I find runners rely on a crap ton of reps or exercises because they don’t know or don't understand yet RPE, rate of perceived exertion.
RPE helps you decide for yourself: could I have gone heavier? Is this the right weight for me?
Because one of the mistakes I see runners make, especially in the beginning phases of any strength plan, is learning what RPE means and what lifting heavy actually feels like.
At the end of each set, you have to ask yourself: do I have only 2 reps left in the tank? Or is it more like 4? If you have extra reps left in you for that set, you have to go heavier.
Lie #4: I’m doing less. That’s bad. I need more. Because more is always better.
Can you see the “more is more” trap?
This one makes me chuckle because we have the runner who needs “more” because doing more has always an insurance policy, a comfort blanket. Like trying to squeeze in more miles during your taper, just in case it helps.
But we also have the runner who says “I don’t have time to strength train. But I can run more miles…”
I get it, finding time is an issue.
Having enough time for a long run sometimes feels like a luxury.
And when your strength workout is an hour long…who has time for this?
Some runners (like myself) may like an hour long workout, but life doesn't always allow for it. And depending on your training, doesn’t always call for it.
That's why my programs are so SUPER specific to runners with the workouts are fast and effective even if they're short.
My goal is for you to be able to run, live your life, do strength, and not be totally spent or wiped out.
I also capitalize on the interference effect: where you have a big aerobic stimuli of running and when we strength train immediately afterwards, it has a blunting effect on the anaerobic (muscle building) stimuli of lifting.
Meaning, if you’re dead set on MORE: on running an hour and then immediately lifting afterwards, yes you can still get stronger. But it’s probably not going to be as fast as you would like. Ideally, you wait 4-6 hours between running and lifting.
This is why my strength workouts are short, but intense: this way, if you want to run first, lift later in the day, it's not a huge commitment.
It’s not just MORE.
You can easily get your strength in, on your timeline, even if it means doing it in the living while watching netflix at night.
Lie #5: If I keep following this plan, it won’t work because I’ll be bored. And because I’m bored, it won’t work.
“Why are all the workouts the same for so long?"
“I need something different to stay motivated and engaged.”
Feeling this way isn’t your fault.
It’s how the online fitness space has lead us to think.
The internet shows you fancy new exercises and gives you more information than you know what to do with.
But that’s exactly why you’re staying weak and injured.
A good strength training program will ask you to repeat.
It will force you to stop program hopping, meaning constantly switching out one exercise for a new, shiny exercise you just saw on the internet.
I get it. No one likes to be bored.
But here me when I say: muscles do NOT need to be "confused" with new exercises.
That's a big fat lie.
What happens if you don't repeat a strength workout, you never collect the objective data you need.
We run mile time trials for a reason, the same distance, but hoping for a different outcome: a better time.
The same applies to lifting.
You have NO IDEA whether you've gotten stronger if you DON'T repeat the same exercises a couple times over. It’s through repetition that you realize you're able to handle heavier and heavier weights.
Our repeated strength workouts/exercise become our mile time trial.
We repeat them, looking for a PR.
And after we've achieved the neuromuscular adaptations (more neurons to more motor muscle units = more muscle cells firing), we can move on to the physiological changes in the future phases where we're looking for and working on hypertrophy (bigger muscles which are stronger muscles) which is achieved via progressive overload.
WRAPPING UP
The points I want you to walk away:
Sometimes more is just more
Good strength programs DO repeat workouts, but they also ask you to lift heavier.
Yes, progressing strength exercises and making them harder is part of a good program, but it’s not an excuse to program hop (because you won’t see results this way)
Strength training doesn’t have to take an hour or a million exercises to be effective.
And preventing running injuries doesn’t have to be a mystery. It just requires a plan.
Want my runner-specific strength exercises to get you started and on your way to injury-proofed? Check out my FREE Strength Guide for runners, filled with exercises you can do at home that help strengthen major injury-preventing muscle groups.
Until next time…
Dare to Train Differently,
Marie Whitt, PT, DPT //@dr.whitt.fit
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