Now, I was on a Zoom call with a really good bunch of triathletes and runners PB3 in Australia, a couple of weeks ago. I was talking about triathlon injuries and running injuries. If you want to check out the whole zoom call click HERE. One of the questions asked that I thought was a really important question for runners and triathletes to understand was which modality, Pilates, Yoga, or Strength Training, is the most effective intervention. Other parts to the question were: is there a difference between men and woman?, is there a difference between older athletes versus younger athletes?
A key take home point when answering this is if you're a triathlete, you've got essentially three disciplines. You've got swimming, running, and cycling. You're trying to fit in three or four sessions of each discipline per week. You've got a limited amount of energy, you've got a full-time job, and obviously time's a key issue.
The research actually backs up the fact that strength training is your most important asset. Strength training has been shown to improve your running economy by about four minutes over a marathon. It's also been shown to reduce overuse injuries. So we all know with running and triathlon that your main type of injury you see are overuse injuries. Strength training has been shown to reduce your overuse injuries by 40 to 50%. Anything that can do that is worth doing.
This is why a big component of what we do at Connect Studio in our Pilates classes is strength training. So you'll be using things like the TRX, you're using kettle bells to really load up the muscles you use for running. We focus a lot on those muscles that you specifically use for running. The two biggest, your Gluteus Medius, which takes four times your body weight and your short calf Soleus, which takes six times your body weight when you're running.
How do I start strength training for running or triathlon?
It has to be 70 or 80% of your 1 RM. So your 1 RM is the most you could lift with one contraction. You want to do about 70 to 80% of that one contraction. So it's a fair amount of load that you need to do. And the reps I recommend is 8 to 12 reps, and you want to be fatiguing at that 8 to 12 rep mark.
In terms of the Pilates and Yoga, there's a couple of caveats there. If you are a hyper mobile body type, which means are you more flexible than the average person (You were one of the more flexible people at school, then you probably are a little bit hyper mobile, which means your ligaments move more than say mine). You probably need Pilates in your program.
For example, I've got a professional triathlete that I look after, and I can tell whether she's missed two weeks in a row of Pilates immediately from assessing her body. This is when she starts breaking down, gets stress fractures and tendon injuries.
Then the opposite side of the spectrum are the “not so flexible” people. Particularly in males and post menopausal women. The issue with being stiffer is that if you're getting tighter and tighter with all your training, plus you're working hard you're putting more compression through your joints. In this scenario, I think it's important to have either some static stretching at night, or yoga. I'm a huge fan of yoga purely because I had the tightest muscles in my class at Physio school so yoga is essential. There are added benefits with regards to relaxation which gets your body and mind in recovery mode faster.
So to summarise, strength training is the most important thing. Anything that's going to reduce your overuse injury rate by 50% is a no brainer. So you need weights in your program or our Connect Studio Pilates classes. If you want a thorough assessment of what is missing to improve your running and you need a Waiheke Physio, I'll have a look at you and have a look at what you need in your strength program.
Anyway, I hope that helps clarify the importance of strength training in runners and triathletes. If you've got any questions, you can email me at nick@connectstudio.co.nz. Cheers.