Big People CAN Run – Part 1

A Big Man’s Guide to Running – Why it is safe and how it can change how you view yourself.

By Connor Campbell, Strength & Conditioning Coach, Better Physiotherapy.

The London Marathon 2026

Two weeks before the TCS London Marathon 2026, I weighed 106kg, or 230lbs, at a height of 183cm. Which, according to the NHS, means I was obese (that’s a topic of discussion for another time).

Most people would worry that big people shouldn’t run long distances;

“It’s bad for your joints!”

“Shouldn’t you lose weight before running long distances?”.

If you want to know why these points can be both right and wrong, read on… If you are big, and scared of running, this is the blog for you.

Personal Training

From Strength Training to Running as a Heavier Person

Having moved to London in 2015, I focused solely on a strength sport in the form of Olympic Weightlifting. My main goal was maximising my strength in the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk. Over 10 years, I pursued that with an intent that you could liken to an obsession.

In early 2025, after a 10-year hiatus from aerobic-related activities and at a weight of 119kg (262 lbs), I started running. Much to the dismay of my fellow weightlifters.

After playing sports most of my life with a background in county-level rugby, American football, and a brief dabble in CrossFit, I was no stranger to aerobic output. But imagine not driving a manual car for 10 years, you’re going to be a little rusty.

Why Did I Start Running, and Was it Hard?

Well, originally, I started for health reasons, because sometimes I couldn’t even walk up the stairs without getting out of breath. And so, at 9:15 AM on Sunday, January 12th, 2025, I laced up my trainers and went out the door for my first run, thinking I’d just do a 5k.

“It won’t be that hard,” I said to myself.

Except it was. I lasted exactly 14 minutes and 30 seconds. I could only manage 2.47 km before my lungs were burning and my heart rate reached about 182bpm, my legs felt like they were about to explode, all to run 2.47km at a pace of 5:52 mins/km.

The reality of this outcome came crashing down, and I realised that this would be much harder than I thought. I needed to figure out a way to get fitter at my own pace and enjoy running.

It took me 7 weeks to run my first 5k in a time of 31:48 and at an average pace of 6:17/km. That’s about 2 weeks earlier than the hugely successful Couch to 5k programme, which is a free, 9-week running plan designed for beginners to progress from a sedentary life to running 5 kilometres (or 30 minutes) through three runs every week.

Progressive Overload and Doing It Your Own Way

Thankfully, having a sporting background and working in the health and fitness industry, I understood progressive overload in the form of slowly dialling up the mileage each week. For me, this meant essentially adding 500m to each session and finding a pace that was keeping my heart rate below 160bpm so I could find a rhythm. I was only running once per week at the time. I also think this was the turning point, and those 7 weeks taught me a lot about finding my own character as a runner and doing it my way.

Let’s fast-forward through 2025, having increased from once a week to twice a week (I’ll go into detail about this later), and having completed my first 5k, 10k and half-marathon all in less than a year. That’s decent progress for someone who still weighs well over the average.

Now in 2026, I am running 3 times a week and still lifting 2-3 times a week – thankfully, I have a career and lifestyle that supports that. The goal of running has changed dramatically.

My Goals as a Heavier Athlete, and a Trainer

I have a few goals:

To show others what it’s like to train as a heavier athlete – The fact is, even when I played sports, I was always on the larger side and so when it came to running, it wasn’t the easiest transition, at least at first and this is exactly why I want to write this blog, because training like a 60kg elite long distance runner is not the same when you weigh almost twice their weight.
To prove I can run a marathon – Never something I thought I would be saying back in 2024 after having my best year yet as a competitive weightlifter.
To expand my fitness toolbox – Essentially, not to just be a one-trick pony. At this point, even whilst preparing for a marathon, I have a healthy relationship with running too, to the point that I actually enjoy it, and that is not a fact to underestimate.

Let’s back track for a moment and address what a heavy runner is.

What is a Heavy Runner?

Very generally speaking, a heavy runner is considered anyone over 91kg (200 lbs) for males and over 77kg (170 lbs) for females. Compared to the average weight for an adult male in the UK, which is approximately 86.2 kg and for a female, it’s 73kg. It’s safe to assume that anything over that and you may be considered a “heavy runner” based on the national average, taken from the Health Survey for England, 2024.

When you look at the average weight of long-distance runners, it paints a clearer picture of what being a heavy runner really means. Elite male marathon runner’s average around 56kg (124 lbs), while elite female marathon runner’s average between 47–48kg (104–107 lbs).

Step back from the elite level, and the numbers shift. Recreational male marathoners average around 77kg (170 lbs), while the average recreational female runner comes in at around 54kg (120 lbs).

So where does that leave a heavy runner?

For males, that’s potentially 14-35kg above the recreational average, and anywhere from 35-45kg above their elite counterparts. For females, a heavy runner at 77kg+ is carrying roughly 23-30kg more than the average woman lining up at a race.

