A long ride can reveal weaknesses that have very little to do with the legs. After several hours, the pedals may still turn comfortably and breathing may remain controlled, yet the shoulders begin to ache. The neck becomes increasingly difficult to relax. On rough roads, the arms feel less capable of absorbing vibration, and maintaining a comfortable position requires more attention than it did at the beginning.
Runners experience something similar, although the demands are different. Towards the end of a marathon, the arms may become tense, the shoulders rise and the upper body begins moving less comfortably. The legs are doing most of the visible work, but they are not working independently. Every stride involves the trunk, shoulders and arms, even when their contribution is easy to overlook.
For triathletes, the relationship becomes more complicated. Swimming places considerable demands on the shoulders and back before the athlete spends hours supporting the upper body on a bicycle, followed by a run that requires another pattern of coordination.
These observations raise a useful question: if endurance performance depends so heavily on the legs, lungs and cardiovascular system, how much attention should we give to the upper body?
The answer is not that every runner needs bigger shoulders or every cyclist should become proficient at pull-ups. The more interesting question is what the upper body actually does during endurance exercise, how it responds to repeated demands and what happens when its strength is developed deliberately rather than left to the sport itself.
Endurance Develops What We Repeatedly Ask the Body to Do
The human body is remarkably specific in how it adapts to training.
A cyclist who rides regularly develops the ability to produce relatively modest forces through the pedals thousands of times without accumulating excessive fatigue. Muscles become better at using oxygen, the cardiovascular system delivers blood more effectively and the nervous system becomes familiar with the timing of each pedal stroke.
Running produces another set of adaptations. Muscles and tendons repeatedly absorb and return energy while the athlete learns to coordinate each stride with less unnecessary movement. Swimming develops the ability to generate propulsion while managing body position, water resistance and breathing.
These adaptations are valuable precisely because they are specific.
But specificity also creates an important limitation. Being able to perform one movement for hours does not necessarily mean having substantial strength in a different movement, even when some of the same muscles are involved.
Consider the upper body of a road cyclist. The shoulders and arms remain active throughout a ride, supporting part of the body's weight and helping control the handlebars. But these muscles spend much of their time producing relatively low forces within a limited range of positions. They rarely need to pull the body towards an object, push through a full range of motion or support weight with the arms overhead.
An experienced cyclist can therefore possess excellent endurance in a cycling position while finding ordinary upper-body strength exercises unexpectedly demanding.
The same principle applies to runners. Arm swing requires muscular activity and coordination, but it provides little progressive resistance for movements such as rowing, pressing or carrying.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this specialization. Sport-specific training should remain the priority for someone trying to improve at that sport. The limitation appears when athletes assume that accumulated endurance training has also developed all the strength their bodies might need.
This distinction sits at the centre of our broader guide to strength training for endurance athletes. Endurance develops the capacity to sustain a particular task. Strength training can develop the force-producing abilities and movement options that the task does not sufficiently challenge.
Running Uses the Upper Body More Than It Appears
Watch a runner from directly in front and the movement of the arms may seem relatively simple. The elbows remain bent, the hands travel forwards and backwards, and the shoulders rotate gently with each stride.
From above, however, a more interesting pattern becomes visible.
As one leg swings forwards, it creates rotational movement around the body. The opposite arm moves forwards at roughly the same time, helping manage the rotation created by the legs. This coordination reduces the amount of unnecessary twisting through the torso.
The arms are not simply passengers.
In 2014, researchers Christopher Arellano and Rodger Kram examined the metabolic cost of running when normal arm swing was restricted. Compared with normal running, participants used approximately 3% more net metabolic energy when holding their hands behind their backs and 9% more when holding their arms across their chests. Restricting arm movement also increased rotation through the shoulders and pelvis.
The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, demonstrated that arm swing contributes to the mechanical and energetic organization of running.
This does not mean that increasing upper-body strength will automatically improve running economy by a similar percentage. The study investigated normal arm movement, not a strength-training intervention. That distinction matters.
What it demonstrates is that the upper body participates in efficient running, even though it contributes relatively little to forward propulsion.
For distance runners, useful upper-body conditioning should therefore support natural movement rather than encourage unnecessary muscular tension. The shoulders need enough capacity to move freely, the trunk must coordinate rotation, and the arms should maintain a comfortable rhythm without excessive effort.
This becomes especially relevant as fatigue develops.
