Should Runners and Cyclists Train Upper Body?

During a recent bike workout I did a few all-out 1-minute efforts up a steep hill. As expected, it was a profoundly unpleasant session that left my legs and lungs screaming from the first rep. But what surprised me most was how taxed my entire upper body felt afterwards, and how long it took for my arms to stop shaking and feeling like jelly. This got me thinking about how important upper body training is, even for lower-body dominant sports like running and cycling. 

Many runners and cyclists mistakenly ignore the upper body when it comes to strength training, or at best treat it as an afterthought. Endurance athletes don’t need a “leg day” or a dozen lower body exercises per workout. Yes, the legs are the prime movers, and you won’t get very far with a weak lower body; but they aren’t the only thing that allow you to put force into the pedals or sprint up a steep hill. Your upper and lower body are inextricably linked and must work together to produce power and quality movement. In my opinion everyone needs to do some sort of upper body training regardless of the distance or discipline, from track sprinters all the way up to ultra-endurance athletes.

As a cyclist a strong upper body will help you with producing power while climbing and during all out sprints and high torque efforts, handling (or carrying) your bike over rough and technical terrain (like MTB and cyclocross) and maintaining good positions several hours into a long ride or race. 

As a runner, having a strong upper body is important for keeping good posture and preventing excessive forward lean and movement in the torso. You really see this during longer distance trail and ultra events, especially when you throw things like poles and heavy packs into the mix. Just look at the state of most runners 5 hours into an ultra marathon compared to how they looked during the first 5 minutes. Excessive forward lean and slouching will eventually cause issues down the chain, either reducing your running efficiency or increasing your chance for injury in other areas. 

As an additional benefit, a strong upper body will also help make you more robust and less likely to break something every time you crash your bike or fall hard on the trail.

You don’t need to go too crazy here. Even just a couple of upper body exercises each workout (a push and a pull for example) is enough to build some strength, especially if upper body work is something you’ve been neglecting for a while. I like to go for multi-joint exercises that involve moving your body through space (push ups, pull ups, rows, dips) as well as half kneeling or single arm movements like overhead presses and rows, which work the obliques and core as well. That being said, there’s nothing wrong with isolation exercises like curls, which can help with muscle building and preservation. Most endurance athletes would probably benefit from having a little extra muscle on their frames anyway. And don’t worry, including some upper body work will not make you “bulky” or slower. I’ve yet to meet a runner or cyclist who became worse at their sport because their upper body got too strong or too big from doing a few sets of push ups and pull ups a week.

Even if you're not convinced that doing some upper body work can benefit you from a performance or injury prevention standpoint, at least do it for your quality of life and function outside of sport, whether that is being able to lift your grandkid overhead, carrying groceries up the stairs, or pulling yourself up from the floor if you fall. Muscle and strength decrease rapidly as we age. Your older self will be thankful for the strength and muscle you built when you were younger. 

So none of this “I’m an endurance athlete so I don’t do upper body.” It certainly doesn’t need to be a major focus and take up too much of your time, but it still has to be there. 

Let me know if you want to learn more about how to do this or how to include strength training as an endurance athlete. I’d love to help!