I just had a general question about weight lifting in perspective to triathletes. I know that weight training, not all triathletes do weight training and my recent first Ironman at 11 hours gives me a different perspective in cda . About 7 to 8 months prior coming from a running backround I started to do some weight lifting and I gave it up after a month and virtuually did no weight training leading up to the Ironman. But in doing some research, I discovered that weight training could benefit me possibly. I did weights for a full hour this past Monday and I am still very very sore from that. I have some muscle soreness due to the weight lifting. Should I buy into weight training? What happens if I maybe once a week do a one hour session and the soreness won’t be there anymore because I will be able to lift a little more weight and the muscles will get used to it… i know It will help my swimming, but I am just curious to what extent and how much weight training everyone does training for an Ironman. What kind of value do you place on it? I appreciate any input that you might have. What type of weight training to you do? I typically do dumbbells, and circuit training, probably the best way to go. 90% upper and 10% lower. Thanks!
I would say 2 30 to 35 minute sessions per week is better than a single one hour session.
Friel’s book has a good regimen for triathletes. Should do about 40% upper body: bench, lat pulldowns, seated rows, dips, 40% lower body leg press, squat or lunge, leg curls, and 20% core, situps, crunches, good mornings.
I am not a trainer, but it looks ike there is a good workout you can do using those big exercise balls, really works core, probably would be really good for a triathlete, if you get a professional to show you how to do it right.
Great way to increase flexibility, prevent injury and build power. I have lifted weights for ten years and have found my best performances have ususally come when I am physically strongest in the weight room.
This is a cut and paste from a previous post of mine.-
Do lift weights, but do not isolate body parts, but rather train movements. The human body is integrated and multiplanner, asymetrical dynamic explosive and rarely static. No single joint, single plane stablized exercise can compare to the benefits provided by movement based training.
My training companyhas been doing alot of strength based research with athletes in NYC training at Asphalt Green, and this is one of the conclusions that we have come about. More and more of athletes are working harder to become stronger and healthier. These athletes are constantly working to improve their activities by increasing their flexibility, strength, endurance, and power. A tremendous amount of athletes are performing high-level activities even though they are inefficient in their fundamental movements. These individuals create poor movement patterns, train around a pre-existing problem or simply do not train their weakness during their strength and conditioning programs. People are spending thousands of dollars on their bikes to become “faster” but spend little when it comes to their actual performance enhancement and or injury prevention.
In today’s evolving training and conditioning market, athletes and individuals have access to a huge arsenal of equipment and workout programs; however, the best equipment and programs cannot produce if the fundamental weaknesses are not exposed. The idea behind strength training is to individualize each workout program based on your weak link. This weak link is a physical or functional limitation. In order to isolate the weak link, the body’s fundamental movement patterns should be considered. Most people do not begin strength and conditioning or rehabilitative programs by determining if they have adequate movement patterns- but they should. By looking at the movement patterns and not just one area, a weak link can be identified. This will enable the individual, strength and conditioning coach, athletic trainer or fitness professional to focus on that area. If this weak link is not identified, the body will compensate, causing inefficient movements. It is this type of inefficiency that can cause a decrease in performance and an increase in injuries.
Once you can determine if you have a weak link or not, you can then start on movement based stability and mobility work. Another interesting piece of info that we have found in our research is athletes will always sacrifice quality of motion to maintain quantity of motion and in turn develop compensatory movement patterns in order to overcome functional deficits. An example of this is how an athlete will develop hip stiffness due to athletic participation. This is a result of the muscle hypertrophy and movement patterns that occur due to training and participation sports. When the hips become stiff in the end ranges of flexion, extension and adduction, the lumbar spine will have to sacrifice its stability at the expense of greater mobility. Excessive flexion, extension and rotation will occur at the lumbar spine in an attempt to compensate for a relative decreased stride length during running caused by the stiffness in the hips. Therefore, an athlete who has a slight decrease in range of motion may lose 2-3 inches in their stride and they will compensate by using poor body mechanics. This compensatory movement pattern is a temporary strategy and, although straight-ahead speed may be maintained, the ability to maintain it efficiently over long periods of time may be altered. This situation will predispose the athlete to develop micro trauma, or excessive wear and tear on the body. Imagine if your stride is shortened by 2-3 inches, and you run at a rate of 90 strides a minute. That is 3 inches per stride times 90 in a minute- now figure how many inches/feet/miles you can save or make up in an Ironman marathon.
Long story short, work on movement patterns during your strength training program. First identify potential biomechanical weaknesses and work on turning them into a strength and prevent injury and your weight program will help you tremendously.
Hope that helps.
Yeah, what he said.
I just went through the USAT Level I Coaching clinic in Colorado Springs and we had a great session with George Dallum, Hunter Kemper’s coach. George (has a PhD in exercise phys) showed us a set of strength training exercises for triathletes that were very range and motion specific to swimming, biking, and running. Also some good core exercises. The basic ones for running were one legged squats (best done on a Smith rack) only going down as far as your knee bends while running, knee “lifts” – touching your butt with your ankle with an ankle weight. For biking it was simple seated knee extensions and seated hamstring curls. The swimming ones were straight arm lat pulldowns, seated rows, upright rows with dumbbells, and stretch cord swimming drills. Also covered some plyometrics.
George says that he, himself, (the dude is mid 40s?) has never been faster and he thinks the key is his power and strength bases gained through the regime partially described above. And of course his star client, Hunter, is presently ranked #1 on the pro ITU circuit.
Sorry I can’t give you more, but you’ll just have to hire a Level I Coach!
Marty
I think weight training becomes more important as we age. I’m 46. I really don’t use much in the way of actual weights since a disk injury a few years ago and my strength training probably looks more like physical therapy than anything else. Last year I pretty much stopped strength training during my late season taper. It seemed that I had a lot more aches and pains come on as compared to early season. Years ago I feel that I gained a lot of bike strength doing squats but now strength training is more for injury prevention. I do a lot with a stability ball. Ideally I’d lift 30-40 minutes three times per week but the rest of the training gets in the way.
Part of the reason you could be sore from lifting weights this past Monday is that your muscles are probably not fully recovered from Coeur d’Alene yet if indeed you just did that race a few weeks back; and at 11 hours, you were putting forth a pretty solid effort that surely taxed your muscles a bit. I also did CdA and I have done a few easy workouts since the race in each discipline and I am still not feeling recovered as I get tired pretty quickly even at easy pace and my muscles end up feeling like I did a much harder work out. It takes a while for our muscles to recover from an Ironman. I’m not a certified coach, but I from what I’ve read, I think that getting back in the weight room this soon after an Ironman will offer little benefit, and actually puts you at risk for injury or at least an extended recovery window from the IM effort. Any coaches out there who can comment on this?
I’m not a coach, but soreness after initial weight training workouts is normal(especially since you have never done much with weights). As you get deeper into a resistance program and your muscles adapt, the post-workout soreness is minimal.
It’s a no brainer, DO IT. Get qualified help to access your weaknesses and do it twice a week during season and 3 or 4 times a week in the off season. I’m 63 and have been competitive for 35 yr’s and I owe a lot of my longevity to some form of resistance training.