Designing a Strength and Conditioning Program for Endurance Athletes

In the recent past, there was a saying amongst swimmers and swim coaches, ‘in order to get faster you have to swim yards, lots and lots of yards.’  Today, through constant research and some trial and error, that saying has become obsolete.  Research has proven that concurrent training, or combining anaerobic and aerobic training together, improves overall performance in endurance sports.  However, even with this information, it can still prove difficult in designing a strength and conditioning program for endurance athletes.

As an endurance athlete aerobic training is paramount to perform at a desired level.  However, current research has shown that strength training in conjunction with endurance training has a higher effect of overall athletic performance.

An excerpt from the NSCA’s Developing Speed, states that the resistance training exerts a strong influence on an athlete’s neuromuscular functions and moderate influence on anaerobic power and capacity.  This influence correlates to an athlete improving lactate threshold, movement efficiency, and the ability to engage in high-intensity activities1.  The main problem many endurance athletes and coaches face when designing strength and conditioning programs is adding too much to what is already being done.  For example, a triathlete generally has some form of endurance training each day of the week, whether that be swimming, cycling, or running.  Everyone has heard that strength training will benefit their performance, so they just add a couple days of weight training onto the rest of the week.  That means that the athlete has no rest, and cannot train their strength in the best way possible.

Program design is critical for endurance athletes.  For resistance training, there are seven design variables that the NSCA recommends to follow2.  These are:

     Needs Analysis

This is the evaluation of the sport and its requirements.  What are the movement patterns of the athlete?  Is strength important, or is the need for power greater?  

     Exercise selection

What type of exercise will best benefit the athlete, and how experienced are they in performing this exercise?  Strictly speaking, multi-joint, compound movements will have the greatest benefit for the majority of athletes.

    Training frequency

 Here is where most falter in designing a program.  As stated before, many try to tack on a resistance program to what the athlete is already doing.  Frequency is the amount of training one does for a certain time period.

   Exercise order

The more compound the movement the sooner it should be performed in a workout.  For example, a squat takes precedence over a bicep curl.  The squat involves many large muscle groups and triple extension, the bicep curl is one muscle group and only involves elbow flexion.

Training load and repetitions

 Load and repetitions

Volume

 The easiest way to understand volume when it comes to resistance training modalities, is the simple equation of the weight lifted times the number of sets, times the number of reps.  When the volume is not gradually increased, injuries are more prone to happen in athletes.

Volume = Weight x Sets x Reps

  Rest periods

Many think that the training itself is the most important part of getting better, however recovery can play an even more important role.  The body possess three different energy systems, simple put into three categories: the short, powerful burst of energy, the high intensity that can last up to approximately a minute, and the long, slow endurance

Program design is difficult, making a wrong decision may not affect an athlete immediately, but it can become a problem later on in training or during a competition.  It is important for athletes and coaches to do quality research in order to see the best performance enhancement.  By following these guidelines, the chances of success greatly increase.

References:

 

1.     Baechle, T. R., & Earle, R. W. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning (4th ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

2.   Jeffreys, I. (n.d.). Developing speed.