Strength Prehab Routine

The final prehab routine that I feel every runner must do is runner-specific strength training.

Admittedly, not all runners embrace strength work. “It’s boring” or “It’ll make me bulk up” or “I’m a runner, not a bodybuilder” are common protests I’ve heard over the years. In fact, the exercises themselves won’t necessarily make you faster, which might make you wonder, “What’s the point?”

The point of strength work is to prevent or correct imbalances runners develop from hours and hours of running and to build up resiliency in our bodies so we can endure all of that pounding. The more resilient and balanced you are, the less you’ll get injured, which means more consistent, high-level running training, which will make you faster. As I like to say: This is the training that allows you to do the training.

Strength Routine: Five Key Exercises

As with mobility and core training, there are dozens and dozens of strength programs available, and just as many runners and coaches feel each is the best. What I want to present are the top five movements I think every runner should master. These come from certified strength coach Angela Tieri, whom I regard as one of the world’s best strength coaches for runners. The best part is that she’s not just a strength coach; she’s a really good runner who is also a strength coach. That means she’s not the typical strength coach who adapts programs for runners; she knows how strength training feels for the runner and how it affects upcoming training. She knows that the best strength training for runners gels with your run training. The result is a set of strength routines (all found on www.mcmillanrunning.com) that are second to none for helping you become a better runner.

Single-Leg Deadlift

How to: Stand on one leg with a slight bend in the knee. Standing tall, engage your core (think about pulling your ribs down) and hinge forward so that your free leg comes straight back behind you and your torso comes forward parallel with the ground. Squeeze the glute of the standing leg to raise your torso back up to standing. Repeat 6–8 times and switch legs.

Form notes: Make sure to maintain a strong, flat back throughout this whole movement. Think about keeping your chest lifted very slightly, so you have a slight arch in your lower back (this is to avoid rounding, which is what we don’t want). The other common mistake is allowing the hip of the floating leg to lift up; try to keep your hips level the whole time.

Rear-Foot Elevated Split Squat

How to: Find a stool, chair, or bench that is 6–12 inches off of the ground. Facing away from the object, rest one foot on its surface, either with your toes flat or tucked (whatever is more comfortable). Step the other foot out about two feet and drop down into a lunge so the back knee lowers to the ground (or as close as possible). Squeeze your glute and stand up by pressing into the ground with the heel and big toe of the standing foot. Repeat 6–8 times and switch legs.

Form notes: Keep your front knee pointing straight forward; don’t let it drift inward. Also, watch that your knee doesn’t move past your toes; if it does, step that foot forward a little more. Finally, your torso should lean forward a little, but make sure you don’t arch or round your back.

Chin-up

How to: This is the one exercise where you need equipment to perform. If you don’t belong to a gym with a chin-up/pull-up bar, check your local playground. Monkey bars can work great!

Grip the bar with your palms facing you, hands slightly wider than your shoulders. Hang from the bar and pull yourself up, leading with your chest, until your chin touches the bar; then return to the starting position.

If you cannot get your chin to the bar at first, loop a resistance band over the bar and step into it so the band will help pull you up. Alternatively, you can start with eccentric pull-ups. Use a box or stool to step up and start at the top, so your chin is already at the bar. Lift your legs off of the box and lower as slowly as you can.

Once you can do 6–8 eccentric or assisted chin-ups, you can progress to try full, unassisted chin-ups. Women should typically aim for three sets of 2–3 chin-ups, while men should aim for three sets of 5–6.

Form notes: As you pull up, be careful that your shoulders don’t round forward and that you don’t arch your back.

Step-up

How to: Find a 12–18-inch step or box. Start with one foot on the box, with both feet pointing straight ahead. Lean forward slightly into the front leg. Then, being careful not to push off of the back leg, use the glute and quad of the bent leg to lift your body into a standing position on the box. If you can maintain balance, pull the other knee up into a knee drive position; then slowly lower with control, land softly, and repeat 6–8 times before switching legs.

Form notes: A common error is letting the knee of the leg that’s bent drift inward—keep that kneecap straight! Also, keep your hips square so they don’t drift side to side, and remember not to launch off of the back leg.

Lateral Lunge

How to: Keep your feet parallel, toes forward, lunge out to one side, and land with your foot, knee, and hip all aligned (foot under knee under hip). Keeping your chest up, sit your hips backward as you lower into the lunge. Then, pushing from the inside edge of the lunged foot, use that glute to come back up to standing. Repeat 6–8 times and switch legs.

Form notes: It’s really important to make sure you’re sitting back as you do this exercise, rather than leaning forward. Your torso is the limiting factor, so stop when you find your back starting to round. Also, try not to step out too far—you don’t want your foot to extend farther than that hip. Finally, watch your feet; they tend to try to turn out, but you want them to point forward the whole time.

To really round out your strength training, I highly recommend Coach Angela’s Marathon Legs and Strength in Stride routines. As with all of her programs, she built them to require little to no equipment, to be safe and easy to perform (even without a strength coach watching you), and to require very little time. Big bang. Low risk. Little time commitment. Highly effective. I’d call that a quadruple-win.

Quick Recap: 5 Key Strength Exercises

Here’s a summary of the five key strength exercises, along with starting reps and “build to” reps. To make things even more challenging, you can add weight, as indicated below. Anytime you add weight, drop back down to 6–8 reps and build again from there.

Coach Q&A: How do I fit strength work into my running?

For many runners, doing strength work on the same day as your harder runs (either immediately after or, ideally, a few hours later) is the best timing. Coach Angela likes to stack all the stress from training on one day, so the following recovery days allow you to supercompensate and perform better in upcoming hard workouts. That said, this rhythm doesn’t work for all runners. Some need to do their strength training on easy days due to either time availability or how they feel. So play around with your strength training. Over time, you’ll learn which exercises and when you choose to perform them negatively affect your running. You can then develop the ideal rhythm for you, and this will keep you motivated and moving toward your goal.