Weight lifting and running on the same day

I have the same question. I think I've heard that lifting heavy and then running the same day does affect your strength gains. It's also a lot of exercise in one day. I'd say lift hard MonWed and run Fri-Sun.

Running and lifting in the same day will not hurt you as a runner. You'll get all the benefit you need from both. Actually, I prefer to do my lifting and harder days on the same day so I can recover better on my easier days, but it doesn't always work out like that.

I've had great days lifting in the AM and working out in the PM, lifting directly before a workout, and lifting directly after a workout, the latter being more common for me now a days with a full time job, for conveniences sake.

As long as you're getting both in, don't worry or over think if doing it a certain way will 'ruin' your gains. It won't.

Just run (and lift), baby.

Everyone is different, but personally, I have not been able to run hard and lift hard on the same day. One suffers. If I were to try to do both on the same day, what would work better for me would be to do the running workout in the morning and then lift in the evening. OR, what is almost the same thing, would be to do your running workout in the PM, then lift the next morning.

I know that the Arkansas men back in the McDonnell days would lift immediately before their PM easy runs... I've heard of all different schedules though. It kind of depends on what your goals are. If running your best is the goal, lifting should be secondary, and don't worry about your running taking away from your lifting. Ultimately, you will just have to work out what works best for you.

If your goal is to run fast then do your hard run first and then list. Your main focus should be done first.

I am a big proponent of lifting to 1) improve biomechanics, and 2) improve power to weight ratio in middle-long distance runners. But I would recommend that you be careful doing it as a high school athlete. I just think that there are better places to make gains than lifting heavy at the high school level.

That being said, you will almost definitely ignore that so, if you insist on lifting, I would urge you to do legs on the same day as a fast twitch fibers day and I would take them both easy at least until your body adjusts.

hgfv wrote:

If your goal is to run fast then do your hard run first and then list. Your main focus should be done first.

This. Do whatever is the highest priority for the day first when you are freshest. For my distance runners, that means they run first. On occasion my sprinters may lift first.

I don’t like to lift on easy days (especially if they are true recovery days during a tough cycle) because then your body isn’t actually getting recovered.

I run in the mornings.

I lift in the afternoons.

It has prepared me for what is coming.

qp99 wrote:

Curious on people's insight on this. If I were to lift heavy in the AM with exercises like squats, etc. and then say run a 30 minute tempo in the PM, will I still receive benefits? Or, in other words is it counterproductive to perform lifting and running on the same day.

Obviously it depends on your goal, but for myself it would be to improve my 800m time of 2:04. Is it better to just have one day strictly for lifting or try to combine running as well?

You are a runner, so I assume you do not care about getting huge from weight training. Running and weight training on the same day will keep one from getting big; you may still receive strength gain from doing both on the same day. I have found running and lifting on the same day reduces body fat percentage more than logging a lot of miles sans weight training.

I have never been much better than average at either but I've had the body of a Greek god for 25 years; ride your bike on the days you lift, bodyweight stuff the days you run.

Reverse order. Run early lift late. Also, better to do both on one day so hard days are hard and easy days are easy. Having hard runs and lifts opposite of each other never allows for the body to recover.

adsfas wrote:

I have never been much better than average at either but I've had the body of a Greek god for 25 years; ride your bike on the days you lift, bodyweight stuff the days you run.

Which one? The merging of Hermes and Aphrodite?

ThatAverageRunner wrote:

Running and lifting in the same day will not hurt you as a runner. You'll get all the benefit you need from both. Actually, I prefer to do my lifting and harder days on the same day so I can recover better on my easier days, but it doesn't always work out like that.

I've had great days lifting in the AM and working out in the PM, lifting directly before a workout, and lifting directly after a workout, the latter being more common for me now a days with a full time job, for conveniences sake.

As long as you're getting both in, don't worry or over think if doing it a certain way will 'ruin' your gains. It won't.

Just run (and lift), baby.

+1 at first, if i had a good lift session, I could not WALK the rest of the day let alone run. After a while, give it 6-8 hours and I feel 100%. I mean still run first, but sometimes I lift then run a couple hours later.

Castyer Semen wrote:

adsfas wrote:

I have never been much better than average at either but I've had the body of a Greek god for 25 years; ride your bike on the days you lift, bodyweight stuff the days you run.

Which one? The merging of Hermes and Aphrodite?

I wonder if her and Kevin Sorbo ever you know..

good reply...thanks for this reply.

You should not do intensive running in the evening after lifting. You are using your legs when lifting with your arms

There is a great podcast about this on run faster.com with Jay Johnson talking to Dr Jeff Messer.

Ryry wrote:

Reverse order. Run early lift late. Also, better to do both on one day so hard days are hard and easy days are easy. Having hard runs and lifts opposite of each other never allows for the body to recover.

Sorry wrong, lift first, run later. Assuming your goal is to increase strength, you should lift first, many studies have shown this is optimal. Alex Hutchinson and Steve Magness have blogged on this, Alex even wrote a book: "Which comes first, cardio or weights" in which he directly answers this question. The problem is, aerobic exercise down regulates the hormones/enzymes/physiological processes that rebuild strength, in short, aerobic exercise is catabolic. Starting off with strength training upregulates, for the day, the strength building aspect of your body. Maybe if you ran a 20 miler in the PM it might down regulate, but maintenance cardio should not.

If you're just lifting weights to burn calories and stay lean, it doesn't matter which you do first.

Let me put it another way, body builders know all the tricks, and they will do there shredding/fat-reducing cardio in the PM, long after strength training.

Running first compromises strength gains. Keep your lifts pure strength based, 85% 1 rep max at least, which is about 5 sets of 5 reps, long rest. (Google strong list 5X5), Make sure your form is solid/stable, many blogs on this. Once stable, insert the occasional week of 8-10 sets of 3 reps at very high weight.

Sprinters and mid-d runners will do this, and I see more long D runnings (Jordan Hasay) use the short rep approach. Why?

Low rep work doesn't trash your muscles near as bad as say, 3x10-12 to failure, or even more irrelevant, 3x15. Don't use weight training for endurance, that's what the running is for!

I used to run 21 miles in the AM and then lift in the PM. I recommend running before lifting.