Strength & Conditioning for Cycling, Running and Triathlon

We all know Strength Training alongside swimming, cycling and running not only helps improve endurance performance but as we get older, is also an essential modality for longevity and healthspan.

Chris Panayiotou, an experienced Strength and Conditioning coach is going to dive into why you should learn to love time in the gym, especially as the seasons change.

Let's go beyond 'core', let's get lifting...

Distilled from years of coaching experience

For most endurance athletes, more training time usually means more swimming, cycling or running; this was the mistake I use to make. After being plagued with niggles and injuries during my racing career, something had to change. Undertaking structured Strength and Conditioning (S&C) sessions not only helped mitigate injuries but also improved performance across all the disciplines of triathlon.

I want to share some details on why this happened whilst dispelling some common myths/errors often made; read on...

1 - S&C - Understanding your individual needs

2 - "Move well, then move often"

3 - You won't bulk up or develop excess muscle

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1. S&C - Understanding your individual needs

Whilst scientific research shows even short term exposure (4 weeks) to S&C training can elicit improvements to endurance performance, what's often not mentioned in the studies is the importance of understanding each athlete's unique strengths and limitations.

We're all unique as individuals, our mobility, strength and injury history so simply prescribing an S&C programme doesn't really add up. A well rounded programme will help to address specific needs and qualities for your sport, how to improve robustness and minimise future injury risks whilst identifying movements and exercises that are safe for you to perform.

Many times I've watched athletes (thinking back to my Crossfit days) perform movements where their mobility isn't good enough to execute the movement well, especially when it comes to the overhead Olympic Lifts; their bodies will simply compensate or find ways around these limitations, setting themselves up for future issues. Beyond mobility, some athletes often lift too heavy and beyond technical competency, their technique breaks down and they lose form; often seen during the Deadlift. This is not the style of strength training we want to undertake!

All S&C programmes should begin by understanding each athlete's unique injury history, any current niggles or soreness that might need addressing along with the qualities required for their sport. This takes place via an initial Consultation and Movement Screening.

Following this session, we can then form a unique and progressive strength programme to address these needs.

The gym doesn't need to be intimidating

2. First Move Well, then Move Often

If you're new to S&C Training, it could take some time to become proficient in movement patterns before increasing load. Even those with a vast amount of experience should ease themselves back in gradually to avoid excessive DOMS (Muscle Soreness) and establish a Strength Foundation.

It's tempting to start loading up the weight plates or dumbells early into your strength training but we should approach with caution. Early in a your training, we simply want you to move well whilst performing every rep safely, maintaining technical proficiency, gaining confidence for when we increase the load. This will not only help speed up training progression but minimise DOMS you may experience, something that can have a negative impact on your endurance training sessions.

We also want to expose you to a variety of movements to keep some variation between programmes. There's going to be some movements you enjoy and progress swiftly, others that take a bit more time or you simply don't enjoy. Giving you exposure to a variety of movements will let us create a movement library to call upon as we transition between programmes every 4-6 weeks.

Initially we start by establishing your Strength Foundation, something crucial for every athlete, whether new to lifting or very experienced. The stronger the foundations, the greater the stability, longevity and resilience.

Improving communication between muscles and nervous system (CNS)

3. You won't bulk up or develop excess muscle.

One of the biggest worries for endurance athletes is Strength Training will lead to the development of excess musculature but Worry Not! The training style for endurance sports, lower reps with higher intensity, doesn't lead itself to muscular hypertrophy (bigger muscles). Instead, lower rep ranges drive different adaptations.

When trying to create hypertrophy, research has shown that not only does that particular muscle group need to work to failure / exhaustion, either through time under tension or reps to failure (creating huge muscle damage and therefore growth stimulus), the athlete needs to be in a calorie surplus in both protein and carbohydrates; and not by a small amount. This muscle damage tells the body it not only needs to repair but also increase the number of muscle fibres, lowering the chances of the damage reoccurring.

Strength training for endurance athletes involves lifting heavier loads for lower reps, between the 6-3 range leaving some Reps in Reserve or RIR. This ensures we're not only able to maintain technical proficiency but minimises the actual amount of muscular damage that's occurring. Adaptations to this style of strength training take place between the nervous system and muscles, teaching the body to recruit more of its existing fibres rather than building more. This means we can switch on more of our existing fibres with the same muscle mass so no need to build more.

In cases where an athlete may want to actually build more available muscle, using the 'lift to exhaustion' principle whilst being in a surplus of protein and carbs but this is more for those who have truly reached an FTP plateau or those participating in events requiring high power / sprint efforts or absolute FTP vs Power to Weight ratios.

Lift with Coach Chris

We're here to help!

We appreciate it can be a little overwhelming to understand not only what the right style of training is but also what rep ranges to do and which exercises. That's why we want to help.

We're offering a Free Consultation and Assessment session at Cycling Performance UK, Wimbledon, to help you get underway. We'll talk through you aims, injuries and help you on your strength training journey.

All you need to do is Contact Us to book in for your free 45 minute session and we'll get back to you to arrange a day and time; no strings attached.

Maybe you have some other questions around Strength Training for Endurance athletes we haven't answered. Feel free to use the same Contact Us link to get in touch. We don't bite!

Stay strong, stay happy; get lifting!

Chris