Periodized Strength and Conditioning for Endurance Athletes
Strength and Conditioning In A Periodized Endurance Program
Author Becky Arturo is a physical therapist, certified strength and conditioning specialist, certified personal trainer, USA Triathlon certified coach, RRCA certified running coach and USA Cycling certified coach. She provides coaching services through her business, Weights and Plates Endurance, in conjunction with her husband, Nick Fischer, who is a registered dietitian.
Every triathlete has probably heard at one point or another that you should be strength training. However, there seems to be a large lack of guidance on why you should be strength training and how you should be doing it.
Let's start with the why. There are two main reasons for strength training as an endurance athlete:
Performance enhancement. According to multiple systematic reviews and meta analysis studies, when programmed appropriately, strength and conditioning can lead to improvements in: running and cycling economy,4,5,6,7,8,9,13 running speed and power at VO2max,4 time to exhaustion at VO2 max,4 energy cost of locomotion during middle and long distance running, cycling, swimming, and XC skiing,9 muscular force and power,4,6,9 and time trial performance.6,7,13 These benefits can be seen in middle and long distances athletes of all abilities.13 Also notable, studies show that when used as a supplement to your endurance training program, strength and conditioning does not have negative effects on maximum oxygen uptake, blood lactate parameters or body composition.13
Decreased Injury Risk. Stronger muscles, tendons and ligaments lead to safer joints. Balanced muscle strength helps to avoid compensatory movement patterns. While running, your knees take up to 5x your body weight in force, and your ankles take up to 8.7x your body weight. You should be preparing your joints to handle heavy leads and high forces in order to maintain higher training volumes in a safer manner.
What exercises should I be doing, and why?
To start with, here is a list of a few of my top exercises. While this is far from a comprehensive list, it is a great start to get you on track for a successful strength program to supplement your endurance training.
Main lifts:
Squats (back, front / goblet)
Deadlifts (traditional & romanian)
Single leg RDL (Romanian Deadlift)
Bulgarian Split Squats
Lunges (reverse, lateral, forward, elevated heel)
Rows
Lat pull downs
Chest press or flys
Accessory exercises:
Planks
Side planks
Lateral and monster walks
3 way hip kicks
Clams
Shoulder IR & ER (Interval & external rotation)
No money & horizontal abduction with band
ITY’s
Serratus lifts with band
Serratus push ups
Stability training:
Lunge circuit (front/lateral/back/curtsey to balance point)
Split Squats
Single leg RDL
Unstable surfaces without weight (BOSU balls, foam pads, rockerboards, mobo boards, etc)
Mobility:
Hip extension
Hip external and internal rotation
Hip flexion
Ankle dorsiflexion
Lumbar mobility
Scapular mobility
Glenohumeral mobility
What's the rationale for using the above exercises?
Runners & Cyclists:
Stability - Your entire running gait is either on one leg or in flight phase. If you don't have adequate stability, (can you stand on one leg without inward rotation of you hip / knee, or collapse of your arch, and can you do a single leg squat to a chair without your knee wobbling or collapsing inward?), then you are likely at increased risk for injury at the hip, knee or ankle. Stability deficits are frequently a top-down issue related to hip / glute strength. However, stability issues can also arise from foot and ankle strength (or mobility) deficits. Some of my favorite exercises for addressing stability include Bulgarian split squats, single leg RDL's, and lunge circuits from a single balance point on one leg.
Likewise, while cycling, you are maximizing force through one leg at a time. The same stability (or mobility) deficits can translate to your pedal stroke. If you have ever seen someone riding with their knee collapsing inward so much that it almost hits their top tube, glute strength and stability could be related. This could also potentially be addressed with a better bike fit.
Strength by muscle group -
Glutes: While running, your glutes are responsible for helping to move your hip backwards through midstance. They are also responsible for stabilizing your stance leg, as noted above. While cycling, your glutes are most active from about 12 - 4:30 on your pedal stroke.
Some exercises with the highest amount of glute activation include: Split squats, single leg RDL's, barbell squats, deadlifts (traditional and Romanian), hip thrusters (double and single leg), side planks, single leg squats, clam shells.
Quads: While running, your quads are responsible for controlling your knee bend upon initial contact through mid-stance. They are acting in an eccentric, or lengthening manner for this part of your running gait. Your quads take up to 5x your body weight in force while running. While cycling, your quads are most active from about 11:30 to 3:15 on your pedal stroke (with the exception of rectus femoris, which turns on a little sooner while acting as a hip flexor).
