Strength Training For Endurance Sports

"Strength Training isn’t just about gaining muscle.  It’s about improving movement efficiency, building strength endurance, power, and creating more durable athletes."

Chris Cooper- Vantage Movement Founder and CEO

It’s spring time.  The weather is changing and so is the season.  The recreational season that is.  Yes the mountains are still getting snow and the lift lines are still running, but down here, we’ve already started to shift the mindset to our spring and summer sports.  For a lot of us that means it’s time to tune up the bike or dust off the running shoes. 

When I lived in Kentucky, the gym culture was very strong.  I know that might come as a shock to hear, but when I lived there, if you exercised, it wasn’t for a sport or recreational activity, it was to build muscle and look good naked.  As CrossFit emerged, people got competitive in the sport of fitness and the south and midwest were perfect places to spend hours in the gym.  But out here, people don’t want to spend hours in the gym, they don’t workout just to workout, they want to train so they can perform better outside and look good naked.  Looking Good, Moving Well, those are great ancillary benefits of working out, but not always the outcome people are looking for. 

If you’re living in Colorado, chances are you love the outdoors. Whether you're a native or a transplant, you’re still here because the outdoor lifestyle appeals to you. A big part of that lifestyle can be endurance sports, running and cycling leading the pack and for a long time, the endurance community was at odds with the strength community.  Runners and Cyclists needed to be light and have great cardiorespiratory endurance.  Strength training would only interfere with their sports.  Now we know better.

Endurance athletes just like the rest of us need strength (weight) training. Why? Strength Training isn’t just about gaining muscle.  It’s about improving movement efficiency, building strength endurance, power, and creating more durable athletes.  All of which are important if you want to stay healthy and enjoy a long endurance career. 

Strength Training for Endurance sports is training with an intention of improving your relative strength.  That is the amount of strength someone has relative to their size.  You want to be as strong and powerful as you can be without gaining too much weight.  Strength Training also focuses on preparing your body for the abuses of endurance training.  Running or Riding miles and miles can wear the body down and if you’re not physically prepared it can lead to season ending injuries. 

By shifting some of your attention to strength training, you can build your lower body, protecting your feet, knees and hips.  You can make your core more resilient and limit the amount of wasted energy and back issues.  You will also strengthen your upper body and watch the way it has a sneaky positive impact on your performance.  

Is it the only thing you do, no, of course not.  You need to continue with your sport specific training to continue to improve and prepare for your events, but this is something you can add into your weekly training to supplement what you are already doing. 

We know that when you are training for an event, a race, anything besides just staying in shape, you’ve got to prioritize your time and it’s a juggling act.  We’ve been programming and working with endurance athletes since we opened the doors in 2012.  Before that if you count the time working in a commercial gym.  So we understand the juggling act and the importance of when and how to strength train.  If you’re preparing for a race, or coming back from a pre-race injury we’ve got your back.  Sometimes group training can solve your problem, other times you might want to take advantage of one of our personal trainers and their personalized programming.  Both have their time and place in helping endurance athletes improve and prepare their bodies for the rigor of an endurance event. 

If you have any questions about how we can help you before or during your season.  Email us at [email protected]