How Endurance Athletes Should Build Strength Training Around Their Base-Building Block

Most endurance athletes do one of two things with strength training during base-building: skip it entirely, or bolt on a random gym session with no real link to what the aerobic phase is actually trying to achieve.

Properly programmed strength work improves running and cycling economy – the energy cost of holding a given pace or power. It builds the tissue capacity and resilience that protect you before volume ramps up in spring. And done right, it complements a low-intensity aerobic focus instead of competing with it.

How to structure it. Two to three sessions a week is enough – more than that starts to compete meaningfully with recovery. Full-body, compound-movement focused: squats, hinges and upper body pulling and pushing. Single leg work can also be a good complement as the plan progresses.

If you read my off-season golf blog, then this is a similar structure – 2-3 full-body strength sessions a week, starting with a foundational stage where we look to develop a strength base, before progressing across each exercise and then leading into more specificity once the body is primed and ready to absorb another impetus.

Each full-body session would look to incorporate at least one of each compound lifts – e.g., back (or front) barbell squat (squat), Romanian deadlifts (hinge), shoulder press (push) and lat pulldown (pull). Load and reps sit in a moderate strength-endurance range to start with – typically 3 sets of 8-10 – and this will develop as the plan progresses. Experienced lifters can push weight slightly higher and reps slightly lower (e.g., 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps).

Single leg and core work will benefit all endurance athletes, and often shows more clearly where any potential imbalances or injury risks lie. Try a single-leg Romanian deadlift or change up the squat to be a dumbbell step-up and that may give you an example of how different a side could be and where some focus may be required.

As the base phase progresses, we’re looking to achieve consistency, with load increasing as required once technique is solid. This being said, proper technique is essential before any increase in weight is targeted, otherwise there will be a heightened risk of injury (and a likely lower level of performance in the gym).

Timing matters as much as the numbers. Schedule strength sessions the day after a rest day or on an easy day, never squeezed in before a key aerobic session – the order protects the quality of both.

A sample week for a runner or cyclist: most days cover easy aerobic volume, with one or two harder sessions, and two to three strength sessions slotted in on easier days. A standard gym set-up works well here, but the same sessions scale to dumbbells, resistance bands, or bodyweight if you’re training at home or on the road. If life throws something up, it’s also best to reduce the overall session time rather than skipping strength (from both a progression and consistency / habit standpoint).

If you’re newer to structured strength training, it’s worth starting at a lighter load than feels necessary and prioritising technique over the numbers on the bar for the first few weeks – the base-building phase is a low-pressure time to build that competency, well before race-specific training adds more fatigue into the mix, and it’s worth filming a set or two on your phone to self-check form, particularly on the hinge pattern, where most technique errors happen.

Triathletes juggling three disciplines have it slightly harder, simply because there are more sessions competing for the same strength-training slots. In practice this can mean accepting two strength sessions rather than three, and being especially disciplined about placing them on genuinely easy days rather than trying to find room around an already full swim-bike-run week.

Get the strength addition right during base-building and you’re not just protecting yourself from injury later in the season – you’re actively building the economy that makes every future session more effective. If you’re not sure how to fit this around your specific training load, get in touch and we’ll build it together.