Sustain Triathlon Success with Strength Training

TriDot Podcast Episode 278

Sustain Triathlon Success with Strength Training

Intro: This is the TriDot Podcast. TriDot uses your training data and genetic profile combined with predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to optimize your training, giving you better results in less time with fewer injuries. Our podcast is here to educate, inspire and entertain. We'll talk all things triathlon with expert coaches and special guests. Join the conversation and let's improve together.

Andrew Harley: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the TriDot Podcast. Today, we are talking about strength training. Either love it or you tolerate it -- either way, I think we all need at least a little bit of it. And so today, we're talking with two TriDot coaches just to learn what are the best practices triathletes need to know about strength training. How do we fit this into our weekly routine? And how can we motivate ourselves to get our butts down to the gym to get it done? That question's for me, specifically. I've got two coaches on for this, and the first one is Matt Sommer, a frequent coach, here, on the podcast, just raced 70.3 Worlds in New Zealand. And Matt, you actually have quite a few strength training certifications in your back pocket. Can you share with our audience what your non-triathlon coach job is?

Matt Sommer: First of all, Andrew, thanks for having me back on the pod. It's always a pleasure to be here, talking shop with you and EJ—it's great to see you, as always. Yeah, I mean, my full-time job, I'm the fitness director at a private country club in North Carolina, and strength training is my background. I've got a master's degree in exercise physiology. But as you mentioned, Andrew, I do possess a ton of different credentials for personal trainers. You know, not all trainers are created equally, and there's some certifications out there you definitely want to look for when it comes to a fitness professional. Some of the ones I possess are from the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Strength Conditioning Association, the American Council on Exercise, and the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Those are probably the big four out there. So you know, for our listeners, if you are looking at working with a personal trainer or fitness professional, strength coach, those are the big four you really want to look for, because they do a great job vetting the professionals, making sure that they have knowledge, skills, and abilities and are qualified to work with you. So we'll talk more about that. But yeah, I've spent a lot of time over my 20-year fitness career picking up those credentials, maintaining those credentials, and putting them into action every day. So pretty proud of those.

Andrew Harley: Long story short, the right coach for this podcast episode, that's for sure. And like Matt already alluded to, our other coach joining us today is Elizabeth James, Professional Triathlete and longtime TriDot Coach. And Elizabeth, part of you being a professional, you really, really are diligent about your own strength training regimen. You stay on top of the ball with this for your own career. You stay on top of it with your own athletes. And you, probably of every triathlete I've met and interfaced with personally, really are intentional with this. And so I wanted you to kind of bring the coach and pro triathlete perspective. What is your—do you enjoy the strength training, or is it a necessary evil for you to support the pro career?

Elizabeth James: So, you know, it's something that I didn't always enjoy as much as I do now. It was almost like a necessity at first, and the more and more that I've done it and been diligent about it, it's something I really enjoy. And yeah, I don't have the credentials that Matt does, but I can say that I specifically seek out and work with people like Matt -- or I mean, definitely picked Matt's brain before, too, about all of these things. So having somebody that has that knowledge and background is so important. It's been important for me as I've worked as, you know, an athlete on my own, but certainly to have somebody in your corner as a coach like that, too, that can be a good resource for the athletes that I'm working with. It's just a big instrumental part of it all.

Andrew Harley: I could not agree more. Excited to get into this with the two of you. I am Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of the People and Captain of the Middle of the Pack.  As always, we'll start off with our warm-up question, get into our strength training main set conversation, and then Coach Matt, I'm going to have you give us a Coach Cool Down Training Rip for today, as our cool down. Lots of good stuff. Let's get to it.

Warm-up theme: Time to warm up. Let’s get moving.

Andrew Harley: For our warm-up question today, I'm going to stay on theme. I don't always do that, but we're going to stay in the strength training vein, here. And what I want to know is when you, personally, go into a strength training session, what is your favorite thing to do at the gym, or your home gym, or whatever you're doing that strength? Is there a certain strength exercise that you just really get fired up about and enjoy doing? Is there a Zumba class, or something at the gym, or a yoga flow that you just really get into? Do you like hopping on a certain cardio machine? You're walking into a strength environment, what is your single, hands down, favorite thing to do? Matt Sommer?

Matt Sommer: You know, I hate to admit it, I started as a weightlifter before I was a triathlete. And I love lifting weights. Just raw lifting weights, it is nothing like it. I love throwing weights around, I love bench press, I love lunges, I love back squats, I love dumbbell shoulder press. I mean, to me, it's the best stress relief out there. You know, there's nothing like working up a sweat, pumping some iron, and getting that muscle pump going. So I'm a little meathead, deep down in me. Those that have met me, I mean, I'm of average, I'm more -- I'm a pretty muscular triathlete, and a lot of people sometimes are like, “Wow, you're pretty fast, even with all that muscle mass.” And you know, I love lifting weights. I do it three days a week. I don't skip it. So I love weights.

Andrew Harley: And if you've ever seen me, Matt, and Elizabeth, you'll know that the hierarchy of arm strength on this podcast is Matt, then Elizabeth, then Andrew. So Matt, that answer checks out from you, my friend. Elizabeth, your favorite thing to do in a gym environment? Go.

Elizabeth James: Yeah, this is a tough one. I love the gym. And so to try to pick like a favorite, or even name which section of the gym I would go to first, is hard. I've been racking my brain this whole time that Matt's been talking, and what I've come down to is Lifetime's warrior sculpt format—think heated yoga with weights.

Andrew Harley: Wow.

Elizabeth James: So, yeah, this is a total body workout.

Andrew Harley: Matt’s into it. I can tell.

Matt Sommer: Yeah.

Elizabeth James: And it combines strength training with yoga inspired movements. And so it's like this challenging, dynamic workout, and you use a variety of equipment. So I mean, you've got your yoga mat there, but then you have lighter weights and resistance bands. So you're improving strength, building endurance, but then it also incorporates like these flowing, controlled movements for flexibility and balance, and it's an amazing workout. I love it. I do it there with friends. You know, some good music in that class setting. Just my mind and body feel so good every time I go. So that is going to be my answer.

