For rowers, stability is important to maintain as the body will be moving without a lot of variation in joint range of motion. On the other hand, sequential endurance sports such as running, cycling or cross-country skiing, where one side of the body moves followed by the other side with the upper- and lower-body moving in opposition , require higher levels of mobility to allow for adequate rotation between the right and left sides of the body USA Triathlon, Understanding the length-tension relationship is key when programing resistance training for endurance athletes.

For example, when cycling, the body is in a constant state of hip flexion, which means the resistance-training program should include movements that lengthen the hip flexors while also strengthening the quads and glutes for greater power during the pedal stroke and recovery.

Similarly, hip flexors that are too tight may lead to decreased power in the glutes, which leads to an incorrect length-tension relationship and can cause to the hamstrings to do more work than they should.

This is called synergistic dominance USA Triathlon, Be sure to incorporate multiplanar movements into the training plan to improve balance, enhance stability and mobility, and prevent injury. This includes using the five functional movements as outlined in phase 2 of the functional movement and resistance-training component of the ACE IFT Model: bend and lift, single leg, pull, push and rotation.

Incorporating these types of movements throughout the program helps ensure that clients are working through primary movement patterns that are essential for both their sports and activities of daily living ACE, It is important that you understand the movements that your clients perform most and what muscles create these movements and return them to their starting positions.

For example, in running, the glutes and quads are used for hip and knee extension, and the hip flexors and hamstrings are used for both hip and knee flexion. During swimming, the latisimus dorsi are responsible for propulsion during the pull phase of the stroke and the deltoids are responsible for the recovery and for returning the arm to the starting point of the stroke.

In cycling, the power phase of the pedal stroke utilizes the quadriceps and glutes and the hamstrings should be utilized to return the foot to the top of the pedal stroke USA Triathlon, Think about how quickly your clients need to move in their sports.

With endurance sports, athletic speed, agility and quickness are not usually areas of focus. However, velocity-building exercises such as power cleans or hang cleans can be used specifically for rapid hip flexion and extension, which is essential to developing a quick finish at the end of a running event or a strong kick for swimming USA Triathlon, For linear athletes who run, swim, bike, row or ski, several areas of the body should be focused on from both a length and strength perspective.

These include:. When programing resistance-training sessions for the endurance athlete, break each workout into three areas: warm-up, main session and cool-down. Self-myofascial Release 5 minutes.

Using tools such as tennis balls and foam rollers over the major muscles groups e. Performing exercises that emphasize stability and mobility prior to the dynamic warm-up and training session helps to prepare the proper muscles to become active and protects the moving joints during the main portion of the workout.

Examples include glute bridges , supermans and prone shoulder stabilization series. Dynamic Flexibility Movements 5 minutes.

These exercises emphasize lengthening the muscle, but without static stretching. Movements like walking lunges to gently lengthen the hip flexors, downward facing dog to open the chest and shoulder joints, and body-weight squats to warm-up the hips are all options for the dynamic flexibility component.

This part of the workout for an endurance athlete should build muscular endurance, strength and power, while also challenging the cardiovascular system as a method of cross training. Circuit-style workouts tend to work very well and are time-management friendly.

Select six to eight exercises that take into account the aforementioned information and separate them into two circuits. Perform both circuits two to three times through, moving quickly from one exercise to the next, with a short break between each round.

Circuit 1: Perform each exercise for 30 to 60 seconds, transitioning quickly from one exercise to the next. Rest for 60 seconds before repeating the circuit for two to three rounds. Circuit 2: Perform each exercise for 30 to 60 seconds, transitioning quickly from one exercise to the next.

Rest for 30 seconds before repeating the circuit for two to three rounds. For clients who want to improve overall muscular endurance, choosing the appropriate number of sets and reps, as well as ideal recovery, is essential for helping them achieve their goals see Table 2.

Do not allow your allow your clients to skip the cool-down portion of their workouts. Performing static stretches holding for at least 30 seconds on the muscles just worked as well as a few dynamic flexibility movements to reduce the heart rate are important aspects of recovery, not only for the workout they just completed, but to prepare for subsequent workouts as well.

The cool-down is also the best time to do more self-myofascial release therapy using a foam roller, and to pay a bit more attention to any areas of concern by providing more specific pressure to the areas of the body that may be bound up trigger point.

