Incorporating strength training into triathlon training (Page 3)

Hi,

I am completely new to training for a triathlon. Today was my first actual day of training. I am curious how other people incorporate strength training into their triathlon training. Do you lift weights, do calistenics, or use bands and pulleys. Any other suggestions or info would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,

Beau

Half the time I have no idea what you're talking about, Synthetic, but I'm like a moth to a flame.  I just can't stop reading your posts. 

Good lord, Shane!  Who made you God today?  Your posts look like the only thing they are there to do is bag on the person who posted.

My understanding is, unless strength training resembles the same movement patterns of said sport (running, swimming, bicycling), there are little to no benefits. The benefit maybe for someone is completely out of shape and any sort of stress would help.

I think strength training for triathlon would look something like this:

1) Cycling up hill with a big gear.

2) Paddles or a drag suit for swimming

3) Running with a weighted vest.

I'm going to write a book on strength training for triathlon...

Chapter 1

Should I strength train?

No............well, maybe..........depends.

The End.

We've ran way off on tangents on this thread.  Maybe the OP will find this helpful.

The question becomes "What is the purpose of your ST?"

If it's to have a direct impact on your performance, then that's when the debate gets heated, with some people taking the position that traditional ST can enhance performance by strengthening the muscles used for s/b/r, and others (myself included) taking the position that the time would be better spent doing either more s/b/r or recovering from s/b/r training sessions if this is why you want to do ST.

If it's to compensate for deficiencies caused by the sport, then it's a little less controversial.  For example, s/b/r tends to neglect the hip abductors, hip adductors, shoulder rotator cuffs, and scapular retractors, and all three sports are performed primarily in the sagittal plane (front to back), neglecting movements in the frontal (side to side) and transverse (twisting) planes.  If other muscles become over developed, causing imbalances, ST for the neglected muscles and exercises in the frontal and transverse planes can be an effective way to correct those imbalances.  If I actually do ST (which is rare), it focuses on the neglected muscles.  Some of the exercises are bent over reverse flys, "Y"'s and "T"'s on an exercise ball, saxon bends, diagonal medicine ball wood chops, lateral lunges, hip adductions, hip abductions (machines, plate slides, or clams), external shoulder rotations, or cuban rotations.

Another time that ST can be valuable for triathletes is if they have tight hip flexors, which is common in people who have office jobs, and sit for long periods of time.  This can make it more difficult to maintain a good body position during swimming, because the spine has to extend to elevate the hips rather than the hip flexors doing it, resulting in back pain during swimming or simply an inability to keep the hips and legs from sinking.  I was also recently at a clinic where the speaker indicated that tight hip flexors can affect running ability, because you can't follow though as well, effectively limiting stride length.  Exercises that can help this are bridges and walking lunges.  For triathletes, I'd lean more toward bridges, because lunges fatigue the big lower body muscles more, which could affect their next bike or run training sessions.

The comment about any sort of stress benefiting someone completely out of shape is interesting.  There have been studies where sedentary people were put on a ST program without cardio training, and the results included improvements to VO2max.  Does this mean that ST without cardio is the best way to improve aerobic conditioning?  Of course not.  It just means that if someone is deconditioned enough, any stimulus will produce results.  If you took a group of conditioned triathletes, and put them on a ST program, eliminating all their s/b/r aerobic workouts, I suspect the results would show decreases in aerobic conditioning.

There are still plenty of other reasons to incorporate ST into your program, even if it's as simple as "because I like doing it."

After reading through all these posts, and coming to the conclusion that there appears to be so much diverse information and quite honestly, some of which is just plain not correct, my advise to you is do your thing, whatever that is and whatever works for YOU and makes you happy, period!  After 30+ years in the fitness arena, this has been my first year of venturing into the wonderful world of multisport.  I finished 2 Oly's this year, the 2nd one faster then the first.  At 51 years of age, 5'-11" 165-167 with 6% body fat, I am in the best shape of my life and will continue to strength train 3+ time per week.  While I totally agree that if you want to SBR faster you need to SBR, strength training has many benefits and can be very beneficial to multi sport athletes.  I no longer train for size utilizing low reps with big weights and consuming the amount of protein required to gain size, instead opting for higher rep counts with moderate to low weights emphasizing those body parts helpful to triathlon.  Lats and triceps for the swim, hamstring, quads and calves for both run and bike.  I also train core/abs 3 or more times a week, I feel it is critical to all areas of triathlon.  Do a Google search on strength training for triathlon and you will find literally thousands of articles on the benefits this type of training can ad to your triathlon experience. A quote from Mark Allen, 6 time Ironman Champion, "All to many triathletes sacrifice strength training in favor of additional swim, bike and run sessions.  This is unwise.  In fact, a well executed strength training program can allow you to carve up to 25% out of your swim, bike and run volume while improving performance and enjoying better race day results".  From an article in Triathlete magazine.  Any yes, I have a family, a regular job and I continue to coach high school baseball as well.  So don't lay the "I don't have time to spend in the gym" crap out there.  If you want it badly enough, you make the time, period.  And trust me, at my age, going against these AG'ers that are so flippin fast, I do spend the time in recovery mode as well, with well placed days off for restoration of the body AND mind.  Bottom line, do what works for you.  It may take you years to figure it out, but the journey will be worth it.  As for me, I'll continue to swim, bike, run, hit the weights, play racquetball, ride my MTB, kayak in the lake, what ever the heck I want to do that makes me happy and keeps me fit enough to persue the podium!

Thats funny

It would be a best seller!