How Long Should a Strength Workout be for Runners and Cyclists?

A mistake I see some endurance athletes make is trying to cram too much into their workouts, resulting in excessive fatigue both during and after the session that carries over into their running or cycling performance. If your workout starts to resemble something Arnold would’ve done in Pumping Iron, you’re probably doing too much. You don’t need a huge amount of volume or include every lower body exercise variation known to man for a strength session to be effective. 

Instead, I think most people would be better off doing fewer exercises but with greater quality and focus. For most runners and cyclists, 5-7 TOTAL exercises, 2-3 working sets for each, will be plenty for one workout. 

As an example, a strength session for a runner might include:

- 2-3 lower body exercises (some variation of hinge, squat, and calf raise)

- 1-2 upper body exercises (a push or pull)

- 1-2 core/loaded carry exercises 

- And a power/plyometric movement if they can tolerate it.  

This will usually take between 30-60 minutes, with 45 minutes being the sweet spot for most people, including a warm up/cool down. Any more than 60 minutes and you're probably being inefficient with your time (scrolling IG or texting between sets) or doing way too much. 

Note that you might notice that your strength workouts take longer to complete the stronger you become, not necessarily because you are doing more exercises, but because it’ll take more warm up sets to get to your “working” weights.

I personally like sessions that are between 30 and 45 minutes, though I’ve also had great workouts where I was pressed for time and could only do 2-3 exercises. It’s better to do a handful of bang-for-your buck exercises with a high level of focus and quality and to leave that session feeling good than to do a dozen random exercises poorly and feel destroyed afterwards.