During a long race, tired runners often begin making small adjustments. Some raise their shoulders, some increase unnecessary rotation, and others tighten their hands or restrict their arm swing. These changes can have several causes, including fatigue in the legs and trunk, altered pacing, or accumulated discomfort.
Upper-body strength will not prevent every change in running technique. But having greater strength and movement control around the shoulders and trunk gives the athlete more capacity to manage the demands placed on those structures.
The objective is not to run with a rigid upper body. Efficient running requires controlled movement, not the elimination of movement.
Why Cyclists Eventually Feel Their Shoulders
Cycling presents a different mechanical problem.
Unlike running, the bicycle supports the athlete through three main contact areas: the pedals, saddle and handlebars. How the load is distributed between them depends on body position, bicycle geometry, terrain and riding technique.
When the torso leans forwards, the shoulders and arms help support its position. The hands transmit steering forces to the handlebars and receive forces travelling in the opposite direction from the road. On smooth pavement these demands may be small. On gravel, rough descents or repeated braking, they become more noticeable.
Much of this work is relatively static.
The shoulder muscles may not move through a large range, but they still produce force to maintain position. The muscles around the neck and upper back also help support the head while the cyclist looks ahead.
A muscle does not need to move through a visible repetition to become fatigued. Holding a position requires continued muscular activity, and prolonged low-level contractions can become uncomfortable over time.
This helps explain why an athlete can finish a long ride with relatively fresh legs but tired shoulders or a stiff neck.
There is another consideration. Road cycling places the upper body in a relatively consistent posture for long periods. The arms are positioned forwards, the shoulder blades operate around that position, and the thoracic spine often remains flexed while the neck extends to maintain visibility.
A systematic review examining spinal posture in cyclists found associations between handlebar position, time spent riding and spinal positioning. Lower and more distant handlebars were associated with greater spinal flexion in certain regions, while prolonged riding was associated with changes in thoracic posture.
The research is useful for understanding cycling's mechanical demands, although it does not establish that upper-body weakness causes these changes.
A properly fitted bicycle remains essential. No amount of strength training can reliably compensate for a position that places excessive or inappropriate demands on the rider.
But bicycle fit and physical capacity address different parts of the same problem.
Fit changes the loads placed on the body. Training changes some of the body's capacity to tolerate and control those loads.
For cyclists, upper-body strength training can therefore serve several practical purposes: developing strength around the shoulder blades, maintaining the ability to push and pull outside the cycling position, and improving tolerance for demands that occur during handling, climbing out of the saddle or riding across uneven ground.
A row or push-up does not need to imitate cycling to be useful. Its value may come from loading movements that cycling rarely provides.
Swimming Makes Upper Body Strength a More Direct Performance Question
For swimmers, the upper body is involved in propulsion itself.
During freestyle, the hand and forearm move against the water while the shoulder and upper-back muscles help produce and control the force. The trunk rotates, the shoulder blade moves around the rib cage, and the arm recovers above the water before the next stroke.
The movement depends on several structures working together.
The large muscles of the back and chest contribute force. Smaller muscles around the shoulder help control the position of the upper arm. Muscles controlling the shoulder blade allow the joint to operate through its required range.
This coordination is important because the shoulder is highly mobile. Its considerable range of motion makes swimming possible, but that mobility also means the joint depends heavily on muscular control.
Strength training can improve the capacity of these muscles to produce force. However, transferring additional strength into faster swimming is not always straightforward.
Water provides resistance that changes with the position and speed of the hand and forearm. A swimmer who becomes stronger on land still needs to apply that strength effectively in the water. Poorly directed force may produce little forward movement, regardless of how powerful the athlete has become.
Research supports the usefulness of resistance training for swimmers, while showing that the details of the programme matter. A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis involving 267 competitive swimmers found improvements in upper-limb strength and front-crawl performance following resistance training. The included performance outcomes covered distances from 25 to 200 metres.
These findings should not be transferred automatically to long-distance triathlon swimming. The demands of maintaining economical technique across several kilometres differ from those of a short competitive swim.
Nevertheless, the underlying training principle is relevant. Swimmers need sufficient strength to generate force, muscular endurance to repeat it and coordination to direct that force effectively.
For triathletes, dry-land upper-body training also provides an opportunity to expose the shoulders to movements that regular swimming may not adequately develop. Horizontal rows, controlled pressing, external rotation and other exercises can challenge the shoulder through different loading patterns.
That variation can be useful, provided the exercises are selected and progressed appropriately.