Trigger-point therapy is great to do at the conclusion of a workout because the muscles are warm and open to more manipulation.

Aagaard, P. et al. Effects of resistance training on endurance capacity and muscle fiber composition in young top-level cyclists. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 21, 6, and Andersen, J. Effects of strength training on endurance capacity in top-level endurance athletes.

Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, Supplement 2, 20, American Council on Exercise ACE Personal Trainer Manual 5 th ed. San Diego, Calif. Brumitt, Jason. Injury prevention for high school female cross-country athletes. Athletic Therapy Today, 14, 4, Laursen, P.

and Callaghan, J. Should endurance athletes supplement their training program with resistance training to improve performance?

Strength and Conditioning Journal , 27, 5, Mikkola, J. Concurrent endurance and explosive type strength training increases activation and fast force production of leg extensor muscles in endurance athletes.

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 21, 2, USA Triathlon Complete Triathlon Guide. Champaign, Ill. Jacque Crockford, DHSc, is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and Senior Product Manager at ACE.

She has been a personal trainer and performance coach for 20 years. Jacque grew up in the fitness industry, participating in YMCA sports and teaching gymnastics and swimming from a young age. Systematic and regular endurance training usually starts around the age of years and the individual top performance can be reached after 12—15 years of a very demanding training process.

Aerobic endurance is normally developed before years of age but it should be mainly with the help of non-specific means, exercises and non-intensive methods as a part of general fitness development and training of a young athlete.

Therefore, the main aims of endurance aerobic training are the improvement of personal limiting factors , which means mainly improving personal physiological profile and motor abilities.

Simultaneously with these important goals of aerobic training, race technique and tactics experience must be improved and psychic qualities must be fixed. These goals of training are achieved with the help of the right type of training, proper training system, and methods and means of training.

Every biological improvement caused by training stimuli is carried out in cycles. The most benefits of a specific training process come together with load that matches the orginial condition with duration around six weeks. After six weeks, it is necessary to increase volume, intensity and frequency of training load, because a training program which is exceeds six weeks becomes less effective after this period.

Without increasing load and variability of training , this process cannot effectively continue and the development of training and performance is slow. This six-week period is divided to four stages.

During first stage up to about 10 days , the improvement of movement coordination is prevalent. During the second stage, energy store inreases, the performance of energy system improves and changes in the muscle structure begins up to about 20 days.

After rebuilding muscle structure, it is necessary to renew neural control of motor ability on a higher level. This is the aim of the third stage, which is finished till about 30 days.

During the last stage, many systems get coordinated on a higher level such as cardiorespiratory system, vegetative neural system, hormonal system, centre of thermoregulacy, or immunity system.

The fourth stage completes the whole cycle of optimal benefit of the respective training load and brings this six-week period to an end. Every coach should know zones for anaerobic or aerobic training.

Organizing the system of loading into specific zones of training intensity is usual interest of coaches. They use several zones of load intensity to stress the importance of training in the whole range of energy systems.

The number and range of training zones have been recommended in coaching literature and a standardized scale consists of up to six different intensity zones. To develop training and performance of endurance athletes, it is recommended to make use of four intensity zones, which cover entire training needs.

It is important to use a single system of intensity zones following the specifics of a given sport. Within this zone, load intensity is under anaerobic threshold ANT and it should help to improve athlete´s aerobic metabolism, which vital in most sports, especially those in which oxygen consumption represents a limiting factor of performance.

Among these sports, there are for example medium- and long-track running, swimming, sculling, cross-country skiing, cycling events etc. Many coaches and authors call it aerobic threshold training AT , which develops basic functional efficiency of the cardiorespiratory system and the economy of metabolic system and increases the capacity to resist stress during effort which lasts for a longer time.

The purpose of aerobic threshold training is to increase aerobic energy capacity through using a high volume of work without interruption at a constant or alternating pace.

It is important for achieving desirable functional improvements that form basis for training of higher intensity. Appropriate training methods of developing basic endurance within intensity zone 1 are both uninterrupted or long, slow distance methods and fartlek.

An optimum period to improve aerobic performance is the preseason period, however, evens during pre-competition and race seasons, we need regular load of lower stimuli to keep aerobic metabolism on a required level. Aerobic compensatory training is also part of intensity zone 1.

