On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 16:16:23 GMT, Tom Rodgers <
[email protected]> wrote:
>MJuric wrote:
>> In Joel Friels "Triathlete Training Bible" he has several factors for figuring out Goal
>> weights for lifting. These are based on a factor of body Weight. I.E. Squats shoudl be
>> .7-.9BW. Unfortunately, IMO, he does not list these factors for much else other than Legs
>> I.E. Squats, Sled, step up etc. He does list bent arm pull down but nothing else for Calves,
>> triceps, shoulders etc. Also he does not go into detail on how these numbers were arrived at
>> or how they effect ones performance. Does anyone have any links, books, articles etc that
>> may more indepth deal with the subject and these factors?
>>
>> ~Matt
>Dear Matt:
>
>I am a Joe Friel's Ultrafit coaching associate so am familiar with his strength training plans. The
>really BIG MUSCLE exercises like squat, leg press, step up are listed as a proportion of body
>weight since this accurately reflects what this specific strength is meant to do--i.e., help you
>climb or accelerate compared to your body weight, move that mass effectively. For triathletes, this
>proportion is also important to avoid having legs that are too large for effective running. So even
>if you can lift 1.0-1.2 times bodyweight to help on the bike, it would hurt the run.
Yes I wondered about this. It would seem to me, maybe falsely so, that additional
strength as long as it could be converted into usefull endurance strength would be
helpfull in any case. I suspected that the numbers were based on some balance between the
disciplines though.
>
>As for other weight values, they are based on a the "one-rep maximum" or the amount of weight you
>can consistently lift one time when maxing out. It's not the same is a true champion weight-lifter
>or bodybuilding maximum where you taper, peak and psyche yourself up to lift a tremendous weight.
>For endurance athletes, it's the maximum amount we can lift on an average day if we just walk into
>the gym and try after some warmup. For the smaller muscle groups, those less involved in endurance
>motions, this is a good value. These smaller groups vary greatly between men, women and different
>body types, especially with endurance athletes who generally do not focus on them.
About the other weights, the only reccomondations I saw in TTB, other than legs, was lat
pull downs. Are there no recommendatations for the "swimming groups"
>
>Note that probably 80% of all of Joe's strength pariodization exercies are done way, way below
>these maximums of body-weight proportion or maximum lift capability. Only the maximums strength
>phase (one out of four to six phases) gets anywhere close to these. The builk of the work
>involves 15-30 reps at only 40-60% of these values, the exact figures varying at different points
>of the season.
Yes I noticed this. For me I look at the MS phase, as the "Base" phase of strength training.
>
>The bottom line is that "weightlifting maximums" are someone like maximum heart rate in
>aerobic/anaerobic training: you never really reach them in endurance competition, so they don't
>have much to with the training. Even if you don't know the exact value, you can get a good idea of
>your "mass-strength zone" for the higher repititions, just like you can find your lactate threshold
>for multiple intervals.
I guess I somewhat disagree here. Seems that MAX HR is a barrier with little meaning or
effect on training. Supposedly Max HR cannot be affected by training. However we can move
other training barriers up the scale, such as LT etc. In the case of Max weight, it may be a
barrier similar to Max HR in the sense that we will never reach it in an endurance event,
but we can effect it by training. If we can not only move the max up and move the percentage
of max up, it seems to me that we would a duplicitas positive effect. I.E. (Using mean
nothing numbers) if we can produce 100 watts at present and our max lift is 200 lbs then the
100 watts is a 50% factor of max weight. We can go out and do endurance training and raise
that wattage to 125 with the same max weight and end up with a 62% factor. Now if we did
both the endurance and the strsngth training moving the factor to 62% adn max lift to 250 we
would produce 156 watts. Of course the above is simply how I "Think" it would work and it is
entirely possible that it is not possible to do the above scenario for some physiological
reason I am unware of.
>
>You can find the exact routines for various phases within all three sports (including
>specializations for cyclists, triathletes, duathletes, etc.) at www.trainingbible.com. Or email me
>directly at
[email protected] or see my coaching web site at www.svi.net. I am currently working with
>many athletes to focus on their strength training through the winter, and I'll be focusing on that
>myself after racing Ultraman Hawaii this Thanksgiving.
>
I have the book, but I'll check out the site to see if it's different.
~Matt
