Strength Training for Multisport Athletes

Most people immediately think of professional weight lifters whenever strength training is mentioned. This is unfortunate. Strength training consists of many different types of exercises including (but not limited to) weight lifting, running and cycling uphill, plyometric exercises, and swimming with paddles.

Strength is a very important component of endurance performance, and many multisport athletes spend too much time and energy focusing on endurance and don’t pay enough attention to building and maintaining strength throughout their season.

The goal of strength training is to increase force production. In a very basic sense, going fast is a product of work and time. In a race, we try to do a certain amount of work (usually 1-1.5K of swimming, 30K mountain biking, and 10-11K trail running for XTERRA racing) in the shortest period of time. In physics, work is simply force times distance.

Since the distance of the race is the same for everyone, performance will be dictated by the power, the speed and consistency at which that force is applied.

That may be an overly simplified view, but it’s pretty close. Improving your force production will increase your velocity.

Strength training can also help you avoid overuse injuries by increasing the integrity of your musculoskeletal system (bones, tendons, and muscles).

A stronger athlete will be less likely to sustain serious injuries in a fall while running or a crash on the bike. One thing to keep in mind is that your strength training needs to be specific to your sport(s).

Core training focuses on the muscles involved with central stability – especially abdominal and back muscles. All properly designed resistance training programs should include several specific core exercises, but don’t stop there!

Functional training uses activities that mimic actual sports movements while using some type of resistance. Use of cable machines to duplicate the underwater pull of your swim stroke, or staying seated while climbing up a hill in a bigger than normal would be examples of functional training. Also, plyometric drills that over exaggerate your running stride are excellent functional strength training exercises.

Since endurance is still the most important aspect of your training, resistance training exercise should be considered a supplementary workout. If you spend too much energy on your strength workouts, your endurance workouts will suffer.

For most endurance athletes, two strength-training sessions per week is enough. In these two sessions, you should perform exercises that will stress your entire body. Remember, find a routine that pushes your envelope. Leave the big weights to Schwarzenneger.

Take it easy. It’s all about balance.

Author Neal Henderson is an XTERRA PRO, and is the coordinator of Sport Science at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. He can be reached at nhenderson@bch.org