I always did weight training while training for IMs. (Usually did 2 IMs a year, so pretty much did weight training all season long). My main modification was to start to taper off the leg weights starting about 6 weeks out from the race, and dropping leg weights entirely for the 2 weeks before the race.

I am a firm believer in strength training during your Ironman training. There are so many positives to strength training: losing weight, gaining muscle, helping the heart improve, etc. Many scientific studies about strength training and the endurance athlete. Head to Google Scholar[/url].

Question for you: Are you looking to drop weight through strength training? It is a balance to drop that weight. It will be a combo of swim, bike, run, lift and eating right. A s you know what they say, "The abs are made in the kitchen."

Happy to talk more with you if you want to private message me. Hope that helps.

(I raced 4 IM's without strength training and have done 7 with strength training and I am a much better athlete now. It is all about consistency).

Jen

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Jen Rulon
Chasing that Kona Dream since 1989

Think about this for a second. What makes you fitter and faster at swimming, cycling, and running?

Is the answer:

A) Weight lifting
B) Swimming, cycling, and running

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If you HAVE to choose only one of the two answers, of course B) is the right answer.
BUT: the question is if you already do s,c and r a lot, would ADDITIONALLY do some weight lifting make you better, or should you do even more of s,c and r.

I do additionally some weight lifting (squats), but I don't really know if it helps. I guess so, and some say it does. Especially when you're over 50. I do it only in the off-season, and stop it about 4 months before an IM, because I Start to do so much running and biking than which such an intensity that weight lifting would interfere the necessary regeneration of the bike and run sessions.

If you want to be a complete athlete then yes to weight training. If you train "for life" and not just for a race then of course weigh training. If you want to be strong and fit then of course weight training.
To me the only down side to weight training is if (like I sometimes have) you push to hard and injure yourself.

Agree with almost everything you just said, I weight train all year round. The only question i has weight training led to weight loss for you? Muscle is alot heavier than fat?

Weightlifting isn't necessarily about making you a better swimmer, cyclist or runner. It's more about making you a better endurance athlete. Weight training helps prepare your body, muscle and tendons, for the demands of the sport.

 

Agree with almost everything you just said, I weight train all year round. The only question i has weight training led to weight loss for you? Muscle is alot heavier than fat?[/quote]


Fat and muscle weigh the exact same. muscle takes up less volume and provides function as well as looking a hell of a lot better.

You ever hear anybody say..."My cardiovascular training was on point, but I just got too strong to meet my goals"?

How does weight training help the heart improve vs endurance training?

Sport specific strength training yes, which is NOT weight training. Examples:
- low cadence, 30-60 sec high torque hill reps on the bike
- high effort (like almost all out) hill repeats on the run
- lots of paddles on the swim

All of those are great strength training, and are very sport specific so will actually help you improve triathlon.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Pro peloton lift leg weights. Kittel is on record saying they do it once or twice per week in season too.
Why? Serious q too, why would they if there is no benefit ?

None of those are strength training. None of them even approach max load levels, which is the definition of strength training.

Imagine doing lift sets with 20-50% of max weight...

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"Go yell at an M&M"

Kittel is a sprinter. I think there is a lot of benefit for sprinters. But for an IM athlete who already has to balance training for 3 sports, adding a 4th on top of that means they will have to compromise on the other 3. For a pro peleton sprinter, it's a core part of their training.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Glad to hear others weight train year round as well. When it comes to the whole muscle weighs more than fat, that is a myth. A pound is a pound. From my non IM strength training to my IM strength training, I dropped weight. From what the OP is asking, they are wondering if strength training will help he/she drop weight. Yes, it will. If you want to get faster and do well at IMChoo, then you will need to swim, bike and run. It is all about specificity.

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Jen Rulon
Chasing that Kona Dream since 1989

I'm not trying to say that weight training does not work- In fact I am a proponent of weight training.
But your statement "get fitter, faster" is flawed.

