Strength training (Aimed towards Triathlons)

NeedsTraining

Hi All,

Anyone have a strength training plan that is aimed towards triathlons?

Starting my winter training soon, aiming for an Oly and HIM next year, and would like to put some focus on the strenght side of things.

Any help, suggestions, plans would be appreciated.

Thanks,

NT

tunguska

Hey man,
Yeah strength training is crucial from the point of view of injury prevention. I havent been training with weights for about 2 months now because Im running the marathon and wanted to focus just on running. But that was a mistake. I shouldve kept the weights up because Ive been having problems with my left hamstring, glutes and ultimately my foot. This was all down to lack of core strength. Its manageable and Im grinding it out but like I said, dropping the weights in favor of running was a mistake. Next year I'll be able to combine both.
I've done a few triathlons and next year Im gonna hit them pretty seriously but you definitely need to strenght train. It'll be time consuming because of course you'll need to get your swimming, cycling and running sessions in aswell. So I hope youre not planning on getting married, having kids or any of that sort of tomfoolery:).
But strength train 4 times per week and utilise compound exercises like squats, deadlifts and bench press. Its hard to lift heavy and knock out quality swim, cycle and run sessions at the same time so you may have to compromise a little. And you'll have to decide whether to weight train before youre cardio or after. I train with weights before because I find it too dificult to weight train after a tough run or cycle. But you might be different and work better by hitting the weights after.
Anyway core training is crucial so really work on your abdominals and back, this way you'll build a solid foundation that would work towards protecting you from injury.

scottreynolds

NeedsTraining wrote: »

Hi All,

Anyone have a strength training plan that is aimed towards triathlons?

Starting my winter training soon, aiming for an Oly and HIM next year, and would like to put some focus on the strenght side of things.

Any help, suggestions, plans would be appreciated.

Thanks,

NT

There's a book called Going Long by Gordon Bryn (http://www.endurancecorner.com). If that books there a good discussion about weight programs etc for Tri. I haven't read it entirely yet but it seems good.

Actually just found these articles on his website. http://www.endurancecorner.com/library/strength_training

NeedsTraining

Thanks for the information guys.

Scottreynolds, thanks for the articles. They look like good articles. Must take time now to divulge the info.

Tunguska, agree with the need for strength. It will be a fine balancing act as I am married, have a young baby, work is mental etc etc. Ah well, I hope to manage.

Thanks.

pgibbo

Why not have a look at this or this. Functional movement with met-con benefits. Typically done in 30 minutes also.

too much trifle

i do tri's regularly [but slowly], bit i'm not someone who enjoys pushing weights, so i go circuit traing and work hard on the weight sections, i'm sure their are better ways yo train but it works for me.

Carb

I've a weights programme on my log at moment. Its a little more full body than tri specific as it's early days for me and I'm coming from years of doing nothing and the weaknesses that come with this.

Joel Friels book also specifies certain weight programmes.

I think the exercises he focused on were: Squats, standing lat pulldown, Hip extension (commonly referred to as leg press I think), bench press, seated row and an incline abdominal situp and twist (weight optional). He also leaves the option to deal with individual weakness such as heel raise, hamstring curl etc.

One thing I have noticed is that when exercising individual legs, there are big differences in strength that I wasn't are of.

Finally, as someone who use to do a lot of weights 10 years ago, 4 days a week would seem a little excessive for this purpose unless you're doing very short sessions targeting 1 or two muscle groups at a time. My current programme is split over two workouts, and I go three times a week at present. This means every muscle group gets put through its paces 3 times every fortnight.

tunney

Sport specific resistance training.

Do hills on the bike and run.
Swim with a band.

hunnymonster

what do you do for your "core" Tunney?

Sub430

tunney wrote: »

Swim with a band.

:rolleyes:

tunney

hunnymonster wrote: »

what do you do for your "core" Tunney?

Sorry I don't for some reason lump strength and core in the same category.

I've a core routine that I do 3-4 times a week that just involves body weight exercise. 10-15 minutes.

I do do gym work some times as well but I've changed my approach to strength training over the last year and may well supplement sport specific with actual gym work in places.

baldykav

As tunney said, sport specific exercises, they are the best. However you can have gym exercises that isolate and simulate that action. Get a swiss ball and remember that Technique is everything, weight is nothing. Freehand exercises are also key. Squat and glute work are worthy of weights but freehand should be fine for everything else balance related. If I were you i'd go for.

basic Core (progressions should be available online):

Transverse abdominus and lower rectus ab' activation exercises (a lot of people won't be able to activate core learn how to, otherwise you don't get best benefits on doing the exercises if you don't isolate)
Plank (and many progressions)
side plank,
prone cobra,
back extension,
swiss ball reverse leg etc etc
Oblique twists with medicine ball
Oblique crunches on ball.
Standard crunches on ball
+ a load more..

Legs: all with excellent technique essential!

Squats
Single leg squats
multidirectional lunges
Donkey kick backs with theraband/cross over cables(simulates the drive part of running cycle)
Hip flexor strengthening
Glute Medius Activation and isolation (google for exercises)
Hip thrusts on ball, progressing to single leg
Kneeling and balancing on ball, to Standing on ball, to squats while standing on ball (getting advanced).
Calf raises
VMO isolation knee extensions (leg straight, foot externally rotated, lift).


Freehand - personally I wouldn't worry about bench press, it's not going to do much for what you want.

- Press up's (standard, staggered hand, one hand on medicine ball and change , on swiss ball etc)
- Dips are key.
- Pull ups, wide grip, close grip switches etc.
- lat pull downs to reinforce lat activation in high elbow position while swimming. (Do not do this with dropped elbows as you normally would when doing lat' pull downs. use High elbow position at front of pull - low weight on machine and pull down mimicking swimming pull. up weight with increased acitvation)
- External shoulder rotation exercises (rotator cuff) - NB for avoiding swimmers shoulder.

Check out www.floswimming.com for some dryland swimming exercises.


Don;t get out of your saddle on the bike. Do some overgear work.

Carb

baldykav wrote: »

loads of stuff used for torture

:eek:That was painful just reading it.