I'm getting back into strength training after I've neglected it for a few years. I'm pretty experienced and pretty knowledgable about general strength training and strength traning for endurance sports, and I have a degree in exercise science. I'm not really looking for the generalized "what do I do in the gym" advice. Instead, I want to hear what exercises others have done that's been succesful specifically for working on strength and flexibility as it pertains to holding an aggressive aero position. Even more specifically, I'm trying to go under 4:40 for Ironman Texas in 2024. My previous best is 4:54, but I didn't hold aero very well. According to BestBikeSplit aero analysis of that race and a sprint tri 2 weeks later, I lost approximately 10 minutes from that lack of aero discipline. As I understand it, Dan Bigham sort of targeted the aero position FIRST, then worked on power production there with some specific work. I'm looking at doing that kind of strength training, and flexibility as necessary. I'm reasonably flexible currently and I don't believe that's a limiter, but if that has been apparent to someone after fixing it, I want to know what worked to fix it.
1. What kind of strength and flexibility exercises have you done to improve aero position power output or general ability to hold an aggressive aero position (essentially, lower front end)?
2. What kinds of gains did you see in either aero, power, or both?
3. Did you continue doing it, and if not, did you stop doing it and see regression?
Essentially, the question is: did you get faster (and by how much, if you know that) from adding specific strength and flexibility training, and what were the things you did that worked?
1. What kind of strength and flexibility exercises have you done to improve aero position power output or general ability to hold an aggressive aero position (essentially, lower front end)?
2. What kinds of gains did you see in either aero, power, or both?
3. Did you continue doing it, and if not, did you stop doing it and see regression?
Essentially, the question is: did you get faster (and by how much, if you know that) from adding specific strength and flexibility training, and what were the things you did that worked?