To lift or not to lift...

And away we go!

To the OP, this is a well hashed out and argued subject on this forum, with differing and oft times emotional responses.  Don't take any of it personally.  just sit back and watch it unfold.

Popcorn is ready...

Here's my input:  if you're looking for overall fitness, go ahead and lift.  If you're looking to get faster at triathlon, skip the lifting. 

I lift because I have to.  Usually on my light cardio days (2-3 times a week). Here are my three reasons:

1. Dislocated shoulder a few years back. Need to do upper body ST to keep my shoulder in check or else it will "pop" during long swims.

2. Bad knees from soccer. My knees still give me issues sometimes if I don't continually PT them or ST them.

3. I like it and it makes me look better in my tri-gear

Just make sure to stick with low weight - high rep. But as everyone before me said... every athlete has their own way of training with or without weights... if it makes you more comfortable to stick with cardio, do it!

I am new to tri -- This is my first season, and I've only done 3 sprints and 1 oly.  I have done ST several times a week for the 3 years prior to '08.

I would love to continue to do ST, but for me, it comes down to time.  Until I get in a couple each of swim, bike, and run sessions every week, there just isn't time to squeeze in even 1 ST session with work, household, and my son's sports schedule.

I am planning on cutting back the number of swim, bike, & run sessions each week this winter, and working in at least 1 or 2 ST sessions to try to maintain my base.

If I had unlimited time, this probably wouldn't be the best way to train, but for me, it's the best way to train in the amount of time I have available.

I am a very small dude (At 5-8 I was down to almost 130lbs at the end of last summer and thats without tri training) so this winter I lifted weights 5 days a week and now feel and look way better at 145. Once I started triathlon training it became alot harder to find time but I still do lift, though not nearly as much and its more of a maintence thing since I've kept the weight the same for the past 3 months (even backed down ~5% in a couple workouts). Also I should note that with this I haven't gained 1 pound since I started tri training and remain at what I think is still a pretty light 145.

So I guess if you feel like lifting and you can find time to fit it in, I say go for it.

Do your research on scientific journals or triathlon strength training articles and do not rely on a forum from BT. It is BT. Simple as that.

 +100

Best advice since it seems to be an endless debate on BT.

I lift 1-2's a week.  I have a coach who is a big believer in it.  I only spend about 20-30 minutes in the weight room.  It's a good way to strengther your legs, arms and shoulders and core.  Squats are an execellet way to strengther your legs and it doesn't take nearly as long as say a 30-45 minute bike ride going up hills.

 If you have time to sneak in a couple sessions a week, I think it's an execellent way to build strength to help you at the end of a race.  I generally do abs and back exercises in between lifts to speed things up.

 Good luck!

Ok, I'll be the contrarian.  Most people wouldn't have the first clue how to read and interpret research articles, and I wouldn't expect them to be able to.  Generally a breakdown of the strengths/weaknesses of the trial from an independent source is necessary to even determine if the data and conclusions are worth looking at.

There are people on BT who are able to do that quite well.  You just have to be discerning in who you listen to.

Here's my 2 cents ....

I can only talk about my experience with weights and my first few weeks training for my first spint tri coming up Sept 14th.

I think weight lifting is fine and should be beneficial to any type of athletic endeavor you seek.  I suspect that the furthery you get into tri's and into the longer distances you will have less time for weights and should probablt cut back anyhow - like the previous poster saying that by the time you get to HIM and IM you should already be strong enough that you won't need  weight lifting nearly as much.

It has been my experience that lifting weights before any type of cardio exercise will indeed cause you to burn more fat and will keep your metabolism running at a higher rate for a longer period of time.

I was mostly weight lifting with a 30 to 60 minute cardio session afterwards since about Jan or Feb of this year, and was dropping weight every week, like around 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 lbs. a week consistently.

My shoulder started bothering about 2 months ago and I had to cut way back on the weights and so started including much more cardio.  Then about 3 weeks ago got introduced and turned on to trying my first sprint tri and have done very light and moderate weight lifting and have upped my cardio and exercise at least two fold - yet my weight loss has come nearly to a standstill for the last 5 or 6 weeks.

