STRENGTH TRAINING FOR ENDURANCE ATHLETES I was speaking to a cyclist yesterday regarding the benefits of heavy resistance training for endurance athletes. Ive commented on this before but I find it amazing to think that any endurance athlete, determined to improve his/her performances, would ignore a mode of training that has repeatedly been shown to improve endurance performance. I suspect this possibly stems from the long established habits of athletes and their coaches and possibly some ignorance as to the scientific evidence. Heavy resistance training has little impact upon VO2-max and lactate threshold however it has been found to enhance work economy substantially in runners and cyclists. If youre an endurance athlete reading this, take a moment to think about that. These improvements have been shown across all levels of athlete including elite level. Neglecting to include a strength training component in your training regime means that are operating an incomplete training system - to put it simple, you are not performing at your best. In addition to improvements in work economy, the benefits of heavy resistance training may extend to injury prevention during endurance training. In addition, since resistance training has a lower injury rate than, for example, long distance running training, it is unlikely that this would have an adverse effect on the rate of injury in endurance athletes, assuming the training is performed as a supplement. J
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 15:49:45 +0000
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