Stronger Miles: Why Strength Training is Your Running Superpower

Jolt Run Club fam, this one's for you.

If you ask a group of runners why they run, you'll hear about the "runner's high," the freedom, or that personal best they're chasing. Ask them about adding strength training, and you'll get a lot of excuses: "I don't want to get bulky," "I don't have time," or let's be real, ”I’m a runner, not a gym person."

We get it. You're not interested in the gym to build bigger muscles. You need to be there to build a more resilient, injury-proof version of yourself, so you can keep doing what you love for decades, not just seasons.

Here's the hard truth: If you only run, you're building a high-performance engine on a weak foundation. 

If you throw a ball against a brick wall, you can do it all day and the brick doesn’t wear down. If you throw a ball against a weak piece of paper, it eventually rips from the impact.

As a trainer, I see it all the time… The running obsessed are also the most injured and worn down demographic in the gym when first getting started. We understand how hard you work on your craft and the dedication it takes to run those kilometers. But, running on weak legs, frail bones, and stiff joints is a ticking time bomb. The good news is, the solution is simple: strength training.

And if you're training for a 5K, a Hyrox, an ultramarathon, or just want to run pain-free, strength training isn't optional. It's the foundation of everything. It’s building the brick wall foundation.

The Physics of Running: Why Runners Break (And How to Bulletproof Yourself)

Running is, at its core, a series of powerful hops. Every single stride lands with a force equal to ~3 times your body weight hitting the ground.

That's roughly 7,500 ground impacts in 8km.

And those impacts are highly repetitive in the same direction. You move primarily in the sagittal plane (forward and backward), which means certain muscles become "overactive" while others (those responsible for lateral stability and rotation) become weak and tight from disuse. Your strength training program should address all movement planes to ensure structural balance and ensure multi-planar stability. Consider adding: side planks, lateral lunges, windmills, and rotational bent over rows.

Without sufficient 360 degree muscle strength to absorb and stabilize that shock, the impact travels straight into your body's weakest links: tendons, ligaments, and bones. This is how the "Big Three" of running injuries happen: Shin Splints, IT Band Syndrome, Runner's Knee.

Strength training builds the armour that protects these vulnerable spots. It's injury prevention in its purest form.

Efficiency is How You Get Faster (And Stronger Legs Don't Slow You Down)

One of the biggest myths runners believe: strength training will make you heavy and slow. The opposite is true.

Tammy D., Ultramarathoner & Jolt Fam member

Beyond injury prevention, lifting heavy things is a direct lane to a faster finishing time. Strength training improves your neuromuscular coordination, teaching your brain to recruit more muscle fibres with every stride. When you build stronger glutes, hamstrings, and calves, you increase your propulsive force essentially giving you a bigger engine to push off the ground.

Strength training like Split Squats and Single Leg Deadlifts improve your running, by improving how much energy you use at a given pace. Think of your legs like springs. A stronger muscle is a stiffer, more responsive spring. When you build a solid foundation of strength, your body becomes more efficient at storing and releasing energy with every stride. 

When runners approach a hill, it’s easy to pick out which ones strength train and which one’s do not.

You're not just getting stronger; you're getting springier. You maintain faster paces with less effort. That's the real gain.

The Long Game: Running Strong for 40+ Years

We've all seen it… the runner who has to quit in their 40s because "their knees gave out." Usually, it wasn't the running that broke them. It was the combination of two things: sarcopenia (muscle loss that comes with age) and years of no preventative maintenance.

Resistance training is your insurance policy. It increases bone density, reinforces joint integrity, and ensures your body can handle the miles for decades. It keeps muscle on your body even when your timeline is telling your body otherwise.

Strength training provides the progressive loading necessary to trigger osteogenesis: the process of laying down new bone tissue. The key is: the loads have to be heavy! Your program should include low rep (3-5) and heavy loads to stimulate bone density. Never lifted weights before? Start with a personal trainer before stepping into heavy loaded barbells to ensure effectiveness is safe and progressive for your current fitness level.

By challenging your frame with squats, deadlifts and farmers carry, you create mechanical "stress" that signals your body to increase mineral density in critical areas like the hips and shins. This doesn't just make you more powerful; it builds a “structural integrity" that significantly lowers the risk of debilitating stress fractures, ensuring your bones are as resilient as your lungs.

This is about legacy. About building a body resilient enough to run well at any age.

The "Busy Runner's" Strength Foundation

We know you're busy. You've got one Run Club session a week (and maybe you’re mixing in intervals sprints too!), and that's non-negotiable time for you. So here's what matters: you don't need to live in the gym. One to two progressive resistance training sessions per week at 45-60 minutes each is enough to build the strength that transforms your running.

The key: these sessions need to be strategically designed for progressive overload, not generic gym workouts. At Jolt, our coaches understand running mechanics and anatomy. We coach everyone from recreational runners to Hyrox competitors to ultramarathoners. We know exactly which muscles stabilize your stride, which imbalances lead to injury, and how to build strength that translates to faster, longer, pain-free running.

That's the difference between picking things up and putting them down and strategically building a powerhouse body.

Real Community, Real Results: Meet Tammy

Tammy D. is a Run Club member who completed the Sulphur Springs 50km trail race. Her second attempt at this brutal ultramarathon distance. Her first try ended in disappointment. But instead of quitting, she committed to something bigger: proving to herself that she could do hard things.

For six months, Tammy trained 4 days a week running, plus multiple weekly sessions at Jolt for strength training, mobility, core work, yoga, and stretching. She ran through snow, sleet, wind, and rain. No missed sessions. No excuses.

Tammy realized early that on challenging terrain like the Niagara Escarpment's steep climbs, roots, and rocks, strength was her secret weapon.

"Every runner should strength train," Tammy says. "Jolt gave me the extra power I needed. The Lift classes helped me conquer the hills and keep my endurance. The core work stabilized me and prevented falls. The yoga gave me balance on technical terrain."

At 45km into the race, nausea hit hard. Tammy panicked. She'd hit 7 hours; was she strong enough to finish? Then she remembered a mantra: Adapt and Overcome. She ate, kept moving, and pushed up the final hill to the finish line, greeted by cheers from her Run Club friends.

That's not just a race result. That's resilience. And it's exactly what building strength, both physical and mental creates.

Your Next Step: Build a Stronger, More Resilient Version of You

Stop treating strength like a distraction from your running. Start treating it as the foundation of it.

You're already a runner. You already commit to your goals. Now it's time to add the one thing that will protect your body, improve your speed, and let you run stronger for decades.

We're inviting Run Club members to try our Unlimited Membership—full gym access plus group classes designed for strength, mobility, and resilience—for just $49+tax for two weeks. No long-term commitment. No pressure. Just two weeks to feel what strategic strength training does for your running.

You'll get access to coaches who understand running at every level, from 5k to Marathons. You'll join a community of athletes who are building stronger bodies together. And you'll learn exactly what Tammy discovered: that strength isn't about being a "gym person." It's about being the runner you want to be.

Ready to build a more resilient version of yourself? Start your 2-week Unlimited Trial today for $49+tax.

What part of your running feels like the weakest link right now: climbing hills, late-race fatigue, or that nagging ache that won't go away? Strength is the answer.

—Coach Siggy