Periodization/Progression - Strength Training

Resistance training is a vital compliment to any endurance sport training program (triathlon, swimming, cycling, and/or running).  "Resistance training" is the blanket term for what most people refer to as weight training or strength training and includes working out with any form of resistance including body weight, free weights (dumbbells, barbells), machines and/or rubber tubing/bands with the intent to increase muscular strength, hypertrophy (size), power or endurance.  A well-designed resistance training program can:

• Increase lean body mass
• Increase muscular strength and endurance
• Increase running efficiency & economy
• Increase bone density
• Increase joint strength (stronger tendons/ligaments)
• Decrease injury risk
• Improve ability to recovery from difficult workouts.

Just like a triathlon or marathon training program – progressive resistance training must include planned periods of rest and active recovery.  Consider this . . . if you gradually increase your mileage or pace each week, does your body also have the capacity to increase resistance training volume and intensity?  If you are an elite athlete, the answer may be “yes” - however, if you are a recreational runner, the answer is likely “no.”  This means you must plan to incorporate low-intensity or low-volume workouts over the duration of your training program.  We refer to this planning as "periodization," which is essentially planning ahead and adding variety to your workouts to decrease injury and increase performance.

The charts below represent a long-term (annual) and a relatively short-term (19-week marathon) resistance training program.  Both include three primary phases: General Conditioning, Strength/Power and Muscular Endurance. The repetitions, sets, amount of weight, total number of exercises and speed of movement will vary during these phases.  Early in the off-season, it is beneficial to spend about 80% of your time (strength training-wise) focusing on general conditioning to prepare the body for the eventual increase in physical demands.  As a race or event approaches, strength, power and endurance become more important, thus, you may spend equal amounts of time on each.  In all phases, perform primarily multi-joint movements (pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging) and limit single-joint exercises (curls, crunches), which are not sport-specific.

Overall, these charts look similar; however, the marathon training program is a snippet of the annual program (somewhere between pre-season and in-season).  Even though you may be in a "strength/power" phase based on your annual training plan, it is appropriate to vary the volume and intensity week by week (this is referred to as non-linear periodization).

Now is always a great time to build your strength base. As a compliment to your swimming, biking, or running, resistance training can increase your joint, bone, and muscular strength and prepare you for longer runs and harder workouts.  Most importantly, planning ahead to incorporate active rest & recovery can save you an injury and make training and racing seem easier.

Visit our website for details on our training and conditioning programs: www.RehabUnited.com.

Justin Robinson, MA,RD,CSSD,CSCS,FAFS
Director of Sports Performance

Raceday Preparation for Runners

Recover: Training for any event can drain the mind, body and spirit.  The weeks and days prior to raceday are meant for tapering, not cramming; you can not get in shape in one or two weeks, but you can get hurt.  You have likely spent the last 12-18 weeks in “perma-soreness,” so you deserve to run with fresh legs on raceday!  Proper recovery includes decreased duration and intensity of exercise, one or two extra days of rest, increased mobility exercises and increased hydration.  All of this (as apposes to a week of complete rest) will allow the healing and refreshing needed to make raceday enjoyable.

Prepare: Make a checklist before packing your raceday bag – include even the obvious items such as shoes, socks, race bib and timing chip/strap.  Raceday is already hectic enough: finding parking (or riding a shuttle that takes forever), checking in your bag (which can be a half mile from the start), waiting in line for the port-o-potty (maybe even twice), wading your way through the crowd to your starting corral . . . after all of this, you have very little energy to focus on anything else.  Do all you can in advance to limit raceday anxiety.

Fuel: With a wake-up call sometime around 4:30, travel to the race, and the aforementioned “hectic” events on raceday, it is easy to neglect proper fueling.  The only “perfect” raceday breakfast is the one your body is used to consuming.  Eat a larger meal (300-500 Calories) about two hours before the start of the race and then a “jumpstart” snack 15-30 minutes before the start (50-100 Calories, mostly carbohydrate).  It is okay to have some caffeine on raceday – but once again, make sure you know how your body responds.