Andrew Harley: For our listeners who know TriDot Coach Kurt Madden, I think if he's listening to this right now, he's probably already on the signup page, trying to find that class near him. It sounds like his jam. But this answer for me, truthfully, if I'm walking into a gym that has it, I freaking love playing racquetball. Love racquetball. This is the tennis player in me, right, grew up playing tennis. That was my sport. And so like once I got into high school/college, any friends of mine who weren't a tennis player but wanted that kind of environment, it was easier for them to pick up racquetball and play racquetball with me than try to pick up tennis and play tennis with me. So we played a lot of racquetball through college on the weekends and weeknights. And so that's, truthfully, my favorite thing to do. Just to take that aside and be more of a traditional gym thing, there's one exercise in particular that I love to do. It's a core exercise where you sit on the ground, and you kind of bend your knees up, and you have somebody stand on your feet so your feet are locked down. And you're basically doing sit ups, but as you're doing sit ups, you're throwing a medicine ball to the person who's holding your feet. And so you're really having to fire those abs to crank yourself up and get some distance on that ball. And you both played soccer, I played soccer back in the day. My best soccer skill, to be honest, I was a mediocre player, but I was very good at throw-ins. And so something about that drill, man, it just jives with me. And that's my single favorite singular exercise to do at the gym, is that ab workout. I just have to have a buddy there with me to do it at the same time. We're going to throw this question – enough about us – we’re going to throw this question out to the TriDot audience. We'll throw it out on the I AM TRIDOT Facebook group to see what our Facebook friends have to say is their favorite gym activity. And we'll throw this out in the TriDot Community Hub. So our TriDot athletes on the Community Hub, this question will be there, as well. Can't wait to see—for all of you who listen into the show, when you go to the gym, what is your favorite thing to do in that gym time?

Main set theme: On to the main set. Going in 3… 2… 1…

Andrew Harley: Into our main set. And that was a fun, lighthearted gym question, and now we're going to get to the more serious, productive gym questions. So Matt, Elizabeth, I hope you guys are ready to answer all of our strength training questions, today. And where I want to start is just at a physical level, on a biological level, what does strength training do for the triathlete? I think we know if we're in a swim session, we're working on our swim, a run session, bike session, we're working on our run and bike fitness. When we go to the gym and we strengthen our muscles, what is happening? What is the benefit to the triathlete to take the time to do that?

Matt Sommer: You know, I think the thing that we all think about, first of all, is I get stronger, I increase my mobility, I increase my stability, my core stabilization. It goes just beyond that. I mean, there's so many different things that strength training is beneficial for. I mean, first and foremost, when we think about triathletes, it's injury prevention. That's going to be the most important thing that I have seen with my athletes. On top of that, improved biomechanical efficiency when it comes to swimming, biking, and running. Enhanced power and speed on the bike, in the pool, running. Improved endurance. You're also looking at better core stability, which is going to make you stronger across all three disciplines. And two other things that I think are crucial, improved recovery and longevity in the sport. Both of those, I mean, everything I just mentioned are going to be part of why strength training is important. And let's not forget the most important, because we're all going to be lying if we don't admit this. You look better naked. I like to say that. It's all about aesthetics. Let's just call it out, there. I mean, why do most people start strength training?

Andrew Harley: I mean, Matt, too, you look better in your tri suit, right? You look better in that tri suit.

Matt Sommer: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Andrew Harley: Those things absolutely leave very little to the imagination, right?

Matt Sommer: I think at the end of the day, though, what gets people going into strength training clearly was the aesthetic piece. I mean, if we're 100% honest, we want to be able to look in the mirror and be happy with what we see. But it's all the other byproducts that come with it that I mentioned. The injury prevention, the improved efficiency, power, speed, endurance, core stability, injury prevention. But, you know, all of those are—I can't give you any more reasons. Why not? After hearing what I just said, why wouldn't you want to go lift weights right this second?

Andrew Harley: I've got reasons, Matt. I've got reasons.

Elizabeth James: I love how you mentioned all of that. And I think even for the athletes that are more hesitant—and I know, you know, we'll probably get into this a little bit later, but like if you love to swim, bike, and run, then why would you not do something that's going to support the longevity of doing that? I think that strength training just really allows a triathlete to be a well-rounded athlete, and that creates a strong foundation that can support all three disciplines of our sport. I mean, increased performance, reduced risk of injury, and then yeah, your strong fit body. Like, all of these things are going to support the lifestyle that you want to continue doing.

Matt Sommer: EJ, I love the words you use there, and I use this all the time—foundation. That's what strength training does. It creates the foundation for us to lay more bricks to become a better athlete across all boards. And that's kind of, you know, I use that word a lot, is we're laying the bricks, and we're laying the foundation for a strong, fit, injury-free body.

Andrew Harley: I think just honestly, right, like I am Andrew the Average Triathlete. I build myself as that, as the podcast host. That's a real thing. And as an average triathlete, just being honest, when I was a pure runner and not a triathlete, I think I was better about mixing in running and strength training throughout my week. And once I switched to triathlon, I'll have seasons, periods, a few months here, a few months there, where I do manage to mix in strength pretty well, and I'm happy about it. But then life gets busy, work gets busy. You know, you start focusing more on lowering that 5k time or increasing the FTP. And for me, it's one of the first things to kind of get lost in my week next to the swim, bike, and run sessions. And so honestly, I can't even sit here and pretend like I'm good at this. This is an episode that is for me, just like hopefully it's for a lot of our other listeners. But I'm curious to hear from both of you, and I'll direct this to Elizabeth first, and then, Matt, you can chime in if you have something to add. But I'm curious to hear when you're out on the bike, or you're in the pool or open water, or you're out for a run, do you notice a big difference in how you feel out there in your tangible swim, bike, and running when you're on top of your game with your strength sessions versus when you're not on top of your strength sessions?

Elizabeth James: 100%. I mean without a doubt, yeah. I could feel a difference. Matt, how about you? Same?

