There are many standard training programmes available that give you an idea of what you should be doing to improve your running or lose weight. Cramer says: “Everyone should adhere to programmes that consist of endurance training, speed work, strength and conditioning, skills and technique, and a rest period. The struggle of a one-size-fits-all programme comes when you start to look at the frequency of your training (how often you train), load (how much resistance) on your body, duration (length) of the sessions, and how much rest you’ll need to recover sufficiently. That’s where understanding your goals and ability level becomes important.” He adds, “A standard programme would probably provide some benefits, but with a little knowledge and understanding of your own body you can take that same programme and turn it into something uniquely yours for better results.” These standard programmes are usually simple enough to follow without any technology other than a stopwatch, but using them in conjunction with an activity monitor can provide you with a more detailed account of your progress. Activity monitors include devices such as heart rate monitors, pedometers, GPS trackers and calculators to determine calories burned, and hours of sleep. More often than not, the devices have multiple functions that track a wide range of data. There is one device available for every level of technological experience, as well as
every budget. However, even at the lower price range there will be an initial cost greater than a good pair of running shoes. Cramer believes: “The best and easiest way to monitor your training while running would have to be a running specific watch.” The two that he recommends are the Garmin Forerunner 15 and the Suunto ambit 3. “The Garmin Forerunner 15 is easy to use, the watch face is big which makes it easy to read the display, and most importantly, it’s comfortable to wear. A great choice if this is your first running specific watch and ideal for training or racing between 5km and a half marathon,” states Cramer. “The Suunto ambit 3 is a running nerd’s dream,” adds Cramer. “It has all the bells and whistles, is very accurate, and supplies you with loads of data. With its built-in route navigation it’s a great watch if you’re looking to extend your training distance past 21km or even get off the roads and head for the trails.” Activity monitors won’t provide you with training programmes or interpret the data for you. However, you will need to work out your intervals, heart rate goals, distance (or steps multiplied by average stride length), elevation, calories burned, and any other data you wish to monitor. While this allows you greater freedom to adapt a training programme to your own unique goals and abilities, it does require knowledge and understanding of your personal goals and the best way to achieve them.
TOP ACTIVITY MONITORS
Cramer’s Top 2
Garmin Forerunner 15
Suunto ambit
User Recommended
Fitbit Charge
Suunto Quest
Garmin Forerunner 220
Basis Peak n Jawbone
RUNNING TO A BEAT
Music can inspire you to push past discomfort and keep running when you feel like you can’t take another step. Cramer says: “In my opinion, music can have both a positive and negative effect on your pace. Some find running without music near impossible, but a growing number of runners recognise that the wrong music or beat while running can negatively affect your training session.” Music has the added benefit of having a beat that you can match your stride to. “I think the optimum bpm to strive for during training is 180bpm, or a little faster for sprinting,” says Cramer, “Currently at the top of my play list is Sugar by Maroon 5; it’s just right to get me in a chilled mood before some big miles.” You could also choose music at 90bpm, in which case you would be taking two strides for every beat. For those who are just getting off the couch or working towards increasing stamina, starting at a slower pace may be more beneficial, such as 120-140bpm. There is no one genre of music that is better suited for running. If you enjoy a song, it inspires and motivates you to run, and it matches the bpm you are aiming for, then it is ideal for running. This could be anything from classical music to trance or death metal. If you have music that you enjoy but are unsure of how many bpm it contains, there is software available that analyses your play-list. Some of the options are free, such as BPM Calculator or BPM Assistant, while others charge a small fee, such as Cadence Desktop Pro. The benefit of using music to pace yourself is costeffectiveness, as there is no or minimal purchases involved, particularly if you already have the music that will inspire you. It can provide motivation for those who find it difficult to self motivate and push on their limits
TOP RUNNING SONGS
BLUES Rock this House by BB King and Elton John
COUNTRY Cry with You by Hunter Hayes
POP I Love Rock ‘n Roll by Britney Spears
HIP-HOP/RAP 0 to 100/The Catch Up by Drake
ALTERNATIVE Alone Together by Fall Out Boy
ROCK Standing on the Outside by Cold Chisel
METAL Destroyer of the Universe by Amon Amarth
DANCE Acid Wolfpack by Coyote Kisses
CLASSICAL Thunder and Lightning Polka
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Train experience matters
Experience Matters
We all age. Plain and simple. Yet as the years accumulate perhaps we can use them to our advantage in endurance sports. So how do we do that?
