Elevate Your Running with our Physiotherapist-Led Strength & Conditioning Program
Running is more than just putting one foot in front of the other—it’s a sport that demands strength, stability, and resilience. For runners and triathletes, achieving peak performance isn’t just about logging miles; it’s about training smarter and reducing the risk of injuries that could derail months of hard work. That’s where our Physiotherapist-Led Strength & Conditioning Program comes in, designed specifically to help runners and triathletes unlock their full potential.
Our program combines the latest in sports science with the personalized care of physiotherapy. Every session is grounded in evidence-based practices to improve endurance, optimize performance, and reduce the likelihood of running-related injuries. We know runners because we treat runners—and we’ve seen firsthand how targeted strength training can revolutionize your results.
Why Our Program Works
Performance-Driven, Injury-Preventing Strength Training
Running may seem simple, but it places significant stress on your body—especially on your joints, tendons, and muscles. Our program focuses on building strength in key areas like your glutes, core, and lower legs to create a foundation of stability. By addressing muscle imbalances, improving biomechanics, and enhancing neuromuscular control, we don’t just help you get faster or go farther; we also help protect your body from overuse injuries like shin splints, Achilles tendinopathy, and IT band syndrome.
Customized to Your Goals and Needs
Whether you’re training for your first 5K or aiming to shave time off your next Ironman, our program is tailored to you. Each athlete undergoes an initial assessment by a licensed physiotherapist to evaluate mobility, strength, and running mechanics. This isn’t a cookie-cutter program; it’s a carefully crafted plan that evolves with your progress and adapts to your goals.
Endurance Meets Strength
Endurance training alone often neglects the muscular power needed to maintain optimal form in the later stages of a race. Our program integrates sport-specific strength work into your weekly routine, complementing your running mileage with dynamic exercises that simulate race-day demands. Think explosive plyometrics, controlled eccentric loading, and compound lifts—all with a runner’s physiology in mind.
Education Is Power
Prevention starts with understanding your body. Our program doesn’t just tell you what to do—it teaches you why. We empower athletes with knowledge about proper technique, load management, and recovery strategies, giving you tools to train sustainably and independently.
Proven Results You Can Feel
Athletes who’ve completed our program report reduced pain, increased confidence in their stride, and performance improvements they never thought possible. Imagine running stronger, maintaining pace longer, and finishing your races injury-free—this is the future we help you build.
who is this suitable for?
Any and all runners regardless of experience in either running, endurance sports, or strength training. We will guide you through the whole process to ensure that you are doing the right exercises, with the right weights, and will the proper technical form so that you can get the most out of your strength training with this program.
This will be offered in small groups with the aim for participants to:
become more injury-resilient
have improved strength and stability while training for and participating at endurance events
improve their technical elements during running
to have fun and to challenge themselves
Participants must be 18 years and older.
Workouts will be in small groups, taking advantage of Reactivate’s spacious 2100sqft open gym facility. The RunStrong program will incorporate exercises that target key muscle groups, such as the glutes, hamstrings, quads, hip flexors, and core, participants will develop the strength required to maintain proper form and efficiency for running both high-intensity short distances, as well as longer endurance distances.
No experience is necessary, and the workouts are designed to challenge you regardless of your experience in strength training and running.
We make it as much fun as it is challenging for our participants.
You will leave sweaty, tired, and still asking for more.
what are the sessions like?
Given the large footprint of the open gym at Reactivate Muskoka, our strength and conditioning specialists have designed sessions to be carried out in a socially responsible and distant manner and will be accommodating groups of 8 to 12 individuals to train together for a multi-week training block.
The sessions are designed to be as challenging as fun and confidence-boosting. The focus will be on lateral stability, core strengthening, power and strength, agility, and explosive power.
Over 6 weeks you will learn the basics of strength training, how to enhance performance, reduce the risk of injury, and improve your running biomechanics.
When paired with a well-structured running schedule, this program will lead to noticeable improvements in speed, endurance, and recovery.
about the kendra, your runstrong leader
Kendra squire
The RunStrong lead is Kendra Squire, who is one of our physiotherapy residents, and has a passion for strength and conditioning, as well as endurance sports.
Kendra is not only a nationally ranked competitive rock climber, but she is an elite Spartan athlete. So, you will undoubtedly be able to pull from her solid foundation of knowledge in not only strength and conditioning, but technical form to get the most out of the program so that you can be the absolute best you can be at the end of the program.
