Most runners deal with pain or injury at some point in their career. Running is an excellent form of exercise, but if you aren't smart about your training you can get sidelined pretty easily. A relatively small amount of strength training can go a long way towards keeping you healthy and helping you run better. Keep reading to learn how to prevent running injuries with these three exercises. 

Why Strength Training Can Prevent Running Injuries

Simply put, more strength means better running performance and fewer injuries. 

Some runners think strength training isn't necessary, or is even detrimental to running performance. We are here to tell you that strength training is often the missing piece for runners who can't stay healthy or are noticing a stall in progress. 

We're not saying you need to train 5-6 times per week and spend tons of time on this. Strength training sessions specific to running done 2-3x/week for 30-60 minutes are incredibly effective and efficient. 

To prevent injury and run better, you need to be stronger and more resilient. The best way to do this is to use external load (weights) to force your body to adapt and get stronger. This results in better stress tolerance for muscles, tendons, joints and other tissues in your body. It also means you can create more force when you run, which means you are faster. 

Exercises To Prevent Running Injuries

These three exercises are great for preventing running injuries. They focus on some of the most important movement patterns and muscles for runners and they are very efficient. When you do these exercises, you train multiple qualities at the same time. 

For runners, we care the most about:

• core strength and stability

• hip strength and stability, especially in the frontal plane (side to side)

• knee and quad strength and resilience

• calf and achilles strength and resilience

• general single leg stability 

The three exercises below hit all of these areas and are great choices to include in your training. Give them a try and reach out with any questions! 

Exercises For Running Injury Prevention: Single Leg Stability

Great Combo Exercise For Running Injury Prevention

Core Strength For Running Injury Prevention

Physical Therapy for Running Injuries in Lakeville, Massachusetts 

The newest addition to our staff, Dr. Sam Olsen DPT specializes in Physical Therapy for runners, triathletes and other endurance athletes. 

If you’re a runner struggling with injury or performance issues, you don’t have to!

Check out our services for runners and contact us to get on a custom program so you can get back to running your best.

Also, join our awesome running club The Resilient Run Club for group runs, strength training, runner's workshops and more!