Hill training
Evidence: moderate
Uphill running is a strength and neuromuscular stimulus that improves running economy in well-trained runners, with effects of roughly 2% in small controlled studies. The economy and performance evidence is real but comes from modest samples, and downhill training is a separate, riskier tool.
Running uphill loads the muscles harder than flat running at the same speed, while the slower velocity and softer landing reduce the impact per stride. That combination is the appeal. You get a power and strength stimulus close to sprinting, without the high ground-reaction forces and hamstring risk of flat-out flat sprinting. Hills work both the cardiovascular and the neuromuscular system at once, which is why they sit between interval training and strength training for runners in what they develop.
What the evidence shows
The cleanest study compared uphill interval programmes of differing intensity in well-trained runners and found the highest-intensity hill work clearly best for running economy, improving it by about 2.4%, and best for neuromuscular measures such as jump performance (Barnes et al. 2013). Mean 5 km time-trial improvement across the intensities was about 2%, though no single intensity was clearly optimal for the time trial itself (Barnes et al. 2013). A comparison of uphill against level-grade interval training found both improved time to exhaustion at the speed associated with VO₂max, with level-grade work producing the larger gain in that specific test (Ferley et al. 2013). So hills are not a magic replacement for flat intervals. They are a complementary stimulus, strongest for economy and neuromuscular qualities.
A 2025 randomised controlled trial in moderately trained middle-distance runners added direct performance evidence. Eight weeks of twice-weekly uphill training improved maximal velocity and 800 m time trial against a control group, and a steeper 7.6% gradient outperformed shallower ones (Alemu et al. 2025). The samples in all these studies are small, which is the main limit on the evidence and the reason this page grades moderate rather than strong.
Uphill versus downhill
Uphill and downhill are different tools. Uphill is concentric-dominant, builds power and economy, and is low-risk. Downhill running is eccentric-dominant. A first unaccustomed bout causes muscle damage, soreness and a temporary loss of force (Khassetarash et al. 2021). The body adapts through the repeated-bout effect. After a single repeat the soreness, the creatine-kinase rise and the force loss are all markedly blunted, with maximal voluntary contraction dropping about 8% after the second bout against 17% after the first (Khassetarash et al. 2021). For road and track runners, a few controlled downhill sessions can build resistance to the eccentric damage of late-race or downhill-course running. The cost is real soreness early, so downhill work needs careful, gradual introduction.
Short hill sprints for neuromuscular gain
Short maximal hill sprints, roughly 6 to 10 seconds, are a low-injury way to recruit high-threshold muscle fibres and develop power. The forced recruitment under load is the point. Sprinting teaches the body to call on fibres it otherwise spares (Barnes et al. 2013). The incline limits top speed and lands softer than flat sprinting, lowering hamstring strain risk, which is why many coaches use hill sprints as an early-season introduction to fast running. This is a strong rationale with modest direct trial evidence, so treat it as a sensible, low-cost addition rather than a proven necessity.
How to do it
Practical sessions
- Short hill sprints. 6 to 10 maximal efforts of 6 to 10 seconds up a moderate-to-steep hill, full walk-back recovery. A neuromuscular and economy stimulus, not a lactate session. Build in early.
- Hill reps. 6 to 10 efforts of 45 to 90 seconds at hard but controlled effort on a gradient around 5 to 8%, jog-down recovery. Develops strength-endurance and tolerance for high effort.
- Long hill repeats. 3 to 6 efforts of 2 to 4 minutes at threshold-to-VO₂max effort. A specific stimulus for hilly races and a lower-impact way to accumulate hard minutes.
- Downhill, with caution. Introduce one short, gentle downhill session and let the repeated-bout effect blunt the soreness before progressing. Expect stiffness after the first exposure.
Hills are most valuable when flat fast running is risky or unavailable: early in a base phase, when returning from injury, or on hilly goal courses. They build the strength and economy that strength training for runners and plyometrics also target, through running-specific movement.