Adding strength training

I also need guidance as well. I tried to add gym training into my routine, but I felt that my Friday evening gym session seriously hurt my Saturday swimming, so I am giving up.

The strength training add-on we provide with our training plans here has a schedule of Tuesday/Thursday, which gives both strength sessions time to recover before long weekend workouts.

From a personal perspective, for awhile I was lifting right before a swim (as in, heading from the weight room to the pool) and while I noticed I tired faster in the pool, I also was a lot more aware of whether the correct muscles were engaged during each stroke because my muscles had just been fired up during weight lifting. This proved to be valuable for my technique.

Most people will argue that, strictly speaking, any exercise that isn't swimming, biking or running will take something away from your swimming, biking and running.

However there is also merit to the injury prevention and (for those of us who are older) general health benefits of strength training. It is often the case that strength training takes something away from triathlon training, but provides other benefits that make it worth it.