Do runners and cyclists really need to squat?

Hey there, I hope that you’ve had a good week.

Today’s newsletter answers this question, which I get asked a lot:

“Do runners and cyclists really need to squat?”

Usually it’s asked by someone who’s heard they “should” be strength training, but isn’t sure why, or where to start.

So, do runners and cyclists really need to squat?

The short answer is yes. However, not in the way most of us tend to think.

When most runners and cyclists hear “squat,” they picture someone doing hundreds of bodyweight squats, bouncing up and down like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh.

Or, when they hear me, as a strength coach, saying “squat”, they picture the complete opposite: heavy barbell, chalk, and someone grinding their way through reps into the scary section at the back of the gym with lots of people grunting.

Neither of these are what I mean by “squat”.

When I talk about the squat, I’m talking about a movement pattern, hips, knees, and ankles working together through range, under control, to produce and absorb force. Us working to different sets, rep ranges, tempos depending on what strength quality we’re trying to develop for you.

Developing the movement pattern that keeps you stable on climbs, powerful on sprints, and moving well under fatigue. It’s the same pattern that underpins longevity, helping you keep running and riding for years without being slowed by overuse or breakdown.

To that end, here’s something important to understand: the squat is a movement pattern, not a single exercise and you’ll likely see it in every strength session I prescribe because of its value to runners and cyclists.

For the squat movement pattern, you could use a leg press, a Smith machine, or a bodyweight variation, they all train a similar pattern of hip and knee extension.

However, the caveat is that they they don’t all teach it in the same way.

A leg press is machine based and pushes load through a fixed path, which can help you to build strength, but it doesn’t challenge the same balance, coordination, or control that you get from a free-standing squat, like a goblet squat.

There are so many squat exercise variations that there isn’t one that is superior to another. That’s why I always come back to movement patterns first, exercise selection second.

So how do runners and cyclists need to squat?

As a general guide, I want you squatting on one leg and two legs. This way we can build global strength as well as address each leg independently.

As I mentioned above, there isn’t one single “best squat” exercise out there, but there are two variations I come back to time and time again for runners and cyclists over 30:

1. Goblet squat

A simple, effective, and exercise that’s almost always skipped.

Holding the weight at the front of the body (anterior loading) forces the core and back to engage to maintain an upright posture. It also encourages greater depth as mobility improves, strengthening the hips and promoting full range of motion.

It’s where I start most athletes because if you can’t control your body in this pattern, loading it heavier will just mask those gaps and affect your movement quality.

2. Rear foot elevated split squats

Running and cycling are single-leg sports. Rear foot elevated split squats, or Bulgarian split squats as you may know them, help you develop balance, stability, and help address left-to-right imbalances.

They also hit the glutes and quads in a way that transfers directly to both stride and pedal stroke and they can be set up differently to bias each muscle group.

It’s about better force transfer, it’s about control when fatigue kicks in late into a session or race and it’s about your resilience and robustness.

If you think about it, the squat is everywhere in your training.

Sitting onto the saddle, driving up a climb, pushing off the ground, it’s the same basic mechanics repeated under different loads and speeds.

So when we train the squat pattern properly, we’re not just making your legs stronger we’re improving how you move and how you produce force.

So where do the reps and weights actually fit in?

I like to think of this as a spectrum.

At one end you’ve got endless high-rep bodyweight squats with minimal rest that build endurance but little strength and as an endurance athlete, endurance is something that you have an abundance of.

At the other end, you’ve got maximum strength. Here we’re looking at low-rep, heavy load with lots of rest, We’re building strength that your running and cycling alone doesn’t give you, and the strength that hill reps and low-cadence, high torque work won’t develop.

Where you are on that spectrum depends on these 3 things:

1. Your experience with strength training.

If you’re new to strength training or returning after a break, then gravitating towards the heaviest weight that you can find will not only leave you sore, but it’ll also affect your next few running and cycling sessions.

2. What strength adaptation you’re developing.

For endurance, think higher rep, lighter weights. For maximum strength think lower rep, higher weight and more rest!

3. Where you are in your season.

Just as your running and cycling training is organised in a way that leaves you sharp for rest day, so too should your strength training. We don’t want to be doing heavy and slow maximum strength work in the week of your key race, nor do we want to be doing hundreds of squats that’ll leave you feeling tired, not primed.

As you can see the squat for runners and cyclists is nuanced. It isn’t about getting stronger legs, that’s part of it for sure, however it’s more about building the foundation that supports every stride and every pedal stroke.

That’s the difference between doing strength training and becoming BUILT TO ENDURE.

That’s why the focus isn’t on the exercise itself it’s on how well you can move through it.

When you train the movement properly, everything else follows.

The goblet squat to box is one of my favourite squat movement pattern exercises for runners and cyclists, you can read why for free in my wonderful free community for runners and cyclists over 30, check that out here.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Emma x

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