HOW STRENGTH TRAINING CAN HELP YOU AS AN ENDURANCE ATHLETE

While the goal(s) for many endurance athletes change over the course of their career, for many age groupers who train and compete “for fun,” it usually starts off with a health goal. 

“I want to fit into my skinny jeans again.”

“I want to feel stronger.”

“My doctor told me I need to be more active.”

“I want to be able to play with my grandkids when I’m 90+ years old.”

Whatever your initial reason was for starting, most of us continue to participate in our favorite sport because we have fallen in love with the feeling we have doing it, and hopefully, it makes us a healthier, happier version of ourselves!

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, many of us became event driven. My circle of training friends had a running joke for years that you never completed an event without having already signed up for at least one other (usually it was like 3-4 other events). This is completely fine to be motivated by races on the schedule, however, let’s not lose sight of why we do all of this. With most of the races being wiped off the calendar in 2020, it’s a fantastic opportunity to reframe your lens and refocus on why you are an athlete.

There's More to Life Than Training!
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I’ve been a nutrition coach to endurance athletes since 2014 and more recently in 2017 expanded my coaching services to start providing training plans as well. It’s been a great combo for my athletes because, let’s face it, reaching your performance goals isn’t just about checking boxes on a training plan. 

It involves many other aspects of your life like nutrition, sleep, recovery, strength, mobility, relationships, and so much more.

But the reality is we ALL only have 24 hours in a day. And despite what you may be trying to convince yourself of, we ALL need 7-9 hours of sleep each night. That means that when we get into the thick of training, in order to thrive in one area (our athletic goals), oftentimes other areas are neglected.

In the peak of an ironman training block, I can guarantee you’re giving up time with your non-triathlon friends or family members to get in the long days of training. Hopefully you’re not sacrificing sleep, but some athletes do.

With loads of swimming, biking and running on the schedule, family dinners are often sacrificed for strength training and mobility sessions. This is all fine and dandy for a period of time, but at some point, balance has to be achieved.

Keep focusing on swimming, biking and running and neglecting your strength and mobility (especially as an aging athlete), I can guarantee your risk of injury goes up! Same thing for athletes who only have friends within their training circle. What happens when you get hurt and you can’t join your friends for runs anymore? Your social life disappears? No! We need to have people in our lives who understand, love and support our efforts as endurance athletes, but DO NOT like to play our game.
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The Most Common Areas of Neglect
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With COVID thrusting us into a year with less or maybe even NO events on the calendar, it is a PERFECT time to focus on some of the areas of our training that we tend to neglect when we are training for events. 

The most common areas of neglect I have seen over the years with endurance athletes are:

• Strength and mobility
• Sleep
• Stress-management
• Nutrition

This month, I’m giving my tips on how to use this time to be productive to improve your health and wellness and avoid taking massive steps backwards!

You do these sports because you want to be healthier, right?! Throwing in the towel because your events have all been canceled is most definitely NOT my advice. Sure, take some time off if you haven’t done that already but then use this time to optimize your health and athleticism so you can come back in 2021 (or whenever we’re getting back to racing) a better version of yourself.

Honestly, do you really want to start all over again?
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Strength & Mobility
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This week, I’m focusing on strength and mobility. Why? Because it is the biggest weakness I see with endurance athletes.

Majority of our resiliency is terrible. It seems like every time I hear about someone taking a training break due to an injury, it’s from some regular daily life event, like lifting a grand kid, or trying to get up off the floor, or my favorite from last week was driving a boat.

Seriously people...we are supposed to be “fit.” And if you want your fitness to apply beyond the moments in your life where you are doing your specific sport, you have to be strong and mobile!

During the season, most of us are afraid of taking what limited time we have for training away from our specific sport and using it for strength training. But with no specific race on the calendar, now is the perfect time to focus on strength and mobility. 

Areas like the core, glutes and hamstrings (the posterior chain), lower back, and upper body seem to be “weak spots” for most endurance athletes. By replacing 3-4 workouts each week with a strength training session, athletes can see a significant improvement in power and resiliency when they get back to pre-season training next season.

Easy Workouts You Can Do at Home

I recommend making time for 4 workouts per week. With each workout, the focus is pull, push, deadlift and squat.

​To make things easier for you, here are 4 workouts (1 in each category) that you can try:
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PUSH

1. Dumbbell Bench Press 4x10 with 90 seconds rest between sets
2. Superset: Dumbbell Lateral Raises 3x12 - Tricep Dips- Max Effort (no more than 15)*
3. Core

Rest 2 minutes between supersets
*If 15 is easy, add weight to your lap or put on a weight vest to make it more challenging.


PULL

1. Single Arm Dumbbell Bent Over Rows on a Bench 4x10 with 90 seconds rest between sets
2. Superset: Dumbbell Bent Over Reverse Fly 3x15 - Max Effort Pulls Ups (no more than 15)*
3. Core

​Rest 2 minutes between supersets
*If 15 is easy, add weight by putting on a weight vest or adding weight around your waist with a weight belt.

DEADLIFT

1. Single Leg Dumbbell/Kettlebell Deadlift- 4x8 each leg with 90 seconds rest between sets
2. Superset: Weighted Glute Bridge Ups- 3x15 - Weighted Toe Raises- 3x15 - Banded Lateral Monster Walks- 3x20 each direction
3. Core

Rest 2 minutes between supersets

SQUAT

1. Dumbbell Front Squat- 4x8 with 90 seconds rest between sets
2. Superset: Single Arm Dumbbell Overhead Walking Lunges- 3x10 each leg- Squat Jumps- 3x10 
3. Core

Rest 2 minutes between superset
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You Don't Have to Do This Alone!

I get that doing these movements for most endurance athletes can be awkward at first. And the fear of getting hurt picking up weights definitely exists (it’s the thing I hear the most from athletes when I ask why they don’t do strength training).

So if any of these movements make you uncomfortable or you’d prefer to have someone with training in strength training watch you do it, then you should find a professional to help you!

So many personal trainers have been forced to become creative during this unusual time when many gyms are closed. I have distance clients who are using the strength training programs that I personally have created for them and hired personal trainers in their home town to meet them at an outdoor park and walk them through it.

There are also tons of personal trainers and coaches (including myself) who have their clients video themselves doing a movement and send it to them for critique. Honestly, you don’t have to be face to face with a trainer or coach to get help with strength training. So no more excuses. Start picking up heavy shit and become a better athlete! 

Obviously as a coach I’m  a huge believer in following a structured program (both for endurance training, strength training, AND nutrition). It is the best way to optimize health and your future performance.
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Don't Look Back on 2020 and Wish You Did Something Differently
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If you don’t have a structured program and you are floundering around without an event on the calendar, reach out to me for a free discovery call so we can see if working together is right for you.

If it’s not, I can still help point you in the right direction so you feel like you used your “off time” in 2020 wisely and don’t look back at this time in 2021 and wish you had done something different.
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“I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.” -Unknown