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Triathlon Weight Training

The "secret weapon" to injury-free triathlon training.

Important: You should always consult with your personal medical professional and a certified personal trainer before beginning any weight training or triathlon training program. Accounting for your current physical health, plus proper form and technique, are very important to prevent injury, illness or even death. Coach Janet Inc. and Janet Wilson are not responsible for injuries or harm that results from failure to follow this common-sense advice.

1. Incorporate weight training into your program: A key limitation for many multisport athletes is down-time due to injury. Most injuries can be avoided by incorporating weight training in addition to your training in each of the three disciplines or other aerobic cross-training you do. Strengthening your muscles and tendons keeps your body strong, especially during the end of long aerobic workouts when you are more susceptible to injury. Strength training also helps you build your muscle capacity, further improving your performance.
2. Take it easy - a little goes a long way: You are not trying to win a bodybuilding competition here - your goal is to build muscle strength in the key areas you will use in competition. This means lots of work on your core (crunches, leg-lifts, and work with a medicine ball are good) as well as work on your legs (squats and lunges). Your core work will also help with your swimming, but you can add some upper body work (pulley machines are a great place to improve swim stroke strength).
3. Use dumbbells. When doing lifting it is a great idea to use dumbells (click here for my triathlon dumbbell training workout). The idea for this training is to strengthen not only the major muscle groups and tendons you will use during events, but also your core. Dumbbell training helps you prevent strength imbalances and lets you train with lower total weight, reducing risk of injury.
4. Work on stability while training. In addition to dumbbells, I suggest using equipment like stability balls or foam rollers. Adding imbalance to your training will really work your core - plus you get a stronger workout lifting lighter weights which further helps reduce the chance for injury (click here for some more tips on triathlon injury prevention).
5. Add multiple movements to further improve results. Instead of just a simple squat or lunge, add additional moves (lateral movements for example) to increase the range of motion. This again allows you to get more out of your workout using lower weights, and it also tends to better simulate both actual movements in each discipline. Finally, these moves - like core exercises - will strengthen tendons and muscles that are most likely to be injured.