“Strength training doesn’t have to be hard.” Really?

Jason Boivin, assistant coach with the McGill Varsity Swim team and coach at McGill Triathlon Club, believes there is a big misconception in the triathlon community that your off-season dryland sessions need to leave you sore and drenched in sweat. “It doesn’t have to be difficult, you don’t have to fry yourself at the gym,” says Boivin.

Capability vs Capacity

“The way I see it, if you can’t properly lunge or brace yourself while doing functional movements, how do you expect to run well or stay injury-free?” says Boivin. The off-season is the time to learn to move properly.

Swimming, cycling and running are all very unidirectional and repeative. It is important then to do a variety of dryland exercises that help develop muscles that may be neglected in “normal” triathlon training.

Related: Adopting a long term approach to triathlon training

By doing a variety of drills, you will be able to increase strength and stay healthy.  Also, the off-season allows you the time to integrate new habits into your routine.

The movements to do in a strength program

1. Upper body pushing
2. Upper body pulling
3. Squatting
4. Single Leg
5. Bending/Hinging
6. Core

Above are six different movements that are the foundation of any strength program. But, before you lift any weight, it is important to assess your ability to move. To do this, try doing the following drills to assess how you move. Make sure to use a mirror or have someone join you at the gym to give you feedback.

Upper body pushing

Exercise: Dip

Dips may be one of the best upper body pushing exercises because it involves strength relative to bodyweight and flexibility.

This drill can be done on a fitness apparatus at a gym. From a straight elbow position, lower yourself to approximately a 90-degree bend in your elbows. Then fully extend. Make sure not to lower shoulders past elbows.

Count to three on the way down and come up in one.

Upper body pulling

Exercise: Chin-up

The chin-up complements a dip (above), helping to balance both the extensor and flexor muscles of the shoulders and elbows.

This can be done on a fitness apparatus at a gym. Your hands can be in pronated (palms facing away) or a supinated (palms facing you) grip. Begin with arms fully extend and then pull yourself up. Feel free to use bands or assist machines to help complete the drill.

Count to three on the way down and come up in one.

Squatting

Exercise: Air Squat

A squat is very functional in daily life. Squatting is involved in grasping, stopping or pressing objects below or above us. It is also a common exercise people use to develop leg strength.

Begin with a leg stance slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Make sure your toes are slightly out and have your knees track over your feet when squatting. Keep your weight in the middle of your feet and have equal bending in knees. To perform this exercise properly, make sure to maintain a stable torso.

Count to three on the way down and come up in one.

Single leg

Exercise: Forward Lunges

From a standing position, step forwards and back using leg. Tap the opposite knee to ground (or allow to hover over surface). Hands on hips.

What to watch for? Stable hips during the entire movement. Knee tracking over feet, and not moving side to side. With your torso on top of your hips, you should be able to draw a straight line from your shoulders to your hips.

Perform the movement continuously.

Bending/Hinging

Exercise: Waiter’s Bow

Like the squat, being able to bow or hinge at the hips is vital to other movements in daily life and training.

From a standing position, bend at your waist only with a slight 30-degree bend in your knees. Bend until your back begins to round.

This may be a very simple drill, but a lack of ability to do bow effectively may increase the risk of a lower back injury.

Count to three on the way down and come up in one.

Core

Exercise: Leg Lowering Abs

This drill is important because it is an easy way to assess your ability to hold the pelvis in place while the legs move around it.

Lying on your back, bring your legs up. Make sure your feet are aligned with your hips with straight knees. By contracting your abdomen, lower your legs until you feel your lower back moves from the floor. Then return to the starting position. The goal is to lower your legs to 45 degrees or lower (relative to the ground).

Count to three on the way down and come up in three.

The round up

Once you have done a number of sessions working on understanding the movement, muscle activation patterns and technique, you can then begin incorporating doing the movement with a weight or resistance band.

As you master these movements, more complex drills can be integrated into your sessions.

The post The strength training you should be doing appeared first on Triathlon Magazine Canada.

To avoid burnout this off-season, it is important to give your body time to recover, recharge and refocus. This may look a bit different for everyone, but surging back into training after a long race season is a mistake. In the 2018 November/December issue of Triathlon Magazine Canada, Melanie McQuaid shares five ways to improving this off-season while still taking an off-season break.

