Weights

I think one of the most neglected areas by endurance athletes is strength and flexibility training. I am always trying to get more information to help all the athletes I coach. Recently I have decided to join forces with Bigger Faster Stronger (BFS). They offer athletic strength and conditioning programs to several thousand schools and teams across the country. They have developed an amazing program, which you could do in about 30 min and get absolute results. They have a very creative and positive way to track performance that we OCD athletes like, and the lifts are very specific to endurance sports.

With the team of young athletes I coach I am having all of them get on this program. With younger athletes I feel that they are pushed hard and their bodies have a hard time keeping pace with the demands put on them. These strength and flexibility programs will absolutely help to combat these issues.

For adults, I know if they are like me, when I go into the weight room, I essentially just “go through the motions”. Never getting strong, never making changes. I used to work on the strength more in the off-season, and then really let them go through out the season. I am definitely not as strong as I am in the beginning of my season as I am at the end. The question was raised; “If my top priority race is late in the season, why wouldn’t I want to be at least AS strong as I am in the beginning for the season?” It was a great question.
This should be pretty exciting and I expect things to work very well. We are even setting up Training Centers for athletes where they can be coached in these methods. In these centers we will be assembling groups that athletes can come train with a group of people in the weight room and therefore pay about 25% of a personal training lesson, and do so in a motivating group environment.