Try These Bodyweight Exercises to Jump-Start Your Strength Routine
Meet the moves that strengthen all the right running muscles—no equipment necessary.
As a runner, you can gain plenty of benefits from adding bodyweight exercises to your schedule. Not only do no-equipment moves mean you can get in a strength workout anywhere, but these exercises also help improve your range motion, build strength, boost cardio, Health & Injuries or explosive movements, to your routine. You can add them to any exercise, but moves like the air.
“Bodyweight workouts are good because it gives you a moment to use your own body, get acquainted, have body awareness, and work on your mechanics before you actually load yourself up with weight,” Natalie Johnston, owner of Run F.I.T dumbbells or kettlebells Runner’s World. Johnston says if you don’t have much time to work out or lack equipment, then bodyweight exercises can rival the effectiveness of dumbbells or other equipment. You just need the right moves and a few solid strategies for progressing each exercise.
The Secret to Speed Is in Your Blood posture Consider adding an and it can be particularly helpful for runners when tackling, core, and upper body so you can create one total-body program. What’s more? Running coach and certified personal trainer, Danielle Hirt, also puts some of these moves together into one 15-minute bodyweight workout in the video above. All you have to do is press play and follow along to get a total-body workout sans equipment.
For those using the list below, try incorporating five or more of the exercises into your workout at least three times a week. Do 10 to 15 reps of each exercise for three or more sets. The list is ordered according to body part: lower body, core, and upper body. You can opt for five exercises per muscle group (for example: one week might include a leg-day workout, a core-focused routine, and an upper body session) or opt for a mix of moves to target your entire body in one workout.
How to Progress Bodyweight Exercises
Ready to take these bodyweight exercises to the next level? You can easily up the intensity in a few different ways:
»Julia Hembree Smith: Consider adding an isometric hold—contracting a muscle or group of muscles without changing length or position for a period of time—to exercises, like the for an added challenge. “A Part of Hearst Digital Media lunge position and then you hold it isometrically for five to 10 seconds,” says Johnston. See how many reps you can do with that added hold (probably not as many!). Johnston says adding isometrics to some moves will help runners improve endurance as it teaches your muscles to work for longer without getting fatigued.
Another exercise you’ll want to hold longer: Planks. Johnston says holding your plank allows you to work on multiple muscles—abs, quads, and glutes—at the same time. By holding the plank position longer, you will build core stability, while working your whole body. Plus, a plank helps you on the run as it teaches you to hold your center steady. This is especially important for later miles when you might start to hunch over or feel your strong run form breaking—those long-held planks pay off in keeping you upright.
»CHealth & Injuries: Another exercise youll want to hold longer plyometrics, or explosive movements, to your routine. You can add them to any exercise, but moves like the air squat, lunges, and even push-ups will do. This will not only strengthen your muscles to improve your stride, but it also helps you build power to propel you forward.
»Enhance the strength gains: Deputy Editor, Health & Fitness eccentric calf raise and perform the downward phase of other exercises nice and slow. That means lowering into a squat, lunge, bridge, push-up, superman, or tricep dip on a five to 10 count. Eccentric exercise efficiently builds strength and muscle size, according to research in the Journal of Applied Physiology, and it can be particularly helpful for runners when tackling downhills.
Mallory Creveling, an ACE-certified personal trainer and RRCA-certified run coach, joined the Runner's World and Bicycling team in August 2021. She has more than a decade of experience covering fitness, health, and nutrition. As a freelance writer, her work appeared in Women's Health, Self, Men's Journal, Reader's Digest, and more. She has also held staff editorial positions at Family Circle and Shape magazines, as well as DailyBurn.com. A former New Yorker/Brooklynite, she's now based in Easton, PA.
Monique LeBrun joined the editorial staff in October 2021 as the associate health and fitness editor. She has a master’s degree in journalism and has previously worked for ABC news and Scholastic. She is an avid runner who loves spending time outside.
Try These Bodyweight Exercises to Jump-Start Your Strength Routine
The Secret to Speed Is in Your Blood
The 6 Best Exercises for New Runners
10 We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back