Weight Training – Is it Really Necessary?

It’s amazing how many athletes I have come across that either think or have been advised to stay away from weight training, especially women. Unfortunately they never received the correct information on the benefits weight training or strength & conditioning as I call it. To them the mere mention of the word creates an image of a person with muscles of unbelievable proportions. Well yes I can understand that but let’s have a brief look at 2 of the misconceptions surrounding strength & conditioning.

1. “If I do weight’s I’ll get too big and look ugly.”

Despite a no of coaches’ endeavours to prevent this train of thought, this is still the biggest of the misconceptions out there. The term “weight training” I suppose does give this idea but hopefully strength & conditioning won’t. You see that’s exactly what you should be thinking of. Weights helps “strengthen and condition” your muscles for the ensuing season. By recruiting more of the muscles fibres, we become stronger provided we do the exercise 100% technically correct, we engage our core to stay stable during the exercise and we use a weight that is appropriate to the goal we want to achieve.

1. “If I do weights I’ll put on weight and become too slow.”

This is true if you are

1. Using 90% of the maximum amount of weight you can correctly handle.
2. Taking a supplement to promote muscle growth (legal product of course)

While there will be a phase where your muscles will adapt, change shape and in some case increase in size, these changes will be of insignificant            proportions compared to what they were. Sport specific strength & conditioning training allows you to develop the 4 areas of triathlon namely power,   speed, agility and endurance. Most or all of your top athletes do at least 1 session a week but they are not heavy or slow.

Most athletes think of weight training as having to go to a sweaty gym to train. On top of people think immediately of a bench press exercise as the most common exercise that they will have to do.  Science has moved on and these days you are able to purchase 3-4 small pieces of equipment that won’t break the budget and be able to perform all the training you need in the comfort of your own home. If you have never done any form of strength training before then you need to know The Four Basic Laws of Strength and Conditioning Training.

• Before developing muscle strength develop joints flexibility.
• Develop tendon strength before muscle strength.
• Develop the core/trunk before the limbs.
• Before developing the prime movers develop the stabilizers.

So where to from here. First off get hold of your coach and ask them to help you develop your strength and conditioning training based on your current strengths and weaknesses. Use the guide below to help you determine what type of training you should be doing for the phase of training you’re in

Objective	Amount of Weight	Repetitions per set	No of Sets	Speed	Rest period between each set
Strength	80%-90%	4-6	3-5	Slow and steady	2 – 5 mins
Power	25-50%	2-4	4-6	Explosive	1 – 3 mins
Endurance	50%	15+	3	Varies	<1 min

Last but not least always remember to change your exercises as you would the training to constantly challenge your muscles and your body to become a stronger, more powerful, faster you.

By Jono Rumbelow. Registered Ironguides Coach

(Thanks Jono)

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