Matt Sommer: 100%. 100% agree. I mean, when I'm in the pool and I haven't been hitting the weights, haven't been doing my pull ups, haven't been hitting the lat machine, I can feel it in my stroke, 100%. I mean, my endurance is not there. I feel more muscular fatigue through my deltoids, mostly. My running, I can definitely feel it in my quads, as well. I just feel like the road beats me up a little bit more when I haven't been hitting the weights as consistently. And that's that durability I was talking about with the strength training. And same on the bike, you know, powering up the hills. You know, people always talk about, “Man, I struggle on the hills.” Okay, let's get some squats going. And then all of a sudden, within a week or two, you're like, “Man, I trotted up that hill on the bike. It was nothing.”

Andrew Harley: So that quickly, Matt? That quickly something like that can make a difference?

Matt Sommer: Neuromuscular adaptations occur in the first four to six weeks. I mean, it's that fast.

Andrew Harley: Wow.

Elizabeth James: And I love that, too, because it's not necessarily, you know, about the power output or the speed that we're doing our run intervals, but it's that durability. And like, I find myself fatiguing much more quickly when I'm not on top of the strength training, even if I'm hitting the same paces. And I mean, same thing with, you know, I get done with a run, and I'll feel more beat up, no matter if I was hitting the same paces, if I'm not on top of that strength work.

Matt Sommer: Yep.

Andrew Harley: You're already alluding to how multifaceted strength training is for the athlete. It's not just going into the gym and getting those muscles stronger. There's durability, there's recovery, there's a lot of things that it does. And I think for a lot of athletes, a lot of just average people, when you hear strength training, you think of just going to the gym and bench pressing, doing curls, lifting weights, getting your muscles stronger. But you don't realize, until you host a triathlon podcast or listen to experts like yourself talk, that there is nuances within the field of strength training. And specifically, there's a difference between lifting weights versus working on your body stability versus working on your body mobility versus doing modalities for recovery. These are all different things that we can do in a gym. Matt, break down these different things we can do, why we need to do them, and what makes them all kind of different forms of strength training.

Matt Sommer: Absolutely. I'm going to give you what I'll call the CliffsNotes of strength training. I can go on all day about this, the principles and the ‘why’s behind it. There are five basic types. When we think strength training, everybody thinks, what? Weights. That's the first thing that pops into their minds. They're going to come in, they're going to pick up dumbbells, they're going to get on a weightlifting machine, they're going to do something. I prefer the word resistance training versus strength training, because resistance can be a multitude of things. It could be your body weight, it could be exercise tubing, it could be a dumbbell, it could be a kettlebell, it could be a medicine ball. So there's a multitude of things that we can do to apply resistance to the body. When we start strength training or resistance training, when somebody comes in, there's a continuum that I want people to think about. We always want to enter that continuum with the weights. That's the point of entry where most people think they're going to start, but it's not where they should start. It's actually the fourth point on five. On the far end, we got to start with mobility. Then we develop stability, then we get to movement-based workouts, then we get to resistance training, then we get to power training. If you enter in at the wrong point, we've already compromised the three areas before that that are crucial for successful resistance training. So it's really important that we first focus on mobility. And again, I can go into defining these words, again, if people don’t know what they are, but mobility, stability, movement, strength, power. It's a continuum. And once you get on that continuum, it can go both directions. We can move left, we can move right. But it's very important that we first maintain and go in proper order. But once we get that order going, we can go backwards. Once we've established that we have appropriate mobility, stability, movement, strength, and power. If that makes sense.

Andrew Harley: No, it totally does. And you know, we have podcasts we've done in the past with Dr. B.J. Leeper, where he really reinforces that same thing. So for any of our listeners who want to learn more about what Matt just said, find any of our podcast episodes with Dr. B.J. Leeper, and you're going to learn the science there behind each of those facets that Matt's talking about. But Matt, for the triathlete, who is walking into a gym, and number one, between looking around the room and seeing all the different toys they can use -- machines they can hop on, weights that they can pick up, you know, whatever. That in and of itself can be intimidating, overwhelming. And from what you just said, knowing, oh my goodness, like there's a correct order of operations, there's—it is possible for me to walk in a gym and do the wrong thing as opposed to the right thing. I would think that could lead a lot of people to just not even know where to start, just get scared of even trying it in the first place. So Matt, I know it can depend, right, based on the athlete and where they are, what they're doing. But just in general, how can we walk into a gym and make sure we're doing the right thing for us? Where do we even start?

Matt Sommer: I think, first and foremost, it depends on what stage of the season you're in. I mean, we got to understand what is the purpose behind the strength training, and why are we starting there? Strength training is not something you want to start the week before a race. It's something that we need to implement and work with, whether you're working with a coach or if you're not working with a coach, of where does it fit in? And go back to the ‘why’. Why am I doing it? What are you looking to accomplish? And that's going to help then direct you to where you should start. If it's about injury prevention, and let's say you got beat up pretty bad last season. You had some Achilles tendonitis, patellar tendonitis. All these -itises that us overactive triathletes tend to develop for overuse injuries, that's injury prevention. Through doing some simple mobility and stability exercises, we can alleviate those. So with that being said, if injury prevention is what you're focusing on, start with mobility and stability exercises. Anything that's tubing-based, anything that is a stability ball-based, the TRX is a very popular apparatus that people can use to help maintain mobility and stability. If you're looking to develop strength, let's say you want to get stronger on the bike, stronger on the run, then we first need to make sure that your ligaments and tendons are ready for it, which is mobility, stability, but then moving into some movement-based things. Body weight exercises, pushups, lunges, pull ups, planks and just working on those things before you move to the strength work. And I would recommend to anybody, get a session with a personal trainer, invest 30 minutes or an hour with a qualified strength coach and let them know your goals. Just like you would work with a certified triathlon coach, there are certified strength coaches out there that, if you sit down and tell them what your goal is, they can do assessments. Just like we do assessments for triathlon training, there are assessments out there that certified strength coaches can perform on you that'll help identify any loopholes or maybe injury prone areas that you might have. It could be a movement-based assessment like an overhead squat, but there's some great assessments out there that strength coaches can use to identify deficiencies in your movement.

