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Also included in this guide are some guidelines for how strength training should evolve
throughout a triathlon season. This heavy deadlift routine is strictly to be done during the
offseason and base building season, then as strength and speed season approaches and you
enter race season strength training should change too.
The workout below is a routine adapted by Ryan Flaherty, Senior Director of Performance at
Nike, who found that the concentric HEX Bar deadlift combined with explosive plyometrics is the
single best way to increase power while not adding additional muscle. The goal of strength
training in endurance sports is to increase power while not adding weight thus increasing your
power to weight ratio.
This routine is the exact strength training routine I used between the 2017 and 2018 triathlon
seasons when I went from struggling to break 5 hours in a 70.3 event to putting out a 4:35 70.3
in 2018, and continuing to build to a 9:41 in my fist full Ironman distance race in Challenge Roth
2019.
DISCLAIMER: strength training is done at your own risk, please consult a physician prior to
starting any strength training program, always lift weights within your body’s limitations and
follow safety recommendations.
ROUTINE
WARM UP :
- Walking lunges no weight x20
- Walking lunges with twist no weight x20
- Toe touches x20
- As Bs Cs x30 each
- Foam Roll 2 minutes total
ALTERNATE
- 7-way hips
- Closed chain glute med
WHERE THIS STRENGTH ROUTINE COMES FROM
The strength training routine outlined previously is adapted from Ryan Flaherty who coaches
pro athletes from Serena Williams to New York City Marathon champion and US running
ledgend Meb Keflezighi. Ryan is the Senior Director of Performance at Nike.
He's found that the routine outlined works for power athletes like football players, to stop and go
athletes playing tennis, to endurance athletes like marathon runners. Below is a link to a
podcast done with Tim Ferriss that outlines the theory, science, and structure of the workout
we're recommending.
Of course, you might listen to this and think that we just copied Ryan's recommendation. Well,
we kind of did. However our experience with some of the best strength coaches in the world,
like Erin Carson who coaches Mirinda Carfrae and Tim O’Donnell, informs us that the methods
of the pros is a lot like what Ryan is recommending. So instead of reinventing the wheel we just
shared Ryan's wheel and acknowledge him to all of you.
When I originally announced this strength program I a) got a lot of snippy comments about how
strength routines should be done year round to maintain power and b) why, if I knew that the first
strength workout back was going to be awful, I wouldn't do strength in the race season.
When I refer to strength routines only being done during the offseason, away from races, I'm talking
specifically about heavy lifting intended to build muscle. There are a couple reasons for this: first, the
load placed on your body by strength training is immense and so is the load placed on your body by
race season tri training, I've witnessed time and time again that doing both at once is something your
body can't keep up with and you might crash. Second, strength training is an anabolic (muscle
building) pursuit, while heavy endurance training tends to be catabolic (muscle using), so doing both
while expecting to be good at either is a tug of war with no winner.
Here is how we've handled a sample year with a nine month race season and a three month
offseason:
● Oct-Dec offseason: begin strength build, back off intense endurance exercise, once
body is adapted to strength movements bring up intensity of strength movements,
strength can be done 1-3x a week, consider making one of those three days a
maintenance day to work out the niggles that pop up
● Jan: base fitness season begins, reduce strength work to 1-2 day per week, maintain
strength intensity or increase intensity
● Feb-Apr: strength and speed pre-race season endurance work ramps up, maintain a
"strength" day 1-2x per week but reduce weight to light hand weights or body weight,
strength can be maintained however by doing sport-specific strength work like heavy
gear work on the bike, paddle work on the swim, or hills and intervals on the run, start
a mandatory 1x week maintenance day to prevent injuries,
● May-Sept: traditional race season, reduce strength work to just 1x week with quick
plyometric style exercises to maintain strength and speed built during offseason,
endurance training should be very similar to race intensities, continue with
maintenance day for injury prevention
● Oct: offseason, repeat above
You can see that the answer to "how many strength days should I be doing as a triathlete" isn't
straightforward. The periodized approach above is what professional athletes across many sports
do, it's how we handle strength training on Team Trainiac, and it's a program that creates longevity
in athletes.
As the strength routine emails started going out I got a few questions about what I do with regular
triathlon workouts. To show how I back off of triathlon training to allow for more strength training here
is an example race season prep week and a strength building phase week:
Race Season
● Monday: Hard morning swim of roughly 90mins followed by 20min maintenance and
injury prevention routine
● Tuesday: Hard morning bike of 60-90mins. Easier evening run of 20-40mins
● Wednesday: Hard morning swim of roughly 90mins followed by 20min maintenance
and injury prevention routine. Hard evening run of 20-55mins.
● Thursday: Hard morning bike of 60-90mins. Easier evening run of 20-40mins
● Friday: Hard morning swim of roughly 90mins followed by 20min maintenance and
injury prevention routine.
● Saturday: Bike focused brick workout of 90-210min bike of followed by run of
20-50mins.
● Sunday: Run focused brick workout of 20-30min bike followed by 70-110min run
You can see that while the number of workouts doesn't really drop off, the intensity of
triathlon-specific workouts really drops of during a strength building phase to allow for the body to
accept the strength building workouts.
One of the last things you'll need to do with all this superhuman strength you've built from
weightlifting is leverage it into sport-specific strength in the water, on the bike, and on the run.
Here are some ways that you can use the foundation of total body strength you've built in each
sport:
Swimming: snorkel, band, pull buoy, paddle (all together) sets all require more strength than
typical swimming. Be careful with strength work in the pool, if your shoulders feel at all twingy
back off immediately as shoulder injuries can happen quickly. To help reduce the chance of
swimming shoulder injury use Taren's hanging method found here
Cycling: heavy gear work at cadences of 60-80rpm, intervals with low gear work should be easy
when you first do them and then gradually build intensity and duration
Running: during the base building season short maximal hill reps of 8-10sec are great for
building top end speed and power, as the race season growths closer hill reps can extend to
4-8mins, then during the race season including one low heart rate day on rolling hills is great for
maintaining muscular strength