ANDY MORTON WAS my biology teacher at school back in the late ‘80s. He seemed even then to be getting on a bit. His car sometimes had a kayak on it and at the time that was the sole extent of my knowledge of his sporting pastimes. Fast forward to now and he’s a good friend through our shared interest in endurance sports. A year short of his 70th birthday, he remains one of Scotland’s top marathon kayakers. His house is unsurprisingly littered with medals. I’m fascinated by how he continues to excel in his sport. Whilst his pure physical performance remains impressive, each of his races contain a wide range of strategic decisions, all of which help propel him to the front of the field. His training is also methodically planned and recorded. His mantra is an old one – “preparation is everything” – and he certainly leaves nothing to chance. Being a science teacher by trade, as expected, he loves his graphs and stats. He’s clear that his actual physical performance has dropped over the years – he reckons by 1% per year from the age of 50 and by about 1.5% per year from sixty. To me, that’s a remarkably slow decline and one that I’m sure has been significantly stemmed by his perfect use of experience. Andy’s certainly not as quick as he once was, but he remains highly competitive in his sport. He keeps a detailed diary of his training and racing, regularly referring back to it as he prepares for his next effort. He doesn’t train with power meters and only occasionally monitors his heart rate. Instead he simply listens and learns from the best computer there is, his own body. His race nutrition is minimal and he’s very focused on his weight, keeping it as light as possible.
Over the years I’ve had many coffee catch-ups with Andy, where we compare notes after our respective races, he calls them “Post-Mortons”. My own tales seem to contain more and more pre- event planning and race tactics. He nods approvingly and I can see he’s biting his tongue not to say, “I told you so!” It seems I am listening. He reminds me of similar experiences I’ve had in the past and uses them to very accurately predict how future races will pan out for me. So in the outdoor activities and events world that we all love to do, how much does experience really count? I’m in no doubt that experience is frankly an astonishingly powerful tool in endurance sports but the big caveat to that is that you have to use that experience to its full potential. Andy does that to perfection. The march of time is inevitable and far too many of us succumb to the clear physical effects it has on us. I’ve seen plenty of guys in their mid twenties holding their backs or clutching their knees as they complain about age – what on earth are they talking about? There seems to be a sad resignation amongst far too many of us to stick one foot in the grave, at least in terms of physical activities, at a very early age. On the other hand, older people like Andy who successfully harness their experience to the maximum can be seen at the start of races with a noticeable smugness on their faces. Pre-race nerves never seem to bother them. They’ve been here before… a lot. The younger competitors look all together different and are glad to see the Portaloos close by!
10 TIPS FOR THE EXPERIENCED
However, simply having experience is in no way a guarantee that it will assist you in your endeavours. In order to do as well as possible you have to use it wisely. Here are 10 key tips:
01 Choose the events and activities you do wisely. If you’re looking for performance and a decent result, go long and chuck in things that sort the men from the boys – mud, cold water, mountains, that sort of thing. Short explosive activities are best avoided and seriously run the risk of injury as you age.
02 Don’t forget that the best advice you can use is your own experience. What you’ve done in the past, how you have coped with it and what works best for you are all experiences that are completely personal to you. No book or coach can get close to that. Keep a record of your experiences and look back on those records regularly.
03 In my opinion the hardest person to take advice from is not our mothers or our other halves but is instead our self. Most if not all of us have a self-destruct button that we like to push; not listening to our own advice puts the finger on the trigger.
04 Don’t forget the power of your years.
My school rugby coach often told us (though I’m not entirely sure why, as it wasn’t a great piece of advice for school kids) that: “A good old’un will always beat a good young’un”. He was right and that advice does resonate with me now.
05 Remember that dark places tend to be a lot lighter if you’ve been there a few times before. First time pain is really sore; but after several years it gets a lot easier to manage and cope with.
06 The only way to work out what nutrition works for you is to try it, preferably a lot. Your years give you plenty of time to test all sorts of fuel.
07 Don’t underestimate how much doing events and activities over a period of time gives you a professional edge, irrespective of your performance levels and ability. The body always adjusts and adapts both physically and mentally.
08 A body that doesn’t ache is a body that isn’t used. It’s all part of the fun. In any case you’ve always had aches; it’s only that as we age we like to have things to complain about. Come on – you know this is true!
09 Be realistic and accept that some things will decline with age. The trick is not to overly expose those in what you do and instead focus on the other aspects that strengthen with age. This is never more important than in relation to the mental approach required. In this lark, good mental tactics beat physical flexibility every time.
10 Take comfort that your experience will tend to aid you with safety in your adventures, limiting risk of injury and helping with self-preservation. You learn from your mistakes here. But please don’t be that mega pedantic bloke that insists on catering for every single possible (or indeed impossible) scenario, and ends up putting vast swaths of us off from the outset! After all there’s life in us still and we do like our sporting efforts to have a small element of risk to remind of us of that.
We all age. Plain and simple. Yet as the years accumulate perhaps we can use them to our advantage in endurance sports. So how do we do that?
ANDY MORTON WAS my biology teacher at school back in the late ‘80s. He seemed even then to be getting on a bit. His car sometimes had a kayak on it and at the time that was the sole extent of my knowledge of his sporting pastimes. Fast forward to now and he’s a good friend through our shared interest in endurance sports. A year short of his 70th birthday, he remains one of Scotland’s top marathon kayakers. His house is unsurprisingly littered with medals. I’m fascinated by how he continues to excel in his sport. Whilst his pure physical performance remains impressive, each of his races contain a wide range of strategic decisions, all of which help propel him to the front of the field. His training is also methodically planned and recorded. His mantra is an old one – “preparation is everything” – and he certainly leaves nothing to chance. Being a science teacher by trade, as expected, he loves his graphs and stats. He’s clear that his actual physical performance has dropped over the years – he reckons by 1% per year from the age of 50 and by about 1.5% per year from sixty. To me, that’s a remarkably slow decline and one that I’m sure has been significantly stemmed by his perfect use of experience. Andy’s certainly not as quick as he once was, but he remains highly competitive in his sport. He keeps a detailed diary of his training and racing, regularly referring back to it as he prepares for his next effort. He doesn’t train with power meters and only occasionally monitors his heart rate. Instead he simply listens and learns from the best computer there is, his own body. His race nutrition is minimal and he’s very focused on his weight, keeping it as light as possible.
