Running economy improves faster than VO2 max
Medium confidence
Running economy is how much energy you burn to hold a pace. In trained runners, focused work can improve it 3 to 8 percent in 6 to 12 weeks. Over the same stretch, VO2 max (the most oxygen your body can use) might move only 1 to 3 percent. Using less energy at your pace turns fairly directly into faster race times. Several studies point this way, though the case rests on converging evidence rather than one decisive trial.
Why it works
Economy improves as the nervous system learns to fire muscles more crisply and tendons get springier. Stride mechanics smooth out too. The body keeps refining all of this for years. VO2 max instead hits a cardiovascular ceiling — the heart and blood can only carry so much oxygen — and stops climbing much sooner.
What it means in practice
If your VO2 max has stalled, that does not mean your training is failing. Strength work, plyometrics (short springy jumps), and form drills aimed at economy are often where the biggest gains still sit. Plan reviews are a good place to point runners toward that work.
The evidence
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Several intrinsic factors track with better running economy: preferred stride length or up to 3% shorter (but not longer); lower vertical oscillation; greater leg stiffness; lower lower-limb moment of inertia; less leg extension at toe-off; larger stride angles (the angle of the parabolic tangent of the center of mass at toe-off); ground reaction force aligned with the leg axis during propulsion; maintained arm swing; low thigh antagonist-agonist coactivation; and low lower-limb muscle activation through the propulsive phase. Moore cautions against prescribing one 'ideal' form, because individual variation is large and many of these features emerge naturally with training rather than from explicit cueing. Beginners who improved their economy over 10 weeks did so through kinematic changes (knee and ankle angle at toe-off), not a dramatic form overhaul.
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Joyner and Lundby argue that fixed individual differences in trainability have been overstated. Under more intense or progressive training, such as interval work and longer programs, VO2max rises in essentially all participants. That undercuts earlier reports of a substantial 'non-responder' fraction seen at modest training doses, where under-dosed protocols produce small mean responses with high apparent variability. The authors read this as a stimulus problem more than a genetic one, and call for new twin-study designs that separate true genetic limits from inadequate training.
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Strength training improves running economy in highly trained middle- and long-distance runners. This meta-analysis pooled 5 controlled trials (n=93), all with VO2max above 60 ml/kg/min, in which runners added low-to-high intensity resistance work plus plyometrics 2 to 3 times per week for 8 to 12 weeks. The authors note how rarely elite runners do this: at the 2008 US Olympic Marathon Trials, nearly half reported no strength training at all. That VO2max threshold excludes typical recreational runners, so the effect at lower fitness levels stays an open question.
n=93
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Foot-ankle strengthening (Taddei 2020) cut the running injury rate 2.42-fold versus controls in recreational runners over 12 months, and in military cohorts resistance exercise at least 3 times per week was associated with 54% lower injury risk than doing none or less than weekly. Six weeks of neuromuscular training (jumping, landing, strength, endurance, agility, trunk) lowered injury incidence in track and field, most clearly for MTSS (p=0.012). Trail-runner risk factors include less running experience, skipped warm-ups, no specialized plan, asphalt training, and double daily sessions. Poor technique and weak neuromuscular control drive injuries alongside training-load problems, and more than 70% of running injuries are overuse.
Why we call confidence medium
Several lines of evidence point the same way. Joyner (2018) shows VO2 max plateaus quickly in trained athletes. Economy keeps responding to strength, plyometric, and form work for years. Moore (2016) reviews what shapes economy in the first place. The picture is well-supported, but it comes from piecing studies together rather than one decisive trial.
Where it applies
Adult distance runners who are trained to well-trained, with 1+ years of consistent running.
Does not apply to: beginners and detrained adults, where VO2max is the dominant trainable factor.
Last reviewed Apr 30, 2026. See how we score.