Running and Lifting: How to Combine Them in One Weekly Schedule
How to combine running and weight training in one week: what the research says about interference, where lifting sessions go around hard runs, and example schedules for three and five runs a week.
Most runners who start lifting worry about the same two things: that the gym will leave their legs too heavy to run well, and that the running will cancel out whatever the gym builds. The research on concurrent training, the name for doing endurance and strength work in the same program, answers the second worry better than the first. The schedule answers the first.
If your race mixes running and strength stations, the Hyrox training plan for beginners builds on this schedule. Swimmers can find dryland work in the guide to swim performance with strength training.
Does running cancel out lifting?
Less than its reputation suggests. The “interference effect” comes from studies in which people who combined endurance and strength training gained less strength or muscle than people who only lifted.
A 2012 meta analysis by Wilson and colleagues pooled 21 studies and found that interference depended on the endurance work: combining lifting with running, but not cycling, reduced gains in muscle size and strength, and the effect grew with more frequent and longer endurance sessions. Power, the ability to produce force quickly, was the quality most affected.
A larger 2022 update by Schumann and colleagues pooled 43 studies and reached a narrower conclusion. Adding aerobic training did not compromise maximal strength or muscle growth. Explosive strength gains were smaller, and the reduction was significant only when aerobic and strength work shared a session; with at least 3 hours between them, it was not. Unlike the 2012 analysis, it found no difference between running and cycling.
The two analyses agree on the practical point: interference is a question of dose and timing, not a reason to choose one sport. The newer review compared untrained and recreationally active people, so it says less about a runner covering high weekly mileage. For that runner, the older finding that longer and more frequent endurance sessions increase interference is the relevant one, and it argues for keeping lifting sessions short and focused rather than adding more of them.
What lifting does for runners
The better supported benefit is running economy: the oxygen it costs you to hold a given pace. A 2018 systematic review by Blagrove, Howatson and Hayes covered 24 studies of middle and long distance runners. Running economy improved by 2 to 8% compared with running only groups in most of them, and time trial performance over 1.5 to 10 km and sprint speed tended to improve as well. VO2max and body composition were typically unchanged, so the lifting did not make the runners heavier. The authors recommend two to three strength sessions a week that mix heavy lifting, explosive lifting and jumps.
The load matters. A 2022 meta analysis by Eihara and colleagues compared the two most common additions for long distance runners. Heavy resistance training improved running economy and time trial performance more than plyometric (jump) training, loads near maximal (90% of a one repetition maximum or more) did better than lighter ones, and programs lasting 10 to 14 weeks did better than shorter ones. Expect a season of consistent lifting, not a few weeks, before it shows up in your running.
Injury prevention is the weaker claim. A 2024 meta analysis by Wu and colleagues pooled nine randomized trials with 1,904 runners and found that exercise based prevention programs, strength work among them, did not significantly reduce running injuries overall. Supervised programs did show lower injury risk in a follow up analysis, possibly because people completed more of them, and seven of the nine studies were rated low quality. Lift for economy and strength, and treat any injury benefit as possible rather than established.
Where to put the lifting sessions
Three scheduling choices decide whether lifting helps your running or gets in its way.
Stack hard days. Put the demanding lower body session on the same day as a quality run, such as intervals or a tempo run. The day after both can then be easy or off, and your easy runs stay easy. Spreading lifting across your easy days leaves you with no easy days at all.
Separate the two by hours, and by a full day from the next hard run. In a 2016 study of 58 amateur rugby players by Robineau and colleagues, squat and bench press strength improved less when running intervals followed lifting immediately than when 6 or 24 hours separated them, and aerobic fitness improved most with 24 hours. The authors advise against less than 6 hours between the two. A morning run and an evening lift fits that; lifting right after the run is the fallback when the day allows only one trip.
In one session, the first thing gets the better quality. A 2018 meta analysis by Eddens and colleagues found that lifting before the endurance work produced larger lower body strength gains than the reverse order, with no difference in muscle size or aerobic capacity. That is the order for a lifter adding running. A runner whose priority is the interval session should run first and accept a slightly smaller strength gain, since tired legs make intervals slower and less useful.
| Same session | Same day, 6+ hours apart | Separate days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strength gains | Smallest, especially explosive strength | Close to lifting alone | Close to lifting alone |
| Keeps lifting off easy days | Yes | Yes | No |
| Suits | One gym trip a day | Runners with a flexible day | Runners who train once a day |
Separate days work as well for strength, as long as the lower body session is not the day before your long run or your next quality session. Heavy squats and deadlifts can leave legs sore and slow for a day or two, which is why the schedules below keep at least one full day between the hard lift and the next hard run.