Andrew Harley: And man, I think a lot of people might not even initiate that conversation with the trainer, because they might just rule it out knowing, “Oh, well, that's not in the budget for me.” Do you find yourself just like getting with a client for like a session or two, squaring them away in a right direction, and then they kind of go off and take it from there, if they don't have the budget to work with you ongoing?

Matt Sommer: Oh, absolutely, 100%. You know, a lot of gyms will actually offer a complimentary session. It just depends on where you are. But again, I've been doing this long enough that a lot of times I can sit there, and I want to give them the nuggets that they can take away immediately and implement. Basic exercises. You got to ‘keep it simple, stupid’ -- KISS principle. You don't need to recreate the wheel. It's not who—I always say, purpose, not circus, when it comes to strength training. It's about being purposeful in what you're doing and not being in a circus. You don't need to stand on a stability ball. You don't need to do these wild and crazy movements. It’s simple movements that are tried and true. Your pushups, your squats, your lunges, I mean just—it's consistency over time will lead to the results, just like anything. It's being consistent with your strength training and being purposeful and intentional in the movements.

Andrew Harley: I think every proper gym, 24 hours a day, if you walk in, has at least one person in there making it a circus in some way, shape, or form with something they're doing. So I love that phrasing. And Elizabeth, for you, again, like you're, just for yourself, you're very intentional about this, and I know that you have a Lifetime Fitness membership, and wherever you travel for your pro career, you're finding a local Lifetime gym. You're tapping into condo gyms and hotel gyms, and you got your own at-home setup. You know, as you're planning your sessions, what you're going to do in the gym, obviously you're thinking through exactly what Matt's saying. Where am I at in my season? What do I have coming up? How hard can I go today? You know, balancing stability versus mobility versus strength. Just for your own week, how do you plan what you're going to do in any particular strength session?

Elizabeth James: Yeah, so I definitely utilize the resources that I have nearby and seek the help of professionals. I still go to physical therapy twice a week, and I've done that for years. I mean, no matter if I'm rehabbing an injury or just continuing to make progress, because they are going to continue to structure that resistance training in a way that's appropriate. And I've had a lot of lower body injuries over the past couple years. And so they take me from post-op surgery to let's just work some blood flow and range of motion, all the way until we're doing plyometric movements and we're back to sprints on the track. And so having their guidance and helping progress that has been such a key thing for me, because they're able to assess and say, how does this movement look, and are we at a point where we can load this again? Which really goes back to that continuum that Matt was saying. I mean, without proper guidance, proper movement, there's a lot of people that are in the gym that probably are not being super productive or helping themselves progress further in sport, because they jumped in with too much weight too quickly, or they're doing things that are just targeting one particular area of the body, and they're not looking at it from a well-rounded way. And so I feel like, you know, I know quite a bit about it, but I also know that this is not my area of expertise. And so when it comes to strength training, I am very quick to seek the advice of those that do have those specific credentials and work with a physical therapist. And then when I'm at my gym sessions, yeah, take advantage of the—I mean they just had it, you know, “January: complimentary session with a personal trainer.” It's so great. Like, I mean the trainers there know, too, like I'm going to take advantage of that, and they are there to offer, you know, that complimentary session, and say, “Yep, you know, let's look at our checklist where we are. Here's what I'd recommend, you know, for your next four to six weeks, as you're continuing to progress. Here's how it works with what you're doing with physical therapy.” I mean, it's mind-blowing, just their level of expertise and the resources that they have. And I frequently tap into that knowledge.

Matt Sommer: One of the things I would say is when people come in and start talking to me, and I try to stress the importance of following the continuum that I talked about, of mobility, stability, movement to strength -- I break it down like this for them. I'm like, listen, if your car door went—if you went to open your car door and it didn't open all the way, it only opened 6 inches, would you try to squeeze out that 6 inches day in, day out, and squeeze in, squeeze out of just 6 inches? Or would you take it to the dealer and say, my car door, the hinges are stuck. They're not opening correctly. That is called mobility. If you don't have full mobility -- or think about your drawer. When we were little kids -- if you have kids, this one will resonate. You tell your kids to go put their underwear away, put it in the drawer. They open the drawer 6 inches, and they shove it in there. That drawer opens all the way. Open the drawer and close the drawer. That is called mobility. Door hinges, same thing. If those hinges didn't open and close all the way, what would we do? We would go get WD-40, or we would replace the hinges. That door better open and close all the way. That is why mobility is important. It's the full range of motion. Without it, we're not getting the full benefit. Now, let's talk about stability. We're all sitting in chairs right now. If this chair was wobbly, would we continue to sit in this chair? No, we'd get a new one. Or most of us would do what? We would go get a ratchet, and we would tighten up the bolts, right? And if we tighten up the bolts, what did we just do? Increase the stability of the chair. Now, if the chair was wobbly, would you sit there with 60 extra pounds? Would you go pick up a 60-pound object and wobble back and forth on a wobbly chair?

Andrew Harley: Maybe.

Matt Sommer: Absolutely not. Why would we put more load, Andrew, why would we put more load on an unstable object? It's only going to compromise the joint structure. Do you see where I'm going with that?

Andrew Harley: Yeah.

Matt Sommer: So if we first make ourselves mobile, increase mobility, then we develop stability. Now we've got the skeleton, and our joints, and our body in a position to accommodate the load that we're putting on it. And when I break it down like that and kind of explain it to people, they're like, wow, that actually makes sense. Because if we just pick up two 50-pound dumbbells, and we go down to do a bench press -- we're not stable, we don't have correct mobility -- we're going to get hurt. And by the way, you can't even do a pushup, so why are we putting two dumbbells in your hand to do a bench press? So it's working through those motions and trying to get people to understand it's about progression, not that you shouldn't lift weights immediately, but we just need to make sure it's safe so you can get the biggest return on investment out of it with reduced injuries.

Andrew Harley: So Matt, the editor of the TriDot Podcast, TriDot Ambassador Sarah Burney, works with us and edits our podcast episodes. You are Sarah's triathlon coach. Super fun. Super fun, all around.

