Weight training for triathlon

[andygates]

My gut feeling has been that I'm missing something by not doing any weights, but I'd discarded it as I really like weights, and I thought I was just jonesing for some clanky goodness.  However, last night I caught a bunch of studies cited on the Tritalk podcast, which clearly suggested that certain groups of athletes can benefit from a weekly strength session and nobody suffers.  The "you put on heavy useless muscle" idea is, it seems, a myth.  Instead you get a boosted lactate threshold, and the benefit is greatest in novice and masters athletes and women (novices getting the lactate threshold benefit; masters getting reduced muscle loss over time; and women traditionally being less strength-conditioned as most gurls don't lift).
 
What works best, it seems, is explosive and compound action at about 70% of 1RM (one rep max: the biggest weight you can lift once only).  So we're not talking about grinding out a billion reps with teeny dumbbells, but still a bit lighter than the standard 8-10 rep bodybuilder set.  No room for super-slow or negative sets here, either.  It's important not to cripple yourself for four days with a monster weights set when those four days could contain half a dozen other training sessions!

So here's the plan, once a week, using the low-tech gear I already have (a barbell, dumbbells, some sandbags to catch falling bars and a Swiss ball): 

• Clean & jerk - good old olympic-style explosivity, good for posterior chain, legs, leg "jump", and sundry lats, shoulder, tricep and core goodness.  40-60kg on the bar, working to sets of about a dozen.  
• Stiff-legged deadlift - lower back and hamstrings plus sundry grip goodness.  40-80kg probably, sets of a dozen.
• Bent-over barbell row - upper back and biceps, nice and fast, no idea what weights to use yet.  Around 30kg, probably.
• Weighted swiss-ball crunch - abs and sundry core.  This one is ehutch's fault.  Extended arms with a dumbbell, swing it over as you crunch.  Four sets to failure or until I fall off the ball sideways weeping.  

I really want to add squats to this, but I know the C&J is more appropriate - the C&J is explosive and fast, the squat is a slow steady drive.  Squats build limit strength but I already have more than enough of that for triathlon; powerful force development and lactate threshold are what I need, and the C&J is better for that.

Comments

[skean.livejournal.com]

Hmm. That Weighted Swiss ball crunch sounds insane. I generally do a couple of sessions of weights (machines and free) per week, mostly focusing on upper body stuff:

Lower back (brace legs on frame at 45 deg, lower uppr body, raise)
Side raises (as above but sideways)
Abdominal crunch
Lat pull down
"Upper back" row
Chest Incline
Biceps curls (vanity...)
Shoulder raises
Biceps/triceps pull down
Bent over bar bell row (with 22kg max, you beefcake you)

Plus some leg work if I haven't been running or riding that day. I've found that my swimming has got a better pull stroke, which I'm attributing some of to a better shoulder strength. I find it also kick starts my metabolism into "build muscle" mode, and doesn't waste me too much as long as I have a nice gloopy protein shake straight after. The one thing I can't do is gym and swim within about 18 hours of each other.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Good point, no scheduling it in the evening when there's a pool morning already on the timetable.

Alas I don't have the gear for a pulldown... it's rather the obvious swimmer's lift. But circumstances dictate, etc etc - and anyway my lats are so kitten-weak that mere water is ample resistance!

[thudthwacker.livejournal.com]

...and anyway my lats are so kitten-weak that mere water is ample resistance!

You could always train doing pull-ups. My lats are weak points, too, so I train mainly for strength -- 3x3, as explosively as possible, trying to make sure I go all the way down and all the way up. When you can hit all target reps, tie 5 pounds around your waist (a long belt or piece of rope will work fine for this purpose). It's low-tech but effective. And, once you're doing 3x3 with 15 or 20 pounds, you could probably do unweighted pull ups with body weight in the 6-8 rep range, if that's the number of reps you'd rather be training for tri-prep purposes.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

How did I forget pullups? D'oh! I'll look around for somewhere to install them. Only problem is, most of this place is about twenty years older than America so it's all either precious, crumbling, or indestructible...

[andygates.livejournal.com]

That weighted ball crunch *was* insane. Ow.