Resistance Training in Endurance Sports

[Guest guest]

Other than the fact of just training for an event, a lot of us would

like to be more scientific about our training. So we do a lot of

research and read books by the " experts " in the sports we would like

to compete in. I guess, like anything else, the information often needs

to be taken with a grain of salt and questioned.

So what I question is probably based on my own bias as is the statement

regarding resistance training by some of these " experts " . For example,

in Mike Pigg's Triathalon training software for he states that he is

concerned about training in a different energy system when doing

resistance training.

This sparks a few thoughts in my head first of all, I would think that if

you spent 12 hours a week doing activity that was training the aerobic

energy system, by adding in 3 hours of resistance training that shouldn't

change the body's adaptation regarding energy system proficiency.

There is the SAID principle after all, but the exercise physiology texts

I have read don't cover this specifically.

I believe it is implied that whatever you spend the most time training is

where you should see the greatest adaptation toward. Dr Siff, in your

Supertraining textbook, you discuss another important fact...the body

rarely uses one energy system exclusively.

If done properly, resistance training has so many positive

effects...maintaining or building muscle tissue, increased joint

stability, improved muscle fiber recruitment, etc. A proper

periodization of resistance training is probably most appropriate to

get the greatest specificity or more specifically transfer. I am

fairly certain that we would all agree that nutrition would be a

very important factor in any training program.

Personally, I think it is a misinterpretation of physiology to think

that since weight traing is anerobic and we want to be aerobically

efficient that one would conclude that one should not weight train.

All that said, if time in a person's shedule was not a limitation(maybe these

authors are really saying if you are limited spend your time

running, biking and swimming).

Does anyone have thoughts regarding resistance training being detrimental

to an endurance training program (more specifically regarding the body's

adaptation to using the aerobic energy system vs. anerobic)? Is there any

triathalon specific research that any of you are aware of?

s

St. , NY