The Secret Training Tip Smart Triathletes Know – and the Rest Refuse to Accept…

Smart triathletes think holistically…

A lot of people refuse to accept this fact.

Their loss.

It shows up when I hear someone say ~

“I swim, bike and run. I’m strong. I don’t need to do anything else”.

Sometimes it shows itself as ~

“I’m not a bodybuilder. I don’t need strength training”.

Or…

“I don’t have the time.”

You’re wrong. Sorry

Ask any smart and successful triathlete and you’ll find 99.9% will agree.*

Living in denial…

Triathlon involves 3 distinct yet repetitive movements.

Those repetitive movements make certain muscles strong while other (underworked) muscles become weaker.

Using your hips as an example, most triathletes have strong quadriceps (thighs) yet weak hamstrings.

But when you have strong muscles working on one side of the hip joint and weaker muscles on the other side, you put an uneven load on the hip joint.

This imbalance can cause mild discomfort (if you’re lucky!) to an annoying-but-not-too-serious injury all the way through to an injury that stops you in your tracks and sends you scurrying back to the physio with hip or groin problems, lower back pain, hamstring tightness or even knee pain or ITBS.

Again.

And no amount of swim-bike-run is going to change that!

Think about how many times you’ve been told by your physio to work on your core – if you are prone to hip problems – or to do calf raises – if you are prone to achilles problems.

Clearly all your swim-bike-run training hasn’t helped otherwise you wouldn’t have the problem in the first place.

So yes, you might be strong because you train a lot but it doesn’t mean that your training, or your body, is balanced!

How your mindset is causing your injuries

I think the biggest problem with this misconception is that many people associate strength training with weight training. With footballers and bodybuilders.

Sure, you can go and bang out 3 sets of 12 on the bench press if your primary concern is looking good in your tri suit next season (with no regard to how you actually perform in said tri suit!).

But a well-designed and personalised strength training program that is appropriate to address the demands that triathlon puts on your body should be a key part of your training program.

It can help to reduce those imbalances, to iron out the tight spots and strengthen the weak spots – and stop you funding the private school education of your physio’s kids!

But it’s important to point out that “personalised” is the key word in that sentence.

What your training buddy does for his or her strength + core session might not be right for you.

Now if you’re first instinct is to say – I don’t have the time, rest assured – you do.

It doesn’t need to take long – even just 2 sessions of 15-20 minutes each week will make a huge difference.

But if truly can’t find the time to squeeze an extra 20mins of training time into your week, you’re better off dropping a run or a ride and replacing it with a short strength and core session which you can do from the comfort of your home.

But don’t take my word for it…..

Ask Macca or Chrissie or Crowie.

They’ve got 11 Ironman World Championships crowns between them and they all speak of the (important) role that strength training has played in their training programs and in their success.

In his book Playing to Win, Macca recommends adding strength work to your training program especially as you get older.

“With age, you will lose speed and flexibility, but you can compensate by becoming more powerful”.

And who doesn’t want more power?

Chrissie Wellington says….

As for Crowie, a quick internet search will show plenty of YouTube videos in which he speaks about the importance of strength and core training in this program including this (recent) video.

So if it’s good enough for Macca, Chrissie or Crowie, it’s good enough for you too!

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be covering the best strength and core exercises for triathletes and runners. But for now,