Our recent Coaches’ Corner articles on off season from Brandon Marsh and Alan Kipping-Ruane prompted some questions from our readers. Alan of TriGuy Multisport Coaching is taking the first crack. We will have upcoming Coaches’ Corner segments and please, if you have any questions of our coaches, let us know.
1. What are the best lower body strength training exercises to do in the off season?
The best lower body strength exercises? Depends on what you are working on, such as – is your focus developing your kick or are you trying to ride better in your races? Start with basics such as Squats, Box Jumps, Step Ups, and Lunges You can even add dead-lifts.
2. When switching to a bike trainer from the actual bike, do you increase your mileage to compensate?
Going from a bike trainer, I don’t focus on mileage, but I focus on time. Mileage can vary so much, but when you look at time in the saddle, you can control that factor. I actually don’t have my athletes compensate, because we have such good focus within each session that there is nothing really going to change, other than effort levels from road to trainer and back.
3. Do you focus more on speedwork or long slow work in the winter?
To be frank, in the winter, I like athletes to focus on neither. I like athletes focusing on strength work, which means on the bike it could be fartlek and drills; running could mean hypoxic training and hill work; and in the pool, it means bands (tying the ankles together).
Hope that helps you out. Let me know if you need further information.
– ALAN
Sherry is one of the TriWivesClub and LifeDoneWell co-founders and contributes to multiple blogs. She is a former co-owner of the California Apparel News and had a career in the healthcare industry. Her passions include traveling, real food, the environment, and animal rescue/welfare. She lives a healthy lifestyle and has been a vegetarian since 1987. She and her husband are parents to two rescue pups and reside in Connecticut.