Strength Is Not the Same as the Ability to Resist Fatigue
An athlete can be strong for one repetition without being particularly effective at sustaining a demanding position. The opposite is also possible: someone may hold a low-force position for a long time but struggle when greater resistance is introduced.
These are related but different capacities.
Maximum strength describes how much force a muscle can produce. Muscular endurance describes its ability to continue working or repeat contractions over time. Movement control concerns how the nervous system coordinates that force across joints and body segments.
Endurance sports already train certain forms of muscular endurance extensively. But they do not necessarily develop a high ceiling for force production in every muscle group.
A practical example is an athlete who finds ten push-ups difficult. Each repetition represents a substantial fraction of their available pressing strength. After several months of progressive training, the same athlete might perform those repetitions comfortably because each one now requires a smaller proportion of their maximum capacity.
The relative demand has decreased.
The body has gained a larger reserve of strength for that particular movement.
This principle partly explains why increasing maximal strength can make some submaximal tasks feel easier. It does not mean that strength improvements automatically translate into better endurance performance, especially when the strength exercise differs considerably from the sport.
There is also a difference between muscular adaptation and adaptation of the surrounding tissues.
Muscles can improve force production through changes in neural coordination and, with sufficient training, muscle size. Tendons respond to mechanical loading too, but their adaptation depends on the magnitude, duration and consistency of the stimulus. Joint control improves through repeated exposure to positions and forces the athlete can manage.
A few weeks of strength training may therefore produce noticeably better coordination before every tissue has adapted to the same degree.
This is why gradual progression matters. The goal is not simply to complete harder exercises. It is to allow the entire movement system to develop enough capacity to tolerate them.
What the Shoulder Blades Have to Do With Strength
The shoulder is often discussed as though it were a single joint.
In practice, moving an arm involves coordinated movement between the upper arm, shoulder blade, collarbone and rib cage.
The shoulder blade, or scapula, is particularly important. It provides the base from which many muscles controlling the arm operate. As the arm rises overhead, the shoulder blade rotates and changes position to support that movement.
If the shoulder blade were completely fixed, the arm would have less freedom to move naturally.
This is why useful shoulder strength training should involve more than simply making the shoulder muscles larger.
A controlled row allows the shoulder blade to move around the rib cage while the upper-back muscles produce force. A push-up asks the shoulder and trunk to coordinate while the arms press away from the ground. An overhead reach requires the shoulder blade and upper arm to move together through a larger range.
Different exercises develop different parts of this capacity.
For an endurance athlete, the objective is not necessarily maximum strength in every direction. It is sufficient strength, comfortable mobility and control across movements that normal sport training may underuse.
This is especially relevant for cyclists who spend long periods with their arms forwards and swimmers who repeatedly move their arms overhead.
The shoulder needs both stability and mobility. Training one while neglecting the other leaves part of its function unaddressed.
What Changes When the Equipment Becomes Less Stable
There is an important difference between producing force against a fixed object and producing force against something that can move.
Consider a standard push-up.
The floor provides a broad, rigid support. The hands remain in a predictable position, allowing the athlete to focus largely on controlling the body and producing the force needed to move it.
Now consider the same movement performed using suspended gymnastic rings.
Each hand holds an independent support that can rotate, move sideways or change position slightly. The athlete must still produce force to complete the push-up, but must also control the direction in which the handles move.
The exercise now contains an additional coordination problem.
This is the practical meaning of instability training. The body must respond to movement or uncertainty in the supporting system while maintaining control of the intended exercise.
Instability is not automatically better.
On stable equipment, an athlete can often apply greater force and use heavier resistance. This makes stable loading particularly useful when maximum strength is the primary objective.
On an unstable support, more of the athlete's available effort may be devoted to maintaining position. The amount of force directed towards the main movement may decrease, even while the coordination demand increases.
Both conditions can be useful because they train partly different abilities.
For someone who spends much of their training time performing predictable movements, carefully introduced instability can provide a different stimulus. The athlete learns to control force when the support does not determine every aspect of the movement.
But difficulty must be adjustable.
A beginner should not need to perform deep ring dips or advanced suspended exercises to benefit from this approach. Raising the rings and positioning the body more vertically can make a row substantially easier. Keeping the feet grounded during ring push-ups provides a way to control how much bodyweight must be supported.
This principle is explored in more detail in Why Gymnastic Rings Belong in Every Endurance Athlete's Kit.
The useful feature of a tool such as Garbage™ Gymnastic Rings is not that they force every athlete to train with maximum instability. It is that the same equipment can provide a range of pulling and pushing demands, from supported basic movements to considerably more challenging exercises.
