With more and more runners finally seeing the benefit of training beyond the trails and are doing more resistance based and movement based exercise, a common question is how should one place resistance training sessions in relationship to their running sessions.

Such a question has led to the development of a lot of discussion on “consolidation” of training stressors.  Much of this discussion and advice has been based off of discussion/ideas from the sprint or field sport world, and I am not so sure it is appropriate to follow the exact same protocol for distance runners.  Now generally, I agree that consolidation of stress is a good idea and that programming your more intense work outs on lifting days may be smart, however for most distance runners this is minutiae.

Matching stressors in running gets complicated when you look at the neuroendocrine response to exercise.   Your autonomic nervous system has two separate divisions, sympathetic and parasympathetic, which are each other’s antagonist.   Running is a very parasympathetic sport (though higher intensities demand more sympathetic involvement) and traditionally heavy lifting is sympathetic dominant.  For the vast majority of runners, the tendency toward parasympathetic dominance is evident.  When combining stressors, it is generally a wise idea to attempt to consolidate like stress and to balance it with other stressors.

Many have taken consolidation so far as to say that if you can’t fit in a lift on hard days that you should not lift at all, which I find to be a very poor idea as strength training is far more than simply training for strength and believe that such a theory demonstrates a misunderstanding of physiology.

The stress of a set of 1000m repeats can be vastly different from a neurological stress standpoint than is lifting heavier loads for low to reps.  1000m reps and a 6 mile easy run have two ANS stimulation propensities.  That said, moderate volume and moderate load lifting can be a parasympathetic dominant session if programmed as such.  Due to the fact that most runners are not lifting that heavily, one would be just fine doing a lift on an “easy” day.

While I think doing your heavy lifting sessions on days which you perform your higher intensity runs is generally a good idea, if your strength session is intense, yet not exhausting it can fit in most places on an endurance athletes schedule without undue harm.  Typically, I find doing our power and our main lift prior to running and the bulk of our “accessory” work after to be well accepted.  The consolidation does come into play, however, if you are one of the few smart runners who choose to spend time training at maximal velocities. That said, the majority of runners are neither fast nor strong enough to really fatigue the central nervous system nor should we be doing too much lifting at higher percentages of 1RM.

Best regards,
Carson Boddicker

Boddicker Performance