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Strength training and the endurance athlete
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: March 30, 2020
Are you one of those endurance athletes who gets so wrapped up in your sport that you sometimes neglect those ancillary components of training like your strength work?
Unfortunately, that’s a situation which is not at all uncommon. Heck, even when a coach like me is behind the wheel doing all the workout programing, chances are still good that a few of my athletes will unwittingly fall off the wagon with that strength training component as they begin to get into their competitive season.
To be sure, and as I’ve learned over the years athletes love doing those things they love and eschew doing those other things they “need” to do. This is precisely why I’d like to use today’s column to talk about how important it is to continue doing that taxing––and monotonous––strength training routine throughout your competitive season.
And I’ll begin this discussion by asking you the very question I ask my clients when talk turns to their strength training noncompliance, “You’ve spent the better part of the winter season working out, striving to get stronger and more powerful so you can perform at a higher level in the upcoming season so why on earth are you slacking on your strength training just as the in-season’s beginning?”
The prevailing answers I get to this question involve two predominant fears: Either a fear of getting too tired or sore from their strength workouts to perform well in their sport workouts and events, or a fear that their strength workouts are cutting too much into their sport training time. Sometimes the response is a combination of both of these fears.
Regardless of the reasoning, fact is that strength training is the number one most neglected component of an endurance athlete’s physical preparation once the in-season begins. And though it might not appear to be a big deal, going cold turkey on that strength training program can torpedo your overall performance.
Yup, curtailing your strength training at the onset of the in-season means that chances are pretty good you’ll gradually regress back to where you began at the beginning of the off-season, which begs another question: Why on Earth were you strength training in off-season anyway?
If you're constantly taking one step forward and two steps back in the weight room, you'll never come remotely close to realizing your full athletic potential in the sport you love.
So let’s take a look at several of the positives in maintaining that strength training program throughout the season?
First, there’s the durability issue. Staying true to your strength training routine increases your ability to endure the rigors of your sport throughout the entirety of a season. By maintaining - or even increasing - your strength across the full season you increase that durability component. Remember: The deeper you go into your in-season, the higher the probability that your body will break down. So that strength program is a pretty good insurance policy against such breakdowns.
Second is the issue of generating force. The more strength you maintain during the season the greater your ability to generate force against a given load. And that might not mean much to you runners, bikers and swimmers…but It's very important to be able to produce forceful muscular contractions both out there on the road and in the water.
Finally, there’s the issue of economy. Now on cardiorespiratory side, strength training doesn’t really seem to have much of an impact on something like VO2. But on economy side, it does seem to have an important impact.
Exercise science data tells us that sport specific strength training has the potential to improve endurance performance through two important economy enhancing mechanisms.
1) Increased muscle tendon stiffness. Stiffer tendons are better at transferring forces to the bone with each muscular contraction - which results in better economy.
2) Improved maximal strength. Despite the fact that endurance athletes typically perform submaximal muscle contractions, when your maximal strength increases, your relative submaximal muscle contractions feel easier and are less fatiguing. And that’s because your muscles are working at a lower percentage of their theoretical maximum.
That’s my spiel. So if you’re thinking of, or just about to fall off the wagon with respect to your resistance routine…stop…and think twice…because that decision just might be detrimental to your sporting season.