The training stimulus should be selected deliberately. Stability is a variable, not a competition.
Upper Body Strength Should Not Become Another Source of Unnecessary Fatigue
Endurance athletes usually have limited recovery capacity available for additional training.
A runner completing several demanding sessions each week already accumulates fatigue through the legs, cardiovascular system and nervous system. A cyclist preparing for long events may spend many hours training while also managing work, travel and other responsibilities.
Adding strength training introduces another stimulus that must be recovered from.
Fortunately, developing useful upper-body strength does not require a large programme.
For many endurance athletes, two focused upper-body exposures each week are a reasonable starting point. They can be incorporated into existing full-body strength sessions rather than scheduled as separate workouts.
The objective should be sufficient loading to improve or maintain strength, not the largest possible amount of upper body exercises.
This distinction is important when choosing repetitions and resistance.
A set of eight controlled rows that becomes progressively more demanding can provide a meaningful strength stimulus. Performing thirty easy repetitions simply because the athlete is accustomed to endurance training may create fatigue without addressing the same strength objective.
The repetition range is less important than whether the exercise challenges the relevant muscles and whether the athlete can progress it over time.
Sets should generally finish while the athlete can still control the movement. Especially during the first few weeks, stopping before technical breakdown helps keep the additional recovery demand manageable.
Timing also matters.
Upper-body training may interfere less with a running interval session than a demanding leg workout, but it still contributes fatigue. Heavy pulling or pressing immediately before a key swim session may reduce the quality of that session. A demanding session before a long ride may leave a cyclist with tired shoulders.
Strength workout needs to fit around the endurance sport, not compete with it.
Our article on hybrid training without compromising endurance examines this balance in greater detail.
How to Build Upper Body Strength Without Overcomplicating Training
A useful programme begins with four basic demands: pulling, pushing, controlling the shoulder through different ranges and resisting unwanted movement through the trunk.
An athlete does not need a dedicated chest day, back day and shoulder day to address them.
Two short sessions can provide a practical starting point.
Session A: Pulling Strength and Horizontal Control
Begin with a horizontal pulling motion such as a ring row, cable row or dumbbell row. Perform three sets of six to ten controlled repetitions, selecting a resistance that makes the final repetitions demanding without requiring the body to twist or jerk.
Follow this with a push-up variation for two or three sets of six to twelve repetitions. The hands can remain on the floor, an elevated surface or suitable handles depending on the athlete's current strength and wrist comfort.
Finish with two sets of twelve to fifteen controlled band pull-aparts or face pulls, followed by a suitcase carry for approximately thirty to forty-five seconds on each side.
The row challenges the muscles responsible for pulling the upper arm backwards and controlling the shoulder blade. The push-up develops pressing strength while the trunk maintains body position. The lighter band exercise provides additional shoulder movement, while the carry asks the trunk and shoulder to manage an uneven load.
The exercises have distinct purposes. There is no need to make all of them equally difficult.
Session B: Vertical Strength and Shoulder Control
Begin with an assisted pull-up, controlled pull-up or band pulldown for three sets of five to ten repetitions. Choose a variation that allows a comfortable range of motion without swinging or straining through the neck.
Follow with a pressing movement such as an incline ring push-up, dumbbell overhead press or band press for two or three sets of six to twelve repetitions.
Then perform two sets of controlled shoulder external rotations using light elastic resistance. Finish with a short trunk exercise, such as a dead bug or Pallof press, emphasizing controlled breathing and resistance to unwanted movement.
This second session changes the direction of loading and gives the shoulders another opportunity to practise force production, control and core stability.
The whole approach can be adapted to an athlete's ability and equipment. A stronger athlete may need heavier loading to continue progressing. A beginner may benefit from simpler movements and lower resistance.
When pracitcing resistance work with RAWBAND™ resistance bands, remember that elastic resistance changes as the material stretches. The exercise should remain controlled through its full range, and the band must provide sufficient tension where the movement needs it.
We explain this mechanical difference in Resistance Bands Beyond Rehabilitation.
Start with a modest amount of work. As the exercises become easier, increase resistance, adjust leverage or add repetitions before increasing total training volume. Allow at least a day between demanding sessions involving the same muscle groups, and reduce the work if it begins affecting important endurance sessions.
These examples are starting points, not a fixed prescription. Persistent shoulder pain, previous injuries or significant movement limitations deserve individual assessment rather than an attempt to force a standard programme.