Matt Sommer: I am. Yeah.

Andrew Harley: Shout out to Sarah, who will listen to this later when she edits it. Matt, do you know what Sarah did this morning? Have you guys talked today?

Matt Sommer: I do. It was hilarious, because she sent me a confessional text earlier today, and I said, “Sarah, that's why I love you, and that's why we're such a great team.” She sent me a—yeah, it was great and I loved it. She sent me a text and said, “Full disclosure, I know you're recording today. I skipped my swim session, but I went and did a strength session, today.” I love it.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. And she was telling me she has not done a strength session in a hot minute. I'm sure she was inspired knowing we were doing this episode recording today. And Matt, she texted me saying, “Yeah, I can't even lift up my arms to drink a cup of coffee right now,” -- was her wording. And when you go do strength, particularly when you're out of practice at strength, I mean, strength can really wreck the way your muscles feel. It can wreck -- you can get delayed onset muscle soreness from strength training. It can really affect how limber, or not limber, you are the next couple days. And so I think for me, when I am trying to get it back into my schedule, like Sarah did this morning, she might struggle a little bit with tomorrow's run, or the next bike, or the next swim, if those muscles haven't kind of loosened up and recovered from that strength session. And so a very real kind of push and pull for the triathlete is where in my weekly routine, where in my season do I place strength sessions so that they don't wreck my swim, bike, and run sessions? Matt, what do you think? Help us out, here.

Matt Sommer: So the biggest thing is consistency is going to help alleviate some of that problem. The more consistent you are with it, the less likely you're going to have issues when it comes to swim, bike, run afterwards. Now, if you are brand-new to getting into it, it's going to take a week or two. It's going to take some acclimation, and you are going to have to balance the workouts of swim, bike, run along with the strength training. As a coach, when I'm working with my athletes directly, one of the things that I'll do is if we're reintroducing strength training, corrective exercise, or something is I try to position them in such that they're not going to conflict, but I definitely will pull back on the intensity of the bike and the run as they're introducing strength training. Not necessarily the duration, but we may not go Threshold Intervals, we may not go Threshold Repeats if they did strength training the day before, because they are going to have micro tears in the muscle, they are going to have muscle soreness, and it could be an increased risk of injury. So I may dial workouts back to just a Zone 2, just for about a week, maybe 10 days, as they get rid of that initial delayed onset muscle soreness. The initial kind of, hey, I'm getting used to this. Now, as they become more accustomed and are more consistent with their strength training, fitting it in—yeah, it becomes an art. I can tell you firsthand. I lift weights Monday, Wednesday, Friday year-round. There are certain times that I don't -- during my taper session, leaning into a race, during assessment week, and then also the week after a race for recovery. And there are other times during the year that, depending on what's going on, dealing with an injury, I may back off on certain things. But a lot of times on Monday, Wednesday, Fridays, I do my strength. Now, where do I do that in position to the TriDot workouts? It depends. Monday might be a swim only, so again, I can go at my weights in the morning, and I'll be just fine by afternoon for the swim. Yeah, the upper body may be a little fatigued, but I'm going to get through it. Again, I kind of get used to it. If you find that your swim workout is compromised, swim first, lift second. You can reverse them. It's trial and error. You got to figure out where do you feel best in the water. I've had some athletes that have said, “Man, I love swimming after lifting. I feel a better pump. I just feel a little bit stronger.” I have others that have said, “I can't even lift my arms after lifting. I'm going to swim first.” It's complete trial and error. I think the biggest thing is I would not do them immediately back-to-back. I do think you need to give yourself some time in between. I think four to six hours would be ideal, if your schedule allows for it, for your body to refuel. Make sure you get some good carbohydrates and protein back in you, and get a solid meal, and give you a little bit of time of recovery. But doing those two sessions, like, I hate to say, as a brick, definitely not recommended. You got to give your body a little bit of recovery in between there.

Andrew Harley: Elizabeth, I'm curious for you, as a pro -- as Matt's talking about just kind of how he keeps that Monday, Wednesday, Friday regimen all the way through the year, unless he's tapering -- do you kind of mix it up a little bit more than that through your season, based on when your races are and when your, quote/unquote, “offseason/preseason” is, or are you fairly consistent with how much your strength training through the year, as well?

Elizabeth James: I would say that the frequency of my strength sessions are very similar. I mean, Monday, Wednesday, Friday is very, very dedicated and more so specific to upper body. The lower body stuff, I'm pretty diligent about doing that with the physical therapist right now. But yeah, in terms of the time that I block off, I try to keep that fairly consistent week-to-week, no matter where I am in the season. And then it's just how heavy I'm loading that, depending on what else is going on. I mean, if I am doing a whole bunch of volume and just my legs are very fatigued from bike and run, it's much more of a maintenance type thing -- working through that range of motion, doing the things that are going to allow the blood flow to be there and to circulate and help with recovery. But you know, offseason time, like where I'm not doing as much volume, yeah, let's use that as an opportunity to progress the weights and gain a little bit of strength over those few months. So I would say that the time is still very, very much outlined week-to-week, anytime in the season. And then just the focus of those sessions varies a little bit.

Andrew Harley: When we talk about doing a strength session, just in general, what is the time commitment of that? I mean, we all have our runs, our swims, and our bikes. I think for most athletes, depending on the distance you're racing and when your races are, most of our swims are about an hour block each time, most of your bikes are an hour to an hour and a half each time, most of your runs are probably 45 minutes to 90 minutes each time, unless you're gearing up your stamina for a race. What kind of time commitment should we be spending in the gym lifting weights? How hard and how long should we go? Is there kind of a threshold where, well, if you don't do at least X, it's not really going to be all that beneficial? Matt, talk about kind of structuring the time commitment, here.