I'm eating ever healthier the last 2 months and everything - still weigh around 255 lbs. and so I don't think it's that old saying of "when you are grossly over-weight and have a lot to lose it comes off easy, then as you get closer to your ideal weight it comes off slowly and takes a lot more effort."

Although I agree this is somewhat true, still, at 255 lbs. I'm far from an ideal weight and with the double amount of cardio plus biking, running, treadment, eliptical, swimming, aerobics class, walking or biking during lunch .... EVERY DAY since Aug 1st .... and yet have lost around 4 or 5 lbs in that 3 week span ... and just a few weeks prior to this when I was at around 270 lbs .... I was still lifting heavy 4 days during the week and either 1 heavy weekend day or light weights both Sat. and Sun .... and only 32 to 64 minutes on the eliptical ... and shedding around 2 lbs. a week.

To me, the difference is the lack of weight lifting before my cardio now ... as to why I'm not burning off as many calories and fat and probably my metabolism is not running high for as long after exercise right now ....

As long as you train smart, lighter weight but lots of reps, it should not bulk you up too much yet it will kick in that IGH-1 hormone and when that hormone level is up after weights, it chews through fat during your cardio like you wouldn't believe.

Besides, if you build muscle correctly and do lots of stretching and flexibilty training with it, extra muscle will take care of itself as far as speed, etc ... just cause you add 5 lbs. of muscle doesn't mean you have an extra 5 lbs. of dead weight to carry around and slow you down in your run ... 5 lbs. of proper muscle will take care of itself and the extra strength from it will be more than enough to move that extra 5 lbs. of total body weight at the same speed you were running before.

I come from more of a weight lifting, football offensive tackle playing sort of background and am just a few weeks into the tri training, so I can only tell you what I know about weights and what I've noticed in me since cutting back on weights and doing more cardio.

Not saying this is bad, I'm definetely in better cardio share now, but my weight loss is slower and once I get my training schedule all figured out again and my shoulder heals ... I will be adding more weights again.  Not as much, probably mostly dumbell work at lighter weight and more reps.

Matter of fact, did weights today for bi's and tri's (my arms), then went out for 5k run, then back into the Y for 30 minute eliptical machine workout.

x2. and I'm a girl and it's the same exact way for me down to what we weigh. I lift because I HAVE to. If I ever want to make goal weight, I will have to lift. I stopped lifting when I got into tri training and decided to forego weightlifting for 3 months - my first obviously. My weight has moved all of 4lbs.

When you were dropping at least 5-6lbs a month, that's a low blow to the ego. My schedule for the year is made and it includes weightlifting.

I'm thinking that there may be many triathlete's out there who have been in good shape most of their lives and never had too much body fat.

In that situation I can see how weight training may not seem like that big a deal, that it would add some bulk and they probably prefer the more trim athletic look of a runner or like a swimmer's body.  Possibly any weight loss for a lot of people has been hard to come by and only by a few pounds at a time.

On the other hand, I've read many articles that were backed by actual clinical research that lifting weights before cardio will increase certain hormone levels in the body and will burn fat and calories at a higher rate than if one did cardio first and then lifted weights.

For those with significant weight to lose I think hands down the best option is lots of weight lifting and then cardio - building your cardio amount as your fitness level increases.

If a beginner triathlete or someone already in good shape and wondering of weights would help, then that becomes more if a personal decision probably as far as your amount of time to train, is an event coming up soon, are you wanting to build more overall fitness to include muscle or just trying to increase your times (the latter would probably stay away from weights).

For me, I gotta get in more weight lifting until I lose more weight and get in my target range .... then I'll back off and do just enough "maintenance" lifting to just keep what I got while at the same time really increasing the length, distance, and intensity of the 3 tri events and start working on improving race times (vs. now just hoping I finish the damn thing!)

...

yep again!!