Triathlete buddy needs a 4wk lifting blast, help!

[eliseexige]

A good friend of mine is a triathlete, and wants to gain some strength on the bike. I wanted to help him with a solid lifting routine for the next four weeks. His diet is dialed in perfectly, and he's been training/competing for the last several years.

His main goal was to gain strength on the bike - said he's lost a bit of that over the last two months due to sickness.

I figure at least start with some compound lifts - bench/deads/squats hitting those 2-3x a week with moderate intensity - but I'm not terribly well-versed in how to train for a triathlon.

any ideas?

[Tweak]

I did a triathlon in 2008 but the running and biking were always my weakest points.

He should strengthen his hip flexors and quads as much as he can since those are the primary muscle groups used for biking (glutes and hams are almost secondary muscle groups for it). I think the lifting you're having him do is good. If he's only been out of the game 2 months, he will get the strength back pretty quickly. If he gets bored, box jumps aren't a bad idea to mix in there too.

[eliseexige]

I agree. I was thinking front squats exclusively instead of backs and fronts. Anything that's super ideal for hip flexors? and thanks for the reply. :)

[Tweak]

I think what you're having him do will be enough on their own-- I'm sure he is still biking and/or taking spin classes. Block training might help him too but if he's an experienced triathlete, he probably is already doing that. I think the hip flexors/IT bands are gonna get worked like crazy, especially if you can have him do 3-4 sets of squats and then break it up with 20 minutes of cardio, have him go DL after that, then do 20 more minutes of cardio. Circuits like that improved my stamina and strength drastically. :)

[eliseexige]

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing, the lift/cardio split. I think doing that every other day wouldn't be too much of a strain on him as long as we kept the weight moderate, do you? Or maybe 2x a week? Probably need to go 2x a week as to incorporate an upper body lift day too...

[Tweak]

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing, the lift/cardio split. I think doing that every other day wouldn't be too much of a strain on him as long as we kept the weight moderate, do you? Or maybe 2x a week? Probably need to go 2x a week as to incorporate an upper body lift day too...

No, I don't think so. He should be going more for light to medium weight for high reps-- endurance athletes don't need to push extremely heavy weights. He'll be fine. T-Cake was my coach for my triathlon and the circuit training she was having me do like that was extremely helpful!

[eliseexige]

What did you do? 5x12, 5x20? 3x15? I'd suppose 5x12 probably?

[eliseexige]

er, LOL, sorry - say 3 or 4 sets of 10 then? I'll let you correct me, lol.

[eliseexige]

Here's what I think so far -

Day 1 - 20mins cardio warm up -flat/incline bench, 3x12, moderate weight - 20mins cardio - 3x12 Front Squats, moderate weight - 20mins cardio

Day 3 - 20mins cardio warm up -dead lifts, 3x12, moderate weight - 20mins cardio - 3x12 Front Squats, moderate weight - 20mins cardio

Day 5 - 20mins cardio warm up -flat/incline bench, 3x12, moderate weight - 20mins cardio - 3x12 Front Squats, moderate weight - 20mins cardio

Day 7 - Repeat Day 3, then restart the cycle again.

It seems like a lot of leg work, but I don't know. He also needs some accessory lifts thrown in too, I would guess?

[silver_shadow]

look up joe defranco's westside for skinny bastards. i think that would be perfect.