How You Train Makes a Difference!!
If you are an endurance athlete, you may think you are best served by spending all of your training time doing endurance training. After all, you are trying to get faster and fitter to take on events that require muscular and cardiovascular endurance. Further, if you are time-limited for your training, shouldn’t you devote all of that precious time to the sport(s) in which you would like to improve? If that is the case,who has time for strength training?
Let me suggest that regardless of the endurance sport or your distance of choice, you can enhance your performance and mitigate the potential for injury by incorporating strength training into your training plan. Two properly designed and targeted 30 minute strength training sessions per week will compliment your endurance training, and ultimately make you faster. A study in a recent edition of the European Journal of Sports Science suggests that combining running training with heavy strength training twice a week for 30 minutes can increase running economy and performance, when compared with endurance strength training (many reps with lighter weights). An older issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology found that explosive strength training in well-conditioned athletes resulted in improved 5K running performance.
The neuromuscular benefits derived from heavy strength training and explosive strength training have been proven to lead to improved running economy and efficiency. If you are an athlete looking to improve your performance in swimming, cycling, and/or running at any distance, economy and efficiency are of paramount importance. It must be noted that the type of strength training exercises you do are important and exercises that train the posterior kinetic chain top the list. Any strength training program should begin with 6-8 weeks of anatomical adaptation before moving to heavier weights, and care should be taken to avoid aggravating any prior injuries. Form and proper technique are also vital to getting results and avoiding injury. You never want to sacrifice proper form for increased weight.
As we age, we naturally lose muscle mass, and strength training is the way to hold the line against the loss of muscle mass. If you are a masters athlete or older, strength training is not really an option, if you want to continue to pursue the activities you enjoy as you age. So pump some iron, and perform better!
Neal McLaughlin is an Assistant Coach with Mile High Multisport. He is the 2009 Men’s age 50-54 USA Triathlon National Sprint Distance Champion, a 16-time member of USA Triathlon Team USA, and a 16-time USA Triathlon All American. He is a USA Triathlon Level 1 Certified Coach, a USA Cycling Level 3 Certified Coach, and a Slowtwitch Certified Triathlon Cycling Coach. You can reach Coach Neal via the MHM web site www.milehighmultisport.com or Neal@milehighmultisport.com