1. Mobility: Inadequate mobility creates inefficient movement patterns. Improving sport-specific technique starts with addressing any restricted mobility in the body. Whether the limitation is in the shoulders (swimming), hips (running and cycling) or ankles (running), a focus on mobility improves technique and injury-resistance. Flexibility is a component of mobility, referring to your muscle’s ability to stretch, but mobility is a broader term referring to range of motion. This means a focus on mobility is not necessarily a focus on flexibility. There is little debate that inadequate range of motion will reduce athletic performance, whereas stiff and inflexible muscles may not. Building a mobility routine that ensures you have at least the minimum required range of motion is key to unlocking athletic potential and good technique. Mobility exercises
2. Agility: Agility refers to balance, coordination, speed and reflexes. This training of your nervous system focuses on improving motor patterns in the body. Xterra racing requires much more agility than a full-distance race, but some work will improve performance and injury-resistance for athletes in all triathlon disciplines. The offseason is a great time to work on agility because a fresh nervous system allows for quality agility work. Agility work does not have to be a specific workout in the gym – team sports like hockey, soccer, squash and competitive dodgeball can help. This type of training can also be a fun off-season social session.
3. Strength Work: After an initial period of rest, progressive strength work creates sport-specific improvements. Inadequate hip and glute strength is the leading cause of running injuries. Spending time eliminating functional weakness is important, particularly if an athlete is prone to injury. A consistent program of overall strength work is important for all athletes, but especially those over 30 years old. A decline in skeletal muscle starts at 30. This atrophy accelerates in athletes over 50, and there is a steeper decline in male athletes versus female. Therefore, a consistent strength program is crucial to maintain lean muscle in older athletes. Group dryland sessions at a local gym.
4. Habits: It takes 30 days to make a habit stick. Committing to an improved routine in the offseason by incorporating healthy habits will start the new season off on the right note. If any food habit changes are necessary, they are best incorporated during the off-season. Changes in diet are safer and more effective outside of a heavy training block, because negative energy balance is a risk factor for injury. Making diet changes outside of a key training period ensures the athlete doesn’t create negative energy balance by under-fueling sessions. Other habits to consider include morning mobility routines, daily affirmations, weekly food prep sessions, evening foam roll sessions or setting times for training log entries. Choose one thing that can make an impact and stick to it for 30 days. Don’t try to overhaul everything at once. Small, permanent changes have a larger impact than major temporary changes.
5. Mental Health: Having a healthy attitude toward sport makes the experience more fulfilling. The ups and downs of sport performance are what makes success so rewarding. Take time to identify: Who are the people who surround and support you; What is important to you and the path you want to follow; and Why that path is valuable and the goals and meaning behind it. Knowing the answers to these questions creates sharp focus and helps define goals for the coming season. “Who” creates safety and support for weathering adversity; “what” helps define the journey; and “why” makes the process meaningful. Taking time to answer these questions helps with goal-setting and managing perspective for athletes. While the off-season is time to take a step back from rigorous swimming, biking and running, you can still create a foundation of improvement. Focusing on mobility, agility, strength, habits and mental health is a great way to start the season off on the right foot.

The post Triathlon’s Three R’s appeared first on Triathlon Magazine Canada.

BENDIGO: Round Four of the TreX Cross Triathlon National Series headed south to Victoria at the weekend, with Bendigo playing host to the country’s ultimate off-road event.

Ben Allen further asserted his dominance on the competition, with his second title of the season, having won in September at Port Stephens.

Allen led after the swim and bike legs, to finish his run in a total race time of 2:12:06.

There was a tight podium tussle with Rowan Beggs-French and Leon Griffin dueling for second place.

Griffin led Beggs-French by one minute 18 seconds out of the swim leg, but Beggs-French gained major ascendancy on the bike, before capitalising on the run, finishing in a time of 02:15:33.

For Beggs-French it was his return to racing after an injury-plagued 12 months.

“It was just great to be back out there. I’m totally stoked with the result. Now I can set myself for a big season,” he said.

Griffin rounded out the podium with a third-placed 02:17:22

Meanwhile, Penny Slater ran rampant in the Women’s event, with a nearly 10 minute win, across the Crusoe Reservoir course.

Slater won in a time of 2:33:16, after blitzing the field on the bike leg, putting more than 8 minutes on her opponents, in that discipline alone.

Kate Bramley fought valiantly to claim second spot, in a time of 02:42:25.

Jessica Henderson rounded out the podium with an energetic exhibition of cross triathlon performance, finishing in 02:50:08

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