The Four Lifts Every Runner Should Do (With Sets & Reps)

Runners don't need a bodybuilding-style split with twelve exercises a session. What moves the needle is a small number of well-chosen, heavy compound lifts performed consistently over months. These four cover hip extension, single-leg strength, posterior chain resilience and calf/ankle stiffness — the areas most closely tied to running economy and injury prevention.

Programme these across two sessions a week (roughly 30–40 minutes each), always with a proper warm-up, and always leaving one or two reps in reserve on your heaviest sets — you're training for stiffness and power, not chasing a one-rep max.

The squat builds raw leg strength and improves your ability to produce force through the hips and knees — directly relevant to stride power and hill running.

• Sets/reps: 3–4 sets of 5 reps, heavy but controlled
• Beginners: start with a goblet squat (holding a kettlebell or dumbbell at the chest) for 3 sets of 8, focusing on depth and control before adding a barbell
• Coaching cue: drive through the whole foot, keep your chest tall, and control the lowering phase — don't just drop into the bottom

This is the single best exercise for hamstring and glute strength in runners, and it directly targets the posterior chain that drives you forward with every stride.

• Sets/reps: 3 sets of 6–8 reps
• Coaching cue: hinge at the hips rather than squatting down — keep a soft knee bend and feel the stretch through the hamstrings before driving the hips forward to stand
• This lift is one of the most protective exercises against hamstring strains and lower-back niggles in runners

Running is a single-leg sport — you're never standing on two feet when it counts. Single-leg strength work builds the stability and power you actually use on the road, and it exposes (and fixes) side-to-side imbalances that double-leg lifts can hide.

• Sets/reps: 3 sets of 6–8 reps per leg
• Coaching cue: control the descent, keep the front knee tracking over the foot, and resist the urge to lean forward — this is a fantastic exercise for addressing runner's knee and ITB issues when programmed progressively

Calves and the Achilles tendon absorb enormous forces with every footstrike — often several times bodyweight. Neglected calf strength is one of the most common reasons runners develop Achilles tendinopathy or plantar fasciitis.

• Sets/reps: 3 sets of 10–12, both straight-leg (gastrocnemius bias) and bent-knee (soleus bias) variations
• Coaching cue: full range of motion — rise all the way up onto the toes, then lower slowly below the level of the step for a full stretch
• Progress load gradually; this is a tendon, not just a muscle, and it adapts more slowly

A simple two-day-a-week template:

• Day 1: Back Squat, Romanian Deadlift, straight-leg calf raise
• Day 2: Single-leg step-up, Romanian Deadlift or hip thrust variation, bent-knee calf raise

Keep sessions to 30–40 minutes, always warm up with dynamic mobility work, and review your loading every 2–3 weeks. If you're building toward a specific race, see our parkrun PB 8-week plan for how these lifts slot into a race-focused block, or our guide on lifting through a marathon build if you're training for something longer. If you'd rather have this tailored and coached in person, that's exactly what our running strength coaching programme is built for — book a free call and we'll talk through where you're starting from.