I keep strength work and downhill running distinct when discussing preparation. Learning a lift in the gym doesn’t tell us how much descending belongs in your running programme. Those decisions need to remain connected to the running you’re preparing to do.

Start with your current terrain

Look back at the routes you’ve been using. Note whether descents are familiar, whether the terrain has changed recently and whether you noticed a difference in the sessions that followed.

Record the route, how the run went and any unusual difficulty in your next session or daily movement.

Record what changed without trying to diagnose the cause.

Establish a lifting baseline

In the gym, I start by considering your experience, equipment and current running work. A squat, a hip hinge or a calf raise could belong in that discussion, but an exercise name alone doesn’t give us a suitable starting load or amount of work.

If you’re new to lifting, the first task includes learning the movement and the equipment. If you already lift, I want to understand what you’ve been doing and how it has fitted the running.

Record the exercise variation, weight and repetitions, along with your response.

Keep the running decisions connected

Your running coach should guide changes to terrain, distance and pace. Tell them about new strength work, and tell your strength coach when the running changes.

Suppose you introduce a new hilly route and several unfamiliar exercises in the same week. If the following sessions feel different, it becomes harder to separate the possible explanations. I prefer changes that we can review clearly, with both parts of the programme visible.

That preference is a coaching decision. It doesn’t establish a fixed downhill schedule or a Comrades-specific lifting prescription.

Prepare a useful training summary

Before discussing strength preparation, gather your key running sessions, usual terrain, race calendar and lifting history. Include the equipment and time you have available.

Add brief observations about recent training changes.

Research and limitations

Research on repeated downhill running examines responses to controlled downhill sessions. That research setting is different from preparing an individual athlete for Comrades. The recording and planning suggestions here are coaching guidance, not a reproduction of a tested race-preparation protocol.

Discuss your strength preparation

If you’d like individual help with the gym work, tell me about your current running, terrain and lifting experience.

Apply for strength coaching

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This article provides general educational information, not individual training, medical or rehabilitation advice.

Discuss these movement options with your coach alongside your running plan. They are not a complete workout.

A squat pattern

A squat involves bending at the hips and knees and returning to standing. A squat to a box, a goblet squat holding a weight in front of you, and a barbell squat are different options to discuss.

The starting variation should let you practise the intended movement with control. Your stance, depth and load need to be considered together. If the movement is uncertain, get feedback before making it harder.

A hip hinge

A hip hinge involves moving through the hips, as in a Romanian deadlift. Learning it includes understanding where the movement comes from, how to hold the weight and where to end the range.

Technique feedback helps establish how you perform the hinge and which load suits you.

Supported single-leg work

A supported split squat or step-up offers another exercise option. Using a stable support is a deliberate setup choice when balance would otherwise dominate the task.

The height, range and resistance still need to fit the person doing the exercise. There’s no reason to choose a more complicated version simply because it looks more athletic.

Calf raises

A calf raise involves lifting and lowering the heels. The variation, support and resistance change the exercise you’re doing.

Use a setup you understand and can control. If calf work is part of treatment for a specific problem, keep its progression with the healthcare professional managing that care.

Choose movements for a clear purpose and allow time to practise.

What research can tell us

In a small trial involving middle-aged recreational runners, ten weeks of resistance or jumping-based training improved running economy, measured through oxygen cost, without a significant improvement in 5 km time. Twenty runners completed the intervention, and there was no running-only control group.

The resistance group used leg press, leg curl and calf-raise exercises. The study didn’t test this article’s exercise selection or a Comrades programme.

Record a repeatable session

Record the variation, load and completed repetitions. A repetition is one complete performance of an exercise; a set is a group of repetitions.

Include anything that made the movement difficult to repeat, and describe the running that followed. That gives a coach something specific to review before changing the exercise or adding more work.

Research and limitations

The linked trial provides context for discussing strength work. Exercise selection here is coaching guidance, and the research doesn’t establish the right starting exercises or dose for you.