Example weekly schedules
These two weeks apply the rules above. Session lengths and paces depend on your training, so use them as a structure for placing sessions, not as a prescription.
With three runs a week, two lifting sessions fit on four training days:
- Mon Rest
- Tue Intervals or tempo runLift A: lower body
- Wed Rest
- Thu Easy runLift B: upper body, single leg, core
- Fri Rest
- Sat Long run
- Sun Rest or easy cross training
With five runs a week, the same two lifting sessions fit on six training days. Tuesday and Saturday remain the only hard days:
- Mon Easy run
- Tue Intervals or tempo runLift A: lower body
- Wed Easy run
- Thu Easy run with strides
- Fri Lift B: upper body, single leg, core
- Sat Long run
- Sun Rest
Lift B sits the day before the long run in the second week, so keep its leg work light: a few sets of single leg exercises well short of failure. If Friday is the only day you can lift heavy, move the long run to Sunday.
What to do in the gym
Two sessions cover what the research supports: heavy lower body lifting for running economy, single leg and calf work, and enough upper body and trunk work to keep the program balanced. An example:
Lift A, lower body (heavy)
- Back squat or trap bar deadlift: 3 to 4 sets of 4 to 6 reps
- Romanian deadlift: 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps
- Rear foot elevated split squat: 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps per leg
- Calf raises, straight knee and bent knee: 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps each
- Optional: 3 sets of 5 box jumps or bounds, done after the warmup and before the heavy lifts
Lift B, upper body, single leg and core (lighter)
- Bench press or push ups: 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps
- One arm dumbbell row: 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps per side
- Pull ups or lat pulldown: 3 sets of 5 to 8 reps
- Step ups or single leg Romanian deadlift: 2 sets of 8 reps per leg
- Pallof press and side plank: 2 to 3 sets each
If you are new to lifting, start with loads you could lift for several more reps than you do, and add weight over the first few weeks as the movements become familiar. The heavier loads that did best in the Eihara analysis come after that period, not in the first session. Keep one or two reps in reserve on the main lifts, especially in the week of a key race or long run.
Adjusting through a training season
The schedule does not need to stay fixed from January to race day. One way to shift the balance as the race gets closer:
- Base period: two lifting sessions a week, with the heaviest loads and the most sets. Running is mostly easy, so there is room to recover from the gym.
- Race build: keep both sessions but reduce the lower body sets, since the quality runs and long runs now carry more fatigue. Keep the loads heavy and do fewer sets rather than lighter weights for more reps.
- Race week: one short session early in the week, or none. Nothing heavy for the legs in the final few days.
- After the race: easy running and light lifting until soreness is gone, then back to the base pattern.
When your legs feel heavy for more than a day or two, cut lower body lifting volume first and keep the quality runs. If quality runs keep suffering after lifting days, move the lower body session further from them rather than dropping it.
If you are a lifter adding running
The same rules apply in reverse. Keep your heavy lower body days away from your longest and hardest runs, and lift before you run when both happen in one session. The Wilson analysis found that interference grew with the frequency and duration of endurance training, so build running gradually: two or three easy runs of 20 to 30 minutes a week are enough to start. If you want aerobic work that is easier on your legs, cycling was the modality with no measurable effect on strength or muscle size in that analysis, though the later Schumann review found no difference between the two.
Tracking both
Log what you actually lifted in each session, alongside your runs. Two numbers show whether the combination works: your main lifts rising slowly over the season, and your pace or heart rate on a familiar run staying the same or improving. If the lifts climb while the runs slow down, the schedule is putting too much fatigue before your quality sessions. If you train with a Garmin, the guide to the best Garmin watch for weightlifting covers which models suit runners who lift.
LiftTrack includes strength programs written for endurance athletes, including Run Strong by Coach Kelly and the 80/20 Endurance strength plans for half marathon and triathlon, which schedule the lifting sessions on the days you choose. Starting a program requires Premium.
In the Help Center Start a program Schedule a coach built strength program, such as Run Strong, on your training days.
