Running and Lifting: How to Combine Them in One Weekly Schedule

Running and lifting in the same week raises two worries. The gym might leave your legs too heavy to run well, and the running might cancel out what the gym builds. Concurrent training, the name for doing endurance and strength work in one program, mostly settles the second worry, and a good schedule settles the first.

If your race mixes running with strength stations, the Hyrox training plan for beginners builds on this schedule. Swimmers will find dryland work in the guide to strength training for swimmers.

Does running cancel out lifting?

Not by much: for most people, running alongside lifting costs little or nothing in maximal strength or muscle size. Explosive strength, the ability to produce force quickly, is the exception. Its gains are a little smaller, and the cost shows up mainly when lifting and running share a session. With 3 hours or more between them, the loss is no longer clear.

That evidence comes from programs of about four to six sessions a week in total, lifting included, not from runners covering high weekly mileage. At high mileage, dose likely matters: older pooled data tie longer and more frequent endurance sessions to more interference. Keep lifting sessions short and focused rather than adding more of them.

What does lifting do for runners?

Lifting makes running cheaper: it improves running economy, the oxygen it costs you to hold a given pace, by 2 to 8% in most of the research on distance runners. Time trials from 1.5 to 10 km and sprint speed tend to improve too. VO2max and body composition usually stay the same, so the lifting does not bulk runners up. Two or three sessions a week that mix heavy lifts, explosive lifts and jumps are the usual recommendation.

Heavy lifting looks more effective than jump training for running economy and time trials. Loads of 90% of your one rep max or more did better for running economy than lighter ones. Programs of 10 to 14 weeks also did better than 6 to 8 weeks. Expect a season of steady lifting, not a few weeks, before it shows up in your running.

Do not count on lifting to prevent injuries. The programs tested in runners were mostly light bodyweight work, and they did not cut running injuries overall. Heavy lifting has barely been tested for this. Supervised programs did better, possibly because people completed more of their sessions, but the evidence is weak. Lift for economy and strength, and treat fewer injuries as a possible bonus.

How many days a week should runners lift?

Two days suit most runners. That is enough for heavy lower body lifting plus the single leg, calf and trunk work around it. Two sessions also fit beside three to five runs without adding a hard day. A third session fits in the base period, when running is mostly easy and you want more strength.

At peak mileage, one session a week may hold what you built. In younger adults, not athletes in heavy training, one weekly session of one set per exercise kept strength and muscle for up to 32 weeks. That held as long as the load stayed the same share of their max. Older lifters may need up to two sessions of two or three sets to keep muscle.

How do you schedule running and lifting in one week?

Two choices decide whether lifting helps your running or gets in its way.

Stack hard days. Put the heavy lower body session on the same day as a quality run, such as intervals or a tempo run. The day after can then be easy or off, and your easy runs stay easy. Spread lifting across your easy days and you have no easy days left.

Keep hours between them, and a full day before the next hard run. Lifting and aerobic work back to back gave smaller gains in squat and bench press strength than 6 or 24 hours apart. Aerobic fitness improved most with a full day between the two. Aim for at least 6 hours, such as morning and evening sessions. Lifting straight after the run is the fallback when the day allows only one trip.

	Same session	Same day, 6+ hours apart	Separate days
Strength gains	Smallest, especially explosive strength	Close to lifting alone for maximal strength	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 heavy lower body session is not the day before your long run or next quality session. Heavy squats and deadlifts can leave legs sore and slow for a day or two. That is why the weeks below keep a full day between the hard lift and the next hard run.

Should you run or lift first?

Run first if running is your priority, and lift first if strength is. In one session, whatever comes first gets the better quality. Lifting before endurance work gives larger gains in lower body lifts than the reverse order, with no difference in muscle size or aerobic fitness. A runner whose priority is the interval session should run first and accept a slightly smaller strength gain, because tired legs make intervals slower and less useful.

Sample running and strength training weekly schedules

These two weeks apply the rules above. Session lengths and paces depend on your training, so use the weeks to place sessions rather than as a prescription.

With three runs a week, two lifting sessions fit on three training days:

Example

1. Mon
   Rest
2. Tue
   Intervals or tempo run

   Lift A: lower body
3. Wed
   Rest
4. Thu
   Easy run

   Lift B: upper body, single leg, core
5. Fri
   Rest
6. Sat
   Long run
7. Sun
   Rest or easy cross training

Hard day Easy or light

With five runs a week, the same two lifting sessions fit on six training days. Tuesday and Saturday stay the only hard days:

Example

1. Mon
   Easy run
2. Tue
   Intervals or tempo run

   Lift A: lower body
3. Wed
   Easy run
4. Thu
   Easy run with strides
5. Fri
   Lift B: upper body, single leg, core
6. Sat
   Long run
7. Sun
   Rest

Hard day Easy or light

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 should a running and lifting program include?

Two lifting sessions cover what runners need: heavy lower body lifting for running economy, single leg and calf work, and enough upper body and trunk work to keep the program balanced. Here is one way to split that work:

Lift A: lower body, heavy

• Back squat or trap bar deadlift: 3 to 4 sets of 4 to 6 reps, moving to sets of 2 or 3 once the lift feels solid
• 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. Add weight over the first few weeks as the movements become familiar. Loads of 90% of your max or more, a weight you can lift 4 times or fewer, did more for running economy. Once the main lift feels solid, add weight and drop to sets of 2 or 3 reps to get there. Keep one or two reps in reserve on the main lifts, especially in the week of a key race or long run.

How should lifting change as your race gets closer?

The schedule does not need to stay fixed from January to race day. Here is 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 cut the lower body sets, since 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, and 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 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.

What if you are a lifter adding running?

The same rules apply in reverse: keep heavy lower body days away from your longest and hardest runs, and lift before you run when both happen in one session. Interference likely grows with how often and how long you run, so build running gradually. Two or three easy runs of 20 to 30 minutes a week are enough to start.

Cycling spares your legs the pounding. In older pooled data, running cut gains in strength and size and cycling did not. Newer pooled data show no difference between them. The guide to the hybrid athlete physique covers how much running a lifter can add before it costs muscle.

How do you know the combination is working?

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.

In the Help Center Start a program Schedule a coach built program for runners and triathletes, such as Run Strong, Runner’s Jumpstart or an 80/20 Endurance plan, on the training days you choose. Starting one needs Premium.

Sources

Other figures in this article come from:

• Interference and running volume: a meta analysis of 21 studies (Wilson and colleagues, 2012).
• Heavy lifting versus jump training, loads and program length: a meta analysis of 22 studies in long distance runners (Eihara and colleagues, 2022).
• Lifting before or after endurance work: a meta analysis of 10 studies on exercise order (Eddens and colleagues, 2018).
• Injury prevention: nine randomized trials with 1,904 runners (Wu and colleagues, 2024).
• Keeping strength with less lifting: a review of the minimum dose to maintain strength and endurance (Spiering and colleagues, 2021).