Get help choosing and learning the lifts

Your application can include your lifting experience, available equipment and the kind of coaching support you want.

Apply for strength coaching

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This article provides general educational information, not individual training, medical or rehabilitation advice.

Include actual session times when planning where lifting fits.

Map the running first

Write down the long run, harder sessions and any planned races. Include the start times and the commitments that affect when you can lift.

The available interval helps with planning, but does not establish how much recovery you need.

Identify your priority running sessions with your running coach.

Choose a placement to assess

Suppose your harder run is on Wednesday morning and your long run is on Saturday. Monday and Thursday might be possible lifting slots to discuss. Whether they make sense depends on the planned gym work, your lifting experience and what you’ve observed in similar weeks.

A late Thursday session deserves particular attention if Saturday begins early. If that arrangement proves difficult, the review could involve its timing, the amount of lifting or both.

Another athlete might discuss placing running and lifting on the same day. That brings its own questions about session order and available time. I wouldn’t copy either arrangement without looking at the person and the work involved.

Review the following run

After lifting, record what happened in the next planned run. Include whether you completed the intended work and anything unusual about how you moved or felt.

One difficult session doesn’t establish its cause. A repeated pattern is useful information to discuss alongside the wider week, including sleep, work and changes in running.

If pain or a change in movement is affecting your training, seek appropriate clinical guidance. Rearranging the diary doesn’t establish what is causing a symptom.

Keep the plan manageable

Tell your coach if a proposed slot repeatedly fails because of work or family commitments. The plan needs that information before more exercises or sessions are added.

A short window also needs to include warming up, setting up and resting between sets. We can discuss which work matters most within that window rather than relying on you to rush through everything.

For your next review, send the running schedule with start times, possible lifting windows and brief notes on recent sessions. That is enough to make the scheduling conversation more specific.

Research and limitations

Research on strength training and running economy addresses a different question from deciding where your sessions belong. The examples above are coaching illustrations. They are not spacing rules established for masters Comrades runners.

Plan the strength work alongside your running

If scheduling is where you need help, describe your key runs and available lifting times in your application.

Apply for strength coaching

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This article provides general educational information, not individual training, medical or rehabilitation advice.

The first step is to compare the planned week with what you actually completed. That gives the discussion more context than the weight on the bar alone.

Notice what changed

Include changes in running distance, harder sessions, terrain and race plans. Work pressure, travel and disrupted sleep are also worth recording when they affect how the week went.

Keep the notes factual. A moved long run and a shortened gym visit tell me more than a general description of having a bad training week. You don’t need to decide which change caused which response.

Use a short review

I want to know what strength work you completed, whether the movements were consistent and how the following runs went. If you changed the planned work yourself, include that too.

The next decision could be to repeat the session, progress it or adjust it. Repeating work can be a deliberate choice when the surrounding running has changed. Equally, completing the listed repetitions doesn’t automatically settle the case for more weight.

If the current arrangement repeatedly clashes with important runs, possible changes include fewer sets, a different load or another placement. The choice needs to reflect what the review shows.

Give soreness some context

Soreness is worth reporting, but I don’t use it as the only measure of readiness. In a small downhill-running study, repeated sessions reduced quadriceps soreness without significantly changing the measured fatigue response to a standardised downhill bout. The participants were young, untrained adults, not masters Comrades runners.

That finding illustrates why different observations should not be treated as interchangeable. My practical approach is to consider soreness alongside completed work, movement and the running that followed.

Symptoms that concern you belong in a conversation with an appropriate healthcare professional. Training feedback helps me review the programme; it does not provide a diagnosis.

Keep the race calendar visible

Tell me when a race is added, moved or given a different priority. The strength plan needs to be reviewed with that information available.

If unfamiliar work is being considered close to an event, I want a clear reason for introducing it and an opportunity to assess your response. This article doesn’t specify a taper or a fixed point at which every runner should stop lifting.

Bring useful information

For the next review, record the running and strength work you completed, relevant changes and how the sessions went. Include the next important date in your race calendar.

