TRX
Has anyone included TRX into your OS training plan? I would like to include strength training this off season and I am looking for some guidance to successfully do so. For example, when can the works be done, and what focus area. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
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What's your reasoning for wanting to do strength training? Overall fitness or because you think it will help you become a better triathlete. Yes, I'm putting you on the spot.
Edit - looks like Brian and I are going in the same direction.
I'll add that the TRX trainer I worked with had me doing high intensity stuff that I really don't think I could've been doing on top of the OS work. I wasn't in the OS at the time (heck, I wasn't even *gasp!* with EN at the time), but had I been, I think it would've been necessary to alter the TRX workouts so as not to affect downstream OS workouts.
Bob and Brian have already asked the real question - what are your goals for adding strength training? IMHO, core strength and addressing imbalances are both good reasons, but if the goal is to increase overall strength/endurance for swimming/biking/running.... Well... see Coach R's post if you haven't already: http://tinyurl.com/acvl98o
I have been doing 2 strength workouts per week during the OS.
Thanks again everyone!
Agreed. I am still trying to wrap my head around strength training periodization alongside the EN macrocyles (OS, Focus Block, GetFaster, etc.). Wondering if it's even worth spending time managing those details, and if so, how.
I am interested in TRX - will get to that...
I have not used TRX, but I do functional strength and core exercises recommended by a PT, and I think that functional strength training should be part of everyone's daily plan.
Goals are to prevent injury, bring my strength imbalances into balanced, maintain some flexibility, maintain core strength - all goals that are in line with EN philosophy. It is different from using weights to build the ability to generate more force.
My understanding - the EN philosophy on weight training is that return on investment, defined as "increase in speed per unit of time spent on training," is higher from specific activities: running and biking first, then swimming. Weight training to develop the ability to deliver more force is see as less efficient for developing speed than spending the same amount of time doing high-intensity intervals on the trainer or at the track.
That said, it is our responsibility as self-trained (and in many cases aging) athletes to make sure that we have a plan that builds us sustainably over the long term without breakdowns. Hence I believe in year-round functional strength training to address muscle imbalances, range of motion and flexibility limitations. I believe this theme could be played more loudly at EN.
The easier exercises and stretching (dynamic warm-up, clam-shells, rolling, single-leg dead-lifts, calf and ham stretches) I do every other night.
The tougher exercises (planks, side planks, squat jumps, backstep lunges, push-ups, pull-ups) I try to do 2x/week, on Th PM and Sun PM, which minimizes impact on my main sets.
As far as periodization goes.. a carefully integrated functional strength program is a year-round exercise that improves your workouts.
If you're considering building a strength-training phase into your macro-cycle with the goal of building force capacity, then you're taking those weeks from somewhere. Those weeks will come from your post-race down-time, from your OS, from your get-faster, from your distance build - and the EN philosophy is that the ROI is higher from race-specific activities.
That said, we are all self-trained. There are members who swim through the OS. There are members who weight train. There are members who skip the "run second" in the OS to allow for more recovery time. We all take the EN plan and adapt it, with or without input from the coaches, to ourselves. We are, at the end of the day, self-trained, and we become experts in what works for our own physical aspects.
@Brent - "is it even worth spending time managing those details, and if so, how..." I think it's worth thinking these aspects of training through. The better your year and your week work for you, the better your results will be. Personally, I believe that specific training will increase your speed, that weight training will increase your muscle mass but not your speed, and that year-round functional strength training can make you more injury resistant and therefore increase your speed indirectly by enabling consistant training over the course of months and years. YMMV (of course).
@Larry - how much space do you need for the TRX set - when you are using it and when it is packed away? How long did it take before you had a routine that works for you, and did you take classes or just work with the materials they gave you? Is it that much better than push-ups, pull-ups, planks, etc.,?
Best!
-If you have had a surgery, do X...
-If you have a history of PF, do Y...
-If you tend to drop your left hip when you run, do Z...
-If you always have to pee at mile 12 and seem to be allergic to chlorine, do A.....
We all make mods to our "routine" based on what works for us as individuals. I think the EN Koolaid is the foundation of the house. What type of shingles you put on the house may be up to you.
:-)