The Value of Strength That Travels With You
Endurance athletes rarely spend an entire training year in one place.
Training camps change routines. Races involve travel. A week of cycling in the mountains may offer excellent riding but little access to conventional gym equipment. Work commitments can turn an otherwise consistent programme into several nights in a hotel.
Running adapts to these circumstances easily. Shoes take little space and a suitable route is often close by.
Upper body strength training can be more difficult to maintain when it depends entirely on a particular room and equipment setup.
This is where portable tools become useful, not because they are inherently better than gym equipment, but because they reduce the practical reasons for missing sessions.
A suspension system uses bodyweight as resistance. The athlete adjusts the difficulty by changing body position rather than carrying a collection of external weights. Resistance bands store energy as they stretch, providing loading without the mass of conventional weights.
Each system has limitations. Suspension requires an appropriate, secure anchor, and elastic resistance cannot reproduce every demand of heavy free weights. But together they provide enough variety for a substantial amount of upper-body training.
There is also a useful engineering argument for owning fewer, more versatile training tools.
Equipment that supports many exercises remains useful across changing ability levels and environments. Durable materials, replaceable components where practical and straightforward adjustment mechanisms can extend the working life of a training system. Fewer specialized objects also mean fewer items to transport, store and eventually replace.
The value is not in minimizing equipment at any cost. It is in choosing equipment that continues solving real training problems over time.
Our Upper Body Durability collection brings together several approaches to this kind of training, from stable pushing surfaces to suspension and elastic resistance.
For athletes who travel regularly, the most effective programme is often the one that can continue with very little disruption.
Upper Body Strength Is Part of Being a Capable Endurance Athlete
Endurance athletes invest enormous effort in developing systems that allow them to move further with less energy. They improve aerobic capacity, refine technique, manage nutrition and gradually build tolerance for longer efforts.
Upper-body strength deserves a place in that preparation, but its contribution should be understood accurately.
For runners, the arms and trunk help organize movement, while additional strength develops capacities that running alone may not challenge sufficiently.
For cyclists, the upper body helps support riding position and control the bicycle. Strength training can increase capacity in movements and positions beyond those repeatedly used on the bike.
For swimmers, the relationship is more direct. The upper body contributes to propulsion, making strength development particularly relevant alongside technical skill and swimming-specific conditioning.
None of these benefits requires an athlete to become a specialist in upper-body training.
The purpose is to develop sufficient strength, maintain comfortable movement, increase the range of physical demands the body can manage and prevent injury.
There will always be a place for specialization. Endurance athletes become good at their sports by spending substantial time doing them. But an athlete's physical life is not limited to the movements performed during competition.
It also includes carrying equipment, handling unpredictable terrain, swimming in open water, lifting a bicycle, climbing, travelling and remaining active through the years between races.
Upper-body strength contributes to those abilities, even when its effect cannot be measured directly in minutes per kilometre or watts on a cycling computer. The goal is not simply to sustain movement for longer. It is to remain capable of more movement, in more circumstances, for more years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do runners really need upper body strength?
Runners benefit from having enough upper-body strength to support normal arm movement, trunk control and activities beyond running. The arms contribute to managing rotation during each stride, but evidence that increasing upper-body strength alone directly improves running economy is limited. For running performance, lower-body strength and running-specific training remain particularly important.
How often should endurance athletes train their upper body?
Two sessions per week are a practical starting point for many runners, cyclists and triathletes. These sessions can be included in full-body strength workouts and adjusted according to endurance training volume, recovery and individual needs. Athletes with demanding swim schedules may need to manage upper-body fatigue more carefully.
What are the best upper body exercises for cyclists?
Rows, push-ups, assisted pull-ups, controlled overhead pressing and carrying exercises provide a useful combination of pulling, pushing, shoulder control and trunk strength. These upper body exercises complement the relatively fixed positions used during cycling. They should be combined with appropriate bike fit rather than treated as a replacement for it.
Can upper body training improve swimming performance?
Yes. Research in competitive swimmers shows that appropriate resistance training can improve upper-limb strength and performance, particularly across shorter swimming distances. The transfer depends on the training method and the swimmer's ability to apply force effectively in the water. For long-distance triathletes, swimming technique and sport-specific endurance remain essential.
Can endurance athletes build upper body strength without a gym?
Yes. Bodyweight exercises, gymnastic rings and resistance bands can provide effective upper-body training when resistance and difficulty are progressed appropriately. Stable weights remain useful when greater external loading is required, but a gym is not essential for every upper-body strength objective.
