4 x 4 Deadlift

Designed for ALL runners

Intensity

85% of 1 Rep Max

Recovery

2 - 3 minutes between sets

Exertion

10/10

Periodization

General, Foundation, & Specific Periods

Context & Details

Psychophysiological Concepts & Training Objectives

If you listen to one person regarding strength training, I think it should be Dan John. His superpower is simplifying the complexity surrounding strength training.

Strength training makes runners faster. It’s scientifically proven that a stronger muscle cell contracts more forcefully and efficiently. For runners, that means more power each step with less metabolic cost — the ultimate win-win.

If you’re confused about strength training basics of what to do, when to do, and how much to do I suggest reading Dan’s book, Now What? He cuts through the noise and gives clear guidance on how you can improve your strength training right now.

In the book, he discusses how he asses strength training gaps in an athlete’s program:

In life, what you do not know or do not have often complicates a problem. Good coaching includes constant vigilance concerning the gaps in the system.

[When] assessing programs…I use a simple system when looking at weekly and monthly training. First, I circle and note the number of times each of the fundamental human movements appears in the training. The fundamental human movements are:

Push
Pull
Hinge
Squat
Loaded carry
Everything else!

Usually, I am looking for groundwork in the “everything else” slot, including getups, tumbling, rolling and anything that gets people on the ground and back up.

All these fundamental human movements impact not only performance but also our quality of life. Specifically, he writes “hinge work, from the deadlift to the kettlebell swing, is the foundation of explosiveness and athletic movement.”

Runners who want to run faster, stronger, longer should on day 1 of strength training do 2 things in the weight room:

Learn how to deadlift with excellent technique
Deadlift a lot

If runners only perform one strength training exercise in training, it should be the deadlift.

To understand the many benefits of deadlifting, you can read this article from Barbend.com titled: 11 Deadlift Benefits That Are Backed By Science. It’s as good of a primer with accurate information on the topic I’ve found.

Application

Strength Training for runners is about enhancing the capacity and power of the nervous system. The desired training effect is to condition running muscles to be able to contract with more force, and use less oxygen to do so — this will advance running economy, which has been proven to be a key performance variable.

To get the most out of strength training runners should be as fresh as possible. This means the best time to deadlift for runners is BEFORE easy runs. The inverse order, run then deadlift, results in entering the strength training session under slight fatigue. The exercises won’t be of as high of quality, with lighter weight used, less force produced, resulting in a shallower training effect.

If you want better results by learning more about strength training for runners, Join the Running Scholar Program for only $29 and get unlimited access to courses and real-world strength training workouts used by high-performance coaches runners.

Kettlebells, a hex bar, or a barbell are all good tools to use for deadlifts.

Each lift should be of the highest quality, performed with the heaviest weight possible (while good technique is maintained) to appropriately challenge the nervous system.

The total volume of deadlifts per session should be between 10 - 25 reps in sets of 3 to 5. The optimal frequency is performing heavy deadlifts 2 - 3 times per week.

After the first few sessions, residual muscle soreness should be minimal.

Remember, the key to beneficial strength training is to challenge the nervous system, not destroy muscles. Like all things in life and training, there is a sweet spot. Deadlifts should be heavy enough to get the desired training effect (stronger leg muscles and nervous system) but not too light so that the activity is a waste of time or so heavy runners feel beat up for several days afterward.

Never forget the golden rule of training — Don’t chase numbers, chase the reaction.

Any questions? Direct Message me on twitter.
Thx. | jm

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3 Good Books on the benefits of Kettlebell Swings

Now What? by Dan John
Easy Strength by Dan John & Pavel Tsatsouline
Athletic Development by Vern Gambetta