Stronger Is Faster: Why Strength Training Matters for Triathletes

Triathlon

October 22, 2024

With three sports to train for, adding time in the gym might seem tough, but it can bring huge gains for triathletes.

You’d be forgiven for thinking there’s already enough training to do for triathlon, what with balancing swim, bike, and run sessions, but there’s a very good case for adding a fourth discipline—because it might just make you faster at all three.

Strength training is something many professional triathletes swear by, helping to bulletproof the body and make you stronger, more resilient, and less likely to experience injury. But what should gym work look like for triathletes? And how often should you do it? We find out.

The Benefits of Strength Training for Triathletes

If you’re new to triathlon, the thought of adding more sessions to your weekly program might make your head spin. And if you’re a seasoned triathlete, you might sit in the camp of “Oh, I really will get into the gym this season…” but never quite do. Either way, let’s take a look at the benefits that strength training can bring, so you can begin to appreciate its potency:

Improved Power and Speed: Increased muscle strength translates to greater power output, helping you swim, bike, and run faster.
Enhanced Endurance: Strength training can improve muscular endurance, enabling you to maintain form and performance for longer durations and distances.
Injury Prevention: Strengthening muscles, tendons, and ligaments helps protect against common injuries by improving stability and support for joints.
Better Body Mechanics: Improved strength and flexibility contribute to more efficient movement patterns, which can enhance technique across all three sports.
Muscle Balance: Addressing muscle imbalances can prevent overuse injuries, which are common in triathlon training due to repetitive motions.
Boosted Metabolism: Increased muscle mass can enhance metabolic rate, aiding in body composition and energy utilization.
Psychological Benefits: Strength training can boost confidence and mental resilience, crucial for the demands of triathlon racing.
Recovery Enhancement: Stronger muscles and connective tissues can lead to quicker recovery times between workouts.

How to Get Started

Of course, one of the greatest barriers to entry with strength training can be knowing what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Before beginning any strength program, all good strength coaches will tell you it’s important you’re moving well with good posture and mobility. Check out Recover, which is part of the Strava family, for some simple mobility routines that can help ensure you’re moving well.

From there, getting into a strength training routine need not be complicated. While the preferred option for many is to work 1:1 with a strength coach in the gym, that’s not always viable. For those who prefer following virtual programs at home, there are a myriad of reputable strength coaches offering at-home programs. As with most things triathlon-related, it’s a good idea to tap into the collective knowledge of your local tri club or favorite virtual community for recommendations.

One strength coach who offers in-person and virtual programming is Erin Carson. She’s worked with some of triathlon’s most successful athletes, including three-time Ironman world champion Mirinda Carfrae, Ironman champion Tim O’Donnell, and Olympian and two-time 70.3 world champion Taylor Knibb. Carson believes strength training has a place in every endurance athlete’s program, but your age will determine exactly what it looks like and its importance.

Strength Training for All Ages

Before you begin any kind of strength program with Carson, one of the first things she’ll take into consideration is your age and how that can impact what you need. In your 20s, for example, she says strength work can help you develop as an athlete, building the overall athleticism that’s required for a sport like triathlon. In your 30s, it helps decrease the chance of injury—which it can for anyone at any age—but, she says: “It’s often during your 30s that as an endurance athlete you really start to mature and can start to consider higher training volume, so strength training will support the chance of you not getting a repetitive motion injury.”

And from your 40s onwards, Carson views strength work as “non-negotiable,” saying: “After 40 it’s a non-negotiable if you want to be a lifelong athlete. Triathlon is brilliant, it’ll help you be that lifelong athlete, and you have to find and fall in love with strength training in order to support your love and passion for the sport of triathlon.”

So if it’s a non-negotiable, what should a triathlete’s strength training look like and how often should we be doing it?

Triathlon is brilliant, it’ll help you be that lifelong athlete, and you have to find and fall in love with strength training in order to support your love and passion for the sport of triathlon.

“Simple Is Good”

Carson says when it comes to strength work “simple is good,” saying: “The most advanced athletes I work with do the simplest things.”