Use that record to agree on the next adjustment and what to observe.

Research and limitations

The linked downhill study examined soreness and measured fatigue under laboratory conditions. The review process described here is my coaching approach, not a validated readiness test or clinical screening tool.

Have your strength work reviewed

If you want individual programming and feedback alongside your running, you can apply for coaching. I review applications personally before any enrolment decision.

Apply for individualised strength coaching

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This article provides general educational information, not individual training, medical or rehabilitation advice.

Before choosing strength exercises, look at the week they need to fit into. Your running, work, family and travel already place demands on the time available.

Put the fixed demands on one page

Write down the long run, harder sessions and other running you plan to do. Mark the sessions you and your running coach want to prioritise.

Add work hours, family commitments and any travel that limits your options. An early run followed by a long working day is different from a run followed by an open morning, even if the mileage is the same.

Be realistic about constraints so your coach can plan around them.

Account for the whole gym visit

An hour in the diary needs to cover more than the lifting. Include travel, changing, equipment setup, warming up and the return to your next commitment.

Consider when the gym is busy and whether the equipment you need is usually available. A plan that depends on walking straight to an empty rack may need a different time or arrangement.

Suppose Tuesday evenings are predictable but Thursday work often finishes late. I’d want to know that before building the strength week around Thursday. Another day, a different coaching format or suitable home equipment could be part of the discussion.

Tell your coach what changes

A calendar can change after the programme is written. A moved long run, travel or a missed session belongs in the next update.

A message such as “My 28km long run moved from Sunday to Saturday” gives a coach a concrete change to consider. It doesn’t establish that the strength session must move, but it makes a review possible.

Keep the training feedback equally specific. Record the sets, repetitions and weights completed, any changes you made, and how the following run went. A short note is enough when it describes what happened.

Choose support you can use

Some runners want programming and video feedback while training independently. Others want live video coaching or in-person appointments while learning and practising the lifts.

Compare online, live video and in-person coaching to find the support that fits your week.

A practical starting step

Sketch out your current week, including running, available equipment and the full windows you could give to lifting.

Then finish this sentence: “The hardest part of fitting strength training into my week is...”

Use that answer to start the coaching conversation.

Individual help with the strength plan

Apply for coaching. I review every application personally.

You can also read Chapter 1 of The Kench Method: The Mileage Trap.

The rack’s footprint is only one measurement. You also need room to load the bar, move a bench, perform the planned lifts and use the safety equipment.

Start with the planned lifts

Discuss the likely exercises with your coach before choosing a rack or bench. Squatting, pressing overhead and lifting from the floor make different demands on the space.

Write down the equipment each movement requires. For remote Barbell Empowered coaching, the listed equipment requirement includes a barbell, plates, a squat stand or rack, and a bench. Suitability still needs to be checked before enrolment.

Measure the working area

Use the actual dimensions and instructions for the equipment you’re considering. A general garage measurement or another person’s setup can’t establish the clearances required for yours.

Include:

• The rack, bar, bench and plate-storage footprint.
• Space at both ends of the bar for loading and unloading.
• Room to move into and out of position for the planned exercises.
• The working area needed for the safety equipment.

Check the manufacturer’s installation and clearance requirements. A drawing helps you identify questions; it doesn’t replace those requirements or a competent assessment of the space.

Check the surroundings

Consider the floor, ceiling and everything else that shares the room. The height available for an overhead movement needs to account for the person lifting and the loaded bar.

If floor loading, anchoring or the building structure is uncertain, obtain appropriate professional advice. Include lighting, ventilation, storage and access in the assessment, particularly where children or pets use the area.

Check equipment suitability

Check compatibility, load ratings, assembly instructions and safety arrangements for the complete setup. A rack and bar that each seem suitable on their own still need to work together.

For used equipment, establish its condition and whether essential parts or instructions are missing. If you can’t assess a component confidently, seek competent help before relying on it.

