There are many different ways to exercise, and each one is beneficial. For example, you can lift weights to build muscle and get stronger, ride an exercise bike to get fitter and burn fat or do yoga for better flexibility and balance. You don’t even need to choose between these activities, as they are very compatible.
But what about running? Is that a good fitness option?
Running is arguably the original workout. People have been running for about as long as they’ve been on Earth. Initially, humans ran for transport to get from point A to point B more quickly. As methods of transport changed, people started running less out of necessity and more for enjoyment. They also ran for health and fitness benefits.
As workouts go, running offers many advantages over other types of exercise. You can run almost anywhere and anytime, and all you need for running is a decent pair of supportive, shock-absorbing shoes.
You can run for fitness or fat loss and train for a five or 10K, or even a marathon if you want more of a challenge. But, of course, you can also run competitively.
But does running build muscle?
This article reveals whether running is enough to build bigger, stronger muscles.
Is Running Good for Muscle Building?
In simple terms, running is NOT a good way to build muscle. While your legs will get a little bigger and stronger when you first take up running, any size and strength increases will a) happen quite quickly and b) be relatively small.
Your muscles are made up of two main types of fibers – type 1 and type 2b.
Running is primarily an aerobic activity that uses type 1 fibers. These red fibers have an excellent blood supply, which means they’re good for endurance activities, but they cannot get much bigger or stronger.
Type 1 fibers DO grow, but not much.
In contrast, type 2b fibers are white, have a poor blood supply, fatigue quickly, generate more force, and have more growth potential. Therefore, lifting weights preferentially target type 2b muscle fibers, whereas running has minimal impact. Because running does not affect type 2b muscle fibers, it is not a good exercise for building bigger muscles.
The only type of running likely to result in significant increases in muscle size is sprinting. Sprinting is a high-intensity exercise that comes close to strength training for targeting type 2b muscle fibers. However, sprinting doesn’t have much of an impact on your cardiovascular system as it’s mostly anaerobic.
What Muscles Does Running Work?
Running is a surprisingly complex activity that involves a great many muscles. Pretty much every muscle in your body works when you run. That said, the primary muscles used during running are:
Quadriceps
Located on the front of your thighs, the quadriceps are four muscles; rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and vastus intermedius. The quads work together to extend your knees and flex your hips.
Hamstrings
Opposing the quadriceps, the hamstrings are responsible for flexing your knees and extending your hips. The three hamstrings are the biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus.
Iliacus and psoas major
Collectively known as iliopsoas, these muscles work together to flex your hips.
Gluteus maximus
Working with your hamstrings to extend your hips, the gluteus maximus or glutes for short is the most significant muscle in the human body and is your butt.
Adductors
The three adductor muscles are longus, brevis, and magus, meaning longest, shortest, and most significant. Located on the inside of your thighs, these muscles draw your thigh toward the midline of your body, which is a movement called adduction.
Abductors
Located on the outside of your hips and thighs. These muscles stabilize your hips as you transfer your weight from one leg to the other.
Triceps surae
The collective name for your two calf muscles, the gastrocnemius and soleus; the triceps surae are responsible for extending your ankles in a plantar flexion movement.
Core
Your core stabilizes your spine and ensures that your midsection doesn’t collapse while you run. The main core muscles are the rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis, and erector spinae.
Will I Lose Muscle If I Do A Lot of Running?
Initially, running will slightly increase muscle size and strength. That’s because your body responds positively to the stress placed on it and, to help you run faster and more efficiently, your muscles adapt to the workouts you are doing. Because the stress on your muscles during running is relatively low, there is no real need for your body to respond by significantly increasing muscle size or strength.
However, as you start to run longer and more often, you may lose muscle. Not from your legs but your upper body. To increase running efficiency, your body will start dropping excess muscle. This is like trimming weight from an airplane or racing car to improve performance. If you want to run but avoid losing muscle, you need to supplement your workouts with strength training.
What Is the Best Way to Build Muscle?
If you are serious about building muscle, running is not the best workout. Instead, it would help overload your muscles with strength training exercises to target those all-important type 2b muscle fibers. This doesn’t mean you need to stop running or take up bodybuilding or weightlifting. However, you do need to engage in regular strength training.
Good exercises for building muscle include:
Lower body:
- Squat
- Deadlift
- Leg press
- Lunge
- Leg extension
- Leg curl
- Calf raise
Upper body:
- Bench press
- Pull-up/chin-up
- Shoulder press
- Seated and bent-over row
- Lat pulldown
- Biceps curl
- Triceps pushdown
- Push-up
- Dip
2-3 full-body strength workouts a week should be sufficient to build muscle while leaving plenty of time and energy for running. Any strength training will work, including lifting barbells, dumbbells, or kettlebells, using resistance machines, doing bodyweight exercises, or working with resistance bands.
Bottom Line
The best way to get results from your workouts is to align your training to your fitness goals. This is called specificity. Your body will adapt to the stresses placed upon it, so if you want to be a better runner, you need to do plenty of running. Your body will make changes according to the workouts you do.
Running means increasing your cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, and ability to utilize fat for fuel. You WILL experience some minor increases in strength and muscle size, but these are not your body’s main changes to help you run faster or further.
In contrast, if you lift progressively heavier weights, challenging your muscles, they will get bigger and stronger. It’s like an immune system response; your body will get stronger to protect itself from future workouts. The demands of running and strength training are very different, and it’s those differences determine how your body responds to your workouts.
If all you do is run, you may lose muscle to help lighten the load to run further and faster using less energy. On the other hand, if all you do is strength training, your muscles will get bigger and stronger, but your cardiovascular fitness won’t increase much.