RESEARCH: Studies from 3 to 9 Aug 2026

Research reviewed:

1. Resistance training’s effects in highly trained runners

2. Carbohydrate supplementation during a simulated open-water swim race

3. Pacing strategies in a mass-participation Gran Fondo cycling

4. Inter-set palm cooling during resistance training

5. Chronic lactate supplementation and high-intensity exercise buffering capacity

Study date: Nov 2008

Competitive endurance runners have long assumed that combining resistance training with their running programme improves race performance, despite limited supporting research at the time. In this review, the authors set out to “search the body of scientific literature for original research addressing the effects of concurrent resistance and endurance training (CT) on distance running performance in highly competitive endurance runners”.

REVIEW DETAILS

1. Databases were searched through April 2007 for studies combining resistance and endurance training in competitive distance runners, using keywords including “running,” “strength training,” “performance,” and “endurance.”

2. 5 studies met inclusion criteria: participants logging at least 30 miles per week, interventions lasting at least 6 weeks, race distances between 3km and 42.2km, and a PEDro methodological quality score of at least 5 out of 10.

3. Four of the five included studies used sport-specific explosive resistance training; one used traditional heavy-load lifting.

KEY RESULTS

1. Two of the five studies found improved race performance, averaging 2.9%, over 3km and 5km distances following resistance training.

2. All five included studies found improved running economy, averaging a 4.6% improvement (range 3-8.1%).

3. This running economy benefit appeared regardless of resistance training type: it emerged in the four studies using explosive, sport-specific training and the one study using traditional heavy-load training.

AUTHORS’ CONCLUSION

• Resistance training likely has a positive effect on endurance running performance or running economy.

• Coaches should consider implementing periodised combined training programmes despite variability in study duration and design across the evidence base.

RESULT CONFIDENCE

• This review is now nearly two decades old, so more recent, larger-scale evidence should be weighed alongside it rather than read in isolation. There will be more to come on this topic in future newsletters.

PRACTICAL TAKEAWAY

This review showed that combining resistance training with endurance training improves running economy in competitive distance runners, and may modestly improve race performance over 3-5km distances, without needing to sacrifice a runner’s aerobic training base.

My recommendation for distance runners is to include regular resistance training rather than treating it as optional or a strength-only pursuit. Even a modest, well-integrated programme appears to support running economy, which is one of the most trainable determinants of performance at a given aerobic capacity.

This early, cautious 2008 conclusion has since been confirmed and considerably extended by a much larger evidence base. Other research shows high-load, submaximal, plyometric and combined resistance training methods all improve middle- and long-distance running performance without changing VO2 Max, across a meta-analysis of 894 runners. This research clarifies that the benefit runs through neuromuscular and running economy pathways rather than aerobic capacity.

RELATED RESEARCH

• Study archive: STRENGTH

• Effects of running-specific strength training, endurance training, and concurrent training on recreational endurance athletes’ performance and selected anthropometric parameters

• Resistance training for middle-aged runners