Fit home training into the week

Removing travel can make a training window more usable. The session still needs time for preparation, warm-up, lifting and rest between sets.

Keep the running schedule in the discussion. Having equipment nearby doesn’t decide when to use it or how much work belongs in that session.

Make a plan before buying

Draw the proposed layout using the exact equipment dimensions and required clearances. Mark it out in the room and identify anything that needs further assessment.

Bring that plan, the equipment specifications and your available training times to the coaching conversation. You can resolve the practical questions before committing to a purchase.

Discuss remote coaching

Describe your equipment and space when applying for remote coaching.

Apply for coaching

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Educational information only. It does not replace individual medical assessment or rehabilitation advice.

The three issues below are useful things to check in a training log. None can be diagnosed from seeing someone use a light weight or take a long rest.

A load without a clear purpose

A lighter load can be appropriate while learning a movement or following a particular instruction. The useful question is what that load is there to achieve and how its suitability will be reviewed.

Your programme should explain why work is repeated or weight is increased.

No progression decision

Progressive loading means gradually changing the training demand. That can involve the weight, number of repetitions, number of sets or exercise variation. A set is a group of repetitions of an exercise.

Review completed work and the surrounding running before deciding whether to repeat or adjust a session.

During a changing running block, holding the lifting steady can be appropriate. Progression need not mean more weight every workout.

Rest squeezed out of the session

If the available hour includes travel and changing, a session written for a full hour in the gym may leave you rushing. Rest between sets can become the first thing to disappear.

Tell your coach if that is happening. In my programming, rest is part of the session arrangement, so I want to know when it differs from what was planned.

The next decision might be to change the amount of work or the training window. I wouldn’t use how breathless you are at the end as the sole judgement of whether the session did its job.

Make the reasoning visible

These issues have something in common: the reason for the work has become unclear or the plan no longer matches the session you can complete.

It helps to distinguish the purpose of a programme from its label. A review of strength training and running economy examined different training methods; its findings don’t automatically apply to any session called strength training.

Review your recent sessions

Look back at the main exercises, loads, repetitions and rest arrangements. Note what changed and whether you understood why.

Take any unclear decisions to your coach, along with the running you completed. That gives the review a specific starting point without assuming the solution is simply to lift more.

Discuss your strength training

If you’d like individual programming and feedback, describe what you’re doing now and where you need help.

Apply for coaching

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• Plan a home barbell setup around the training
• Heavy resistance training for masters runners
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Educational information only. It does not replace individual medical assessment or rehabilitation advice.

There is research behind including resistance training in a runner’s preparation. Applying it means being clear about what was tested and avoiding promises the research didn’t make.

Running experience and lifting experience

Your running history matters when we plan the week. It doesn’t replace learning how to set up and perform a lift.

I use the term resistance training for exercise performed against a load, such as a barbell or machine. When discussing heavier work, I relate the load to the exercise and the person performing it. The word heavy by itself is not enough to prescribe a session.

What a training study can show

In a 2008 trial of 17 well-trained runners, the group adding heavy half-squat training for eight weeks improved running economy and treadmill time to exhaustion. Running economy describes the energy needed to run at a given pace. The study did not test a marathon result or The Kench Method.

A laboratory improvement does not predict your race-time improvement or prescribe your programme.

The wider literature includes a review of strength training in distance runners and a comparison of heavy resistance and plyometric training. Plyometric training involves jumping and related movements. These are distinct approaches, rather than interchangeable versions of a single workout.

What age tells us

The broad description masters runner covers people with very different training histories. I wouldn’t choose a starting load from your age alone.

Research populations also need checking. For example, this resistance-training review included adults aged 65 and older. Its findings should not be presented as if they directly describe every marathon runner over 40.

Choose a load you can learn with

My starting preference is work that lets me assess the movement and gives you something clear to practise. I don’t require a beginner to prove a maximum lift to justify starting strength training.

As we review the work, an adjustment might involve weight, repetitions or the exercise version. The reason for the change should be understandable to you.