Over the years I’ve had many coffee catch-ups with Andy, where we compare notes after our respective races, he calls them “Post-Mortons”. My own tales seem to contain more and more pre- event planning and race tactics. He nods approvingly and I can see he’s biting his tongue not to say, “I told you so!” It seems I am listening. He reminds me of similar experiences I’ve had in the past and uses them to very accurately predict how future races will pan out for me. So in the outdoor activities and events world that we all love to do, how much does experience really count? I’m in no doubt that experience is frankly an astonishingly powerful tool in endurance sports but the big caveat to that is that you have to use that experience to its full potential. Andy does that to perfection. The march of time is inevitable and far too many of us succumb to the clear physical effects it has on us. I’ve seen plenty of guys in their mid twenties holding their backs or clutching their knees as they complain about age – what on earth are they talking about? There seems to be a sad resignation amongst far too many of us to stick one foot in the grave, at least in terms of physical activities, at a very early age. On the other hand, older people like Andy who successfully harness their experience to the maximum can be seen at the start of races with a noticeable smugness on their faces. Pre-race nerves never seem to bother them. They’ve been here before… a lot. The younger competitors look all together different and are glad to see the Portaloos close by!
10 TIPS FOR THE EXPERIENCED
However, simply having experience is in no way a guarantee that it will assist you in your endeavours. In order to do as well as possible you have to use it wisely. Here are 10 key tips:
01 Choose the events and activities you do wisely. If you’re looking for performance and a decent result, go long and chuck in things that sort the men from the boys – mud, cold water, mountains, that sort of thing. Short explosive activities are best avoided and seriously run the risk of injury as you age.
02 Don’t forget that the best advice you can use is your own experience. What you’ve done in the past, how you have coped with it and what works best for you are all experiences that are completely personal to you. No book or coach can get close to that. Keep a record of your experiences and look back on those records regularly.
03 In my opinion the hardest person to take advice from is not our mothers or our other halves but is instead our self. Most if not all of us have a self-destruct button that we like to push; not listening to our own advice puts the finger on the trigger.
04 Don’t forget the power of your years.
My school rugby coach often told us (though I’m not entirely sure why, as it wasn’t a great piece of advice for school kids) that: “A good old’un will always beat a good young’un”. He was right and that advice does resonate with me now.
05 Remember that dark places tend to be a lot lighter if you’ve been there a few times before. First time pain is really sore; but after several years it gets a lot easier to manage and cope with.
06 The only way to work out what nutrition works for you is to try it, preferably a lot. Your years give you plenty of time to test all sorts of fuel.
07 Don’t underestimate how much doing events and activities over a period of time gives you a professional edge, irrespective of your performance levels and ability. The body always adjusts and adapts both physically and mentally.
08 A body that doesn’t ache is a body that isn’t used. It’s all part of the fun. In any case you’ve always had aches; it’s only that as we age we like to have things to complain about. Come on – you know this is true!
09 Be realistic and accept that some things will decline with age. The trick is not to overly expose those in what you do and instead focus on the other aspects that strengthen with age. This is never more important than in relation to the mental approach required. In this lark, good mental tactics beat physical flexibility every time.
10 Take comfort that your experience will tend to aid you with safety in your adventures, limiting risk of injury and helping with self-preservation. You learn from your mistakes here. But please don’t be that mega pedantic bloke that insists on catering for every single possible (or indeed impossible) scenario, and ends up putting vast swaths of us off from the outset! After all there’s life in us still and we do like our sporting efforts to have a small element of risk to remind of us of that.
Strengthen your endurance
MANY EVERYDAY ENDURANCE athletes do little S&C, after all it’s often argued why should they lift weights, do plyometrics (jump exercises) and other types of resistance-based S&C, when you’re going to be running for three hours plus, for example. Then there are endurance types who do a little. However, if weights are used they’re often light, and the emphasis is placed on performing many repetitions. Now, this really turns strength training into another form of endurance training. To many it seems logical that if you are to determine performance in your sport by the ability to keep going for a long time, engaging in strength training may be a pointless and possibly even detrimental pursuit. And if we consider how traditionally society has dichotomised “weight training” and “cardio” it’s unsurprising that people often look at strength and endurance as separate and distinct components of fitness. We have long conceptualised endurance sport and fitness as being only about the heart, lungs and circulatory system, and strength training as
being purely about the development of our muscles. So with this perception prevailing, why would anyone logically see getting stronger as important to the development of endurance? Societal assumptions regarding what strength training is have also exacerbated this. For many, it conjures up images of musclebound bodybuilders and weightlifters - the polar opposite of the sinewy endurance athlete. Thus the belief that resistance training may even be detrimental to endurance athletes has permeated through a number of endurance sports. In recent times, however, there has been a bit of a sea change in thought regarding the role of strength training for endurance sports and activities. Supported by strong academic, peer- reviewed evidence some of the leading lights in the fields of S&C have promoted the benefits of strength training to performance in endurance sports. Michael Winch’s very good book, Strength Training for Athletes, for example, has a wonderful picture on the cover of Paula Radcliffe squatting with 80-100kg.
