As female athletes, how often should we incorporate strength training into our weekly routine? And, what would that strength training look like?
The reason for the question .... I've gone back and searched prior forum postings about adding strength training to triathlon training, and a lot of the comments were along the lines of:
'if you have time to strength train, then you have time to swim, bike, or run more, so do those things instead'
'don't strength train because you don't want to get big and carry that extra weight for races'
etc
I found those comments a tad backwards, and perhaps the majority of the people commenting were men and that's why. ;-) But, everything that I've read says that women should incorporate strength training into their weekly activities, especially if over the age of 30.
So, as a 38 year old woman, I'm under the impression that strength training is positive and something that I should be adding to my weekly routine. I just signed up for my first 70.3 race (May 2019) so I'm brainstorming a good training schedule now. Based on my work schedule, kids, etc .... I have built in 3 swims a week, 3 bike sessions a week, 3 runs a week, and 3 strength training sessions a week. Would that be a fair assumption going forward? Note, I'm doing the race to just enjoy the moment .... I'm not trying to podium. ;-)
If so, what should my strength training sessions look like? Pilates? Barbells/dumbbells? Body weight only? One of each a week? What do you all do as fellow women?
Thanks for any input. :-)
The reason for the question .... I've gone back and searched prior forum postings about adding strength training to triathlon training, and a lot of the comments were along the lines of:
'if you have time to strength train, then you have time to swim, bike, or run more, so do those things instead'
'don't strength train because you don't want to get big and carry that extra weight for races'
etc
I found those comments a tad backwards, and perhaps the majority of the people commenting were men and that's why. ;-) But, everything that I've read says that women should incorporate strength training into their weekly activities, especially if over the age of 30.
So, as a 38 year old woman, I'm under the impression that strength training is positive and something that I should be adding to my weekly routine. I just signed up for my first 70.3 race (May 2019) so I'm brainstorming a good training schedule now. Based on my work schedule, kids, etc .... I have built in 3 swims a week, 3 bike sessions a week, 3 runs a week, and 3 strength training sessions a week. Would that be a fair assumption going forward? Note, I'm doing the race to just enjoy the moment .... I'm not trying to podium. ;-)
If so, what should my strength training sessions look like? Pilates? Barbells/dumbbells? Body weight only? One of each a week? What do you all do as fellow women?
Thanks for any input. :-)