13 things strength training is doing for your running and cycling.

Strength training benefits runners and cyclists far beyond simply getting stronger. For endurance athletes, structured strength work can improve fatigue resistance, running economy, cycling efficiency, injury resilience, joint protection, coordination, mobility, balance, power, speed and long-term health. It also builds confidence by helping athletes feel more capable in training, racing and daily life. This article explains 13 ways strength training supports running and cycling performance, using real examples from coached athletes to show how consistent strength work transfers into sport and everyday life.

Strength training for runners and cyclists over 30 is a game-changer for performance, resilience, and long-term health.

If you want the full breakdown, check out my Strength Training Over 30 Guides:

Strength training for runners over 30

Strength training for cyclists over 30

TRAINING BREAKDOWN

"Where there used to be doubt, there is now confidence."

By Emma O'Toole

Hello!

Pretty regularly, I have a discussion with a coached athlete about something completely unrelated to their training that makes me smile. I love it because it’s a reminder of something I talk about a lot in this newsletter: the benefits of strength training extend far beyond your running and cycling.

A couple of years ago I got a message from Falk that is a perfect example of what I mean.

Falk is a world record holding endurance cyclist and a bassist in a band. After several months of consistent strength training alongside his cycling, he got in touch to tell me something that had nothing to do with his FTP or his Everestings. He told me that loading and carrying his band equipment, the kind of heavy, awkward gear that used to leave him tired before a gig had even started, had become practically effortless.

He had certainly not set out to get stronger for that reason, it was a side effect of showing up consistently for his strength sessions each week.

I also want to tell you about Daniel.

Daniel is a runner who came to me for strength coaching earlier this year. Within just a few weeks of structured strength training alongside his running, he was hitting new personal bests. The strength work has begun to give his body the physical capacity to express the fitness he already had, and the results have shown up fast in his race times, but also in his training sessions, particularly on hills!

Then there is the thing I regularly hear that you can’t put a number on: self confidence. Where there used to be doubt, there is now confidence… not just in their training but in themselves.

And this draws me onto what we’re getting into in today’s newsletter: 13 reasons why strength training benefits you as a runner and cyclist.

Right, let’s get into it!

1. Strength training is endurance-specific training.

Every stride and pedal stroke you make is a muscular effort. The stronger and more resilient your muscles and tissues are, the more efficiently you handle the repeated demands of endurance sport. Daniel's hill repeats did not just feel easier because he was fitter aerobically, they felt easier because his legs had the muscular capacity to absorb the repeated effort without fatiguing as quickly and the focused work on his posterior chain is already making a real difference. Strength training does not sit alongside your endurance training, it underpins it.

2. Strength training is fatigue-resistance training.

Fatigue in endurance sport is muscular as well as cardiovascular. The runner who fades in the final miles and the cyclist who loses power on the last climb are often not running out of aerobic capacity. They are running out of muscular strength and endurance. Strength training develops qualities that another 20-mile run or century ride simply won't develop as effectively.

3. Strength training is mental resilience training.

There is something about showing up for a strength session when your legs are tired, or you’re tired, perhaps you’ve already trained earlier that day, and being able to complete a set that felt impossible six weeks ago with solid form. That builds something that carries into every hard session, every race, and every difficult moment beyond sport. Those who strength train consistently are not just physically stronger, they often handle and respond to adversity differently.

4. Strength training is injury prevention training.

Most running and cycling injuries are overuse injuries, aka load tolerance issues. Your training load goes up faster than your body's ability to handle it and something gives. Strength training builds the physical resilience that allows you to sustain higher training loads. Although no intervention can completely prevent injuries, strength training is one of the best-supported ways of improving load tolerance and reducing the risk of many common overuse injuries.

5. Strength training is joint protection training.

Your joints do not work in isolation. The muscles around them do the work of absorbing and distributing load. When those muscles are weak, the joints take the strain. Stronger muscles mean better protected joints.

6. Strength training is coordination training.

Running and cycling are skill sports as much as fitness sports. The neuromuscular coordination that strength training develops, the ability to recruit the right muscles at the right time, can transfer to movement quality on the road, trail, and track. Falk's ability to carry his band equipment effortlessly was not just about raw strength. It was how his body coordinated carrying load more efficiently than it could before.

7. Strength training is breathwork training.

Exercises like deadlifts, squats and loaded carries teach you to brace your core whilst continuing to breathe effectively under load. Many runners and cyclists find this improves their awareness of posture, core stability and how they breathe during harder efforts. It may seem a subtle benefit, but it’s a powerful one.

8. Strength training is longevity training.

The runners and cyclists who keep improving into their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond are not the ones who trained hardest in their 30s. They are the ones who trained smartly, built resilience into their bodies, and gave their muscles, tendons, and bones the stimulus they needed to stay strong over time. Strength training is one of the most important investments you can make, both in your long term athletic life, but also in your life outside of training.

9. Strength training is mobility training.

Training through full ranges of motion can help improve your mobility whilst building strength at those ranges. A deep split squat, a full range Romanian deadlift, a controlled single leg movement, these are not just strength exercises. They also provide an opportunity to improve mobility within your strength sessions, which we manipulate throughout different times of your season, without needing a separate mobility session (great for busy runners and cyclists!).

10. Strength training is balance training.

Running and cycling are both single leg dominant sports when you think about it. When you run, you are never supported by both legs at the same time. When you ride, each leg drives through the pedal stroke whilst the other is in its recovery phase. Single leg exercises like split squats, step ups, and single leg Romanian deadlifts develop the balance and stability that running and cycling demand with every stride and pedal stroke.

11. Strength training is power training.

The ability to express force quickly, to accelerate out of a corner in a crit, to surge up a climb, to kick for the line, is a neuromuscular quality. It is developed through explosive strength work and it can transfer to the key moments in racing that often decide the result.

12. Strength training is speed training.

Running and cycling economy, the efficiency with which your body moves at a given speed or produces a given power output, are highly trainable performance qualities. Strength and plyometric training are among the most effective methods for improving them.

13. Strength training is healthcare.

This is the one I feel really strongly about. Your bone density, muscle mass, metabolic health, hormonal balance, and cognitive function are all positively influenced by consistent strength training. Over 30, we are naturally losing ground in all of them unless we actively do something about it. Strength training is one of the most evidence supported things you can do for your long term health, as a runner, a cyclist, and a human being.

That’s the list! But before we wrap up, I want to come back to these 10 words:

Where there used to be doubt, there is now confidence.

I come back to this because it is the thing that surprises runners and cyclists most when they start strength training consistently. They expect to get stronger, their performance to improve (which it will!).

However what they don’t expect is to feel different in themselves… to feel more capable, resilient… willing to take on hard things in both their training and their day-to-day lives.

These 13 reasons are what strength training does for your performance, but also for you as a human being.

If you want to get started with structured strength training that supports your running and cycling, come and join my free coaching community and I’ll send you over a free strength workout for runners or cyclists when you join.

Click here to join.

Happy running and riding!

Emma x

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