Strength Training

6-1/2 Questions with Tony Gentilcore: Strength Training for Endurance Athletes

For what I am about to do, some of you more anal retentive types will think I am committing heresy: I have invited a non-endurance athlete to provide us with some advice. Gasp!

Even worse, you may think…he’s going to talk about strength training. Yes, we’re going to talk about barbells and other evil things that most self-respecting endurance athletes would dare not touch. After all, who needs muscle when you have endurance?

Tony Gentilcore is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Located in the greater Boston area, he has established himself as one of the premier trainers in Beantown through his no-nonsense approach to training. Tony is a regular contributor on Testosterone Magazine, and other publications and specializes in fat loss, strength training, program design, corrective training, as well as several other fitness/nutrition related fields. Additionally, Tony is one of the co-hosts of The Fitcast, one of the top weekly fitness/nutrition podcasts featuring some of the top names in the industry. You can learn more about Tony at www.gentilcoretraining.com
1) Question: Why are endurance athletes terrified of the gym?

Gentilcore: A few reasons really:

1. I think some of it boils down to mentality and preconceived notions. Endurance athletes and basketball players (just to use another example) tend to have the same mentality when it comes to their respective sports. Basketball players think that the only way to get better is to spend more time on the court. Likewise, endurance athletes also seem to feel that the only way they can get better and improve their times is to run, run, and run some more (I’ll refrain from the obvious Forrest Gump reference here).Obviously, specificity IS important, but by neglecting the weight room, many endurance athletes are really missing the boat and hampering their overall progress. As my good friend Eric Cressey has noted on several occasions, research as shown that resistance training (twice per week) has been shown to improve running economy by 8-10 percent (which equates to 20-24 minute improvement in a 4 hour marathon) while increasing max strength and maintaining peak power output (a strong marathoner will totally dominate a weak marathoner in that last mile sprint). And all of that is just the tip of the iceberg.
2. Many endurance athletes hear the word “strength training” and automatically envision musclebound bodybuilders who have poor mobility and can’t run more than ten feet without getting winded. They fear that this is what they will end up looking like. What’s often forgotten is that getting strong and producing a lot of force is more neural than anything. You can get strong without having big muscles (most of those ginormous bodybuilders are weaker than a baby’s fart anyways). Increasing one’s strength is about making the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) more efficient at communicating with your muscle fibers and motor units and telling them to fire. The more motor units you’re able to “use,” the more force you will be able to develop per foot strike, which will result in getting to the finish line more quickly. In reality, there really is nothing to fear other than poor programming choices and archaic training protocols that many personal trainers and/or strength coaches will have their endurance athletes perform.

2) Question: For those triathletes who break the mold and step foot into a gym, it seems like they never leave the endurance training mindset behind: high reps and low resistance. Should they continue to train for endurance in the gym?

Gentilcore: No. We can’t forget the laws of basic exercise physiology. We know that in order to increase force production (which all athletes should strive for), we need to recruit more motor units. High reps with low weight not only targets SLOW TWITCH muscle fibers (essentially training to be weak and slow), but also does very little as far as recruiting maximum motor units.

On the other hand, training with low(er) reps (3-6) with high weight will target FAST TWITCH muscle fibers as well as high threshold motor units. Correct me if I am wrong, but the whole point of a triathlon is to see who can finish the race the fastest, not who can go the longest, right? Endurance athletes get plenty of “endurance training” when their participating in their respective sport. There is absolutely no need to train for endurance while in the weight room. Just like there is absolutely no need for Ben Affleck to star in another movie. It makes no sense.

3) Question: Triathletes typically train in three cycles: Base where they focus on building their aerobic capacity through long, slow efforts; Build where speed work comes into play; and Taper where the volumes and intensities will decrease anywhere from one to three weeks before a race. Should they vary their strength training strategy for each cycle?

Gentilcore: Lets keep this one simple. Endurance athletes (specifically triathletes) need to learn how to structure their Central Nervous System (CNS) intensive training so that they don’t burn out or “mask their true fitness.” Some triathletes have upwards of 15+ training sessions per week when you factor in all the swimming, running, and biking they do. So it only makes sense to structure their resistance training in a way that doesn’t interfere with their specific training needs to their sport.

While there is no way for me to definitively say “x individual” should train “x way,” (we have to take into account postural issues, training history, possible corrective training strategies, weaknesses, etc) I can say that it’s never going to hurt to get a little stronger. I think that as long as (s)he gets to the gym twice per week on a weekly basis when preparing for a contest, then good things will happen. Obviously training intensities will be tweaked as one gets closer to his/her contest, but generally speaking it’s just a matter of learning to adjust training stress throughout the whole process. And that is highly individual.