Keep the running calendar in view

A research schedule is not automatically your schedule. Your long run, harder sessions, race dates and available time need to be part of deciding how lifting fits.

I review the amount of strength work alongside those demands. A fixed frequency or recovery interval can’t replace observing how the combined week is going.

Start with a clear record

Record what you lifted and how the planned work went. Add relevant changes in the running week and anything you need help understanding.

That gives us a way to discuss the next load in the context of your training, rather than treating heavy as a target detached from the exercise and the athlete.

Discuss an appropriate starting point

If you want coaching with the lifts and their place in your running week, you can apply for individual review.

Apply for coaching

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• Three strength-training mistakes worth checking
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Educational information only. It does not replace individual medical assessment or rehabilitation advice.

You don’t need specialist vocabulary to discuss those decisions. The five checks below give you a way to look beyond the exercise list.

1. A clear purpose

Establish what the current block is intended to do. Learning the main lifts, developing strength and organising familiar work during race preparation lead to different conversations.

The purpose should connect to the exercises and the way they’re prescribed. If the explanation is unclear, ask your coach to describe what they expect to review at the end of the block.

2. An explained amount of work

A session’s duration doesn’t explain the training by itself. Look at the exercises, weights, sets and repetitions, along with the rest and preparation time.

When I use the idea of a minimum effective dose, I mean looking for a manageable amount of work that serves the agreed purpose. It’s a coaching aim to review, not a scientifically established minimum that I can assign to every runner.

The research on different strength-training methods also needs to be read in relation to the programmes studied. A short workout doesn’t inherit those findings simply because it uses similar exercise names.

3. A progression plan

Check how the programme decides what happens next. It should be clear which information supports increasing the work and when repeating or reducing it is appropriate.

Adjustments should follow your completed lifting, technique feedback and running demands. Every session need not be harder.

4. Individual choices

Your lifting history, equipment and available time should be visible in the plan. So should any relevant limitations or instructions that need to be respected.

Individual coaching doesn’t require a different exercise for every person. It requires a reason for choosing that exercise, version and amount of work for you.

5. Running in the review

Make sure the strength coach knows about the long run, harder sessions and race calendar. Changes to those sessions are useful information even when your lifting numbers remain the same.

I also want to hear about sessions that didn’t happen as planned. A missed workout or a shortened visit helps explain the actual training week and gives us something concrete to review.

A question to bring to your coach

What adaptation is this programme designed to produce, and how do its load, progression and place in my running week deliver it?

Adaptation means the change training aims to develop. The answer should connect that goal to your work and review process.

Choose one unclear part of your current plan and start there. The conversation is easier when it concerns a specific exercise or decision.

Individual programming and review

If you’d like help with the strength side of your training, tell me about your current programme and the support you need.

Apply for coaching

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Educational information only. It does not replace individual medical assessment or rehabilitation advice.

If you’re combining work from different professionals, begin by clarifying those roles. My role is strength coaching. Clinical assessment, treatment and rehabilitation remain with appropriately qualified healthcare professionals.

Establish the purpose

Ask what the exercise is intended to do in your current plan. A clinician may have selected it for a particular rehabilitation goal. A strength coach may use a similar movement for a different training purpose.

That doesn’t make the two instructions interchangeable. The load, range, repetitions and criteria for progression belong to the reason the exercise was prescribed.

Understand lighter work

I wouldn’t judge the value of an exercise from the weight alone. A lighter movement could be there for practice, preparation or a specific clinical purpose.

Before changing it, establish the instruction behind it. If it came from a rehabilitation plan, ask the professional managing that plan how it should fit with other training. A general strength article can’t settle that decision for you.

Keep injury claims specific

Evidence needs to stay attached to the programme and population studied. In a 24-week trial of novice recreational runners, a physiotherapist-supervised hip-and-core programme reduced lower-extremity injury incidence relative to a stretching control. A separate ankle-and-foot programme did not produce the same benefit.

