I may be away, but it doesn’t mean I’m slacking.

Have a Strong Day

TB

Ironic enough, weeks before the Tour De France started, I read an article on Lance Armstrong where it stated that he had deleted all strength training from his training regime this year in order to lose weight.  He did this because he tends to gain muscle (weight) easily when he strength trains.

After reading this I told my wife what I had just read, and that I believed this would become a problem for him when it came time for him to perform in the Tour.

Now, I know he was doing fine until the tire flats on the cobblestones and then the 3 crashes in one stage, but had all this not happened, I still believe he’d be performing at what we all know to be sub-Lance abilities at this point in the Tour.

My reasoning for this stems from the importance of strength training, and its direct relationship with an athlete’s performance.

1) As we age, our strength and power will decrease at a faster rate than that of a younger athlete, therefore; it is even more crucial to implement strength training in an athlete’s training as he or she is aging if it had not been used prior to this point in their training.

2) Hypertrophy training will increase muscle growth, which in turn equals size and weight gain.  If you watch any of Lances’ videos on YouTube where he is training, you will see that it is this type of training that he was utilizing during last year’s comeback.  Even though he may have gained some muscle and size, he actually did very well with the extra weight because of his increase in strength.  Yes, heavier, but strong.

3) Maximal strength and power training allows the athlete to get stronger and become more powerful with little to no size or weight gain. It is for this reason alone that Lance should have never stopped his strength training regime leading up to this year’s Tour, but perhaps should have changed the method in which he was training.

As I said in one of my previous blogs, you can have all the watt and power meters you want on your bike, but if you don’t have the strength to hold or create the watts or power you want, it’s useless and your performance will suffer.

Strength Training- We all need it!

TB

Most endurance athletes experience cramping at some point during their racing career.

The first thing everyone does is increase their intake of sodium, potassium, and electrolytes.

The truth is, that most of us eat out enough, and eat enough sports drinks and have enough gu’s and gels that we actually have plenty of the sodium, potassium and electrolytes in our system.

I actually had this problem too when I first started racing and training.  For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out why I was constantly cramping.  So after meeting with the doctors and getting the same old answers, I started doing a lot research on my own to try and solve the problem.  This is when I came across some readings stating that an increase in calcium and magnesium has been proven to help endurance athletes with cramping issues.

The reason for this is, calcium plays a vital role in muscle contraction to include heartbeat regulation.

A deficiency in calcium can cause nerve sensitivity, muscle twitching, abnormal heartbeat, muscle pains and cramps, numbness, stiffness along with tingling of the hands and feet, and depression.

The daily recommended intake for men and women is 1000 mg.

Magnesium on the other hand, interacts with calcium in many body processes.

However, a deficiency in magnesium affects all body tissues and include but are not limited to: irritability, weakness, tiredness, muscle cramps, tremors, and involuntary eye movements.

The difference between calcium and magnesium is: Calcium actually stimulates muscles and contracts blood vessels, while magnesium relaxes muscles and dilates blood vessels.

This means that magnesium contributes to calcium absorption, therefore it is best to take both at the same time.

The daily recommended intake for men is 400 mg & 310 for women

I also know that there are supplements out there that have both of these in one pill, but through my experience, I had the most relief by taking them individually as separate pills.

Yes, you can get both of these supplements through good nutrition plan, but I will tell you, that if you are training hard and are still cramping, you may need additional supplementation in your nutrition plan.

Remember, everyone is different and therefore, everyone has different needs. Listen to your body.

Train Smart and Hard!

TB

Training with a Heart Rate monitor can be very beneficial to both the athlete and the coach.

Over the last 15 years of training athletes and during my 6 years as a professional triathlete, I have used one not only for the feedback of the training, but to let us know what the state of the body is when you strap one on.

For example, If the athlete’s monitor normally reads 50 beats per minute when they initially put it on and one day (not talking about race day here), it reads 60+, then we need to take note and look at why it is elevated above normal readings.

Could it be, because the athlete is a little dehydrated from the previous training session(s), or maybe he or she is coming down with a virus?

What if the athlete can’t reach it’s normal training zones during training?  This is the first sign of over-training for an athlete and as we all know, it’s better to be 10% under-trained, than 1% over-trained.

During longer races, it also helps control an athlete, and keeps them from going out too hard in the beginning of the 70.3 or at the Ironman distance.

With all this said, I certainly believe that there are times when the athlete will need to go out and push with out a monitor so that one stays attuned to what it all feels like when there isn’t any data feedback.  This is important in case the monitor breaks, or if an athlete (on race day) wakes up and the readings are higher than normal when he or she straps the monitor on.

The biggest mistakes I see athletes make, is that they use Heart Rate monitors without ever doing actual field tests or lab tests to establish their correct training zones.

*** Note: The 220 (-) your age is not anywhere near correct so avoid using this method as well.

Obviously, these are just a few of the benefits to using a Heart Rate monitor during training and there are definitely more, but I think you get the jist!

Train smart, and HARD!

TB

Triathletes often talk about power (Power = Work/Time), and how they are using power meters to get more power out of each pedal stroke.

The problem with this is that you can watch the numbers on the power meter all day long, but if you don’t have the strength in your legs to hold the specified or goal wattage, then you will not be able to sustain this wattage for any length of time.

In order to gain the increase in power, you must lift weights to increase you maximal strength.  Maximal strength is the highest level of force an athlete can possibly generate.  This will significantly increase your overall power output, running economy and efficiency.