TRAIN STRENGTHEN ENDURANCE
“Endurance athletes spend so much time engaging in endurance training, what is the point of just doing even more endurance training in the gym?”
SO SHOULD ENDURANCE ATHLETES AVOID STRENGTH TRAINING? My answer would be absolutely not. There are so many potential benefits, which I’ll indicate later. In fact I’d argue that to not strength train is almost definitely a mistake that no endurance athlete can afford to make. Can strength training be in any way detrimental to an endurance athlete? If applied incorrectly then of course it can but I believe if done correctly and relevantly strength training can be potentially hugely beneficial. So should strength training be structured with a focus on endurance? No, and I hope to build a convincing argument that in fact, an endurance athlete should approach strength training with a focus upon the development of, perhaps shockingly to many Outdoor Fitness readers thoughts, strength (as opposed to just more endurance). Permit me to pose you a conundrum. We have two athletes, “A” & “B”, and we ask them to perform as many repetitions of the bench press as possible with 30kgs. Athlete A has a one repetition maximum (1RM) bench press of 150kgs whilst athlete B is much weaker with a maximum bench press of only 60kgs. Which do we think will perform more repetitions, i.e. have the best endurance, with the 30kgs? Well, my money is firmly on athlete A. They only have to lift 20 percent of their maximum and thus will fatigue far less quickly than athlete B who is contending with fifty percent of their’s. That one example alone clearly illustrates how being maximally stronger can have a significant impact upon endurance ability and why we need to work with heavier loads for fewer repetitions, trying to build real strength. Endurance athletes spend so much time engaging in endurance training, what is the point of just doing even more endurance training in the gym? And non-specific endurance work at that. What you do on the bike, on the roads, in the boat, or in the water is what develops your endurance; the gym is for getting strong, and I must add specifically strong. So whether we’re pushing a pedal; decelerating and accelerating our entire body mass through one leg when running; pulling ourselves up a wall doing an OCR; or propelling ourselves through water with every leg kick and arm stroke, if we are stronger, every single one of those actions (and more) will be at a lower percentage of our maximum strength and therefore, all else being equal, we will fatigue less quickly. Make no mistake, whenever we are executing those sporting movements we are performing repetition after repetition of resistance exercise, and whether that resistance is provided by inanimate weight, or water resistance, or our body mass and gravity, or friction and gearing in cycling, it makes zero difference. Resistance is resistance is resistance, and the more easily we are able to overcome it, the less quickly we’ll fatigue. Notable evidence suggests that strength training improves endurance by improving “work/ performance economy”. You will probably of heard of the terms “running economy”, “cycling economy”. You can parallel these to fuel economy in your car, i.e. if, you boost your running economy, less fuel will be required at any given performance level and thus your endurance capacity is greater. A 1999 study from Finland took two groups of endurance runners and strength trained one using a variety of explosive strength exercises and jumping activities. The strength exercises used were loaded jump squats, leg presses and leg curls and extensions. After 9 weeks of training the strength trained group significantly improved their 5km time. This improvement in performance was concurrent with and correlated to a significant improvement in running economy. In layman’s terms they were stronger and thus more efficient runners. Every single step, with each associated deceleration and acceleration of their body weight, was easier to perform and they used less energy. A comparable study from France, published in 2002 found corroborative outcomes in regard to running economy. And in 2002 and 2007 similar studies showed endurance performance and work economy increases in cross-country skiers following strength training. Interestingly, a Canadian research paper from 2000 also showed an increase in capillarisation of skeletal muscle. Capillaries are the tiniest blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrients to working muscle tissue and remove waste products. The more you have the more oxygen carrying highways you have. A 1988 study involved cycling and running trained endurance athletes. Half were heavily strength trained three times per week for 10 weeks in addition to their usual training. As before, significant benefits to short (4-8min) and long term (10km cycle) endurance resulted. Across the 10 weeks an increase in leg strength of 30 percent was also recorded yet interestingly zero increase in muscle bulk was observed, which may be contrary to the perceptions many people hold regarding strength training. This led these researchers to conclude: “These data do not demonstrate any negative performance effects of adding heavy-resistance training to ongoing endurance training regimens. They indicate that certain types of endurance performance, particularly those requiring fast-twitch fibre recruitment, can be improved by strength training supplementation.” In 2010 Danish researchers published a review paper in which they meticulous collated, compared and summarised all of the research in this area, they concluded that “strength training can lead to enhanced long-term (>30 min) and short-term (<15 min) endurance capacity both in welltrained individuals and highly trained top-level endurance athletes, especially with the use of high-volume, heavy-resistance strength training protocols.” Hopefully this far from exhaustive selection of peer reviewed, published, academic studies effectively illustrates that strength training has the potential to be beneficial to endurance performance and that if applied correctly there are no detrimental effects. IT’S NOT JUST