Matt Sommer: I think with strength training, anything is beneficial. I think if you have 15 minutes, that's better than nothing. And I, personally—anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, but typically, I'm about 45 to 55 minutes, turnkey, from the time I walk in to the time I'm done. And similar to EJ just said, you know, depending on the time of year, it's not just lifting weights. I always start with a dynamic warmup, some type of self-myofascial release, just to get the muscles ready. Just like you do in all our swim, bike and run sessions, you got to warm up. A dynamic warm up is best. I love the foam roller. It's my best friend. I spend about five minutes on it -- at least, maybe 10 -- just rolling out, kind of getting a feel for the nooks and crannies and what's talking to me from the days before. You've heard me say before, it's like, listen when it whispers so it doesn't have to yell. And that just gets my body ready to go. Once I've done that, I usually start with my mobility and stability work first. To me, that's neuromuscular activation, it's getting things ready. I go through that routine, and then I finish up time remaining -- and I usually make sure I budget the time—minimum of one set of resistance training with dumbbells, and usually two, and then that's it. So I mean, it depends on how the session is structured, the time of year, where I am on how many sets and repetitions. And again, we can go into so many different details with sets, repetitions, volume, the tempo, the movement. I mean, it's science. If you go out there and you look at the science out there when it comes to muscular strength, muscular endurance, hypertrophy, power, there are guidelines for what the tempo of the movement should be, the number of sets you should be doing, the number of repetitions you should be doing, and the amount of resistance you should be doing. And if you follow those guidelines, we can elicit the response. If you want to gain muscle size, there are guidelines out there. If you want muscular endurance, there's guidelines out there. And I mean, they're published out there through the American College of Sports Medicine. It's been peer-reviewed research. There are PhDs out there putting this research out there, saying, if this is the result you want, this is how you need to train. So it really kind of gives you the framework of how to structure your training session, depending on what you're trying to accomplish.

Andrew Harley: You know, going back to our good friend Sarah Burney and her workout this morning, Sarah found, and went to and tried, for the very first time—and maybe I'm throwing her business out there unnecessarily, but -- sorry, Sarah, thanks—she went to an F45 gym. I don't know if those are everywhere. There is literally one across the street from my neighborhood, here in Texas. And so I've thought about it before. Like it's—their whole bit is, it's a 45-minute workout. It's pretty well-rounded. You come in, you do it, you go back across the street into your house, and you go back to work. Like it's—oh, that sounds intriguing to me. And so she tried that this morning. She really liked it. She can't lift her arms anymore. But there's, you know, there's that, there’s Orange Theory, there's spin classes, there's—my sister-in-law loves doing Spenga, where like you spend a little bit of time on a spin bike, a little bit time on a treadmill, and a little bit of time doing weight training, and they rotate the athletes. So there's all these different, almost retail, brick and mortar locations you can go to do certain workouts. Gyms have this with the different classes you can take. Or you can just go in, find the weight set, find the workout area, and kind of do your own thing and build your own routine. Do you have a preference, Matt -- for the triathlete. We're talking about for triathletes. Do you have a preference between what is best for a triathlete seeking a well-rounded, trained strength experience?

Matt Sommer: I, personally, think that having your own locus of control, meaning that you're determining and driving the bus, is important when it comes to a triathlete. Just like our training programs, they're personalized to us. We have our own set zones. It's not a group training where we're all doing the same workout. It may all be 2x16s, but I have my zones, you have your zones. And I think that's important when it comes to strength training because we're all not built equally. My strength might be your weakness, your weakness might be my strength. And we really have to adhere to those. Going to those workouts, they're great. There's fitness and then there's training. And I do like to just differentiate between the two. If you're just looking to develop overall health fitness, those classes are great. You're going to go in there, you're going to get a great, what I call KYA—you can determine what those letters mean -- workout, and you're going to leave sweaty, you're going to leave breathing hard, you're going to be sore, you might not be able to sit down on the toilet for the next week, you won't be able to wash your own hair, and that's great. But as a triathlete, that's not so great the next day when you got a big session. So it's fun that you got out there, there was camaraderie, you had companionship, you're with a group of people, like, that's fun. I enjoy that. I did it on New Year's Day at my son's -- where he works. It was a great workout. My quads were sore for six days, and they hurt, they really hurt. But when I have complete control, I know what I'm getting, I know what I'm doing, and it's more about me, and it's about putting the pieces together to make me a more durable, stronger, injury-free triathlete, not just the fitness aspect of it. There's purpose behind my routine and why I'm doing what I'm doing.

Andrew Harley: Really, really great answer there, Matt. And Elizabeth, I'm curious to hear this from you, both for you but also just thinking about the athletes that you coach. If there's an athlete who's interested in doing some strength work and they just don't live somewhere where there's a super conducive facility to help with that, or maybe they're just on a budget to go plug into a facility that offers strength -- how do you advise that athlete to build strength and take advantage of all the different things we're talking about, the benefits that come with strength sessions? What can they do without maybe a proper facility for it?

Elizabeth James: So as much as I love the gym, I've invested in some good equipment for my home, and I think that this is a great opportunity for anybody that doesn't have access to a facility. But additionally, it’s great just as a convenience option. I mean, I have a few pieces of equipment at home that sometimes, just out of necessity—there's no way that I'm going to fit going to the gym into my day, and I've got, you know, this 30-minute window in between athlete calls, and that's going to be when I get my strength in. And so I'm going to maximize my time here at home. There's a lot that you can do at home. As we were talking about earlier, body-weight exercises are fantastic. Get a couple resistance bands, you know, maybe a couple dumbbells. You can do, you know, if you've cleared the movement patterns for it, some plyometric exercises are great to do at home. And then this is great, but also for those parents with younger children, I've coached a number of athletes that use the opportunity when the kids are playing at the park to play with them and incorporate their strength training in there, too. I mean, it's so easy for them to do some things on the park bench, or hey, you know, kids are swinging across the monkey bars. Oh look, here's some things that we can work on the lats ourselves and do a couple pull ups. So you know, there's a lot of ways that these things can be incorporated outside of a gym atmosphere. And you know, for no cost, or for very little cost, you can get a really good at-home setup.

