Meb Keflezighi increased his strength-to-bodyweight ratio from 1.3 to approximately 2.7-3.0 through hex bar deadlifts, which added four inches to his stride length, thereby increasing running pace without increasing stride rate.

“When Meb first started if I recall his strength to body weight ratio for a single rep max was 1.3 so pretty pathetic right if we can to be honest right he could only deadlift 1.3 times his body weight um I believe going into Boston he was able to get to 3 to one maybe it was 2.7 but it was in that vicinity and the logic for this was really just physics when you run you have to hit the ground with a toe you know with let's assume your toe striking not heel striking but your foot has to hit the ground the harder you hit the ground the harder the ground hits you the harder the ground hits you the higher you go the higher you go the further your stride and so um they basically had calculated that for Meb to run the pace he wanted to run in Boston that year he needed to add four Ines to his stride and to do that basically required taking his maximal Force per unit body weight from something like 1.3 to 2.7 that was going to translate to four more inches of stride so he didn't increase his stride rate he just increased stride length and that was done through strength”