PERFORMANCE BENEFITS Performance is however not the only benefit to endurance athletes of strength training. If we take running, the impact forces experienced during each and every foot strike are between two and three times bodyweight. So if you have a mass of 70kgs you could potentially have to cope with instantaneous forces, through one leg, equivalent to over 200kgs! Now if you weigh 70kg, imagine trying to stand on one leg with a 130kg bar on your shoulders whilst hopping up and down! It’s no easy task but this is what your lower limbs are being subjected to with each and every running stride. Is it any surprise then that in those new to endurance sport or those who have done little to no heavy strength training to condition themselves to contend with these forces, that the knees, hips and ankles struggle to cope? The IT band (illiotibial) and TFL (tensor fasciae latae) have become buzz words in sport, fitness and strength and conditioning, and foam rolling of this connective tissue, that laterally supports the knees and hips, is commonplace. However, simply rolling tension out of the connective tissue is just like taking a Paracetamol for a headache; all you’re doing is treating symptoms, not addressing the root cause. When endurance athletes who are not strength trained are forced to contend with these repetitive impact forces they often struggle to cope. The muscles which stabilise the hip, knee and ankle are simply not strong enough, nor have they been “educated” as to how to engage to stabilise a joint under significant force loading. More volume of endurance exercise simply exacerbates the problem. Under these conditions the body’s response is often to “emergency brace” these joints and it does this by tightening up the IT band and TFL. By, in effect, locking off these joints the body prevents the immediate injury risks presented by weakness but what results is pain in the connective tissues themselves and chronic dysfunction and imbalance in movement and thus joint pain. The closest analogy I can think of uses a car again this time with damaged suspension. Sure you could simply lock the suspension up so it wouldn’t move, but in the long run the car would be shaken to bits. The most effective way to protect yourself from IT band and TFL tightness and the subsequent dysfunction is to get strong. If applied inappropriately of course strength training can be detrimental to endurance performance but so can endurance training if employed equally poorly. Of course the focus for endurance athletes should be their endurance training. There is no need to employ excessive volume or frequency, nor to attempt absolute maximum effort lifts or even attempt to totally maximise strength. I will discuss potential best practice in part two of this article but it’s suffice to say for now that you can significantly improve your strength, performance and injury resistance without excessive effort or commitment of time.
TRAIN STRENGTHEN ENDURANCE
“Endurance athletes spend so much time engaging in endurance training, what is the point of just doing even more endurance training in the gym?”
SO SHOULD ENDURANCE ATHLETES AVOID STRENGTH TRAINING? My answer would be absolutely not. There are so many potential benefits, which I’ll indicate later. In fact I’d argue that to not strength train is almost definitely a mistake that no endurance athlete can afford to make. Can strength training be in any way detrimental to an endurance athlete? If applied incorrectly then of course it can but I believe if done correctly and relevantly strength training can be potentially hugely beneficial. So should strength training be structured with a focus on endurance? No, and I hope to build a convincing argument that in fact, an endurance athlete should approach strength training with a focus upon the development of, perhaps shockingly to many Outdoor Fitness readers thoughts, strength (as opposed to just more endurance). Permit me to pose you a conundrum. We have two athletes, “A” & “B”, and we ask them to perform as many repetitions of the bench press as possible with 30kgs. Athlete A has a one repetition maximum (1RM) bench press of 150kgs whilst athlete B is much weaker with a maximum bench press of only 60kgs. Which do we think will perform more repetitions, i.e. have the best endurance, with the 30kgs? Well, my money is firmly on athlete A. They only have to lift 20 percent of their maximum and thus will fatigue far less quickly than athlete B who is contending with fifty percent of their’s. That one example alone clearly illustrates how being maximally stronger can have a significant impact upon endurance ability and why we need to work with heavier loads for fewer repetitions, trying to build real strength. Endurance athletes spend so much time engaging in endurance training, what is the point of just doing even more endurance training in the gym? And non-specific endurance work at that. What you do on the bike, on the roads, in the boat, or in the water is what develops your endurance; the gym is for getting strong, and I must add specifically strong. So whether we’re pushing a pedal; decelerating and accelerating our entire body mass through one leg when running; pulling ourselves up a wall doing an OCR; or propelling ourselves through water with every leg kick and arm stroke, if we are stronger, every single one of those actions (and more) will be at a lower percentage of our maximum strength and therefore, all else being equal, we will fatigue less quickly. Make no mistake, whenever we are executing those sporting movements we are performing repetition after repetition of resistance exercise, and whether that resistance is provided by inanimate weight, or water resistance, or our body mass and gravity, or friction and gearing in cycling, it makes zero difference. Resistance is resistance is resistance, and the more easily we are able to overcome it, the less quickly we’ll fatigue. Notable evidence suggests that strength training improves endurance by improving “work/ performance economy”. You will probably of heard of the terms “running economy”, “cycling economy”. You can parallel these to fuel economy in your car, i.e. if, you