Functional Fitness for Triathletes
Triathletes use just about every muscle head to toe, but certain muscles and movements can super-charge performance and prevent injury. Functional training for triathletes focuses on spot strengthening these critical muscles. Successful Ironman athletes like Mark Allen and even Team USA attribute improvement to mixing in weight lifting with their cycling, running and swimming workouts. The trick? Make sure your weight lifting is done in service of your tri goals. The way to do that is to focus on functional training. Strength training should be done one 1-2 non-consecutive days with at least 1 day of rest in between for the muscles to recover. Aim for 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps per exercise. The weight should be heavy enough that for the final few reps you struggle to maintain proper form. If you can't hit 8 reps with proper form then go down in weight. Also, it should be noted that unlike distance swimming, running or biking, strength-training is not an endurance activi