Don't Forget Weights During Triathlon Season
Weight Training is Key to Preventing Injury and Improving Time
Apr 23, 2009
Swim, bike, run: that is the life of triathlete during the four or five months of the triathlon season. And while that schedule puts a lot of demand on the athlete physically and time wise, one more component should be added to the mix: weights.
Weights and Injury
It may seem like an impossible task, trying to cram a weight routine into a triathlon training schedule that may have the participant in the pool, on track or on the road six days a week. But weight lifting is essential to keeping you healthy.
The biggest fear of most triathletes is injury. With a sport that demands so much out of the body and that requires building endurance to sometimes extreme levels, the threat of repetitive motion injury is always present.
Repetitive motion injury is caused when the muscle moves in the same way over and over again, causing stress on the same part of the muscle or joint until an injury develops. Lifting weights helps break that cycle by moving and strengthening the muscle in a different way.
Improving Your Triathlon Performance
While lifting weights can help keep you from getting injured, it can also help you get a better time. Each of the triathlon disciplines requires good form and technique but two of the three also demand power.
Swimming and biking require you to have good form to successfully compete in each event. A good swim stroke and good timing are key to being one of the top competitors out of the water. But also in that is having strong shoulders and arms to push the water and create more velocity.
Some of the best shoulder exercises for swimmers are lateral raises. Lateral raises are where you stand with a dumbbell in each hand in front of your thighs. Raise the dumbbells straight up from your body until the dumbbells are even with your shoulders and then return to the starting position.
Biking is similar to swimming in that you need to have a good rhythm and cadence to avoid fatigue and let your bike do more of the work for you. But strong legs can help you go faster and make it easier to climb hills.
A great bike riding exercise is the split squat. For the split squat, stand with two dumbbells with your hands at your sides. Move one foot forward and the other foot back so your legs are spread but in a comfortable fashion. Bend your legs so your back knee touches the ground and then return to standing. Be sure not to let your front knee bend over your front toes. If that is happening, move your back leg further back.
Don’t Overdo It
While weight lifting is important during the triathlon season, you will want to make sure you don’t overdo your workout. With your body doing so much work, even small amounts of weight lifting will have an impact on you.
If you are an avid weight lifter in the off-season, maybe cut your workout down to two or three times a week during the season. Also cut down the time you spend in the gym by doing exercises that target the areas used when competing in triathlons: mainly shoulders, legs and core.
Another great way to get your workout in during the triathlon season is to employ supersets into your workout. Supersets are doing two exercises back to back. To learn more about supersets, check out Supersets can Recharge Your Workout.
