Generally now.

In the Spring, Summer, and Fall, I pretty much do only cardio...swimming, biking, running, and some body weight exercises to hit the areas that those three don't cover. In the Winter, I do just enough of those to maintain, but focus more on strength.

Not because this is an ideal training method, just because I'm slightly vain, and I go from looking like an underwear model in the Spring and early Summer, to looking like a death camp refugee by the end of racing season.

This is a tongue in cheek exaggeration, but there is a bit if truth to it.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

I do strength training probably 2-3 times per week. They're called sprint days.

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2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I did strength training workouts 2-3 times a week this year leading up to, and during race season. Some I could do at home and others required a gym. Likely would not have done those solely on my own guidance, but my coach put them on my schedule, so they got done just like any other S/B/R workout.

I've been threatening to do it in the off-season for many years. Never did it until yesterday.
Can't move today.
Typing hurts.
Perhaps I went too hard.

One the pain subsides I plan on doing it once a week.
I have a 64km MTB race in early May... I believe the strength helps somewhat for this.

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From a former sprinter midway through the switch to endurance: if you do it right the first workout of every season hurts to the point of needing-arms-to-get-off-toilet! Hurts to think, haha!

In all seriousness, once a week isn't enough to make gains nor to avoid the excess soreness.

Just my $0.02: lift 2x, breaking the sessions into a push day (squats, leg press, bench, etc.) and a pull day (RDLs, shrugs, cleans, etc.) and make each lifting session shorter. Helps with recovery and keeping gains. We usually lifted 3x, but combined the lifts with runs: do a ~30 min warmup, then lift, then our sprintwork & cooldown, for a long day. The days in between were easier and geared for recovery, e.g. slow(er) runs & core work. To modify for triathlon, you could warmup, lift, then do an easy or long run depending on your time options and how intense you want that day. Currently, I no longer have the luxury of enough time to mix a lift with a long run/ride, so on lift days am doing a short warmup, short lift, and speedwork or hills; the long runs/rides and swimming are on separate days.

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Good luck!

Thanks for the input. I'm on a steep learning curve. My first goal was just to get over the first workout and pain associated with it. From that I plan on structuring it. I'll take your advice and keep reading my current (and first ever) strength training book : maximum strength - Eric Cressey.

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It's such a tough question to answer because if you do it correctly you'll need to get a physical assessment before you get started. You can take an off the shelf program but be weary of those that are arranged like a body builder routine e.g. shoulder day, leg day, etc. These types of programs are not complementary to endurance sport. In the past I had been doing these type of programs but I found out it was designed all wrong. Body builder programs like that are built to low failure counts (6 reps) aka no endurance is built into the strength. For active endurance sport athletes you're better off with a 3x a week 45 minute full body routine. Even better if you can get an assessment and discover which areas you're weak in.

I do a 4 part routine currently with the guidance of a Strength & Conditioning Coach:

1. Warm Up - Work on range of motion and muscle activation
2. Weighted Sets - Work on imbalances in my strength (Right dominant)
3. Core Work - Plyometrics like planks, Turkish getup, anti rotation, burpees, mountain climbers, etc
4. Full Body Stretch Routine - Works on flexibility stretching legs, hips, back, chest, neck, arms, shoulders

In total I can be in and out of the gym in 60-80 Minutes depending on the day which includes a 10 minute warm up on the stationary bike. I also have 2 days of all 4 parts and 1 day of 3 parts to allow for some recovery between the core work, which is the most intense for myself at the moment. I also do a 5-10k run to round out the day since it's winter up north now.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

I considered doing some weight training this off season.
I decided against it.

My goals for the off seasons are:
1) To regain mental and physical freshness
2) To maintain sufficient fitness so that I can start training hard in January
3) To increase strength, flexibility and balance in non-triathlon muscles
4) To address training elements (mostly raw speed) that I often neglect during in-season.

Swimming butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke. Doing sprinting (in all sports). And yoga- seems to be a better formula to achieve my offseason goals.
Weight training would likely be a worse use of time.
P

Weight training? The OP asked about strength training. Part of the reason this debate goes back and forth is that so many people confuse strength training with weight training.

Weight training is lifting weight, strength training is building strength (with or without weights) to improve your ability to perform well in a sport.

Ok.
Good point.

Let's be specific.

1) Swimming, bike and running (in smaller doses) is the best way to maintain offseason triathlon fitness.
2) Sprinting is better "sport specific strength training" for triathlon- than weights would be.
3) Yoga, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke- are better cross-training for strength, flexibility and balance- than weight training would be.
4) Lastly pretty much everything would be better for rebuilding mental and physical freshness than weight training would be.

I agree with what you say and disagree at the same time

First what is fitness? Can you please give me a definition, everyone uses the word fitness but it seems to have a different meaning for many.

I would say from an aerobic standpoint, that yes SBR is a good way to maintain aerobic fitness.

2. When in the off-season I wouldn't say working on very sport specific training is as important. Sometimes sport specificity isn't as important as what people need. Usually you want to go from general to specific throughout the year, so going back to general movement in the off-season works best. Most of the general triathlon population cannot demonstrate sport specific movement with great efficiency and motor control to begin with, so you might as well go back to the basics in the offseason and improve that. Some of it is bodyweight stuff, some can be loaded with resistance bands, weight, etc.

3. I would argue and this goes off #2, but working on your movement limiters will help more. For example. Often people say to swim better you just need to swim more. Okay.....that is a very general and broad statement. But if you have been in the sport a few years and still don't have the trunk stability to keep your hips on to of the water, or poor scapular stability that causes your crossover pattern is swimming really the best option? or would be do some specific strength work after finding the specific limiter and addressing it a better option in combination with swimming?

4. Yes I agree with one caveat, that said person can perform all sport specific skills in triathlon with maximal motor control. Before doing weight training you should be able to demonstrate proper motor control for the demands of the sport, otherwise you are just making the problem worse. Problem is many do not posses that motor control.

Is sport specific strength stuff important, heck yes, but it has it's time and place. Like the concept of periodization, everything, has a place in the plan during the year with the proper dosage.