Strength training for endurance is often secondary to your endurance training.
But, every endurance athlete NEEDS some strength training in their program.
It helps with tissue resilience, increasing power, and strength. There are also some arguments on injury prevention for athletes.
Let's answer 3 big questions:
Which exercises are best?
What do I do for each session?
When do I strength train?
Which exercises are best?
Let's get one thing straight, there are no perfect exercises just imperfect timing of exercises.
A much better question then is what movements should I be covering in my sessions?
These are the basic movement patterns:
Push (horizontal & vertical)
Pull (horizontal & vertical)
Squat
Hinge
Lunge
Rotation / Anti-rotation / Trunk
Walk / Carry
Hitting each of these patterns will set you up with a base program.
You can divide all exercises you might like to include into these patterns and begin to develop a master exercise list for you to use. (Including all the cool Instagram or Twitter exercises you find).
What do I do for each session?
Now that you have numerous exercises that you could do you need a plan for your sessions.
There are many ways to do this but one strategy works well for time-pressed athletes is using a double tri-set format. A tri-set is 3 exercises that you perform back-back with limited rest in-between. Stacking 2 tri-sets together will create a well rounded workout.
The easiest format to learn is upper - lower - core, repeat.
Your workout will look like this:
Pre-Session
A1 Upper
A2 Lower
A3 Core
B1 Upper
B2 Lower
B3 Core
Create 2 sessions like this for your training week.
Repeat these sessions for 3-5 weeks before adding in new exercises or changing variation.
For the pre-session start with 5-10 mins of cardio (enough to feel your body warm-up and start to sweat).
The pre-session is an easy place to add in some extra mobility work as you might not be getting enough through the week (It also might help prepare your body the workout). Try 3-5 exercises for 5 mins total.
If you are doing this right after an endurance session then skip the cardio and jump right into the mobility/prep work.
Reps and sets.
There are many different ways to program your sessions for strength.
If you are just starting out aim for:
3-4 sets
8-12 reps
This range will allow you to build strength and not be in a range that you could injure yourself.
Note: If you truly want to maximize strength you will need higher loads and lower reps.
When do I strength train?
There are a few different options for when to do strength workouts.
A good rule of thumb to overcome any interference between each is to train the more important one first.
In-season - endurance followed by strength
Off-season - strength followed by endurance (if prioritizing body composition changes or physique)
It is best to have strength on a different day from endurance training but for already time-starved athletes this is a challenge.
Instead try to perform your strength sessions after an easier endurance session.
Avoid strength the day before a hard interval session as both may suffer from extra fatigue.
Strength training does not have to be complicated. But every endurance athlete needs strength in their program.