Hydrate: Similarly to fueling, it is easy to start your race under-hydrated.  Between breakfast and your warm-up, drink at least 20 ounces of fluid (a standard water bottle).  Between your warm-up and the start of your race, drink at least another 12 ounces (half of another water bottle).  Since your body needs a combination of water, carbohydrate and electrolytes – have a sports drink OR water along with carbs and sodium.  The body can load (store) muscles with both energy and water – so your fueling and hydration program begins days before your race, not in the morning.

Warm-up: The #1 way to prevent injury is a proper warm-up – the #1 task people skip on raceday is the warm-up (a few stretches while waiting for the port-o-potty do not count).  As with your nutrition and hydration, you should complete a warm-up routine you have done before.  The ideal warm-up includes exercises that: increase heart rate, increase muscle temperature, take your joints through a greater-than-normal range of motion and involve dynamic movements (as running is dynamic, not static).  Equally important, the warm-up preps the mind for the upcoming 3.1 to 26.2 miles.  Always finish your warm-up with a smile, applause, and/or high-5’s – your friends can use the encouragement as much as you!

Mantra: Never try anything new on raceday!

Make SMART Goals

Happy New Year everyone!

Health, fitness, and nutrition articles this time of year consist almost entirely of “Resolution” themes . . . “Make this YOUR Year to Lose Weight” . . . “5 Keys to Keeping your New Year Resolutions” . . . “Make your Dreams a Reality . . . “ and so on.

Truth be told – I do not make New Year’s resolutions.  I despise them, in fact, for two reasons: 1) Life gets in the way and people rarely keep them past February, and 2) I believe if you want to change something in your life, do it right now – don’t wait for a new year or even a new week.

As a health professional, though, I obviously want people to set and accomplish goals to improve their mind, body, and spirits.  So rather than helping everyone with their New Year’s resolutions per se, I will do my best to help you achieve any health-related goal, whether you decide to plan it on January 1^st or any day of the year.

People often set lofty, general goals such as “I want to lose weight” but do little to break that goal down to determine the very specific steps necessary to achieve it.  “I want to lose X pounds” is a great long-term goal, but SMART goals provide direction and basis for measurements along the way.  I can not take credit for coming up with this acronym, but I utilize it with my clients and encourage others to do the same.  For every long-term goal (what you would like to achieve in the next 1-6 months) you set, create 2-3 SMART goals.

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Attainable

R – Reasonable

T – Timed

Example #1 (Using SMART goals to measure potential success):

• Long-term goal: “I want to lose 50 pounds by July.”
• Analysis – 50 pounds in 6 months equals 8.3 pounds per month, which equals an average of just over 2 pounds per week. 
• SMART Goal: I will lose 2 pounds by the end of next Sunday.
• This goal is specific, measurable, reasonable, and timed, but is it attainable?  Two pounds per week, every week for 6 months equates to A LOT of work (creating a calorie deficit of roughly 1,000 kcal per day).  Whether or not this goal is attainable, is up to you and your trainer/coach.

Example #2 (Using SMART goals to determine specific steps):

• Long-term goal: “I want to lose 50 pounds by July.”
• Analysis – You know that skipping breakfast is a barrier to your weight-loss success since it causes you to over eat at night.
• SMART Goal: I will eat breakfast every day next week.
• This goal is specific, measurable, and timed, but not very reasonable and, thus will only be attainable for a short period of time (likely 1-2 weeks).  “Shoot for the stars” on your long-term goals, but “aim low” for your SMART goals!  The key is to maintain these SMART goals each week and build on them as you approach your long-term goals.
• Better SMART Goal: I will eat breakfast at least 3 out of the next 7 days.  (A month from now, change it to 4 out of 7 days).

Each time you create a SMART goal, you should read it (since you need to write it down) and confidently say, “I can do that”.  Challenge yourself – do not write down anything too easy (something you have done a hundred times prior) or anything too hard (unreasonable or unattainable).  Assess your goals 1-2 times per month and reevaluate as necessary.

Good luck with your resolutions – and be SMART about your goal setting and decision making.

Justin Robinson, MA,RD,CSSD,CSCS,FAFS

Director of Sports Performance - RU Sports Performance Center

www.RehabUnited.com