One of the biggest myth’s in endurance sports is “If I lift weights, I’ll get big.”   The truth is, if you are lifting the wrong way (hypertrophy training) then yes, you will gain size which for the endurance athlete is not a good thing.  Because, the more muscle you have on your frame the harder the heart must work in order to get oxygenated blood to those working muscles.

Therefore, it is important for the endurance athlete to only carry the needed amount of muscle on their frame.  For example, if a cyclist has a muscular upper body as well as legs, then they will not only have to carry the extra weight over the hills, but their heart will have to work twice as hard as the cyclist that only has powerful leg muscles and a small upper body in order to get enough oxygenated blood to those working muscles.

So, if you want to become a better, more efficient and powerful endurance athlete, you may want to start implementing maximal strength work into your workouts as soon as possible.

Train Smart~

TB

One of the first things we do at Strength and Endurance Performance Institute (SEPI), is to inform our new clients on the simple changes that they can make to their nutrition and hydration plans, that will help them see results much quicker than before.  With that said, we do not promote any multi-level marketing products and only spread the wisdom of proven research such as the article below.

A study published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport (Tarpenning, K.M., et al. (2001) Influence of weigh training exercise and modification of hormonal response on skeletal muscle growth 4:431-436) looked at both the short and longer term results of drinking a carbohydrate drink before and during weight training sessions.

The first part of the study involved seven men, average age 21.

They fasted four hours before beginning a weight training session that involved a nine-station weight training routine.

It involved performing three sets of 10 reps per exercise, using 75% of each subject’s one rep max.

Before the workout the subjects drank a zero calorie placebo drink. Before the next workout session they drank a formula containing 6 percent carbs.

Cortisol levels rose only 7 percent when the group ingested the carb containing formula. It rose 99 percent when the group took the zero calorie placebo drink.

During the long term part of the study, two groups of men drank either the zero calorie placebo or the 6 percent carb solution.

The same results occurred during the long term study. Those using the carbohydrate solution had significantly lower cortisol levels.

Lowering the release of cortisol during training will help to preserve and build muscle mass, leading to quicker progress, as well as fat loss.

There you have it.  It’s that simple….

There are lots of fancy drinks on the market with this capability, however for convenience, we have our athletes use Powerade or Gatorade and our clients that are trying to lose weight, use G2 (Gatorade light) and Powerade Zero to decrease their caloric intake.  Both drinks, have the 6-7% carbohydrate ratio that is needed in order to be effective, so don’t sweat it and drink which ever you prefer to meet your goals.

Till next time, train smart as well as hard!

TB

Today I was interviewed by Motivational Speaker and Communication Coach (and friend) Aileen Bennett about Self-motivation and Mindset.

To hear my views watch the video here .

Shod (with shoes) and Un-shod (without shoes) is how barefoot runners like to refer to running with and without shoes. My goal in this article is not to steer you in either direction, but to give you my points of view and the findings I’ve come across in my years as a coach and recent research, that will allow you to make a prudent decision as to whether or not running shod or unshod is best for you.

As both a performance coach and a running shoe specialty store owner (that supplies shoes to both types of runners), I have seen a lot of changes in the running industry over the years, one of the biggest and popular amongst the younger athletes, is barefoot running. Now, when I say barefoot, I don’t truly mean without a shoe altogether. Most of the runners who are adopting this style of running are using a Vibram five fingers shoe or some other minimalist shoe such as the Nike Free to run in. (both are pictured)

What most people don’t know is, barefoot training has been around for years. In fact, a lot of coaches (including myself) in the sports performance world, have our athletes lifting and conducting some of their additional technical training barefoot. This is to ensure that the athlete not only has a better feel for the ground, but to strengthen the 19-20 intrinsic muscles and 38-40 intrinsic muscle tendons in the foot which in turn will help decrease injuries among our athletes.

I have always believed that the reason America has a foot doctor on almost every corner (outside of high heels), is because our feet (all the intrinsic muscles and tendons I mentioned above) are weak. This in my view, is a result of not allowing the foot to work like it is supposed to.

Think about it this way: when someone has a cast on their leg and they finally take it off, there is obvious atrophy (loss of muscle & size) compared to the opposite leg. The reason for this is because it isn’t being used while in the cast. If you have your foot in a shoe all day everyday, whether it’s a house slipper, running shoe or your work shoes, you are never allowing those muscles and tendons to work properly or strengthen themselves. So, if you want to strengthen your feet, you will at some point have to train unshod.

Now keeping those positives in mind, there are also the negatives that go hand in hand with running barefoot. According to a recent article there has been an increase in lower extremity injuries due to running barefoot.

Personally, I think both shod and unshod have their place in training. The real issue is not shod vs. unshod, but proper running form and technique. I will cover this in my next article so until then, train smart, not dumb!

TB

Sorry for the delay, but I’ve been on vacation with my family and to be quite honest my kids are priority since I got out of the Marine Corps.  I’ve spent enough time away from my family over the years and the one thing I promised myself when I got out, was that I’d never put anything else in front of them ever again.

Anyway, hopefully some of you saw the mens 1500 m outdoor NCAA Track & Field championships yesterday.  Andrew Wheating showed the world how staying in back and preserving energy allows you to kick some serious butt at the end of the race and run a 3:47:93. 

I couldn’t find a good video on it yet, but did get to see it on T.V. and his form was incredible and exactly what I will be talking about in my next blog on running form & technique.

I’m going to present some of the information in writing and also in video, so you will get a better understanding as to what i’m talking about.

Till then, train smart!

TB