I tried Friday evening (after morning swim) but that meant I didn’t do the bike workout Pettit/friends which I would normally do. I preferred the bike workout.
I got along ok the past weeks when I went to the gym Monday evening, but then the Monday as complete rest day is gone. I preferred it as rest. Then I added a second core workout directly following an endurance session, usually Wednesday.
there was also a discussion about WHEN to do strength workouts relative to other workouts on the podcast. can somebody remember the episode number? #podcast
In my opinion, the key podcast takeaway was this study:
which concludes with:
Any high-intensity endurance training sessions should be performed early in the day. Then, a period of recovery of at least 3 h should be given, so that AMPK and SIRT1 activity can return to baseline levels, before resistance exercise is performed. This suggestion is based on the fact that AMPK activity increases rapidly and then returns to baseline levels within the first 3 h after high-intensity exercise [63], whereas mTORC1 activity can be maintained for at least 18 h after resistance exercise [8, 9].
Resistance exercise should be supported by readily digestible, leucine-rich protein as soon as possible after training to maximize leucine uptake [64], mTOR recruitment to the lysosome [29], and protein synthesis [25]. Since, in this scenario, resistance exercise is performed later in the day, it becomes even more important to also consume protein immediately prior to sleep to maximize the synthetic response overnight [65].
Fully refuel between the morning high-intensity endurance training session and the afternoon strength session since AMPK can be activated by low glycogen [66], and SIRT1 is activated by caloric restriction [38]. If it is not possible to refuel completely because of the training volume and intensity, it might be best to reserve a portion of the offseason (and short periods in season) exclusively for increasing muscle size and strength and then use higher dietary protein intakes to maintain that muscle mass as the aerobic load increases through the season [67].
To improve the endurance response to lower-intensity endurance training sessions and provide a strong strength stimulus, consider performing strength training immediately after low-intensity, non-depleting, endurance sessions. Performing a strength session immediately after a low-intensity endurance session results in a greater stimulus for endurance adaptation than the low-intensity endurance session alone [68] and the low-intensity session will not affect signaling pathways regulating strength gains [51–53].
and focusing on just the recommendations:
Any high-intensity endurance training sessions should be performed early in the day. Then, a period of recovery of at least 3 h should be given … before resistance exercise is performed. …
Resistance exercise should be supported by readily digestible, leucine-rich protein as soon as possible after training…
Fully refuel between the morning high-intensity endurance training session and the afternoon strength session …
To improve the endurance response to lower-intensity endurance training sessions and provide a strong strength stimulus, consider performing strength training immediately after low-intensity, non-depleting, endurance sessions. …
So that leaves us with:
high-intensity TrainerRoad workouts in the morning, and strength training in the evening
low-intensity / short-and-easy endurance / recovery TrainerRoad workouts can be done immediately before strength training (or do them in the morning to maintain morning/evening TR/strength schedule)
This may not be helpful, but any time I’m training as I normally do for triathlon (9-10 sport-specific sessions/week, counting bricks as a single session), I have not been able to come up with a way to consistently strength train that doesn’t detract too much from my sport specific training. It’s just too much load for me to handle, and adds to fatigue. In these cases, I reserve strength training for my offseason. Swimming itself really helps maintain my upper body strength.
Now, I caveat that with the fact that I’m at or above level 3 on Chad’s strength recommendations without much strength training as I have a long history of strength work in my past. Thus, it’s not a limiter for me specifically. I would urge you to evaluate whether or not it is a limiter for you, and if it is, be willing to reduce intensity on some of your sport-specific workouts to build in the strength work until you reach the level 1 goals.
Alternatively, if you’re at the level 1/2 goals for some exercises, but not for others, you could do abbreviated strength work on just those shortcomings. For me, that’d be military presses, and I could likely get away with working those without detracting from the rest of the workouts.
Point is, be conscious about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. If it’s a limiter, work on it. If it’s not, odds are you’re better off focusing on the three disciplines specifically.
Coach @chad, are the rep counts flexible? For example, 5 reps @ 150% BW is equivalent, from a 1RM perspective, to 1 rep @ 170% BW, or 12 reps @ 118% BW.
What about the set counts and total volume? 1 set of 5 reps @ 150% BW is equivalent to 2 sets of 8 reps at 50% BW from a volume perspective.
Just trying to operationalize these targets. I suspect that’ll be the next podcast episode? Please?
Is everyone in this thread a sprinter? I get the distinct impression that the performance trade-offs mentioned in the blog post are being ignored and that level 3 is being taken as the ultimate goal regardless of your chosen discipline.
I think what you are seeing is that most of the people commenting are already familiar with these exercises and are people who regularly strength train and thus have a higher level of fitness in this area.
As for me, I’m focusing on level 2 and I’m probably a bit below most of the recommendations. I can definitely do 10 chin ups in a row, but not 10 pull ups. I don’t have access to a gym currently so I’m unsure about the rest.
That’s the TR mentality. Honestly, I kind of read these goals as “you’d be good if” - “you’d be good if you did a mid-volume plan” is a great way to get people to sign up for the high volume one
The question is what sort of time and weight gain would you need to go from L2 to L3, I honestly don’t think it’d be much - if any - especially if done concurrently with a cycling training plan. That, and it’s always nice to have goals that are better than you
As @stevemz hints, here you have a biased sample even for TR community standards And while I am L3 on leg strength my max or 1 min power are abysmal. On the other hand, in 2.5 years I do some sort of weight training I gained 2.5 kg which is not that bad - I still have BMI < 18! My shoulders, back and glutes thank me for it and I feel much better too.
And although DOMS or muscle pain are frequent I still think that my recovery improved (testosterone, etc).
I’m below level 1 on most of these exercises as I’ve let my strength training lapse since completing my last full base in December.
I’m primarily a rolling road racer and I’d like to get at least back to level 1 on everything - although the recommendation for my racing is level 2 - I think for me sitting at level 1 consistently would be a good place to live
FWIW I’m 6’3" and weighed 168.4 lbs this morning (1.9 meters and 76.4 kg)
Apologies all around. I let a consistent typo wreak a bit of havoc on these strength recommendations. In all cases where the number or reps was listed as “1”, it should have read “5”.
The entire aim of these recommendations is to target strength-endurance and keep the related benefits as closely akin to our work as endurance athletes as possible. By aiming for 5-rep maximums (as opposed to the more traditional 1RM targets you’d see when observing raw strength goals) the improvements maintain their increased-strength objectives but veer more toward endurance than brute strength.