That does not establish that barbell coaching prevents injuries in masters marathon or ultra runners. The study tested particular programmes with novice runners, not this coaching service.

The often-cited review of sports-injury prevention programmes is also broader than the individual runner in front of a coach. I don’t use either source to promise that you’ll remain injury-free.

Agree who guides progression

If an exercise is part of treatment, keep its progression under the guidance of the clinician responsible for it. Make sure the strength coach knows about any instructions that affect the gym programme, through the appropriate agreed channel.

For the strength work I coach, I review what you completed and how it fits the surrounding training. That review doesn’t authorise me to diagnose a symptom or override clinical guidance.

Clarify what you need

If you’re unsure why an exercise is in your plan, ask the person who prescribed it to explain its purpose and review criteria. If a symptom is affecting your training, seek appropriate clinical assessment rather than choosing a heavier or lighter exercise from an article.

Keep the roles visible

For each part of your programme, know what it is intended to do and who is guiding changes. That is a more useful starting point than deciding whether an exercise belongs under the label prehab or strength.

Discuss strength-coaching suitability

You can apply to discuss strength coaching alongside your running. Keep medical records and injury diagnoses out of the initial application form; any required screening is handled separately.

Apply for coaching

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Educational information only. It does not replace individual medical assessment or rehabilitation advice.

I’d begin with a manageable selection of exercises and enough support to understand them. The first task is to establish a useful starting point for coaching and review.

Begin with your training context

Bring your running schedule and race calendar into the conversation. Include available gym time, equipment and any previous lifting experience.

Tell your coach what kind of support you need. Reading a programme, recording a lift for feedback and being coached live are different arrangements. The format needs to work for you before the exercise plan becomes useful.

Choose a manageable exercise selection

My coaching often uses squats, deadlifts and presses. The Big Four named in The Kench Method are the back squat, deadlift, overhead press and bench press. That describes four lifts across the framework, not four compulsory exercises in every session.

The starting variation and amount of work depend on the athlete. There may be a movement to learn before a particular barbell lift is appropriate, or equipment limitations to resolve before it can be included.

Learn the setup and movement

Understand how the equipment is arranged, how to begin and end the lift, and how its safety provisions are used. Get coaching on any part you’re unsure about.

Keep a record of the exercise, weight and work completed. A repetition is one complete performance of the movement; a set is a group of repetitions. Those details help make feedback and the next session more specific.

Keep expectations specific

Research and personal expectations need to be kept in proportion. A review of strength training in distance runners covers varied programmes and participants. It does not establish a promised result for your next marathon.

For the first sessions, I focus the discussion on learning the lifts and establishing work we can review. Race-performance claims don’t replace those immediate tasks.

Review before progressing

Before changing the load, I consider the completed work, movement feedback and surrounding running. I want to know about a changed long run or a difficult training window as well as the gym session itself.

Repeating the planned work can be appropriate while you practise or while other demands change. Progression should have a reason you understand; it doesn’t need to be forced into every session.

Common concerns

Will lifting make me bulky?

Tell me if changes in body size are a concern. The goal of this coaching is strength work alongside your running, and the programme should reflect that goal. I don’t promise that your body weight or appearance will stay unchanged.

Am I too old to begin?

I wouldn’t decide suitability from your age alone. Your experience, circumstances and any health considerations need individual review. Where clinical input is needed, that comes from an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.

Do I need two sessions every week?

Two sessions are a starting framework described in The Kench Method. They aren’t a universal requirement or a guarantee that a particular schedule will suit you. We need to consider the work, the running week and the support available before agreeing the arrangement.

Your first decision

Identify the training windows and equipment you could use, then decide what help you need to learn the lifts. You don’t need a target deadlift before that conversation.

Get support with the first steps

If you’re new to lifting, say so in your application. I’ll review your experience and support needs when considering whether the coaching fits.

Apply for coaching

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Educational information only. It does not replace individual medical assessment or rehabilitation advice.