Why you should take advantage of gym with a swimming pool membership
The fourth (or fifth if you include nutrition) discipline is the conditioning work we can do in the gym. As most triathletes have access to a pool already, but do they take advantage of the gym bolted onto the side of the pool? Read on to work out why this should be underpinning your other three sports.
Most triathletes are very self driven and determined - after all, if you’re not, would you really swim, bike and run in one go? Probably not! You’ll often hear discussions around how much training to do each week and how to break it up between the three disciplines, but seldom will you hear triathletes discuss how much time they’re spending at the gym. That’s probably because they’re not spending any time in there at all! Why is that? There are a number of reasons that keep triathletes away from the gym, and these include (but are not limited to):
Laziness: but didn’t we just say triathletes are very self driven and determined? #confused? Yes, me too! Here’s the thing, they are selective with what they are not lazy about! This brings us to the next point.
Time management & prioritisation: with 3 disciplines to work one, most triathletes would rather spend that time for “something important”, i.e. a swim, bike or run workout. Little secret for you - strength training is just as important as (if not more important than) your swim, bike and run sessions.
Fear of bulking up: muscle is heavy, right? It also gives you power, but shhhh don’t tell anyone!
Expense: a gym membership can be expensive, and you already pay for so much triathlon related stuff. This is true - however, there are many bodyweight exercises you could do at home, and investing in a couple of kettlebells and bands can allow you to have pretty effective workouts.
Why is the gym so important?
Ensuring you keep on top of your strength work is key to your success in triathlon (or any sport for that matter). Think about it. When you are training for the specific disciplines, you are building an engine - hopefully a powerful one that will get you to the finish line before anyone else! But what happens if you put a really powerful engine in a car that’s falling apart and not structurally sound? It will be one of 2 things, either you will lose efficiency because energy is being wasted due to instability (so in the end, even if the engine is powerful, you can’t go fast), or the frame might break altogether. You can see your strength work as ensuring that frame is strong and stable. It will allow you to perform your sport with better efficiency, and it will help prevent injury. So next time you consider skipping a strength session and going for a run instead, think again.
How much gym work do I actually need to do?
This is one of those - “it depends” questions, but I send my athletes to the gym 2-3 times a week all year round, even during the race season. What will change is what they are doing in each session rather than the frequency.
What should I do at the gym?
There are plenty of resources out there to give you inspiration, including our videos on youtube and some of our blogs (add links here). However, if you are new to strength training, we highly recommend working with a strength and conditioning coach to begin with so you learn good form - whilst the gym work is designed to help you remain injury free, poor form can be quite dangerous, especially if you are using weights.
If you are comfortable with your form, below are a few ideas and principles you could think about when putting together your gym programme.
Think about training muscles and movement patterns you need to perform when you swim, bike or run and what you need to improve on. Examples include:
Catch and pull phases of swimming: pull ups/assisted pull ups, lat pulldowns, rows, chest press, pushups, dumbbell pullover, tricep dips, tricep extensions
Power for running and cycling: squats and lunges
Push phase of running: reverse lunges, calf raises
Pull through phase of running and cycling: posterior chain work - deadlifts, kettlebell swings, Romanian deadlifts, single leg deadlifts
Stability for swimming (and strength in shoulders to hold TT position): lateral dumbbell raise, shoulder press, front dumbbell raise
Stability and core for all three: single leg work, glute bridge, plank, side plank, deadbugs
You also want to think about where you are in your training. As a simplified rule of thumb, you can split your gym training plan into 4 phases and align them with your triathlon training cycles:
Phase 1: adaption 12-15 reps
Phase 2: Strength – 4-6 reps
Phase 3: endurance 12-15 reps but more rounds (think about introducing plyometrics here too)
Phase 3: power 6-10 reps but more weight
We’re here to help
Tri Training Harder are one of the leading Triathlon coaching providers in the UK, using our wealth of experience to unite scientific and technological research with already well-established and successful best practices, to create a formula for triathlon and endurance coaching that works.
The result is an honest, dynamic, yet simple new way of constructing an athlete’s training to allow them to reach their potential.
If you’re planning your next season, just starting out in the sport or are looking for extra guidance at the very top end of the field, we are here to help, and our coaches would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact us via the website, and one of the team will be in touch.