This intensity makes easier athlete´s recovery after competitions and high-intensity training which are typical of intensity zones 2 and 3.

It is training of active recovery and we can use cycling, running or swimming of low intensity for min, which helps to speed up recovery. This zone consists of training load which is equivalent to higher intensity of exercise but the rate of the diffusion of LA into blood is constant in relation to the rate of its removal.

It is training with intensity in the area of anaerobic threshold. The ability to remove LA from blood circulation and transfer it to muscles to further use it as a source of energy is an adaptive reaction which postpones the start of fatique and improves performance.

This load helps to shift ANT curve towards higher speed of cyclic movement. Training within this zone can be further divided into two types: uninterrupted continuous or long, slow distance training and interval training, whereas both of them are of the same relative intensity.

Load at the level of ANT through uninterrupted continuous or long, slow distance training and interval training are very much useful if we begin with specific endurence.

This type of training together with more repetitions between five and seven repetitions can stimulate anaerobic metabolism without any significant accumulation of LA. This intensity is followed by hard training which is unpleasant and painful.

The training of this intensity stimulates the increase of maximal oxygen consumption through increased need of oxygen transfer and the efectiveness of its utilization. During both training and competition, cardiorespiratory system, nervous and locomotive systems are very much stressed with load of such intensity.

Better transfer of oxygen to muscle cells and especially better efficiency of oxygen utilization are important factors for better performance in sports in which the aerobic system is dominant or at least very important. The rate of LA diffusion into the blood starts to exceed the rate of utilization and the main physiological aim of training intensity zone 3 is to increase resistance to LA accumulation , the adaption to the increased creation of LA, better utilization of LA from working muscles and increasing physiological and psychological resistance to pain or spasm during training and demanding competitions.

The number of repetitions performed during one training session depends on the duration of the training: the longer the duration, the smaller number of repetitions.

The main training method for developing this intensity zone is mainly the intermittent method. Phosphagen energy system ATP-CP is dominant in all sports which require to exercise speed and explosiveness. Trainig of this intensity can improve and maintain short-time speed-time endurance.

However, this intensity has its justification also in endurance training, primarily for developing movement economy, technical and tactic skills which make use of ATP-CP system as the source of energy. The main training method is the intermittent method with sufficient resting period.

The application of intensity zones to an athlete´s training is more familiar of individual sport coaches but it is valid for all sports. The frequency of training stimuli is an important part of the training process and it very much affects the improvement of training and performance.

The variability of the types of load and active recovery during the whole macrocycle is therefore very important. The frequency of training stimuli is a variable in the training process which affects the improvement of aerobic performance, mainly during the first stage of systematic training of children, untrained individuals and young athletes.

The basic frequency of training sessions at the beginning of a regular training process should be three times per wekk for children , less fit athletes or to maintain health. Performance endurance athletes need training sessions per week and top athletes from 7 to 20 training sets. Optimum results of the training process can be achieved through systematic alternation of the training contents, the size of load volume, intensity , training means, methods, frequency of stimuli, organisational forms etc.

To make the development of performance gradual and systematic, it is necessary first to increase the frequency of stimuli, then we can slowly increase the volume of intensity and the last parameter which much be increased is load intensity.

Training intensity is of lower significance at the beginning of regular training but training of higher intensity usually leads to improved specific performance, faster reaching better performance, for a short time though, if required training volume has not been mastered.

System of endurance training includes a number of methods which are suitable for developing different kinds of endurance. Every method has its own characteristic effect for development of specific preconditions.

The training methods for aerobic or anaerobic endurance development can be divided to several groups:. Continuous method means load with constant level of intensity or speed.

The load lasts usually for longer than 30 minutes up to several hours. This method is used to develop basic general endurance, mixed aerobic-anaerobic metabolism, or to maintain the level of reached endurance adaptation. Medium or submaximal intensity is used to increase speed at ANT level. High or submaximal intensity is used in testing, in check race or in testing the ability to maintain racing speed.

The possibility to incrase VO 2max is lower than when using different methods e. interval training but within training process for novices or children, even this method is able to help to improve this parameter, mainly during the initial months of regular training.