boost your running economy, less fuel will be required at any given performance level and thus your endurance capacity is greater. A 1999 study from Finland took two groups of endurance runners and strength trained one using a variety of explosive strength exercises and jumping activities. The strength exercises used were loaded jump squats, leg presses and leg curls and extensions. After 9 weeks of training the strength trained group significantly improved their 5km time. This improvement in performance was concurrent with and correlated to a significant improvement in running economy. In layman’s terms they were stronger and thus more efficient runners. Every single step, with each associated deceleration and acceleration of their body weight, was easier to perform and they used less energy. A comparable study from France, published in 2002 found corroborative outcomes in regard to running economy. And in 2002 and 2007 similar studies showed endurance performance and work economy increases in cross-country skiers following strength training. Interestingly, a Canadian research paper from 2000 also showed an increase in capillarisation of skeletal muscle. Capillaries are the tiniest blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrients to working muscle tissue and remove waste products. The more you have the more oxygen carrying highways you have. A 1988 study involved cycling and running trained endurance athletes. Half were heavily strength trained three times per week for 10 weeks in addition to their usual training. As before, significant benefits to short (4-8min) and long term (10km cycle) endurance resulted. Across the 10 weeks an increase in leg strength of 30 percent was also recorded yet interestingly zero increase in muscle bulk was observed, which may be contrary to the perceptions many people hold regarding strength training. This led these researchers to conclude: “These data do not demonstrate any negative performance effects of adding heavy-resistance training to ongoing endurance training regimens. They indicate that certain types of endurance performance, particularly those requiring fast-twitch fibre recruitment, can be improved by strength training supplementation.” In 2010 Danish researchers published a review paper in which they meticulous collated, compared and summarised all of the research in this area, they concluded that “strength training can lead to enhanced long-term (>30 min) and short-term (<15 min) endurance capacity both in welltrained individuals and highly trained top-level endurance athletes, especially with the use of high-volume, heavy-resistance strength training protocols.” Hopefully this far from exhaustive selection of peer reviewed, published, academic studies effectively illustrates that strength training has the potential to be beneficial to endurance performance and that if applied correctly there are no detrimental effects. IT’S NOT JUST PERFORMANCE BENEFITS Performance is however not the only benefit to endurance athletes of strength training. If we take running, the impact forces experienced during each and every foot strike are between two and three times bodyweight. So if you have a mass of 70kgs you could potentially have to cope with instantaneous forces, through one leg, equivalent to over 200kgs! Now if you weigh 70kg, imagine trying to stand on one leg with a 130kg bar on your shoulders whilst hopping up and down! It’s no easy task but this is what your lower limbs are being subjected to with each and every running stride. Is it any surprise then that in those new to endurance sport or those who have done little to no heavy strength training to condition themselves to contend with these forces, that the knees, hips and ankles struggle to cope? The IT band (illiotibial) and TFL (tensor fasciae latae) have become buzz words in sport, fitness and strength and conditioning, and foam rolling of this connective tissue, that laterally supports the knees and hips, is commonplace. However, simply rolling tension out of the connective tissue is just like taking a Paracetamol for a headache; all you’re doing is treating symptoms, not addressing the root cause. When endurance athletes who are not strength trained are forced to contend with these repetitive impact forces they often struggle to cope. The muscles which stabilise the hip, knee and ankle are simply not strong enough, nor have they been “educated” as to how to engage to stabilise a joint under significant force loading. More volume of endurance exercise simply exacerbates the problem. Under these conditions the body’s response is often to “emergency brace” these joints and it does this by tightening up the IT band and TFL. By, in effect, locking off these joints the body prevents the immediate injury risks presented by weakness but what results is pain in the connective tissues themselves and chronic dysfunction and imbalance in movement and thus joint pain. The closest analogy I can think of uses a car again this time with damaged suspension. Sure you could simply lock the suspension up so it wouldn’t move, but in the long run the car would be shaken to bits. The most effective way to protect yourself from IT band and TFL tightness and the subsequent dysfunction is to get strong. If applied inappropriately of course strength training can be detrimental to endurance performance but so can endurance training if employed equally poorly. Of course the focus for endurance athletes should be their endurance training. There is no need to employ excessive volume or frequency, nor to attempt absolute maximum effort lifts or even attempt to totally maximise strength. I will discuss potential best practice in part two of this article but it’s suffice to say for now that you can significantly improve your strength, performance and injury resistance without excessive effort or commitment of time.
DIY Protein Shake
There are som many products on the market designed to improve your performance during training or competition, but it’s straightforward to prepare your very own. And the benefits are that you can tailor them to your personal taste preferences and save some money in the process.