For her, strength training is designed to optimize the triathlete’s swim, bike, and run goals, not impede or complicate them. With the professional and elite age-group athletes she works with, she builds a strength program in tandem with the athlete’s triathlon coach that supports the overall goals of that program. And the basics of these strength programs can be extrapolated for anyone—they essentially help set you up to move optimally in all three sports and undo the negative postural effects that swimming, cycling, and running can have on the body.

Carson says: “When we look at the body, the first thing I will always look at is the effect of ground and gravity on the body. The effect of gravity is to pull you into a forward tightness on the front side of the body, so that can be tight hip flexors, tight chest, tight ankles. Yet we need mobility in the ankles, hips, and thoracic spine.”

She explains that when there’s tightness on one side of a joint it will inhibit the function on the other side of it, which is also known as reciprocal inhibition.

“So when we’re swimming we’re going to get a tight chest, when we’re cycling we’re going to get a tight chest and tight hips, and when we’re running we’re constantly fighting against the effects of gravity and ground and we’re going to get pulled into that forward posture,” she says.

For this reason, she says much of the strength work triathletes need to do in the gym is designed to “open up” the front side of the body so that the posterior chain (the back side of the body) can be strengthened.

Example exercises might include:

Deadlifts
RDLs (Romanian deadlifts)
Seated rows
Single-arm bench pulls

She typically programs big multi-joint movements at the start of a session before “drilling down” and segmenting the body more.

“There can be plenty of variability and variety in one session; it doesn’t have to be boring,” she says. This could look like double-arm straight-leg deadlifts followed by a single arm and/or alternating arm deadlifts. You can then begin more unilateral movements such as single-leg RDLs and seated rows, sitting or kneeling, as double arm, alternating arms, then single arm.

She emphasizes that gym work doesn’t need to take a long time, two or three 20 to 30-minute workouts a week during the race season is ideal. It’s during the off-season that gym work can become more of a focus with three to four sessions a week that could be 45 minutes to an hour in duration. So why more gym work in the winter?

Get Stronger in the Off-Season

During the build into race season and race season proper, the focus and bulk of your triathlon training will be on sports-specific race preparation. That doesn’t mean you should neglect the gym, but it does mean there’ll be less time and focus on strength work and it’ll rarely take center stage. But the winter or off-season is the perfect time for it—in fact, Carson calls it a “tremendous opportunity for a big uptick in performance.”

For those athletes who’ve been racing throughout the year, the end of the season brings a time of reflection and assessment: Where did I succeed? Where could I improve? Carson says she sees many athletes say they want to be faster, and one of the first strategies to getting faster is to get stronger.

She says: “In my experience 90% of people will say ‘if I was stronger I’d be better.’ So if you believe that then approach the off-season as a time to elevate yourself as an athlete. It’s nice to be able to put that strength work in the front of the line instead of the back.”

If you’ve had persistent niggles or injuries then the off-season can be the perfect time to look at root causes of those and address weaknesses that can be contributing to them.

And, of course, if you’re new to triathlon and you’ve spent limited time in the gym before, then dedicating time to it can yield huge performance gains.

“As long as we get the dosage right and we’re not overcooking them then they realize they can do it year-round,” Carson says. “If the leadership of the strength program is good then be prepared that you’ll want to keep going with it.”

One of the reasons for this can be the hormonal effect of strength training on the body, especially compared to high volumes of endurance training. After a strength workout, hormones like adrenaline and norepinephrine can be elevated, which can enhance focus and energy levels. It can also lead to increased testosterone levels and growth hormone levels, all of which can help with improved muscle repair, growth, and overall athletic performance.

At-Home Gym Work

Not everyone has access to a gym and/or strength coach, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make gains at home. There are many reputable coaches who offer virtual training programs, including Carson’s ECFitStrength program, which includes 150 guided endurance-specific sessions that can be done at home. The equipment needed is basic and won’t break the bank. It includes:

Adjustable dumbbells
Kettlebells (ideally a 20lb, 30lb, 40lb, 50lb)
Long bands with handles - for pulling exercises
Stability ball
Foam roller
Mini resistance bands

As you can see, it doesn’t need to be complicated and, once you’ve taken the first step, you’ll likely get hooked. Carson says: “I’ve been working with endurance athletes for more than a decade and, in my experience, the more they do strength work, the more they want of it.”

Written by

Emma-Kate Lidbury

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