During uninterrupted load of alternating intensity, the athlete alternates, regularly or irregularly, different intensity and length of sections. Load intensity can vary from low to very high.

The number, length and intensity of sections is usually planned. This group includes interval methods and repetition methods. The main difference between these methods is the condition of the athlete before starting the next unit. During interval training , another repetition starts with insufficient recovery of the athlete.

During repetition training , another unit starts only with relative recovery after a longer pause between units. Interval training contains several load units of high intensity from submaximal to maximal.

As a rule, we distinguish between short, medium and long interval methods according to the time-period of load. Short intervals last between 45 and 60 seconds, medium from 1 to 3 minutes and long minutes.

Time for rest is relatively short. Resting period for short and medium interval lasts seconds and for long interval it is approximately half of the time for which lasts one unit, or until HR decreases down to beats per minute. It is recommended to spend the resting period with active acitve rest walking, jogging etc.

Interval training has a great influence on cardiorespiratory system and it is the best way to increase the value of maximal oxygen consumption aerobic perfromance and capacity. The main aim of interval training is preparation for specific competition load.

The interval method is not suitable for children and it can be applied to the youth training only with great care.

Children are not ready for anaerobic load of longer duration and the youth are only developing this ability. The incorporation of intervals into youth training can lead to very steep rise in performance development in relatively short time, which is followed by stagnation or decrease in performance, or can lead to the ovetraining.

During natural interval , load lasts for 90 seconds and rest for seconds or until HR is as low as — b. Extensive interval method recommends the load of submaximal load for minutes followed by minute rest.

The impact of this type of interval training concerns mainly respiratory system and ANT level. This type of training involves repetitions of several legs.

The intensity of a repeated leg is most often at the competition pace lavel but it can also be submaximal speed or also slightly faster for a given distance. This training is not directly connected to development of VO 2max , it is related to improving or maintaining race pace which is different for milers and kilometer runners.

These legs are usually longer than 5 minutes. Resting period fasts from 5 to 15 or 20 minutes. This method has originated in Swedish training system and it means the play with speed. Changes of load intensity and length of legs are included in training according to personal feelings of every athlete , natural conditions, profile of terrain etc.

The content of fartlek is not usually given in advance. During training, the intensity or the length of legs changes irregularly. Minimum duration of fartlek training is 30 minutes. Another kind of fartlek has originated in Polish training school. Coach determines what training means, intensity and legs are to be included in training units.

Endurance training is a process which can be divided into several parts. Each part covers certain specifics of endurance development. Performance of endurance athletes is based mainly on fitness factors and during training process, general fitness and general endurance are being developed first, followed by specific endurance.

It is started with general ability to resist fatique during physical activity but without any significant influence on sports performance. It is very useful for leisure sport activities, for non-elite athletes to maintain basic fitness or functional and energy systems.

General endurance and general fitness on a good level is the basis for athletes to achieve better recovery, increase volume and intensity of training process or higher frequency of traning stimuli etc.

This type of general fitness and general endurance can be improved with various cyclic movements such as walking, running, cycling, canoing, sculling or working out on specific fitness machines. It is an ability to resist fatique during specific sports movement for a longer time period; both with low intensity of load and during competitions with hight intensity of load.

Training specific endurance is closely connected to maximum personal performance in a specific sport and training system must contain large-scale proportion of specific training means, methods and intensities.

Within the training process of endurance development, periods or stages are usually planned during which the foundations for further improvements are established. The stages must focus on specific needs of each sport. With long-term endurance development years , we have to apply step by step improving physical and physiological preconditions in time intervals of different duration stages during annual training process.

The length of every stage depends on the specifics of each sport. General principles of endurance development in all sports are: successiveness, adequacy, suitable volume and intensity, and gradual impelementation of specific training procedures and methods.

There are several models suitable for developing aerobic performance. During simple competition model monocycle , the athletes develop endurance in three stages — general endurance, introductin to specific endurance and specific endurance.

Once these simple aspects are incorporated, it is important to develop a baseline of strength and establish proper form. To do this, perform the exercises that will make up your strength program with a focus on technique and a lighter weight.

If you are having issues with a particular exercise, go slower, and improve your control over the weight. When you feel like you can control the weight well, begin to add resistance. The following text and videos will show you how to perform seven exercises that you can use for your strength routine.