TROPICAL SMOOTHIE PROTEIN SHAKE We all know that recovery post exercise is key, both nutritionally and physically in order to help muscles repair and adapt to training. With good recovery between sessions you’ll benefit from training consistency, which will optimise your performance. Protein is a key nutrient in terms of response to exercise and so contributes significantly to the recovery process. When you mention “recovery nutrition” many people immediately think about using a protein shake - whey, pea, soy and hemp are just some of the protein isolates available on the market, but does everyone need to have a container of protein powder taking up space in their kitchen cupboard? The simple answer is, no. OK, protein shakes can be useful in some situations. They are convenient and easy to carry and are therefore beneficial when training away from home; they’re useful too for multi-day events or when abroad. Indeed the only time I tend to recommend them would be with elite athletes in high volume training when they are an easy way to kick-start the recovery process before their next training session later that day. A recent study compared consuming whey protein immediately post resistance training with eating a steak. When they looked at the results, it was discovered that after two hours the individuals who had consumed whey protein had a higher level of available essential amino acids compared with the steak eaters. However, five hours later the reverse was true. So, for the majority of us, choosing a whole protein food as a recovery option would be sufficient to still allow for recovery and adaptation. With that in mind, it’s possible to make your protein shakes with real food options, providing you with all the nutrients your muscles need for optimal recovery post training.
GET 20G OF PROTEIN WITH THIS REFRESHING TROPICAL SMOOTHIE RECOVERY DRINK.
You’ll meet the recovery requirements of most adults, as recommendations are for 0.25g/Kg bodyweight protein. (Carbohydrate intake post training will be very much dependent on the session that has just been completed).
Serves: 1 Preparation time: 5 minutes.
Ingredients:
200ml tropical fruit juice
200g fat-free Greek yogurt
1 handful of ice
Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into a glass and serve straight away. It’s as simple as that!
TROPICAL SMOOTHIE PROTEIN SHAKE We all know that recovery post exercise is key, both nutritionally and physically in order to help muscles repair and adapt to training. With good recovery between sessions you’ll benefit from training consistency, which will optimise your performance. Protein is a key nutrient in terms of response to exercise and so contributes significantly to the recovery process. When you mention “recovery nutrition” many people immediately think about using a protein shake - whey, pea, soy and hemp are just some of the protein isolates available on the market, but does everyone need to have a container of protein powder taking up space in their kitchen cupboard? The simple answer is, no. OK, protein shakes can be useful in some situations. They are convenient and easy to carry and are therefore beneficial when training away from home; they’re useful too for multi-day events or when abroad. Indeed the only time I tend to recommend them would be with elite athletes in high volume training when they are an easy way to kick-start the recovery process before their next training session later that day. A recent study compared consuming whey protein immediately post resistance training with eating a steak. When they looked at the results, it was discovered that after two hours the individuals who had consumed whey protein had a higher level of available essential amino acids compared with the steak eaters. However, five hours later the reverse was true. So, for the majority of us, choosing a whole protein food as a recovery option would be sufficient to still allow for recovery and adaptation. With that in mind, it’s possible to make your protein shakes with real food options, providing you with all the nutrients your muscles need for optimal recovery post training.
GET 20G OF PROTEIN WITH THIS REFRESHING TROPICAL SMOOTHIE RECOVERY DRINK.
You’ll meet the recovery requirements of most adults, as recommendations are for 0.25g/Kg bodyweight protein. (Carbohydrate intake post training will be very much dependent on the session that has just been completed).
Serves: 1 Preparation time: 5 minutes.
Ingredients:
200ml tropical fruit juice
200g fat-free Greek yogurt
1 handful of ice
Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into a glass and serve straight away. It’s as simple as that!
Daft diets: no sugar diet, the all-kale diet, alkaline diet
Daft diets Often backed by celebrities, here are five of the craziest fad diets to gain traction last year, according to the British Dietetic Association. The UK’s largest organisation of food and nutrition professionals comes across a huge range of weird and wacky diets and diet claims, which can range from bad to downright dangerous. Sian Porter, consultant dietician says: “Some people will believe almost anything and anyone when it comes to nutrition, food and diet.” “The simple fact is, there is no ‘wonder diet’ just as there are no ‘super foods’ and no one diet fits all. What is super is the way many marketing machines coin certain phrases to make you think there is some magic wand approach to losing weight. “Maybe it’s not as exciting but the truth is if you do want to lose some weight do it by eating a healthy, balanced diet that you can stick to, watch your portion sizes and be physically active. Think of it as a marathon approach to achieving your goals, as opposed to a sprint approach. Aim to make permanent changes to your diet and lifestyle that are sustainable for you in the long-term.”
NO SUGAR DIET What’s it all about? The Sugar Free Diet excludes all types of sugar and often carbohydrates. BDA Verdict: Not such a sweet deal! Cutting down on free sugars, reducing the amount of sugar you add, and consuming fewer products containing added sugar is positive. However, some versions of the No Sugar Diet promote cutting out all sugar which is not only almost impossible, but would mean eliminating foods like vegetables, fruit, dairy, and nuts – leading to a less than healthy diet. Be aware that these plans can recommend just as sugary alternates such as maple syrup or honey, which is a huge contradiction.
