Strength training for runners, on the Watch you run with

What a runner needs from a lifting app on the Watch

• The same Watch, a different workout

  Start the strength session on your wrist the way you start a run. Each set is prefilled from last time, your heart rate shows while you lift, and the phone can stay in your bag.

• Filed as strength, next to your runs

  A session with any lifting in it is saved to Apple Health as Traditional Strength Training. A treadmill finisher at the end doesn't turn it into a run; a session of running alone is filed as a run.

• Weights that respect tired legs

  Legs heavy from yesterday's long run? Log the set as it went. Reps made but closer to failure than planned and the weight holds; below the rep range and the next set comes down, on the Watch, before you start it.

• Short rests, set from the wrist

  Rest is set per exercise and starts when you log the set. Take 15 seconds off from the Watch when the session has to fit before work.

  

• An easier week after time off

  Three weeks or more without lifting, say after a marathon, and RIRLift offers Ease back in: one week about 10% lighter, marked Easing back on the Watch.

Runner strength sessions logged from the wrist

Off-season: straight from an easy run to the gym

A 5-mile easy run tracked on the Watch, then the off-season strength day. The phone stays in the locker.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Trap Bar Deadlift	205 lb, 5 / 5 / 5 reps, 2 left	210 lb × 3	Every set at the top of 3–5 at the planned effort: one step up, reps back to 3.
Bulgarian Split Squat	30 lb pair, 8 / 8 / 8 reps per leg, 2 left	35 lb pair × 6	Top of 6–8 on every set: the next dumbbells, reps back to 6.
Standing Calf Raise	140 lb, 12 / 12 / 11 reps, 1 left (target 11)	140 lb × 12	The weakest set hit today's target. Same weight, one more rep.

Apple Health now shows the run and, after it, a separate Traditional Strength Training workout.

Race build: the day after the long run

One short session a week during marathon training. The legs are heavy, and the first set shows it.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Step-Up	Set 1: 30 lb pair × 5 per leg, 1 left (target 8, 2 left)	Set 2: 25 lb pair	Five is below the 6–10 range with less left than planned, so the next set comes down one dumbbell step.
Single-Leg RDL	Set 1: 35 lb × 8, 1 left (target 8, 3 left)	Set 2: 35 lb	You got the reps, just closer to failure. The weight holds; you aren't cut for pushing.
Nordic Hamstring Curl	Bodyweight, 5 / 4 / 4 reps, 1 left (target 4)	Nordic Hamstring Curl × 5	Bodyweight lifts progress by reps. The weakest sets hit today's target.

The Watch took weight off the lift that fell short and left the rest alone. Next week starts from what you actually did.

Leg day with a 10-minute treadmill finisher

Base phase, two strength days a week. This one ends with an easy 10 minutes on the treadmill, logged in the same session.

Exercise	You logged	Next session	Why
Goblet Squat	50 lb, 12 / 12 / 12 reps, 2 left	55 lb × 8	Every set at the top of 8–12: the next dumbbell, reps back to 8.
Romanian Deadlift	135 lb, 8 / 7 / 7 reps, 2 left (target 7)	135 lb × 8	The weakest sets hit today's target of 7 but not the top of 6–8. Same weight, one more rep.
Seated Calf Raise	90 lb, 15 / 14 / 13 reps, 1 left (target 13)	90 lb × 14	The weakest set made 13, so aim for 14.

With lifting in it, the whole session, finisher included, is saved to Apple Health as Traditional Strength Training. Track a run on its own and it stays a run.

Runner plans that run from the Watch

• The best strength workout for runners, built around your training

  New to lifting, dumbbells at home or gym

  Two short sessions a week if you've never lifted: the base-phase example above.

  2× a week · 22 sets a week · ~30 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best strength workout for runners, built around your training

  Off-season or base phase, full gym

  Heavier, lower-rep work when the mileage drops, like the first example.

  2× a week · 24 sets a week · ~40 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

• The best strength workout for runners, built around your training

  Marathon or race build, once a week

  One session a week through a race build, sized to stay out of the way of your long run.

  1× a week · 9 sets a week · ~30 min

  Add to RIRLift

  Add to RIRLift

  Scan with your iPhone camera to add this plan.

  See the plan

Make it fit you

• Lift on easy-run days

  Put strength after an easy run or on a rest day, and keep the day before the long run free. The plans above are laid out that way.

• Approve jumps during a race build

  Set weights to Ask first and every increase waits for you to confirm it on the iPhone, so nothing climbs in a week you want to hold.

• Keep the finisher in the session, or out

  Log a treadmill finisher inside the strength session to keep it all as one strength workout, or track it in Apple's Workout app if you want it counted as a run.

• Shorten rests on busy mornings

  Tap -15 s on the Watch between sets of calf raises and split squats when the session has to fit before work.

Questions

Read next

• The strength training app for runners that fits around your miles

  Runner plans and progression on iPhone.

• The best strength workout for runners, built around your training

  Every plan above, session by session.

• Leg exercises for runners

  The single-leg and calf work these sessions are built on.

• Hamstring exercises for runners

  Nordic curls and the rest of the hamstring work.

• The workout app that puts your lifting in Apple Health

  What RIRLift saves to Apple Health.

More ways lifters use RIRLift

• The strength training app for runners that fits around your miles

  Short lifting sessions for each phase of your season, with weights that hold when your legs are tired.

• The workout app that puts your lifting in Apple Health

  Lifting sessions saved to Apple Health exercise by exercise, next to your runs, with your next weights set.

• The Apple Watch weightlifting app that runs the whole session

  Log sets, rest, load plates and swap machines from your wrist, with the next weight set on the Watch.

Every lifter and goal