4) Question: With triathletes putting a disproportionate amount of stress on their legs, should they focus only on upper body movements when they’re in the gym?

Gentilcore: Absolutely not. While leg training does need to be used cautiously (again, learning to adjust training stress), it’s crutial from a force production standpoint. Most people (endurance athletes especially) tend to be very quad dominant (they want to use their quads for everything). Most would bode well with a little more posterior chain work (various deadlifts, single leg work, glute/ham raise, pull-throughs, etc). “You need to train ass to haul ass,” is a great term I have heard mentioned several times from various strength and conditioning coaches. As alluded to above, leg training does need to be used judiciously, but it’s absolutely vital for any endurance/tri-athlete to get better.

In terms of upper body work, I have three words for you: more rowing variations! Ie: seated rows, chest supported rows, DB rows, etc. Additionally more scapular stabilization movements such as prone trap raises, behind the neck pull-aparts, scapular push-ups would also bode well for many triathletes.

5) Question: Let’s take a closer look at developing force. The bane of just about every novice triathlete’s existence is the hill. Whether it’s on the bike or the run, hills have a way of knocking the piss out of many of us. Those who can conquer the hills win the races. Is there anything we can do in the gym to help us get up and over these damn hills?

Gentilcore: Suck it up and do it….kidding. Well this may be where specificity in training trumps the weight room. It makes sense that in order to conquer those hills, one would need to include some direct “hill training” into their repertoire. I remember growing up in my hometown, I would do sprints up this massive hill near my grandmother’s house. Talk about an ass kicker. But the only way to get better at hill training is to actually train with hills. Thank you Captain Obvious!

That being said (and at the risk of sounding like a broken record), being able to generate more force into the ground or into the pedal will undoubtedly help one to conquer those pesky hills more efficiently. There is no magic bullet here, no gimmicks and no easy way out. Squats, deadlifts, and lots of single leg work are what the recipe calls for. Certainly I would make it a point to structure one’s programming to hammer these movements in the “off season. Once an athlete reaches “in season” s(he) can then just focus on just maintaining what strength he/she gained. Going “heavy” once per month would all that would be required.

6) Question: How often should triathletes change up their strength training routine? Is it by calendar (e.g., every four weeks) or by feel (e.g., hitting a plateau in strength gains)?

Gentilcore: Great question. It depends on several factors; the main one being “training age.” Beginners or “newbies” don’t need to change their routine nearly as much as someone who is more advanced. Someone who is just starting out needs to learn how to become more neuroally efficient and learn the movements in general. The last thing I am going to do is switch up their exercises on a weekly basis.

Someone who is more advanced needs to switch up their movements every 1-2 weeks. If they’re doing bench press one week, I may have them do floor presses the next. Many trainees make the mistake of doing the same thing over and over and over again and then they wonder why they never make any progress or get stronger.

Additionally, I know Alwyn Cosgrove has mentioned on multiple occasions that trainees will adapt to sets/reps before an actual movement. People trust me when I say this: three sets of ten IS NOT the holy grail. Why not 5×5 or 4×6?

On a side note, I generally fluctuate training stress on a week to week basis.

Week #1: high
Week #2: medium
Week #3: very high
Week #4: low (deload)

That alone will help to prevent any “plateau” that many people tend to hit and keep them fresh.

6-1/2) Question: What would be your parting words to a triathlete who still doesn’t believe in incorporating strength training into their programs?

Gentilcore: I would say don’t bitch and whine when you get beat in that last mile sprint when someone who has been strength training beats you. I’ve seen it time and time again; when someone reduces their endurance training by 1/3 and replaces that 1/3 with resistance training….they improve their times. Case in point, here’s a brief testimonial from a past client of mine (who never consistently lifted weights before he met me)

“I have been a life long runner and as such never thought much about strength training until I met Tony Gentilcore. I had focused on aerobic training for the last 20 years, rarely setting foot in a gym other then to use a treadmill.

The strength training did improve my overall health and my running. After injuring my foot, I ran infrequently and had lost significant time on my long distance runs. I strength trained with Tony and continued to do so once I could run again. I just completed a half marathon and I realized almost a minute per mile decrease for my average mile pace. I believe that strength training had a big impact on this increase.”

The proof is in the pudding.

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