What Running Heavy Actually Does to Your Body.

Let’s get a little bit sciencey. Every time your foot strikes the ground while running, it exposes the body to forces of approximately 1.5–3 times bodyweight per step (Jiang et al., 2024; Cardillo, 2000). For a 95kg runner, that’s somewhere in the region of 190–285kg of force transmitted through your foot, ankle, knee, and hip. Over the course of a 5km run, that adds up to thousands of kilos of impact.

Research has shown that heavier runners often unconsciously adapt their gait to manage this load, reducing the vertical movement of the body, taking wider steps, and increasing stiffness in the lower leg muscles. The body is remarkably good at self-preservation. These adaptations help reduce impact forces and control joint loading to the point that measured values can be similar to those seen in lighter individuals.

That said, the demands are still significantly higher overall. Research confirms that overweight and obese individuals undergo distinct changes in walking and running patterns compared to those at a lower weight (Browning and Kram, 2007; Lai et al., 2008). The cumulative loading on joints, particularly the knees, is substantially greater over time, with higher body mass increasing muscle forces, ligament loading, and articular cartilage stress during gait (Adouni et al., 2024; Messier et al., 2005).

There’s also the cardiovascular side: carrying more mass means your heart, lungs, and muscles are working harder to sustain any given pace compared to a lighter runner at the same speed (Grabowski and Kram, 2008).

Running heavy is harder, I won’t sugarcoat it. But harder and impossible are two very different things.

Addressing the elephant in the room.

Enjoy the pun? Yea, pretty clever, I know.

But let’s be serious for a second. There is a key component of the running scene that most people actually don’t understand, especially if they’ve never been heavy. There’s a barrier that stops most of us heavy runners before we’ve even laced up our shoes. It’s not physical. It’s the voice in your head telling you that you don’t look like a runner, that people are watching, that you don’t belong out there. I can confidently and assertively tell you that you belong anywhere everyone else does. I read an amazing short blog about this subject, perfectly titled “You Belong”, which you should also read, written by a sports journalist, Lisa Jhung. Read here.

The fact is that most people don’t like looking silly. We can be self-conscious because we’re heavier or think we run too slowly. Some people might not even go out at all, out of fear of not looking the part. And here’s the uncomfortable truth: Fear is real, even if the threat isn’t.

Coming from Olympic Weightlifting, I had a different relationship with my body size. In the gym, being strong and heavy was an asset. Mass moves mass, as they say in the lifting world. On the road, it felt like a liability. That shift in context is something a lot of heavy runner’s experience. Research shows that body image dissatisfaction tends to be higher in weight-sensitive sports like long-distance running, where body weight is perceived to directly influence performance (de Bruin et al., 2011; Sundgot-Borgen and Torstveit, 2004).

Running doesn’t just change your body; it changes how you see it.

Many runners report developing a greater sense of respect for their bodies once they understand what they’re capable of (read more here). The shift that helped me most was moving from comparison to appreciation. Rather than focusing on what a runner “should” look like, or perhaps what you look like whilst running, focus on performance and what your body can do for you (read more here). And for heavy runners, that might be the most important piece of advice you can take. The psychologists in the room recognise that as ‘reframing’. I went down that road of shifting my perspective from being a strength athlete to one of being an athlete that lifts and runs, and that my body shape really doesn’t matter if my performance is improving, I’m healthy, and I’m doing something I enjoy.

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Coming Up – Part 2 – A Heavy Runner’s Top Tips

Next time, I will outline practical advice, from a strength coach who has worked with runners, including practical considerations of fuelling, chafing and equipment.

Connor has 8 years of strength and conditioning experience behind him with UKSCA and CSCS accreditations.

Previously based at JDI Barbell in New York, he spearheaded the development of their national-level weightlifting team. Before that, he owned Central London Weightlifting Club. In 2022 was renamed Stoic Strength Systems, which encompasses Strength and Conditioning for international-level athletes, Olympic Weightlifters and everyday athletes around the world. His biggest coaching achievement to date has been coaching at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

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References

Big People CAN Run – Part 1

Big People CAN Run – Part 1

A Big Man’s Guide to Running – Why it is safe and how it can change how you view yourself.

The London Marathon 2026

From Strength Training to Running as a Heavier Person

Why Did I Start Running, and Was it Hard?

Progressive Overload and Doing It Your Own Way

My Goals as a Heavier Athlete, and a Trainer

What is a Heavy Runner?

What Running Heavy Actually Does to Your Body.

Addressing the elephant in the room.

Running doesn’t just change your body; it changes how you see it.

Coming Up – Part 2 – A Heavy Runner’s Top Tips

Connor has 8 years of strength and conditioning experience behind him with UKSCA and CSCS accreditations.

References

What is a heavy Runner

What heavy running actually does to your body

Addressing the elephant in the room