A recent paper published in Exercise and Sport Movement titled The Health Benefits of Resistance Exercise: Beyond Hypertrophy and Big Weights highlights an important and often overlooked issue in public health and fitness (Abou Sawan et al., 2022).
Current physical activity guidelines prioritize aerobic training, with recommendations of approximately 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise per week. Resistance training is typically positioned as a secondary activity, with a minimal recommendation of two sessions per week. The authors argue that this framing significantly underestimates the role of resistance training in long-term health and performance.
The evidence suggests that resistance training can elicit many of the same health benefits as aerobic training. When combined, aerobic and resistance training produce superior outcomes compared to performing either alone.
Despite this, resistance training participation remains low. Data cited by Dr. Stuart Phillips suggests that only about five percent of Canadians engage in consistent resistance training. This gap is not limited to sedentary populations. Even endurance athletes frequently deprioritize strength training due to time constraints, recovery concerns, or uncertainty around how to integrate it without negatively impacting their sport-specific training.
Research Highlight
Resistance training is associated with reductions in all-cause mortality comparable to aerobic training, despite receiving far less emphasis in public guidelines.
Why Endurance Athletes Often Avoid Resistance Training
Resistance training is rarely avoided due to lack of benefit. It is avoided due to perceived barriers.
Fear of Injury or Interference With Training
Many endurance athletes worry that resistance training will increase injury risk, cause excessive soreness, or interfere with run and ride quality. When appropriately prescribed, resistance training improves tissue tolerance, joint stability, and movement efficiency, which supports rather than compromises endurance training.
Perceived Time Constraints
Between run volume, bike volume, and recovery, strength work is often the first thing removed. In reality, effective resistance training does not require long sessions or high frequency to deliver meaningful returns for endurance athletes.
Misunderstanding Its Role
Resistance training is often viewed as optional or aesthetic-focused. For endurance athletes, its primary value lies in improving force production, fatigue resistance, and durability across long training cycles and race seasons.
Why Resistance Training Becomes More Important With Age for Endurance Athletes
Resistance training addresses physiological changes that aerobic training alone does not.
Bone Density
Mechanical loading through resistance exercise helps maintain bone density, particularly important for athletes exposed to repetitive, low-impact loading such as cycling.
Muscle Mass and Strength
Age-related muscle loss affects power output, climbing ability, running economy, and fatigue resistance. Resistance training is the most effective tool to preserve and rebuild this capacity.
Metabolic Health
Resistance training improves insulin sensitivity and glucose regulation, supporting energy availability and recovery during high training loads.
Fundamental Movement Patterns Matter
Effective resistance training for endurance athletes does not require complex programming. It requires competency in fundamental movement patterns that support sport demands.
- Hip hinge: force production and posterior-chain strength
- Squat: lower-body strength and joint coordination
- Lunge: single-leg stability and gait mechanics
- Push: upper-body strength balance
- Pull: postural support and shoulder integrity
- Loaded carry: trunk stability and whole-body integration
Training these patterns improves movement efficiency, resilience, and transfer to sport-specific tasks.
Consistency Over Complexity
Resistance training does not need to be elaborate to be effective.
A well-designed program performed two times per week, lasting 30 to 45 minutes per session, is sufficient to support endurance performance when applied consistently.
When properly dosed, resistance training supports force production, improves fatigue resistance, and reduces injury risk without compromising aerobic adaptations.
Health Benefits Beyond Muscle Size
Resistance training provides adaptations that directly support endurance athletes across the lifespan.
With as little as one to two sessions per week, resistance training has been associated with improvements in:
- Movement quality and joint control
- Fall and injury risk reduction
- Cognitive function
- Metabolic health
- All-cause mortality risk
These outcomes become increasingly relevant for masters athletes training year over year.
Research Highlight
Low volumes of resistance training are sufficient. Measurable benefits have been observed with as little as one to two sessions per week.
A Simple, Sustainable Starting Framework
This framework is designed for runners, cyclists, and multi-sport athletes who already train consistently but have deprioritized resistance training. It emphasizes fundamental movement patterns, controlled intensity, and recovery compatibility. The goal is durability and performance support, not training exhaustion.
Frequency:
Two sessions per week, spaced by at least 48 hours.
Warm-up:
Five minutes of light movement and unloaded versions of the exercises.
Exercises:
- Romanian deadlift
- Goblet squat
- Reverse lunge
- Bent-over dumbbell row
- Push-ups
- Farmer’s carry
Progression example:
- Week 1: 1 set of 10–15 reps
- Week 2: 2 sets
- Week 3: 3 sets if tolerated
- Week 4: Increase load, reps, or sets conservatively
Rest 30–60 seconds between sets. Use controlled tempos. Select loads that maintain technique and leave several repetitions in reserve (RIR). Download my RPE/RIR PDF to help guide your intensity.
Load progression is only one method of increasing training stress. Repetitions, sets, and rest intervals can also be adjusted based on the current endurance training phase.
If you prefer following a video-based session, you can use the workout below as an optional example.
- Newer athletes can complete one round with light loads, 2–3 times per week, before progressing.
- More experienced athletes can follow the full session and increase load gradually by 3–5 percent as tolerated.
Individualization and Adaptation
Exercise selection should never provoke pain. Movements can be modified or substituted based on sport demands, injury history, and available equipment. There is no single correct exercise, only appropriate patterns.
Intensity should be guided by perceived effort and technical quality, not maximal loading.
Final Takeaway
Resistance training does not require heavy weights or bodybuilding-style programming to benefit endurance athletes. Its value lies in supporting force production, durability, metabolic health, and long-term performance.
When paired with aerobic training, resistance training forms a complete and evidence-based approach to training across the lifespan.
Research Highlight
Combining aerobic and resistance training produces superior health outcomes compared to performing either modality in isolation.
Want to Put This Into Practice?
If you are ready to integrate resistance training into your endurance routine, you can start with my Muscle Up Program for Endurance Athletes.
This is a free, structured program designed specifically for runners, cyclists, and multi-sport athletes who want to build strength, durability, and resilience without compromising aerobic training.
The program focuses on:
- Fundamental movement patterns
- Efficient, time-conscious sessions
- Strength that supports endurance performance and longevity
You can access the program here:
https://gofitlife.ca/muscle-up-challenge/
Resource:
Abou Sawan, S., Nunes, E. A., Lim, C., McKendry, J., & Phillips, S. M. (2022). The health benefits of resistance exercise: Beyond hypertrophy and big weights. Exercise, Sport and Movement, 1(1), e00001. https://doi.org/10.1249/esm.0000000000000001
