1st times the charm...

Hey mate welcome. Weights are good however you will need to work more on endurance rather than strength, more reps less weight, incoperating running and swimming, and soon enought you will be kicking goals !

Craig

 Welcome - Hope the tri'n' goes well!

My brother in law is my height and has 20lbs on me in muscle. He sinks like a rock in the pool, biking is OK but pounds the pavement when he runs. His shoulder flexibility kills him the most in the water. Also, getting down on the aero bars is a challenge. I like lifting also, and gained 5-8lbs of mass late last summer to get into shape for my tri-training. But the more I run/bike/swim the more I feel I am shrinking. Most pro-triathletes look very lean in the arms and upper torso. If your a big guy, your gonna shrink a little, get ready, both fat and muscle. I still lift once a week or so (OK maybe twice a month now) but I do not let it take one of my endurance slots for the week, purely extra, mainly to balance out the tri-work. Also, watch out and do not over do it. It is easy to get overly enthusiastic about this sport and get all gungho but the overtraining will limit your performance and can lead to premature injuries and such. Getting with "people who know what they are doing" is a great way to get started.

Welcome the group. You will find a great many kind and supportive people here. Training in a group is great, keep your friends motivated and you all will do great. Swim technique is everthing so getting with the Masters team. Keep your protein intake high to mitigate the muscle loss and don't forget the whole food carbs cuase your gonna burn them up. Good luck and have fun.

Welcome to the team! This place rules! I use to lift alot of weights also, but now I am going to put a majority of my energy into endurance. but i will still lift for mass, just in the beginning og the tri season, then taper off towards comp time. it is strange, I use to want to be huge! now i want to be skinny for racing! cant a fella have it both! ;-) Jack

Welcome fellow rugby player!! (well ex). I have to say that from everything I have learned here that the training you will need to do will head you towards endurance rather than strength. You’ll end up more like one of the backs than the front row!! Which is tough for me as I am the perfect build for hooker – which is where I used to play.

Jump in, check out a training program, a place to swim and go for it. It is actually good fun – mostly!

welcome sean. i also use the giant ocr3. it serves me well. it's a great entry level bike, though i find it kind of heavy. anybody else agree? but it gets me around. i recently joined this forum and i would like to thank all the kind replies i got. this is a great site and yes i can see how this site can raise your enthusiasm. beware!! weights are recommended by the way but not too much. they can lead to overtraining. good luck!

WELCOME ABOARD SEAN!Good luck and happy training. Great idea to get in with a master's swimming group. Maybe you can do some races before you do the tri!

Welcome and good luck!

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Welcome Sean - I am keeping the weight training in my schedule - used to do four days of 45 min to 1 hr - still doing about four days - less time - and do focused workout targeting muscle groups. Lower body stuff is really important - I'm not giving up on maintaining muscularity. While it is true that fooks (especially guys) with good upper body muscularity tend to be "sinkers" in the water, I found two things that help. The swim techniques taught by total immersion ( http://totalimmersion.net) counter this - secondly - get a wet suit - that solves the bouyancy issue.