Cross training for triathlon training

Training for a triathlon means that you’re cross training, but sometimes, active rest for recovery reasons requires your training programme to include forms of exercise beyond swim/bike/run.

Running is particularly hard on the joints and legs, and runners often experience foot pain severe enough to keep them off the bike as well. When this happens, not training is simply not an option. Additionally, athletes training for a triathlon may find that they hit a plateau – they are not getting faster or stronger – and in this instance too, cross training beyond swim/bike/run can help.

“There’s a reduced risk of injury when training for a triathlon,” says Ceejae Miller, a biokineticist in Cape Town. This is because running, swimming, and cycling use different muscles so you can train twice a day, almost every day without developing overuse injuries. Of course, the chance of injury if you do overdo it is still there. To strengthen each discipline without increasing the number of training sessions a week and risking injury, cross training is the answer.

Simple weight bearing exercises can go a long way to strengthening the muscles and joints around the most often used muscles. Taking one to three sessions a week to do squats, lunges, push ups, crunches, and working with weight machines can have dramatic benefit for helping to prevent injuries. Additionally, taking these days can help prevent fatigue.

If you have an injury, using cross training to maintain fitness is essential, especially when you’re still training for a triathlon event. Although it’s possible to swim when recovering from a running injury, for instance, overtraining swimming can also result in injury like shoulder pain. Using the sessions in which you’d ordinarily train the discipline in which you were injured to cross train can prevent further injury and even help recovery. If you’re recovering from an injury doing exercises that strengthen your core can improve your running, swimming, and cycling. If you have an upper body injury strengthen you lower body; if you have a lower body injury, strengthen your upper body.

Just be sure to consult with a physiotherapist or biokineticist before embarking on a new exercise routine while injured.

Regardless of what strengthening and cross training workout sessions you add to your weekly routine, you’ll be strengthen one or more of your core disciplines. For instance, any weight bearing exercise that builds the muscles in your chest and shoulders will help increase the power in your swimming stroke. Exercises that promote core strength assist in all sporting codes.

When building strength, try substituting 25% of your weekly workouts with cross training workouts.

• Pilates and yoga are great for strengthening core.
• Try using the stairmaster for improving running performance.
• The elliptical trainer can be used backwards and forwards to help strengthening balancing muscles.
• Use various weight machines to strengthen supporting muscles.

Remember that just like with your regular training, build up slowly whenever you’re starting a new kind of exercise.

Take the plunge; enter the Discovery World Triathlon Cape Town here. 

To find out more about Discovery, click here.