Strength Training to Become a Faster Runner in 2026

The 2025 racing calendar is coming to a close, but another season is just around the corner. After a short break to recover from months of uninterrupted training, you’re going to start your build for the 2026 season, and something you should include in your training schedule is strength work.

You should mix in strength training all year long, but with three sports to worry about, it can be tough to convince yourself to add time in the gym, too. Thanks to a lighter schedule as you work into a new year, the off-season is the perfect time to develop the good habit of including strength training in your weekly plans.

To get you started, Slowtwtich spoke with Jon-Erik Kawamoto, a strength and conditioning specialist from St. John’s, Newfoundland. Kawamoto gave a running-specific workout that will help you prepare your body for another season of wear and tear, and it’s a circuit that can be performed at the gym or at home. You can complete these exercises in a circuit, running it three to five times through at eight to 12 reps each.

Romanian Deadlifts

“Typically we could go one of two ways,” says Kawamoto, who owns and operates the St. John’s-based gym JKConditioning. “We could include some bilateral exercises or we can just totally focus on unilateral.”

Kawamoto says to start things off with a deadlift. What type depends on your focus, but he lays out either option.

“We would go single-leg Romanian deadlift, where we’re holding either a dumbbell in one hand or dumbbells in both hands,” he says. This is the unilateral option.

To perform a single-leg Romanian deadlift, stand with your feet hip-width apart and your toes pointed forward. If you choose to use just one dumbbell for this exercise, Kawamoto says to hold it in the hand opposite the leg that you’re raising. Hinge at the hips, bend forward and send one leg backward while keeping the opposite leg only slightly bent.

Be sure to keep your back straight as you lean toward the floor with your dumbbell(s), then slowly return back to your starting position before repeating the process. Perform 10 to 12 reps per leg, being sure not to rush at any point.

If you want to do the bilateral deadlift, you’ll keep both feet planted. Same as the single-leg option, hinge at the hips, bend your knees slightly and slowly lower the weight to the floor in front of you. In both the unilateral and bilateral methods, you need to make sure to engage your core throughout the entire movement.

Goblet and Split Squats

Moving on to your next exercise, you’ll perform either goblet (bilateral) or split (unilateral) squats. For goblet squats, you’ll hold your weight (a dumbbell or kettlebell) in both hands at chest level. From there, squat down, being sure to keep your back straight and core engaged while sending your hips backward.

If you’re taking the unilateral route, the split squat — which Kawamoto notes is just an “in-place lunge” — is a great option. Start with your feet shoulder-width apart and pointing forward. Step one foot forward, keeping both heels on the ground, then bend both knees, putting your weight on your front leg. At this point, you can raise your rear heel off the ground. Lower yourself until your front thigh and rear shin are both parallel to the ground, and after a short pause, drive upward to your starting position.

For both of these exercises, do eight to 12 reps (on both legs if you go unilateral).

Glute Bridges

“From there, I would ensure that there are glute-focused exercises,” Kawamoto says. First up is a single-leg glute bridge, where you’ll start flat on your back with your knees bent. By engaging your glutes, lift your hips so that your torso, hips, and thighs form a straight line, then raise one leg, essentially lengthening that line even more.

“The goal here is to not let the opposite hip drop on the side where the foot is lifted,” Kawamoto says. “That shows good glute control.”

Kawamoto says some people “feel a bit too much in the hamstrings” with this exercise, which is when he recommends the two-legged option.

“If you’re getting hamstring cramps with that and it’s too demanding, then we would do just a bilateral glute bridge where we don’t do a leg lift,” he says. He adds that it’s helpful to put a band around your lower-thighs (just above the knee) if choosing the bilateral option, then performing isometric clamshells (opening and closing your legs with the resistance of the band) while holding the bridge.

“Both versions are good,” Kawamoto says. “It just depends again on the individual and if they really cramp in their hamstrings or not.”

Side-Plank

He says “Another sort of core hip combo” that he recommends is a side-plank clamshell.

“So you do a side-plank from your knees with them bent,” Kawamoto says. “Then once you lift your hips up, you do a clamshell at the same time.”

He says “you don’t typically need a band” for this initially, but as you get stronger, you may want to add one in (once again just above your knees) to make things more difficult.

Same as the others, perform eight to 12 reps for this exercise.

Calf Raises

“Definitely one more I would hit would be some type of calf raise,” Kawamoto says. “So, there’s obviously straight-leg calf-raises, which you can do bilaterally or unilaterally.” Find a raised surface (a step works), rest the balls of your feet (or foot if you’re doing a single-leg raise) on the edge and lift yourself upward. Allow your heel to dip below the edge of the surface with each rep before driving back upward.

“Another good one is to do a calf raise bilaterally, but while you squeeze a ball between the rear foot, just behind the ankle,” he says. Kawamoto recommends a ball or object around the size of a softball for this.

“What you do is you do a straight-leg calf raise and at the top, you’re squeezing your heels into that ball, which inverts the rear foot and creates a larger demand to the tibialis posterior,” he says. The tibialis posterior is a deep muscle that runs down the inner shin.

Once more, eight to 12 reps (per leg or on both legs) per round for this exercise.

Hitting the Core

No strength routine can be complete without some core exercises, and Kawamoto of course has a recommendation: the dead bug.

“This is an anterior core exercise where you’re on your back and you have your knees bent toward your chest,” he says. “You need to imprint your lower back to the floor, then you move one leg away from your body.”

Kawamoto says this movement will make your back “want to lift off the floor,” which is where your abs come into play as you engage your core to keep your back flush to the ground.

“If you want to amp it up a little, squeeze an exercise ball between the top of the thighs and your hands so the ball is placed above your sternum,” he says. “That added squeeze to the ball recruits the ab muscles before you even lower your legs.”

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