4 Common Errors Endurance Athletes Make with Strength Training

Every endurance athlete can benefit from strength training, both from a performance and injury prevention standpoint. I won’t try to over-hype the benefits of strength training, but for many runners and cyclists it might be the missing link for staying healthy and balanced, moving well, and performing at their best. Many endurance athletes know they should be doing something, but aren’t sure how to make sense of all the information out there and apply it to their situation. And while there are countless ways to strength train out there, very few of them are actually appropriate and specific for endurance sports.

For endurance athletes, strength training is a means to an end, and that end is to reduce their risk of injury, improve performance, and allow them to do more of what they love. Any time spent lifting weights should complement and support their endurance training, not detract from it.

Here are four common mistakes I’ve seen endurance athletes make over the years when it comes to implementing strength training.

Error # 1. Not progressing beyond light weights and rehabilitation exercises.

For many endurance athletes, strength training involves the occasional set of Theraband exercises that their Physical therapist gave them 5 years ago on a faded piece of paper (for which injury they can no longer remember). While rehabilitation exercises certainly have a place early in the recovery process to build some tissue tolerance, they usually aren’t enough to increase the capacity of the body to handle the demands of running and cycling.

There is a strength and conditioning principle known as progressive overload, which states you need to gradually increase the stimulus on the body over time in order for it to continue to grow and adapt. This means you’ll eventually have to progress beyond the exercises you did during the initial stages of rehab into a more structured strength and conditioning plan so you can get back to training at your previous level and with a lower chance of re-injury. Of course, you need to be sensible and gradually work up to heavier weights over time, but if you’ve been doing the same exercises for two sets of twenty repetitions with the same weight for years on end, then it might be time to progress to some heavier loads.

Error # 2. Avoiding heavy lifting and power training.

Many endurance athletes assume the best way for them to strength train is by trying to mimic the demands of their endurance sport. Since running and cycling are high-repetition endurance activities with little or no external load beyond body weight, it would make sense to train the muscles for endurance by focusing on light weights and high repetitions in the gym. After all, exercises like heavy deadlifts and explosive box jumps don’t seem very specific or relevant to most endurance sports.

Although it might seem counterintuitive, general strength exercises performed with (relatively) heavy weights and lower reps is actually the most productive form of strength training for endurance athletes. While runners and cyclists already get a sufficient metabolic and endurance stimulus from all the running and riding they do, there are still a number of other important physical and psychological qualities that their endurance training alone does not sufficiently develop. This is where heavy strength training comes in.

First off, lifting heavy weights builds up the structural elements of the body, such as the bones, ligaments, joints, and connective tissues. Using a car analogy, it helps ensure that your engine (aerobic fitness/endurance) doesn’t outpace your chassis (structural fitness, i.e., bones, tendons, ligaments, muscles). Heavy strength training also raises your ‘physiological ceiling’ by increasing not only the number of muscle fibers that can be recruited, but also their efficiency and effectiveness at producing the needed movement. This means that, at a given pace and power output, the runner or cyclist who does heavy strength training will perform at a lower percentage of their max capability than someone who doesn’t lift weights. Lastly, power and explosive training improve tendon stiffness (springy-ness), which allows for greater storage and release of elastic energy and makes each stride more efficient. 

Therefore, if you want to train for endurance, the best and most effective way to do that is to go for a run or bike ride! Use the weight room instead to build strength and the other qualities that endurance activities alone won’t develop.

A quick note about muscle soreness and weight gain: There is a myth amongst endurance athletes that lifting heavy will result in excessive weight gain and muscle soreness, both of which would have a negative impact on their endurance performance. The reality is, a properly implemented strength program will make you stronger and more powerful while minimizing muscle gain and soreness. Both muscle growth and soreness are influenced by a number of variables, including the frequency, intensity, volume, and duration of your workouts, as well as your diet and nutrition, sleep, and endurance training. When it comes to training, the body will prioritize what you do the most. If you’re someone who spends several hours a week participating in endurance training, the chance that a day or two spent lifting weight will result in excessive muscle gain is not only very unlikely, but would be pretty difficult to achieve even if you tried.

