Should You Run Before or After Workout?
Hey Runner! You’re running, you’re strength training…
But does it matter which one you do first?
It does… it matters if you run first or strength train first.
Find out which you should be doing first.
This article includes
Does it matter if runners run or strength train first?
It does matter!
Whichever you decide to do first: run or workout will use up your energy.
You wouldn’t want to use up all your energy on the wrong thing, right?
So how do you figure out if you should run before or after a workout?
The first step is to ask yourself this question:
Are you training for a running race?
Or maybe you never train for a running race so ask yourself this question instead:
Is your priority right now running or building strength?
Answer those questions. And if you’re not too sure, keep reading.
Run before a workout
Running before a workout is good for someone who:
Is currently training for a race
Is “in-season”
Running is their priority right now
Goal right now is to run longer distances
Goal right now is to run faster
Running before a workout will use your energy for the running portion of your training so you should run before a strength workout if your goal right now is to improve your running game.
Run after a workout
Running after a workout is good for someone who:
Isn’t training for a race
Is in their offseason
Goal right now is build muscle
Goal right now is get stronger
Lose weight
Running after a workout will use your energy for the strength portion of your training so you should do strength exercises before you run.
Let’s look at the scenarios.
Run or workout first when training for a half marathon
Run or workout first when not training for a race
Run or workout first for weightloss
Run Before or After Workout When Training for a Half Marathon
Mary
Mary was in the middle of training for a half marathon, she had a little experience with strength exercises and she stretched regularly. She wanted to PR at her half marathon and she thought if she ramped up her strength training she would be able to do that.
For Mary’s plan since she was in season actively training for a race she did her strength exercise after running.
This allowed most of her energy to be spent during her runs, long and short.
Mary ran 3-4 days a week depending on her work schedule and made sure to strength train 3x/week after her run, before she stretched. So she went out for a run and when she got back inside she did her strength program. If Mary did strength exercises before her run if her legs got tired from strength training she may be too tired to get the max benefit from her designated running plan.
Run Before or After Workout When In The Off Season for Races
Melissa
Melissa on the other hand had just done a half marathon and she was going to do the same one again next year… and maybe another one between now and then. She also had a little experience with strength exercises and she stretched occasionally.
For Melissa’s plan since she was in the offseason from training she did her strength exercises before she ran.
This allowed most of her energy to be spent during her strength workouts so she could get the most benefit there.
Melissa ran 3 days a week and did strength exercises 3 days a week. She liked to keep all her workouts together because she had limited time with work and the kids. She did her strength exercises first and once she was done she went out for a run. This way if her legs got tired from the strength exercises that was OK because her priority was the strength exercises, not running.
Run Before or After Workout for Weight Loss
Susan
Susan started running because she wanted to lose weight. She had been running for about 6 months and didn’t notice any movement on the scale.
See running isn’t actually that great for weight loss. Women end up either getting so hungry and think because they ran they need to eat a lot more… and end up overeating. Or they end up restricting their calories too much and their body goes into starvation mode.
So what Susan did after those 6 months was she added strength exercises. And because her goal was to lose weight she did strength training before her run.
This way she could use her energy to build up her muscle strength and by building up muscle strength that would boost her metabolism so she’d lose weight.
Susan did a little strength training daily. For her it worked best to do 15-20 minutes every day because of work and her kids. She mixed it up and did Arms and back MWF, legs and core TThSa and a mix of whatever she wanted on Sunday. She would do her strength exercises and then go for a 20 minute run and come back and stretch. This way she worked out for about an hour every day. This was perfect for her because she could do that in the morning before the kids woke up.
So as you can see you want to do whatever is your priority first! You want to use the most of your energy for the priority so then if you get too tired you can still do the 2nd one but if you don’t have as much energy for it, it’s OK.
So what do you think?
Should you run before or after your workout? Let me know in the comments.
If you’re not sure and want to know from the professional go ahead and ask here.
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