I've been away for a few weeks, and I owe you an explanation. Cross country season started, and for a coach, that means the version of me that shows up every day looks a lot different than the version of me that writes to you on Tuesdays. My days turned into practice plans, meets, and spending hours each day with high school runners. The mental space I usually use to read studies and write to you got used up making sure 45 kids were doing well in school and cross country every day.
I'm not telling you that to make excuses. I'm telling you because I think a lot of you know exactly what this feels like. The season you're in eats the thing you care about, even when the thing you care about is still important to you. It comes back. It just comes back later than you planned. :)
We're over halfway through the season now, and I'm ready to get back into a regular rhythm with you. This week's study made that easy, because it landed right in the middle of where my head has actually been for the last month: training 16 to 18 year old distance runners.
ARTICLE BELOW:
The Research
A 2025 study in Frontiers in Physiology looked at exactly that population: competitive high school aged boys running 25 to 30 miles a week. Researchers split them into two groups. One did traditional resistance training. The other did the same lifts, but paired each one with a plyometric movement. Same loading, same schedule, one variable changed.
What They Found
The research suggests these are the key takeaways
The complex training group paired heavy lifts with plyometrics: back squat with box jumps, hex bar deadlift with hurdle hops, Bulgarian split squat with single leg hops, weighted heel raise with a jump on the toes
Loading progressed from 60 to 65% of 1RM up to 80% of 1RM over the 8 weeks, working in the 6 to 12 rep range for 3 to 4 sets
Both groups got stronger by similar amounts. Strength alone was not the differentiator
The resistance only group improved running economy at roughly 8 minute and 7 minute mile pace
The complex training group improved running economy at those same two paces, plus at 6:00 pace.
Plyometrics lead to increased running economy at faster paces
🟡 Moderate evidence. Promising, but a small sample and short study window mean these are patterns, not guarantees.
What This Means For You
This hits close to home because these movements are all part of our strength program. Squats, deadlifts, split squats, heel raises. Nothing new there. What this study adds is the plyometric pairing, and it shows up specifically as the pace picks up. That's one thing to get healthier. It's another thing entirely to get more efficient as you approach the pace your athletes are actually racing at.
One detail worth flagging for anyone coaching or training off this directly. In the study, the lift and its plyometric partner were done back to back, as a superset, with rest coming after the pair. In my program, I usually flip that order and do plyometrics first, before the heavy lifting. My reasoning is fatigue. I don't want an athlete's nervous system already taxed from a heavy set when they're about to load into a jump, because jumping well depends on being fresh enough to actually produce force fast, not just grind through the rep. Both approaches have a rationale behind them, but that's a real difference between what this study did and how I coach it.
One more thing to know before you copy this directly into your own program. The study group strength trained three times a week. Mine trains two. They were also putting in serious volume, somewhere around 10 hours a week between running and lifting combined. So treat this as validation of the approach, not a plug and play template.
🏆 How To Apply It
Pair your heavy lifts with a plyometric movement instead of doing them separately. Make sure you have some sort of plyometric in your system.
Squat pairs with a jump. Deadlift pairs with a hop or bound. Split squat pairs with a single leg hop
Keep the loading heavy on the lift side, working up toward 80% of 1RM over time. This isn't about adding more volume, it's about adding the right stimulus
Consider your athlete's fatigue state when deciding the order. If jump quality matters most to you, plyos first. If you're following this study's exact design, lift first
If you're coaching or training at 2 sessions a week instead of 3, don't panic. Just make sure the plyometrics are there.
This applies most directly to competitive high school and collegiate distance runners already running meaningful weekly mileage
Running economy is the whole game once you have a base of fitness. The more efficient you are at a faster pace approaching what you'd actually race at, the more of your fitness you get to use on race day. Small changes to how you pair your lifts seem like they can move that needle.
Hit reply and tell me, are you already pairing strength work with plyometrics, or is this new territory for you?
-Keep running happy, healthy, and strong
Spencer
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