The repetitive nature and pattern overload affiliated with endurance sports places a lot of stress on the body—particularly the joints and passive restraints (ligaments, tendons, bursa).
Including just a minuscule amount of strength training—2 to 3 times per week for 30 to 45 minutes—and effectively omitting more of the middle distance "junk" mileage will help strengthen the active restraints (muscle) and bone (Wolff's Law and Davis's Law, respectively). This will then take much of the burden off the aforementioned passive restraints.
You'll build a stronger, more resilient body, which bodes well for improved performance.
Where to Start
Here are some things to consider:
- Many endurance athletes will see huge benefits with just two days of dedicated strength training per week
- From a time management and efficiency perspective, utilizing a total or full-body approach would be most advantageous
Try to incorporate pairings (or supersets) like so:
In the End
Strength training is a good thing.
There's a massive misconception it will lead to too much bulk and slow endurance athletes down, but the opposite is actually true when done correctly.
Endurance athletes are athletes, meaning they gain just as much benefit from getting stronger as everyone else. For this reason, it's time for a paradigm shift and to put the old saying, "Well, that's how we've always done it" to rest.
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