Start with the barbell on the floor. Keep your chest up, hips back, and pull the bar until you have locked your hips and knees. Make sure your lower back remains neutral. Jump on a box and land as gently as possible.

Step down and repeat. Grip the bar shoulder width, pinch your shoulder blades together and keep your chest up. Lower the bar toward the top of your feet by bending at the hips while keeping the bar as close to your body as possible.

Rest a barbell on your upper back. Squat down until your hips are below your knees. Focus on going as deep as possible to work the posterior chain. Push back on your heels as you perform each rep. Lie on a bench with your feet flat on the floor.

Lower the bar to your mid-chest. Press it back up until your arms are fully extended. With hands shoulder width apart, begin by hanging from a bar with arms fully extended. Pull yourself up toward the bar with your chin clearing the bar.

Lower yourself slowly and repeat. Grasp the barbell from the rack. Start with the barbell chest high. Dip your body while bending your knees. One of the most common myths within the endurance world is that athletes should avoid lifting heavy weights.

Despite significant scientific evidence to support heavy lifting, endurance athletes continue to worry about gaining too much muscle and the perceived negative performance consequences that come with it. The reality is that, when performed appropriately, heavy strength training can increase strength without size.

In addition, heavy and explosive strength training is associated with increased running and cycling economy , and provides the basis for an improved capacity for surges and sprints throughout a race. Like any other form of training, heavy strength training needs to be progressed slowly and methodically.

It would be ill-advised to start lifting heavy weights at the onset of a new program. However, athletes that have been completing three sets of twenty repetitions with the same weight year-after-year should consider progressing towards heavier loads and lower repetitions.

How heavy is heavy enough? How many sets and reps should I do? How strong is strong enough? As a general guideline, athletes should begin a program by lifting multiple sets of around repetitions in the off-season, progressing the weights to sets of only reps over weeks or months as the competitive season approaches.

The goal is to not be as strong as an elite powerlifter, but to be as strong as possible without interfering with key sport-specific metrics.

Even more than heavy lifting, power training—which includes jumping, plyometrics, and explosive weight lifting—is likely the least understood but most essential training component of a strength training program for endurance athletes.

Like heavy lifting, training to be more explosive seems counterintuitive to success within the context of endurance competition. However, especially for runners, power training increases tendon stiffness, which allows for greater storage and release of elastic energy.

This means that for every step, the best runners have more efficient tendons, and can therefore use less muscular effort on the run. Despite age-related declines in aerobic output, the athlete can still improve performance by increasing efficiency of the muscles, tendons, and connective tissues in the body with the implementation of smart training methods.

Another interesting feature of increasing strength and power is that a stronger athlete has the potential to apply the same or greater amounts of force in less time than an athlete who is less strong. This increase in force produced in less time can theoretically prevent muscles from occluding accumulation of blood via blockage of blood vessels and will allow for more time during the movement cycle for the muscles to recover, and therefore delay markers of fatigue.

Lastly, it is important to note that strength and power begin to decline around the age of This is why world-class sprinters rarely set new records in their mids. This is not only devastating to performance for older athletes, who are still eager to participate in athletic competition, but it also underscores the important role of strength and balance maintenance for non-athletes, as the risk of falling increases and quality of life measures decline.

Moreover, power the ability to create force quickly declines faster than strength. This is an important point for aging athletes, who likely notice that their bike and swim are holding strong, but their run has declined significantly.

Running requires not only strength, but also power, and significant declines can impact overall speed. The good news is that these age and lifestyle-related declines can be slowed or reversed with the right strength training program.

Essentially, repeating the same exercises, with the same weight, and the same number of sets and reps each week will yield increasingly fewer benefits. For the body to adapt and get stronger, it needs an ever-increasing stimulus.

In general, weeks is the period of time one should spend on any given strength plan before progress begins to stall. Those that are new to strength training can typically get away with the same program for longer. However, most athletes that I train with a training age of around six months in the gym usually do not spend longer than a month on the same program.

Furthermore, endurance athlete strength programs must be periodized to align with sport-specific training. Off-season strength plans should typically coincide with the base building phase of endurance training. Early pre-season training should be aligned with building maximal strength in the gym.