Fitness takes times- the only way to get "fitter, faster" is to do the ideal mix of training and recovery FOR YOUR BODY.
Do too much or wrong work- progress is slower. Do too little- progress is also slower, but you don't run the risk of injury, staleness, etc..

There is no free lunch.

Most people do weight training as part of a program of self deception.
"I go to the gym so I must be super fit and active."

Triathlon unfortunately has a clock. It is easy to decide who is good and who is not.

Skip the weights- unless you have something specific you are trying to achieve.

That's great and all but that was the question that was posed. He wants to speed up getting fitter and faster. Which is going to be concentrating on the three sports that are actually part of a triathlon.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

What is the question?

Here is what I think many want to ask:
"Do I really need to swim, bike and run? That's a lot of work. Can't I just prance around the gym a bit?"

You must go to a strange gym. People prancing around and all. I don't just, "go to the gym" I work really hard at the gym.
Yes. The race has a clock but so does your body and it's ticking. And if you aren't hitting weights you losing muscle as we speak.

Focusing on IM this year due to chronic running injuries leading me to more cross training (bike-swim-elliptical) and inevitably a triathlon...

Started my IMTX build not doing my weights routine due to more focus on swim bike run. 4 weeks in I got a new injury... (Sacroiliac > hip>hamstring inhibition) Needless to say I'm back to the gym 2x 30min a week.

Not so much for max power but more for total body resilience. Pull ups, chin ups, heel drops (pre-hab for my chronic calf issues), dead lifts, front squats, kettle bell swings.

Also, hormonal and muscle mass maintenance benefits as you get older are fantastic!! (Reference: Internet)

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/nbrowne1

Several have posted about the efficiency of sports specific training. My background and specialty is strength training with over 30 years in training, study, competition, and helping others train for competition. In most sports the better path is being focused and fresh for training as best possible. In strength we minimized cardio to keep the legs fresh for hitting targets each week. We spread apart the days based on the individual to allow them enough recovery to train that body part effectively and progressively.

IMO - the same is true for the triathlete with the challenge being greater that there are two other activities that play into the weekly training load and managing that load with the balance between recovery and being slightly progressive aiming toward peaking for the season. Throwing in another training activity only makes this all the more challenging.

My primary training is still strength or weight training, but being retired I get the opportunity to be a bit more balanced in life than I was during the competitive days where I limited cardio. I love lifting, but to your question of getting fitter faster I am in the camp of those for sports specific training.

Through my 40's I weight trained pretty well 50 weeks per year doing 1-4 Ironmans per year. Intially I thought I was doing it to get faster (DOH!!!!). but frankly I enjoy lifting and how it makes me "feel" the rest of the day. I feel much better the rest of the day after lifting weights, or doing hard short intensity (reference Rob Gray's post around sport specific sprints). I feel like absolute shit later in the day after really long rides or really long runs. Later in my 40's I started doing slighlty heavier weights/resistance work to work all aspects of my body outside of S/B/R. I felt that it had been instrumental in keeping me relatively young for my age (50+) relative to many of my peers.

After a while I came to this conclusion that I firstly hated riding or running really long where I lived because I have seen every possible route a zillion times and I felt like shit later in the day. I keep my long riding for a few away training camps per year. I never run longer than 90 min anymore other than in a race. I train frequently with relatively high intensity and my volume is solid, but I feel good overall when I lift (or do high intensity sport stuff). I kind of enjoy being in the gym with the muscle heads (cause that's what I did in high school doing power sports) and doing stuff on a single leg at a time that they will fall over doing. I do a cross of what the yoga/TRX girls do and what the muscle head college guys do (at a millionth of the weights they are pushing).

I will probably keep doing weights and swimming my entire life, long after I have stopped biking and running. I'm on the "use it or lose it plan".

But I agree for younger athletes, no need to waste time in the gym unless you're already on the 800 hours per year training plan already. Then adding in 52 hours of resistance is probably fine.