just curious what everyone’s upper body workouts look like. i know you dont want the lionel sanders massive upper body that he was toting around up until recently, but you also want enough to pull you through the swim and keep you propped up on the bike.
i have been slacking horribly recently with upper body as ive been spending a lot of time running and on the bike and really enjoying it.
everything i do when im strick with my workouts are complex. its too time consuming (and a massive waste of time if you ask me) to do any isolation specific. im a big kettlebell fan so i tend to spend time with full-body exercise using those. pushups are easy and can be done anywhere so those are usually in upper body day. i plank a lot to hit the core, and that in turns works your shoulders and back as well.
aside from that, we have a vasa at work that i ordered for us (me, more specifically) that i need to make myself spend more time on. i want to get one for the house also just to get the conditioning specific workouts in.
There are quite a few good guides out there on strength training for triathletes. I really think it is a massively overlooked area for triathlon and should be part of a balanced training plan.
I will try and track down the name of the book I have used, it has specific upper and lower body exercises for swimming, biking and running. At the moment I use a combination of exercises depending on what I am wanting to achieve, mainly swimming and riding focused at the moment. Key movements at the moment for me are push ups, pull ups, incline flies, dips, close grip pull downs, squats, dead lifts, single leg exercises plus core work, normally spread over 2-3 45-50 min sessions a week.
My coach had a much more specific plan but it is not very easy to do in my current gym that I go to.
like others have said swimming is your workout. But I know Tower 26 talks about doing the resistance band exercise that mimics the freestyle stroke before every swim. maybe some pushups and pullups.
I see a lot of concerning stuff in triathletes in the fit studio, and I’m a big advocate of doing work off the bike to be better on the bike via improved balance of antagonistic muscle relationships, stability, breathing control, and mobilization. You can’t have strength without all of these in place.
What you need to work on is very specific to you, but very generally speaking, for triathletes, I like to see some work on hip and shoulder mobility being done regularly, which can be as simple as foam rolling.
Stabilization can be accomplished through balance exercises, so I tend to favor stuff like push-ups and planks over bench press because they require more activation of the muscles that will stabilize you on the bike, in the swim, and on the run. A fun sequence:
Hold a high plank (the upper push-up position) for 5 seconds (static motor control)
Do 5 pushups slowly (dynamic motor control)
Do 5 mountain climbers slowly (slightly more advanced dynamic motor control)
Do 5 pushups slowly again
Hold the high plank again for a few seconds and rest
Flip over and pair this up with a sequence to work the backside of the body some more:
Hold a bridge for 5 seconds
Do 5 bridges
Do 5 single-leg bridges on each side
Do 5 bridges
Hold the last one for 5 seconds
Focus on form via core engagement and breath control. You could increase the number of reps, but I would rather increase the number of sets to ensure that the last rep is as good as the first. Quality before quantity. Think in terms of 5 sets of 1 rather than 1 set of 5.
If I had to pick just one form of alternative exercise to balance out the swim/bike/run workload, it would be yoga. There are so many good things going on with yoga. A few minutes of Crocodile breathing is a good way to end your day.
I don’t know if any of that answers your question.