Matt Sommer: Yeah, 100% agree on that. I think there's so many things, and all too often, people come in and are like, “I can't do a pull up, I can't do a push up, I can't do lunges.” And I always like to emphasize there's one word—yet. First of all, we always say ‘yet’ at the end of that. But progressions and regressions are so important when it comes to strength training. And that's one of the things—okay, you can't do pushups from your toes, do them from your knees. There's nothing wrong with that. A pushup is a pushup. A mile is a mile. Whether you're running it or walking it, a mile is a mile. You got to start somewhere. And that's why I always say ‘yet’. So knee pushups, there's nothing wrong with that. You're still working the pectorals. That's the purpose of it. You're still developing core stabilization by being ‘head to heel like steel’ while you're doing it. There's nothing wrong with that. The progression is we gradually go up to the toes, do one or two, then go down to the knees. The next time we might do three or four, then go down to the knees. It's all about progression. Squats, you might have to actually sit down in the chair and stand up each time for the first time you ever do them. Eventually, you get to where you only sit every other one. Finally, you get to where you can do squats standing in the air and not having to touch your bottom to the chair. It's all about being slow and progressive and not coming in with expectations. The tubing is a great one, EJ. You can find that real easy. I don't want to throw stores out there, but I think TJ Maxx, Kohl's, some of these other stores have the health section where you can go buy tubing. They're online. Go on Amazon. I love the bilateral tubing where you can get rubber tubing with different handles—

Andrew Harley: Jeffrey Bezos will bring it to your house. Yeah, for sure. Jeffrey Bezos, personally.

Matt Sommer: Absolutely. I mean, you can get same day now, you know. But investing—we're going to go out there and we're going to spend a thousand dollars on power pedals, okay, so we can have power on our bike. If you go out there and just spend $300, turnkey, and you get some exercise tubing, a stability ball, maybe a set of 10-pound, 15-pound dumbbells, and maybe a Bosu balance trainer, okay, I mean, you got 300 bucks in, and you almost have everything you need to do to get a kick your butt session. When my clients walk in and they're like, “Hey, what are we using today?” And I'm like, “Nothing. We're just going to this five-foot section of carpet.” They look at me like, “Oh my god, this is going to suck.” Because they know that it's all going to be body weight exercises. And I mean, it's just—it's going to be a challenge, because they know it's going to be creative, it's going to be fun, and I can make them happy with just their body weight, you know?

Andrew Harley: And for the triathletes that use TriDot for their training and have the strength sessions in their TriDot subscription package, then they know, because TriDot strength regimens give you a really well-rounded full body workout, and it's usually just a couple of dumbbells, maybe a kettlebell if you have it. Like, it's very minimal on the gear you need to do those workouts at home, and you walk away with a pretty good burn, that is for sure.

Andrew Harley: So something I'm curious about—I'm sure both of you would suggest, and it sounds like you've already suggested, that any triathlete would benefit from strength training. Nod your head up and down. That's correct, right? Yep. Okay. Every triathlete listening should be doing strength training. I thought you guys would think that. What I'm curious about though, is there population groups? Like maybe athletes that race short course, because it's a more power sport, or maybe athletes that race long course, because you're out there for a long time -- are there certain age or gender demographics, anything that would make a certain population group of athletes need this more than others? Or need something specific from their strength training more than others? Matt, bring us the science, here. Is there anything that you'd want to point out to our triathlete audience on—hey, if you're athlete X, Y and Z, you might need a little something specific, here?

Matt Sommer: Andrew, I think you kind of set the stage perfectly there. It depends on the distance of the race you're doing. I mean, honestly, if you're short course, if you're doing sprints, yeah, it's got to be power, explosion. I mean, we're going to be working a little bit different. Top-end power, top-end speed. Now, if you're looking at trying to get out there and finish the race, there's a difference there versus trying to be competitive, super high functioning on a sprint. If you're looking at long course, or ultras, I should say, like IRONMAN, injury prevention is going to become a bigger thing now. We really need to make sure you're getting your mobility work in, stability work in, trying to prevent those -itises that I alluded to earlier, which come with ultra-long distance training. I think that's going to be super important. Now, I don't like to pick on our more mature athletes. And again, maturity is one of those things that comes with age. But I do think it's—I really do think it's really, really important that as we start to age and get more mature, that we focus more on strength training, and I do mean lifting weights, for bone density reasons and for injury prevention, because I think it can really make you more resistant to some of the other injuries that come about with that. And also, balance and stability -- super important. Super important for all ages, no matter where you are. But there's not one age demographic, there's not a gender. I think regardless of who you are, if you're competing in the sport of triathlon, there is a place and there is a purpose for you to implement strength training, resistance training, no matter what you're doing.

Andrew Harley: Elizabeth, just as you're talking with your athletes, right, and you're getting to know them, you’re working on their swim, bike, run, talking them through their training, talking them through their race schedule, when strength comes up—and this is very much along the same lines as Matt, just kind of a different form of the question—are there certain athlete types that you go out of your way to make sure they're on top of this versus maybe some others?

Elizabeth James: One of the things, and I know that Dr. Leeper has said this before, but the biggest predictor of a future injury is a previous injury. And so if I'm working with an athlete, they've talked about previous injuries that they've had or their difficulties working through that, I mean, that just sends my antenna up right away of, like, strength training’s got to be a part of our discussion from the get-go, right away. I mean, if you've been injured before, it's really important to examine why that happened. You know, was it an accident? Was it an overuse injury? Was it one of those -itises that Matt was talking about? You know, is there compensation in the body that needs to be addressed to prevent future injury? The human body is just fascinating, and it has this great ability to compensate for dysfunction. But you have a dysfunctional movement—it's not ‘if’ that's going to catch up with you, but when does it? And that's when we see the injury. And so, yeah, I mean, if there's an athlete that I see is not moving well, when we do some video analysis, they might not have injury at that moment, but if I see a dysfunctional movement, it's like, ooh, red flag right here. Or if there's previous injury, that's another area where I'd say, red flag, antenna goes up, this has to be a discussion immediately. So, yeah, everybody benefits. Those are two cases where I'd say, right away, I'm making sure that that's in our next chat.

