Strength vs Power
What is the difference and why do endurance athletes need both?
As an endurance athlete, you probably spend hours focused on building stamina—logging miles, maintaining a steady pace, and honing that mental grit. But to truly reach peak performance, understanding and incorporating both strength and power into your training can elevate your game in unexpected ways. While they may sound similar, these two concepts are distinct and serve different purposes in endurance sports.
So, what’s the difference, and why do endurance athletes need both?
Strength: the foundation
FORCE = MASS x ACCELERATION
Strength is your ability to generate force. It’s the slow, steady ability to push against resistance—think lifting heavy weights or climbing a hill on your bike. Strength comes from the size of your muscles and the efficiency of your neuromuscular system. For example, if you’re a marathon runner, your leg strength directly impacts how efficiently you can propel yourself forward with each step, even after the first 20 miles.
HOW IT HELPS:
Injury Prevention: Stronger muscles absorb more impact, reducing stress on your joints and decreasing the risk of overuse injuries, which are common in endurance sports.
Improved Economy: The stronger you are, the more efficient your movements become, requiring less effort for the same amount of work—essential for long-distance races where energy conservation is key.
Fatigue Resistance: By building strength, you’re improving your muscles' capacity to handle the repetitive movements of endurance sports without breaking down as quickly.
POWER: THE SPARK
POWER = FORCE x VELOCITY
Power is strength with speed. It’s the ability to generate force in the shortest amount of time, essential for dynamic movements like sprinting, jumping, or surging up a steep incline during a race. Power is often the missing link in endurance athletes’ training because we tend to equate endurance with long, slow efforts. But incorporating power into your routine can make the difference between maintaining your pace and being able to surge ahead when it counts.
HOW IT HELPS:
Improved Speed and Agility: Whether you’re finishing a race with a strong kick or navigating quick turns in a trail run, having explosive power allows you to make those fast adjustments.
Fatigue Resistance at High Intensity: Power training doesn’t just make you faster; it also helps you maintain form and efficiency when fatigue sets in, especially in the latter stages of a race.
Competitive Edge: In races where everyone has similar endurance levels, having more power gives you the ability to out-kick your competitors in a sprint finish or accelerate past them on climbs.
Why Endurance Athletes Need Both
Endurance training often focuses solely on cardiovascular endurance, but strength and power offer complementary benefits that can dramatically improve performance. Strength is your foundation, helping you move with better efficiency and resist fatigue over long distances. Power provides the explosive capability to react quickly, sprint to the finish, or power through challenging terrain. Both help to prevent injuries with repetitive, long distance sports.
Training Tips:
Strength Training: Incorporate exercises like squats, lunges, and deadlifts to target major muscle groups. Bodyweight or weighted movements both work well. Focus on form first, then gradually add resistance to build strength.
Power Training: Plyometrics (jump squats, box jumps, etc.), sprints, and Olympic lifts (like cleans and snatches) can help develop power. Keep the movements quick and explosive.
Balance Both: You don’t have to choose between strength and power—they complement each other. Schedule 2 strength and power workouts per week alongside your endurance training to build a more well-rounded, resilient body. Our endurance athletes who buy into adhering to a strength & power program see their performance improve BIG TIME! A little bit goes a LONG way.
“Can’t I Just Do Hard Efforts to Build Strength?”
We tackle this question A LOT in our office. Our endurance folks will spend hours turning pedals and pounding the pavement, but ask them to pick up a weight and they are all set. We are often met with the question, “Can’t I just do hard efforts (low cadence) on my bike?” and “What about sprint intervals?”
This is all well and good, but low cadence (let’s refer to this as <60 pedal strokes/min) work on the bike is still high rep and lands in the endurance camp. Think about it–imagine what sets of 60 squats in one minute would look like…It doesn’t substitute for true strength (& power) training.
What could this look like?
We’ve found that our endurance athletes who adhere to a strength program for at least 2 workouts per week yield big results. More watts on the bike, increased time to fatigue, less injuries, etc. We’re also often met with the fact that endurance athletes put in a lot of time training in their endurance sport. The thought of adding more feels daunting. Let’s simplify it.
Sample circuit workout
4 sets of 4 dynamic/foundational exercises:
Squat: squats, lunges, step ups
Hinge: deadlifts, kettlebell swings, hip thrusts
Press: overhead press, bench press
Pull: pull up, bent over row
Have more time? Add in core movements or weighted carries. We love working folks into lateral and rotational planes. Side planks and bear planks are two great core options and farmer’s carries are a functional staple.
SAMple weekly schedule
SATURDAY: [insert endurance sport]
SUNDAY: [insert endurance sport]
MONDAY: Strength
TUESDAY: REST
WEDNESDAY: [insert endurance sport]
THURSDAY: Strength
FRIDAY: [insert endurance sport] / REST —> depends on your training program/body needs
NOTE: this is a sample and everyone’s schedule is unique to their own individual needs. You might be able to handle more and you might need less.
The Takeaway
For endurance athletes, the ability to sustain long efforts is crucial, but so is the ability to generate force when it matters most. Strength keeps you moving efficiently and injury-free over long distances, while power adds that extra burst of speed and energy when you need to surge ahead or finish strong. By training both, you’re building a more versatile, durable athlete capable of not only lasting longer but also performing better.
Endurance isn’t just about how far you can go—it’s about how well you can move while getting there. So, incorporate strength and power into your training and see how it transforms your performance!
RESources USED
Balachandran, Anoop T., et al. “Comparison of power training vs traditional strength training on physical function in older adults.” JAMA Network Open, vol. 5, no. 5, 11 May 2022, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.11623.
Chantel, Anthony C. High Velocity Training, www.acsm.org/docs/default-source/files-for-resource-library/smb-high-velocity-training.pdf?sfvrsn=54197b24_2. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.
Haff, Greg, and N. Travis Triplett. Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. Vol. 4, Human Kinetics, 2021.