Changing My Approach to Muscle Strengthening
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| The Push-up: An essential muscle strengthening exercise |
Ferber writes, “Unfortunately, no studies have been conducted on long-distance (recreational or competitive) runners to understand the effects of muscle strengthening on overall performance. As such, I cannot speak to how these types of exercises will help you reach a personal best time. However, our research was one of the first to show that muscle strengthening results in a reduction in stride-to-stride variability; in other words, a more consistent running gait pattern on a step-by-step basis.”
Also from a general health and wellness perspective (and a fact I’m increasingly interested in) - an individual loses about 1% of lean muscle a year starting at age 40 - muscle strengthening helps slow this trend. And let's be explicit, both men and women can benefit from a muscle strengthening program!
In my lead up to the marathon, my strength program took place three days per week on my harder running days - keeping hard days hard and easy days easy. However, Ferber’s article mentions that, “There is also strong evidence that performing strengthening exercises every day, using lighter resistance such as an elastic band, is better than doing strengthening work two or three times a week using heavier weights. So, if you make muscle strengthening part of your daily routine, you’ll begin to feel the benefits in a few weeks.” Yet, “One important principle to keep in mind, though: always perform muscle strengthening exercises after a run - never immediately before. These are your key stabilizing muscles and if these muscles are done before a run, the risk of injury increases due to fatigue.”
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| Current equipment for bodyweight routine: chair, elastic cord, and heel raise board |
What are the effects so far? I’ve noticed a metabolism boost and feeling energetic, so positive changes at this point!
2023 Update:
During the race season, I'm doing this CORE STRENGTH PROGRAM three days per week and strength training three days per week. I must admit that I enjoy trying out different strengthening movements, like the TWO-DUMBBELL STRENGTH ROUTINE .
2026 Update:
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| Equipment often used in 2026: slantboard, bands, dumbbells & mats (different thicknesses) |
In describing changes to my muscle strengthening program since this post was first published in 2018 and updated in 2023, the keyword that comes to mind is BALANCE.
By BALANCE, one can literally work on improving their balance like this ONE-LEGGED STANCE. Nevertheless, balance in muscle strengthening routines also helps prevent weak muscles from being overpowered by stronger ones. So having strengthening exercises that target each muscle in opposing muscle groups is something I build into my program. Being an endurance sport athlete there are four basic muscle groups I focus on:
Tibialis Anterior ⇿ Calf (selected as TOP STRENGTH MOVES IN 2024)
Quadriceps ⇿ Hamstrings
Hip Flexors ⇿ Glutes
Abdominals ⇿ Lower Back
While I focus on these groups, this does not mean the upper body gets neglected. I am still doing full-body routines like the TWO-DUMBBELL WORKOUT mentioned above. Yet, I BALANCE these full-body routines with isometric exercises like the WALL SIT. At this point I seem to get stronger doing my isometric exercises. Whereas, my dumbbell resistance exercises take me through as full a range of motion as possible while under tension.
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Thanks for reading! For more, check out the Strength Training section in the EOOC TABLE OF CONTENTS .
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Experiment of One Coaching covers topics ranging from running, strength training, health & wellness, sports nutrition to travel. This is not medical advice.
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