No gym, no weights, no excuses. If you're not the gym's biggest fan, these bodyweight moves build the strength that makes you faster, more efficient, and far less likely to get injured, and you can do all of them at home.
Strength work is one of the most powerful things a runner can do. It improves your power and running efficiency, boosts your running economy, and meaningfully lowers your injury risk. You don't need a barbell to get those benefits — your own bodyweight is plenty to start.
Essential Bodyweight Exercises for Runners
Click through for video tutorials on every single exercise.
Strength training, built into your Runna plan. You don't have to figure any of this out on your own. Runna builds strength sessions directly into your running plan, programmed around your runs so the two complement rather than compete.
Lower-body
Squat to Calf Raise: Two movements in one. This builds quad and glute strength through the squat, then loads the calves and ankles on the raise. A great all-in-one for the muscles that power your stride.
Reverse Lunge with Knee Drive: A reverse lunge into a driven knee lift, training single-leg strength and the hip-flexor drive that powers your stride forward. (Runna tutorials: Reverse Lunge and Knee Drive.)
Single-Leg Knee Drive Hold: Standing tall on one leg with the opposite knee driven up and held, building the single-leg balance and hip stability you rely on at the moment of push-off.
Lateral (Side) Lunge: Running is all forwards, so this adds the side-to-side strength most runners miss by opening up the hips and strengthening the glutes and inner thighs to keep your knees stable.
Single-Leg Straight-Leg Deadlift (RDL): A single-leg hip hinge that hits the hamstrings and glutes while challenging your balance. Start bodyweight, you can add a dumbbell once it feels controlled.
Single Leg Calf Raise: Your calves and Achilles take the biggest load in running. This is the best exercise for preventing calf strains, Achillies issues and shin-splints.
Single Leg Glute Bridge: This fires up the glutes that drive each stride and protect the knees.
Running is not just about the lower body strength. Here are some extra areas to target.
Hip Stability
Clam Shell: This wakes up the deep glute muscles (the glute medius) that keep your hips level and your knees tracking straight with every stride.
Lateral Leg Raise: This strengthens the outer hip and is a great fix for the weak hip stabilisers behind a lot of knee and IT band niggles.
Side Plank: This targets the lateral core and hip stabilisers together, building the side-on strength that stops your form breaking down when you fatigue.
Core
Plank: This builds the deep core stability that holds your posture together late in a run, when tiredness would otherwise pull your form apart.
Deadbug: This trains your core to stay stable while your arms and legs move, which is exactly what it has to do on every stride, and it's gentle on the lower back.
Foot Strength
Your feet are your only contact with the ground, and they absorb and return force on every single stride, yet they're the area runners almost always neglect. Strong, mobile feet and lower legs give you a more responsive push-off, better balance, and a first line of defence against common complaints like plantar issues, Achilles niggles, and shin splints. It's a small amount of work for a big payoff.
For the full breakdown of why it matters and the moves to try, see our guide.
Targeting Specific Weaknesses
A lot of runners come to strength work because something already hurts.
Knees (runner's knee): glute bridges, step-ups, wall sits — strengthen around the knee, not the knee itself.
Shins / calves: slow calf raises and toe raises (lift the front of the foot).
Hips: glute bridges, side planks, clamshells, lateral leg raises.
Lower back: planks for core support.
If something is genuinely painful (not just sore), back off and see a physio — strength work is for building and preventing, not for training through an injury.
Key Takeaways
Strength work makes you a better runner: more power, better running economy, and a much lower injury risk and you can start with nothing but your bodyweight!
Prioritise single-leg moves. Running is a series of single-leg landings, so exercises like single-leg calf raises, glute bridges, and lunges transfer most directly to the road.
Don't skip the hips, core, and feet. Weak hip stabilisers are behind a lot of knee and IT band pain, your core keeps your form together when you fatigue, and strong feet give you a more responsive push-off.