How to progress your strength training (without wrecking your running and cycling)
- Emma O'Toole
- Jan 25
- 6 min read
Many runners and cyclists avoid progressing strength training because they worry it will leave them sore, heavy-legged, and unable to hit key run and bike sessions. The mistake is assuming progression always means lifting heavier every week. For endurance athletes, especially those training at home with limited equipment, smarter progression methods can build strength, improve movement quality, and support performance without excessive fatigue. This article explains three practical ways to progress strength training without wrecking running and cycling: using tempo, adjusting range of motion, and improving intent and technique when moving load.
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:
TRAINING BREAKDOWN
"The best way to progress your strength training is to use smarter progression methods that challenge your body without creating loads of fatigue."
By Emma O'Toole
Hi there!
One of the biggest worries runners and cyclists have with strength training is this:
“How do I progress my strength training without endless access to heavier weights… and without wrecking my running and cycling?”
Because in theory, strength training should make you faster, more robust, and harder to break…
…but in practice, it can easily become the thing that leaves you heavy-legged on your runs, flat on the bike, and too sore to hit your key sessions.
And that isn’t always down to how much weight you’re lifting, it’s often down to how and when you’re progressing your training.
It may already be difficult for you to get your running and riding into a jam-packed schedule, which is exactly why strength training at home can be so effective for time-crunched runners and cyclists.
But when you train at home, I see a lot of runners and cyclists fall into one of two camps:
1. They feel restricted by their weight choices.
So as the weight starts to feel lighter, they simply add more reps and more sets… until their strength training becomes a 45-minute grind that leaves them fatigued and doesn’t actually move the needle.
2. They strength train consistently, but never really progress.
Because they’re just ‘going through the motions’ and their strength training turns into another run or ride in the week, mimicking high intensity intervals or circuit training.
So today’s newsletter is about making the most of the strength training you are doing, and knowing how to progress it in a way that supports your endurance training, not competes with it, especially when your equipment access is limited.
And a big part of this is understanding that progression doesn’t always mean adding more weight, more exercises, or more time.
Sometimes, the best way to progress your strength training is to use smarter progression methods that challenge your body without creating loads of fatigue.
Which is exactly what we’re going through today.
Because you can 100% progress your strength training week to week even with one kettlebell, one dumbbell, bands, or just your bodyweight.
Why “just lifting heavier” isn’t always the answer
In order to build strength we need to challenge our muscles, connective tissue, and bones. Incrementally challenging yourself with your strength training is the most important stimulus for building muscle and strength.
You do not get stronger from lifting the same amount of weight in every workout, just as you won’t get faster from always running at the same pace or always riding at the same power.
But… this is where a lot of us go wrong.
We assume progression means lifting heavier week on week, no matter what else is happening in our training.
Consider this example…
Last week you ran 9 minute miles for 10km, this week you now need to run 8:50 min miles over 10km and the following week you need to do 8:40 min miles.
That seems silly, right?
Impossible to keep making that sort of progress week on week… a recipe for injury…
So why do we expect the same from our strength sessions with regards to lifting more weight?
If we lift heavier too aggressively, strength training can very quickly become the thing that wrecks our key run sessions, makes us feel heavy on the bike, and leaves us constantly trying to “recover back” to baseline.
The goal is to progress your strength training without creating so much soreness and fatigue that your running and cycling sessions suffer.
We need a structured approach to progression and here are 3 methods.
Method 1: Work to tempo
In this video, we are purposely working to a 3-1-3-1 tempo:
3 second eccentric lowering phase
1 second pause at the bottom of the movement
3 second concentric push phase
1 second reset
This tempo helps you to develop movement patterns before adding lots of excess load; a great option for those new, or returning, to strength training, (give it a go without a weight and I think it’ll surprise you!)
It also encourages you to think about your execution of the exercise, eg:
How do my glutes feel?
Is my spine rounding?
How deep into this movement am I going?
Working to different tempos can elicit different results and can be used at different points in your season.
Eccentric loading is what fatigues us the most, so it’s one we want to try to keep under control especially in the lead up to a key race!
Tempo is one way to progress your strength training without needing heavier dumbbells every week, and if you’re training at home with limited load options, it’s one of the best ways to keep progressing.
Method 2: Work to different ranges of motion
In this exercise, we are using a box to help us work to a deeper range of motion in the goblet squat exercise.
The box provides a reference point to how deep into the squat we are, and can be manipulated in the following 2 ways.
1. We can use the box as a metric to help with your current squat technique.
If you are trying to lower too deeply into the squat and your technique falls apart, we can use a box to keep you at a range of motion where your technique is strong and progressively reduce the height of the box to increase range of motion.
2. We can use the box to work to partial ranges of motion depending on where you are in your season.
This helps keep your body fresh and firing without inducing excess fatigue. An example would be the inclusion of partial squats / ¼ squats before a key race.
Again, this is a simple way to progress at home without needing more equipment.
Method 3: Focus on how you’re moving the load
Here, we are performing the stiff-leg single leg deadlift exercise.
We are focused on initiating the exercise with a hinge movement from the hips.
We feel our lower back, hamstrings, glutes and the muscles in the foot and ankle begin to work to control and stabilise us when lowering the weight towards the ground.
We return to standing by “pushing the floor” away using the heel and ‘knuckle’ of the foot remaining on the ground.
This is far different to swinging up and down.
Moving with intent is fundamental to getting the most out of your strength training. So next time you’re doing an exercise, ask yourself: which muscles can I feel working in each exercise?
These 3 methods are built into my BUILT TO RUN OVER 30 and BUILT TO RIDE OVER 30 twelve week strength training programmes so you’re progressing your training in a structured way without unnecessary fatigue.
Progressing strength training doesn’t have to mean lifting heavier.
As we've seen in this article, it can mean:
Working to different tempos
Changing ranges of motion
Improving your technique and intent
And if you’re training at home, those three are some of the most effective ways to progress your strength training without needing endless equipment.
If you’re looking to begin strength training, or are feeling a little disillusioned by the promises of huge performance and robustness gains that you’re not seeing at the moment (these are true, I promise!)
If you want help with this, join my free community for runners and cyclists over 30 and tell me what kit you’ve got at home (dumbbells/kettlebell/bands/bodyweight) and what running/cycling you’re doing at the moment, and I’ll point you in the right direction.
Enjoy your week!
Emma x
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