Do runners need strength training? Most don't ask until a running injury or a plateau makes them.
Allison Tapak is a [solidcore] client in Wicker Park. She's three months in, after more than twenty years of running and a hamstring injury that made her rethink her training. Tara Chait is a client in Bethesda. She has been coming for ten years, since she first started racing marathons in her 30s.
For both of them, running alone stopped being enough. Strength training is what keeps them going.
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Allison has been running for more than twenty years. For most of those years, her training was cardio-heavy. It worked until she started training more seriously for marathons.
"I noticed with marathons that I needed to incorporate strength to build a good foundation with form."
So she added CrossFit and HIIT workouts, like a lot of runners do. It helped for a while. It also took a toll on her body that running alone never had.
Then a hamstring strain sent her to physical therapy. Her PT told her the muscles that were supposed to be supporting her running form were weak. That changed how she thought about her training.
[solidcore] goes right at those muscles. Class moves at a slow, controlled tempo on custom-built reformers, which keeps tension on the muscles a runner leans on but never trains directly. It's low-impact too, so there's none of the joint pounding that comes with another HIIT circuit.
"I work in the medical field, and part of what drew me to [solidcore] in the first place was learning that the brand offers a discount to healthcare professionals, in addition to students, teachers, military, and first responders. You don't always see that."
Three months in, Allison already feels the difference. She was intimidated before her first class because she had never used the reformers. The class turned out to be encouraging.
"It took me by surprise how much I loved it."
Her posture and her breathing technique have improved too, which she didn't expect. Both come from the consistent core work.
She has a half marathon in a few weeks.
"I'm excited to see how I've improved."
Tara picked up running in her mid-30s, after having her second child. Marathons came later. She noticed the runners who stayed healthy year after year weren't always the ones logging the most miles.
Ten years ago, she found [solidcore].
"I started because my husband gave me a gift card, and now he goes five days a week himself."
She kept coming back.
"Once I realized the benefits, it was a no-brainer for me."
In a typical week now, she's at [solidcore] six days.
"It's improved my running form because I'm thinking so much more with my core."
She takes that awareness into every run, and she credits it with keeping her injury-free through ten years of marathon training.
Next up is her tenth marathon! She also has her eye on another World Major, with Boston and London among the options.
A meta-analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine pooled 25 randomized controlled trials. Strength training cut sports injuries to less than a third. Exercise programs nearly halved overuse injuries, which are the kind that build up over miles. Stretching showed no significant benefit in the same analysis.
Weak supporting muscles are a common factor. Your hips, glutes and deep core keep each stride stable. When they tire, or were never trained in the first place, other tissues take the load.
A study of 24 distance runners with iliotibial band syndrome (IT band syndrome) found weaker hip abductors on the injured leg. After six weeks of rehab focused on hip strength, 22 of the 24 were pain-free and back to running.
Strength training also makes runners faster. A systematic review in Sports Medicine found that it improves running economy, which is how much energy it takes to hold a given pace. Time-trial performance improved too, in middle- and long-distance runners. Better economy means you can hold the same pace with less effort, or run faster on the same effort.
Your glutes, hamstrings, deep core and the small stabilizers around your hips and knees support every stride, and they're easy to neglect until something gives. Low-impact strength training builds them up without adding more pounding to your week.
You don't have to wait for an injury to start. If you're not sure where class fits around your runs, read how often to do strength training.
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