There is a common misconception with newer cyclists that you should be pushing hard with your quads all the way down to the 6:00 mark. This misconception can lead to less smooth pedal strokes. You should be thinking about pushing from the top, but then scooping through the bottom. This is important to understand for strength and conditioning purposes, because in order to train your quads in a sport-specific manner, you will need to make sure you are training your quads with deeper hip flexion. So, your squats are only sport specific to cycling if you are squatting to at least 90 degrees of hip flexion, and your step ups are only sport specific to cycling if you are performing at a height that bends your hip to a higher degree.
Some exercises with the highest amount of quad activation include: Goblet squats, squats or wall sits with elevated heels, step ups, eccentric heel taps, leg extensions.
Hamstrings: While running, your hamstrings are responsible for controlling knee extension at the end of swing before initial contact and for assisting the glutes in pulling the hip backwards from initial contact to midstance. Your hamstrings also take up to 5x your body weight in force while running. While cycling, your hamstrings are most active from about 1:15 to 6:30 on a pedal stroke, and are responsible for scooping through the bottom, but NOT pulling up through the backside of your pedal stroke. This is another common mistake that can easily lead to both injury and inefficiency while cycling.
Some exercises with the highest amount of hamstring activation include: Romanian deadlifts (double and single leg), leg curls with a machine, ball or slider, nordic hamstring curls, bridges or hip thrusters with elevated heels.
Calves: While running, your calves are responsible for propulsion in your push off. We call this initial push off position "triple extension". During running, your calves take up to 8.7%x your bodyweight in force. While cycling, your calves are active throughout the majority of your pedal stroke, from about 1:30 - 8:45 on the clock.
You have many muscles in your calf complex, but the main two are your gastrocnemius and soleus muscles. To train your gastroc, perform heel raises (double or single leg) with knees straight. To increase soleus activation, perform heel raises with bent knees, either on a machine, seated, standing with bent knees, or in a wall sit or lunge. You can also perform heel raises with a ball between your heels for improved tibialis posterior activation. To get sport specific for your run, you can also perform resisted lunge drives up to a box into triple extension.
Core & postural control: Core control and postural strengthening is very important to maintain efficiency and decrease risk of back and shoulder pain with cycling and running. Refer below to the swimming section for more in depth information on core and postural strengthening.
Serratus: One postural exercise I like to highlight for cyclists is serratus push ups. If you cannot maintain serratus activation while on your drops or in an aero position, you have a much higher likelihood to experience neck, upper back and shoulder pain. I recommend using serratus push ups and serratus lifts to train this muscle group.
Swimmers:
Swimmers require adequate strength and mobility of your thoracic spine, scapula (shoulder blade), and glenohumeral joint (ball and socket). In a proper freestyle stroke, you are moving through a large range of scapular and glenohumeral motion. If you are lacking scapular motion, you are likely compensating elsewhere and likely have decreased power and efficiency in your swim stroke. Your thoracic spine heavily influences the movement of your scapula. If you have too much rounding in your mid back and are unable to attain a neutral or slightly extended position, then your scapular movement will be restricted. If you are lacking glenohumeral motion, then you are at increased risk for shoulder injury due to reaching end range mobility with every stroke repetitively.
Scapular strength - We call the muscles surrounding the shoulder blade “periscapular muscles”. Periscapular muscles include: serratus anterior, levator scapula, pectoralis minor, rhomboids and trapezius.
Exercises for periscapular strengthening include: ITY’s, reverse flys, rows in any position (double or single arm), wall swims with band / wall walks / wall V’s, any scapular retraction exercise, serratus lifts, serratus push ups, etc.
Exercises for periscapular and thoracic mobility can include: prone swimmer’s, wall angles, cat / camel, thread the needles, seated thoracic extension or lying over a foam roll, doorway pec stretching and child’s pose.
Shoulder strength - Glenohumeral (ball and socket joint) muscles include: deltoids, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, teres minor, and teres major.
Exercises for glenohumeral strength and stability include: internal rotation, external rotation, scaption raises, shoulder abduction.
