If you participate in running, climbing, or any outdoor or endurance sport, you’ve likely heard the advice at some point or another: “You should do more strength training!”

It’s true that strength training delivers myriad benefits, including benefits to the health of our bones, tendons, and other tissues.

But as with any widely-touted statement, it’s worth digging deeper on what’s actually going on here. Does strength training directly translate into making you a better runner, climber, swimmer, cyclist… etc?

Possibly - but the fuller explanation may be more nuanced than that.

Current research does show a link between strength training and sports performance.⁶ It’s easy to imagine how this would hold true for field sports, where greater strength and power will benefit an athlete when they need to rapidly change direction, quickly accelerate after an opponent, or kick or throw a ball with more force.

But what about endurance sports? In the world of running research, strength training - particularly heavy strength training (with fewer reps and more resistance) - has been associated with improved running economy and time trial performance.¹ ² ⁸ Not only that, these improvements have been seen across moderately- to highly-trained runners, “suggesting runners of any training status can benefit from strength training.”²

In rock climbers, the addition of climbing-specific resistance training has been shown to increase climbing-specific finger strength and endurance⁷, as well as climbing performance.³

However, it’s also important to consider that there is a skill element to every sport - and increases in strength and power are not always going to directly translate to those sport-specific skills.⁶ If you’re a runner or cyclist, strength training is not going to improve your VO2 max, and strength changes don’t necessarily translate to changes in biomechanics. If you’re a climber, strength training is not going to improve your ability to read a route or problem-solve when on the wall.

To improve the primary skills of your sport, it takes more time practicing those primary skills.

And… this is where another indirect benefit of strength training may actually come into play.

Strength training has been associated with reducing injury rates and improving tissue capacity in a variety of sports.⁴ ⁵

Anyone who’s ever had their training plan disrupted by injury knows how hard it can be to see improvements when that injury stops you from stringing together enough solid training sessions.

By increasing the capacity of work that your muscles and other tissues can handle, strength training may allow you to practice your sport for longer and at higher intensities before running into fatigue or injury… which in turn means that you can improve at your sport through more practice.

The last important thing to remember about the potential benefit from strength training?

It takes time.

The benefits of strength training may not be immediately evident over the course of a few weeks.² But over the course of months and years, those gains can really stack up to create a more resilient version of you.

Citations:

1. Blagrove BC, Howaston, G, Hayes, PR (2018). Effects of strength training of the physiological determinants of middle- and long-distance running performance: A systematic review. Sports Med, 48:1117-1149.

2. Eihara Y, Takao K, Sugiyama T, Maeo S, Terada M, Kanehisa H, Isaka T (2022). Heavy resistance training versus plyometric training for improving running economy and running time trial performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 8:138.

3. Langer K, Simon C, Wiemeyer J (2023). Strength training in climbing: A systematic review. J Strength Cond Res, 37(3):751-767.

4. Lauersen JB, Bertelsen DM, ANdersen LB (2014). The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Br J Sports Med, 48:871-877.

5. Lauersen JB, Andersen TE, Andersen LB (2018). Strength training as superior, dose-dependent and safe prevention of acute and overuse sports injuries: a systematic review, qualitative analysis and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med, 52:1557-1563.

6. McGuigan MR, Wright GA, Fleck SJ (2012). Strength training for athletes: Does it really help sports performance? International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 7:2-5.

7. Stien N, Riiser A, Shaw MP, Saeterbakken AH, Andersen V (2023). Effects of climbing- and resistance-training on climbing-specific performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Biol Sport, 40(1):179-191.

8. Trowell D, Vicenzino B, Saunders N, Fox A, Bonacci J (2020). Effect of strength training on biomechanical and neuromuscular variables in distance runners: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Med, 50:133-150.