Error # 3. Not periodizing strength training/only lifting in the off-season.

Another mistake endurance athletes make is strength training only during the winter or off-season when their running and cycling volume is reduced. While this season is a great time to prioritize it, strength training needs to be done consistently year-round to have the desired effect. Regardless of how committed you were in the off-season; you will lose almost all the adaptations you worked so hard to build from strength training if you stop doing it for 6+ months in a row. Like with running and cycling, consistency is key with strength training, and it’s hard to see improvements if you only do it seasonally or when you feel like it. This isn’t to say you’ll start from zero after taking a few months off (you’ll likely retain some lifting coordination and technique), but you’ll definitely lose strength, muscle, and hormonal adaptations, none of which will come back overnight.

Beyond just doing it year-round, strength training also needs to be periodized throughout the year to align with and complement your endurance training. Periodization means organizing your training to prioritize developing certain qualities over others at different times of the year. This means your strength work should vary throughout the year depending on the “season” of training you are in (off-season, pre-season, or in-season/competition).

For example, the running or cycling off-season or base-building phase is typically when you prioritize developing general strength and muscle building in the gym. For pre-season, the focus could shift to maximal strength, power, and rate-of-force development. Lastly, the in-season and competition phase of your running and cycling is when you try to maintain the qualities you’ve built during the previous months (strength, muscle, power, etc.). Yes, it’s important to continue doing some lifting even during your racing season(s) so that you maintain the strength you built in the off-season and can express it during races when it matters most. The good news is it requires less effort and stimulus to maintain strength once you’ve built it than it took to build it in the first place. So even if you lifted two or even three times a week during the off-season, it might only take just one or two focused sessions a week during your competition phase to maintain strength while you focus on racing.

Error # 4. Strength training on a rest day.

An issue many endurance athletes run into (pun intended) with strength training is how to schedule it alongside their endurance training. If someone is currently running or cycling 3-4 times a week, they could probably just add in 1-2 days of strength work on their non-endurance days without much issue. This would still give them a day completely off from any training to rest and recover.

Scheduling becomes a little trickier when someone is already running or cycling 6+ days a week and only has one (or no) rest days. One solution is to insert strength training on their recovery day, since this will at least give them a day off from endurance training. While this option might work for some people, I will usually try to avoid this, if possible. While you definitely shouldn’t feel destroyed after a strength session—in fact, most should feel less taxing, physically and mentally, than your endurance workouts—strength training shouldn’t be treated as a “rest day activity.” Even though strength training is very different from endurance training, it’s still a significant stress on the body and should be treated as such. Therefore, if possible, it’s probably better to stack your strength training on a running or cycling day and maintain a day of complete rest.

There are a couple of options in this scenario. The first, known as consolidated training, involves scheduling your strength training and your higher-intensity endurance workouts on the same day. This consolidates the training stress to just a couple of days, while the remaining days are reserved for easier training and recovery. The second, known as distributed training, is where you schedule your strength training and higher-intensity endurance workouts on different days. This distributes the stress a little more evenly throughout the week so that no one day is significantly more stressful than the others. One is not better than the other, and either model can work depending on your schedule, season of training, when you’re able to get to the gym, and personal preference. But for both, the ideal scenario is to separate your strength training from your running or cycling by at least 8 hours. This gives you plenty of time to eat, hydrate, and recover, and ensures there is minimal interference between the two types of training.

However, the ideal scenario rarely exists. A strength program that is perfect on paper is useless if it isn’t practical for the individual to implement. The best strength program is the one that you can do consistently and that fits best in the context of your life and training. The individual who finds a way to strength train 1-2 times a week every week—even if their schedule, program, and available equipment are far from perfect—will benefit much more than someone who never does it because they’re waiting for the ideal scenario. Never let perfection prevent you from getting started or at least doing something.