Other areas to make sure you are training as a swimmer include your lats, pecs and core. Your lats and pecs are the powerhouse muscles of your swim stroke. If you are lacking strength in these muscle groups, then improving that strength could lead to a direct improvement in power and strength through the pull of your swim stroke.
Exercises for your lats include: lat pull downs on a machine and shoulder extensions with bands or a rotating bar / cable attachment.
Exercises for your pecs include: chest press, pec flys and push ups.
Core stability is also very important for an efficient swim stroke. Adequate core strength allows for you to maintain core and hip synchrony throughout the rotation of your stroke and helps you maintain a flat position in the water without your feet sinking.
Core strengthening for triathletes should be looked at as core stability. Core stabilization exercises can include: planks, side planks, rows in a bird dog position, ab wheel rollouts (very swim specific)!, cable rows to RDL, plank toe taps on a stability ball, etc.
It is also worth noting that performing basic lifts such as squats and deadlifts with a barbell have been shown to demonstrate equal or greater core muscle activity as traditional core strengthening exercises.
What does strength training look like in a periodized training program?
Off season - muscular endurance phase
Low to moderate intensity / load, moving 50-75% of your 1 rep max
High volume, 3-6 sets of 8-20 reps per exercise
2-3x per week each muscle group
Maybe doing more kinds of lifts due to more time available
Base phase - strength building
High intensity / load, moving 80-95% of your 1 rep max
Moderate to high volume, 2-6 sets of 2-6 reps
2x per week per muscle group
3-4 main lifts upper and lower, fading to 2-3 as base phase increases in volume
Build phase - maintenance phase (Could also include power and plyometrics in an advanced training program)
High intensity / load, moving 87-95% of your 1 rep max
Low volume (decreased from base phase), 2-5 sets of 2-5 reps
1-2x per week
Purpose is strictly to maintain your strength gains from your base phase
Taper & Peak - athlete dependent
If you continue with strength training through your taper, intensity can be very low or very high (50 - >93% 1 rep max)
Volume is very low, 1-3 sets of 1-3 reps
How do I design strength training sessions?
As triathletes, we typically don’t have a lot of time to spend in the weight room. Therefore, it is very important to make our strength training sessions as efficient and effective as possible. One method I like to use to do this is to incorporate dynamic mobility work as well as stability training into a warm up for your main strength lifts. A typical training sessions would look something like this:
Basic cardio warm up, 5 minutes (if time)
Dynamic mobility (NOT static stretching)
Use this time to get your joints moving while also focusing on your areas of concern. For example, if you have mobility deficits at the hip, knee or ankle, you can try using spider walks or deep squat rocking with emphasis on that joint as a part of this mobility warm up.
Stability training & more specific bodyweight movements
When doing lower extremity training, I often like to get stability work in while also using it to further warm up for main lifts. Example, if you are deadlifting during a session, then using body weight single leg RDL’s on the floor or even an unstable surface is a great way to get your stability work in with the dual purpose of an appropriate warm up exercise.
Strength training - Main sets
Accessory lifts
This should focus on your weak / problem areas. For example, if you know you have some glute weakness affecting your running and cycling, then add some extra glute work such as clamshells and lateral band walks.
Stretching
How can I make training sessions more efficient, especially towards the end of my base and into my build phase?
Pick 3 most important lifts for upper and lower body
Super set upper and lower body exercises to decrease rest time while still allowing some recovery of targeted muscle groups between sets
Does the right strength and conditioning plan vary from athlete to athlete?
Of course! While there are common trends in the endurance training world, everybody has different areas of strength and areas in need of improvement. The same goes for strength and mobility. Your plan should be tailored to your individual needs. Likewise, your strength training program will look different depending on where you pick it up. Following the above recommendations works best if you are lifting in the off season. Unfortunately, many athletes come to me at the beginning or halfway through the base training phase wanting to incorporate strength training. Some athletes can tolerate the added load, while others really need to be adapting to strength training in the off season for it to be safe, effective and beneficial for the intended purposes during a base or build phase of training.
Other questions?
Feel free to reach out via email at info@weightsandplatesendurance. You can also submit an athlete intake questionnaire through our website www.weightsandplatesenudrance.com or you can reach me via Instagram or Facebook DM. If this information was helpful to you, give our Instagram (@weightsandplatesendurance) and / or Facebook (Weights and Plates Endurance) a follow to keep up with our weekly content and education!
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