Question for the gymrats

Welcome to triathlons! It is a lot of fun, and very addicting.

Until you are doing some long endurance training (longer than 90 minutes), you really shouldn't need to be eating super amounts of carbs. Carbs come in before, during and after long workouts.

I try to do two a days every day. Usually something like this:
AM PM
Mon Swim Lift
Tue Run Bike
Wed Swim Lift
Thur Run Bike
Fri Swim Lift
Sat Long Bike w/moderate run brick
Sun Long Run

I played football throughout college and have always lifted "heavy". As hard as it was, I was forced to change my lifting philosophy to try to improve my SBR. This is a typical routine:

Squats = 3x30
Lat Pulldowns = 3x20
Bench Press = 3x10
One arm rows = 3x20
One leg leg press = 3x30
Good Mornings = 3x35
Core =3x75

Do these as a superset with 30 seconds rest between each exercise.

All of these exercises are SBR related except for the bench press. My coach forced me to change my lifting strategy. You have to remember that every pound of muscle you carry is another pound to carry on your feet, bike, or in the water. Not to say you shouldn't be muscular, but having a huge muscular chest and arms aren't going to be that much of an advantage in SBR. Obviously your weights will be much lower than normal lifting.

Two ways to go about this. The first is to try and maintain muscle and strength by doing a heavy but low volume workout, something like 3x5 on just the basic compound lifts. The other way is to to what Katybug is doing and do high rep sets of 20-30 reps.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of both? Here are my thoughts based solely on my own experience, i.e., there is absolutely nothing scientific about it.

Heavy days: Critics will say that there is no need to display maximum strength in endurance sports. True. But if you are an avid lifter, you will miss the heavy iron. Heavy lifting, which is completely the opposite of what you'll be training for, will give you a mental break, and perhaps even a physical break, from all that endurance training. Currently your longest session is 30 minutes on the bike, but once you start running for close to an hour and biking for close to two, you'll see what I mean.

High rep days: Critics say that even a set of 100 reps is nothing compared to the thousands of steps, pedal strokes, and swim strokes you'll eventually be doing. True, but I've found that these high rep sets help. I can't explain how. Maybe it's a sort of "bridge the gap" workout that allows for a smoother transition from lifting heavy for low reps to the "thousands of reps" you do when SBRing. Maybe it's all mental - if I can squat X weight for 30 reps, then I'll be able to climb that hill. I don't know and I don't care. These types of high rep workouts seem to help me.

Initially, you may want to try some higher rep stuff. I try to get three weight sessions in a week, but sometimes that can be draining. Two is good, with maybe a third short workout in there focusing on one lift or something like that. Initially, don't worry about following any type of program or plan. Just play it by ear and see how your body recovers.

Mike,

I am really struggling with not lifting heavy. It is almost a mental block. I am completely changing my weight routines and I don't know if I like it or not, but my coach said do it so I am gonna do it. Hopefully, it will get better.

Mike - Great post.  I would like to limit lifting to 2x week for no more than 20-40 minutes.  I have been doing full body high rep (15-30) low weight circuit training variants (i.e. pull ups, lunges, core, chest flys, squats, core, lat pull down, hamstring curls/leg x, core then repeat 1-3 more times).  What would be the effect of I kept 1 day as the above type circuit but on the other day did a more traditional heavy-type session (i'd likely super set for timing reasons)?

Edited by jsklarz 2008-10-17 3:21 PM