Build the strength your running needs, with a programme you can progress and recover from.
Strength work often becomes a collection of exercises added after a run. The athlete finishes tired, but it is difficult to explain what is being developed or whether the work is progressing.
A better starting point is the demand. An orienteer must produce force uphill, control landings and direction changes, and maintain useful movement through uneven ground. Strength training can support those demands, provided it is integrated with running rather than simply added to the load.
What the evidence supports
A 2024 systematic review by Llanos-Lagos and colleagues found that high-load strength training, plyometrics and combined methods can improve running economy in middle- and long-distance runners. Effects varied with the method and running speed, and the certainty of evidence was moderate to low.
That supports including appropriate strength work. It does not establish that every exercise improves every runner, or that laboratory economy changes transfer unchanged to rocky forest. Nor does it justify promising freedom from injury. Use evidence to choose a direction, then monitor the individual response.
Choose a small set of useful movements
| Training need | Possible exercise family | What makes it useful |
|---|---|---|
| Producing force through the legs | Squat, split squat or step-up variations | A load and range the athlete can control and progressively develop |
| Hip extension and posterior-chain strength | Hinge or deadlift variations | Appropriate technique and progression rather than chasing fatigue |
| Ankle and calf capacity | Straight- and bent-knee calf-raise variations | Consistent range and tolerable loading |
| Rapid force and landing control | Carefully progressed hops, jumps or bounds | Quality contacts, suitable surface and recovery |
| Trunk and upper-body support | Selected carries, pulls, pushes or trunk exercises | A clear purpose within a balanced programme |
These are options, not a requirement to perform every movement. Injury history, experience and equipment influence the selection. An athlete learning the exercises needs a different starting load from an experienced lifter.
Examples of the movement patterns
Choose examples that fit the athlete and the purpose of the session. The illustrations show movement options, not a complete programme or a prescribed load.
Progress the dose before collecting more exercises
Keep enough continuity to see whether strength is improving. Record the exercise, load, repetitions and how the sets felt. Begin with a manageable volume and technically sound execution. Increase one demand at a time when the athlete is tolerating the current work.
Heavy strength training and a fast circuit are different sessions. If the target is high-quality force production, allow sufficient recovery between sets. If the athlete is gasping and rushing every movement, the session may no longer serve that target well.
Establish controlled movement and a suitable starting dose.
Progress resistance or difficulty while preserving quality.
Check how the work affects running, soreness and recovery.
Keep a tolerable dose when race-specific work becomes the priority.
Fit it into the running week
Plan strength alongside the important running sessions. Avoid introducing a demanding new exercise just before a key race or technical session. Residual soreness can change how an athlete moves and make it harder to judge the intended training.
Some athletes combine strength with a harder training day to preserve easier days. Others benefit from separating sessions. The useful arrangement is the one that supports the whole week and allows the priority sessions to be performed well.
As competitions approach, maintaining familiar work with less volume may be more useful than stopping everything or adding a new “race-specific” circuit. The appropriate adjustment depends on the athlete’s response and competition schedule.
Keep terrain practice in the plan
Gym work cannot replace learning to move through representative terrain. An athlete still needs appropriate exposure to slopes, uneven footing and the movement demands of the target race.
Equally, difficult forest running does not automatically provide a measurable, progressive strength programme. The two forms of training can complement one another when their purposes are clear.
Further reading
- Llanos-Lagos, C., Ramirez-Campillo, R., Moran, J. & Sáez de Villarreal, E. (2024). Effect of strength training programs in middle- and long-distance runners’ economy at different running speeds: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 54, 895–932.