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3 Strength Secrets Every Marathoner Needs to Know (Part 2)
on September 16, 2025
If you’re looking to crush your next marathon, who better to turn to than Dr. Duane Scotti - renowned running physical therapist (DPT, PhD, OCS), run coach, and host of the Healthy Runner Podcast.
With over 20 years leading the rehab and running community, Duane (above) is trusted for his practical expertise and ability to turn research into actionable advice that gets results.
Strength train to improve running efficiency
Marathon racing - and training for that matter - is all about efficiency and conserving energy during your race so you are more efficient as a runner. Plus, you'll be able to hang on to your marathon goal pace for longer and finish strong.
There are a couple of key strength-training components to add into your marathon training that will help you with your stride efficiency:
1 - Focus on strength exercises that improve your posture
Better posture will allow you to open up your airways more when you run and become more efficient at exchanging oxygen.
This also allows you to use your arms more efficiently, for better counter-rotation, by allowing your spine to be straighter through your mid back.
Performing exercises that promote thoracic extension and strengthening your mid shoulder blade muscles will help achieve this.
2- Improve your ankle mobility to improve your running stride
The second way to improve your efficiency for running is working on your ankle mobility. This simply refers to the amount of motion your shin bone can transfer over your foot and ankle.
Limited ankle mobility is a risk factor for knee, ankle, and foot pain, so it is also important to strengthen the ankles in different ranges of mobility within your strength training routine.
3- Improve your hip mobility/ flexibility to improve your running stride
If you have ever struggled with tight hip flexors, groin, or inner thigh muscles, then you want to make sure your strength training helps improve these areas.
Developing hip mobility and strength will not only help make your stride more efficient, but more powerful.
A couple of examples of strength exercises that will allow you to move through different hip ranges of movement are split squats, reverse lunges, and an explosive lunge in which you start from a low position and then go into triple extension in your back leg by placing your foot up on a bench in front of you.
Yours in health,
Duane Scotti
Dr. Duane Scotti, DPT, PhD, OCS is a running physical therapist, run coach, host of the Healthy Runner podcast, and founder of Spark Healthy Runner and has been a leader in the rehab and running community for 20+ years. He is truly living his passion educating the running community that they don’t need to stop running to get over a running injury. After 19 years teaching in higher education, Duane decided to step away as a Clinical Associate Professor of Physical Therapy to pursue his passion educating the running community. Through his signature 1:1 coaching program, Healthy Runner Academy membership, weekly videos, and podcast episodes, he empowers runners to get stronger, run faster, and enjoy lifelong injury free running. Through strength and run specific training you can build your body to have a strong mind, strong body, and just keep running! Learn more about how Duane became a healthy runner here!
