Thursday, February 02, 2012

Strength Training


I have felt that strength training is becoming a limiter of mine in terms of fitness and sports performance.  For most of my life, I have strength trained with free weights and machines primarily for aesthetics and general fitness.  Any significant improvement was the result of being in the weight room at least 4 days/week for an hour.  This combined with having core training partners made all the difference for me.

As I have gotten involved in triathlon, my daily workouts are typically running or swimming.  In fact during 2011, I only managed 32 hours of strength training (35-40 minutes/week).  This is obviously not enough to stimulate muscle hypertrophy.

2012 has started off a little better.  I managed 1-3 strength training sessions/week and the typical duration was 30-40 minutes.  Ideally I would manage 3 sessions per week.  However to see benefits, most recommendations call for hitting a muscle group every 3 days.  My best bet to do this is either early AM or late PM sessions.

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