Andrew Harley: I almost didn't ask that question, because I thought Matt covered it so well, but I just did, and I'm glad I did, because that's a really great point, Elizabeth. Matt, what'd you want to add?

Matt Sommer: I was going to say she's spot on. I mean, I did not mention that, but that's one of those things where, yeah, corrective exercise is one whole thing that if somebody comes in, it's—are you still doing your rehabilitative exercises? And that's something that I tell everybody. Just because physical therapy is over, that means you're done visiting with them. It doesn't mean you're done those exercises. You better stick to those exercises for the long run. And I'm big on preventative exercises. One of the things that I do with my team and the athletes that I coach is I've got some handouts that I share with all of them on preventative exercise. It's ankle mobility things, it's knee stabilization, it's core stabilization, and it's hip mobility exercises. If you think about it, the ankle, knee, hip complexes are probably the three biggest injured sites on triathletes. So if we jump into those and we work proactively, rather than reactively, to start looking at those areas from a mobility and stability perspective, we can help reduce the likelihood of injury. And it's little, little things. It's just these little ankle movements that if you do them every day, you may think they're not that important. But sometimes the little things are the big things. It's standing on one leg and just balancing, because whether you know it or not, the ankle, knee and hip, they're sitting there dancing, going crazy, just kind of shaking, you know. And that's the ligament, the integrity of the ligaments and tendons being worked upon. So it's those -- and shoulders, too, with swimming. I mean, shoulder stabilization and just working some simple movements. And, you know, if you do each joint like that, it might take five minutes. Yeah, you're looking at 20 extra minutes. But if you're sitting at home watching TV with the family, if you're sitting at a red light, I mean, you can sit here and do some of these easy mobility exercises. You can do some of these stability exercises as your warm-ups. So it's easy to implement, but you got to choose to do it at the end of the day.

Andrew Harley: Well, and making that choice, Matt, to do it—because I think all of us listening understand, from what you're saying, the importance of it, the benefits we get it. We should all be doing this for a multitude of reasons that have been covered in the last 55 minutes. It still takes that step of motivating yourself to get off your butt and go pump those arms, legs, core, whatever it is. And so just to shut down our main set and we'll get onto the cool down, can you each leave us with your 30- to 60-second elevator pitch of motivational pep talk of why the athletes listening today, myself included, and Sarah, who's editing this later, why we should get off our butts and go do our strength training? Motivate us. Coach Elizabeth and Matt, go for it.

Elizabeth James: All right, well, I'll jump in first here and kind of bring it home to one of the things I started us with. And your best performances in triathlon are going to come when you can consistently train. And what takes most athletes out of a consistent routine is injury. So let's think big picture. You know, a little time invested each day, each week, to do your strength training, to really focus in on good movement is going to support swim, bike, and run, make sure that you are injury resistant, and then keep you doing what you love to do.

Matt Sommer: I love it. I love it. I love every bit of that. Two words come to mind when I think about it: bulletproof and durability. Those are the two things that I think strength training can bring to it. It's not going to make you resistant to injury, but it's going to make you a little bit more—what's the word I'm looking for?—just less likely to be injured. You know I'm good for quotes, Andrew. And I've got three great ones that I love when it comes to strength training. So I'm going to share these with you. First one is: “maybe the magic you're looking for is in the work you're avoiding.” If you think about that -- we avoid the strength training, maybe that's the magic, maybe that's the secret sauce. That's what you need to throw in there. The next one: “don't complain about the results you didn't get from the work you didn't do.”

Andrew Harley: Wow.

Matt Sommer: We sit there and we talk about, oh, man, I should have done that. But don't complain about it, unless you're going to put the skin in the game and show up and get it done. Don't complain. And finally, I love this one: “people say I don't have time. No, you don't make the time. We all have 168 hours in the week. It's what we do with them that separates us,” okay. I don't have 169. Andrew doesn't have 166. We all have 168. Nobody can steal your mornings except for you. One of the new quotes I saw the other day, and I fell in love with it instantly: “4:00am, the hour where legends are waking up or going to bed.” And that one resonated, because it's like, you can do it. 4:00am, I know it's early. You got to get yourself up. Maybe it's before work, but you can get up and you can make the time to make it happen if it's important to you.

Cool down theme: Great set, everyone. Let’s cool down.

Andrew Harley: We're going to cool down, like we always do, with our Coach Cool Down Training Tip of the week. And Coach Matt, you've brought so much great strength training wisdom to the podcast, today. Elizabeth, thanks so much for supporting with your own experience, as a professional athlete in the field who stays on top of this so well, herself. But Matt, if you can just take a minute or two and kind of cool us down from all of that effort we just went through, learning about strength training, and leave us with one more training tip. Swim, bike, run, strength, nutrition, race day, training -- sky's the limit, brother. Whatever you want to talk about, leave us with one more golden nugget from Matt Sommer, today.

Matt Sommer: Thank you, Andrew. EJ, Andrew, it's been great talking with you guys. I mean, obviously this is a subject I'm very passionate about. But I think the most important thing, guys, is respect yourself. Respect yourself enough to take care of your body. And, you know, we've thrown a lot out there. You shouldn’t do this, you should do that. But at the end of the day, you just got to start. You got to make that initial start, that initial walk into the gym. And it doesn't matter where you start, just keep doing it. Be consistent. That is the most important thing that we've talked about. EJ mentioned that. And it's like with everything else, anything that we want to be good at and excel at, we have to be doing consistently. One day turns into two days, two days turns into three days. But one day off turns into two days off. It goes that direction, as well. Be consistent, be deliberate, be intentional, and be purposeful with what you're doing. I always tell people at the gym, it's not who spends the most time there, it's who's there the most consistently. 20 minutes is better than nothing, even if it's all you got. Just start somewhere and be consistent with it.

Outro: Thanks for joining us. Make sure to subscribe and share the TriDot Podcast with your triathlon crew. For more great tri content and community, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Ready to optimize your training? Head to TriDot.com and start your free trial today. TriDot—the obvious and automatic choice for triathlon training.

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