THE ALL-KALE AND CHEWING GUM DIET What’s it all about? All you can eat is kale salad and chewing gum. BDA Verdict: Kale-amity! This diet is extreme, socially isolating, unbalanced, hard to sustain and potentially harmful. Many people get drawn in by so called super foods but no one food can provide all the nutrients you need. Nothing is wrong with kale, but if that is all you consume all day, every day, then problems will arise - it’s all about balance, a healthy relationship with food (not obsession) and variety.
BULLETPROOF DIET What’s it all about? Foods are classified as “bulletproof”, “suspect” or “kryptonite” with rules on timing of meals. BDA Verdict: Whilst the idea of minimising alcohol and processed food is positive, the classification of foods is at odds with health recommendations and lacks evidence. Time restricted eating is also at odds with many lifestyles. The Plan’s 400-calorie “bulletproof coffee” (containing e.g. 2tbsp of butter) does provide lots of energy but few nutrients. Better to go for foods with more nutritional content.
THE SUPER ELIXIR What’s it all about? This is a food supplement aiming to change body tissue from an acidic to an alkaline state. The recommended dose is 2 teaspoons (or 10gs) per day. A month’s supply will set you back - brace yourself - £96 for 300g plus caddy/£62.50 for a 300g pouch. BDA Verdict: How much? The benefits that this costly powder claims to provide can easily be obtained from fruit and vegetables and a balanced diet. Moreover our bodies are naturally capable of regulating acidity levels. Why not save between £750 and £1,152 per year, and spend it on some delicious fruit and vegetables and a “super” holiday instead! n TRIM SECRETS What’s it all about? Trim Secrets is a pill, which claims to suppress appetite whilst boosting the metabolism, when combined with their 5 stage diet plan, which includes a balanced diet of 1,500 calories per day. Regular exercise and avoiding stress is also recommended. BDA Verdict: By consuming 1,500 calories per day, most individuals should lose weight regardless of whether they are taking this pill. The pill has echoes of the grapefruit diet and includes guarana, which is high in caffeine. Beware of pills and potions and make sure you know exactly what you are buying and taking.
NO SUGAR DIET What’s it all about? The Sugar Free Diet excludes all types of sugar and often carbohydrates. BDA Verdict: Not such a sweet deal! Cutting down on free sugars, reducing the amount of sugar you add, and consuming fewer products containing added sugar is positive. However, some versions of the No Sugar Diet promote cutting out all sugar which is not only almost impossible, but would mean eliminating foods like vegetables, fruit, dairy, and nuts – leading to a less than healthy diet. Be aware that these plans can recommend just as sugary alternates such as maple syrup or honey, which is a huge contradiction.
THE ALL-KALE AND CHEWING GUM DIET What’s it all about? All you can eat is kale salad and chewing gum. BDA Verdict: Kale-amity! This diet is extreme, socially isolating, unbalanced, hard to sustain and potentially harmful. Many people get drawn in by so called super foods but no one food can provide all the nutrients you need. Nothing is wrong with kale, but if that is all you consume all day, every day, then problems will arise - it’s all about balance, a healthy relationship with food (not obsession) and variety.
BULLETPROOF DIET What’s it all about? Foods are classified as “bulletproof”, “suspect” or “kryptonite” with rules on timing of meals. BDA Verdict: Whilst the idea of minimising alcohol and processed food is positive, the classification of foods is at odds with health recommendations and lacks evidence. Time restricted eating is also at odds with many lifestyles. The Plan’s 400-calorie “bulletproof coffee” (containing e.g. 2tbsp of butter) does provide lots of energy but few nutrients. Better to go for foods with more nutritional content.
THE SUPER ELIXIR What’s it all about? This is a food supplement aiming to change body tissue from an acidic to an alkaline state. The recommended dose is 2 teaspoons (or 10gs) per day. A month’s supply will set you back - brace yourself - £96 for 300g plus caddy/£62.50 for a 300g pouch. BDA Verdict: How much? The benefits that this costly powder claims to provide can easily be obtained from fruit and vegetables and a balanced diet. Moreover our bodies are naturally capable of regulating acidity levels. Why not save between £750 and £1,152 per year, and spend it on some delicious fruit and vegetables and a “super” holiday instead! n TRIM SECRETS What’s it all about? Trim Secrets is a pill, which claims to suppress appetite whilst boosting the metabolism, when combined with their 5 stage diet plan, which includes a balanced diet of 1,500 calories per day. Regular exercise and avoiding stress is also recommended. BDA Verdict: By consuming 1,500 calories per day, most individuals should lose weight regardless of whether they are taking this pill. The pill has echoes of the grapefruit diet and includes guarana, which is high in caffeine. Beware of pills and potions and make sure you know exactly what you are buying and taking.
Why dieting doesn’t work
New studies show that cutting back on calories slows your body’s metabolism and makes it easier for it to lay down fat. So burn kilos with some outdoor exercise!
If the festive period is likely to leave you reaching for trousers with an elasticated waist, and the New Year comes with a weight loss resolution, beware going on a diet to achieve your goals. New scientific studies reveal how a significant cut in your calorific intake can lead to post-diet weight gain. While cutting back on calories does lead to initial weight loss, it also reduces your body’s energy expenditure, changes your muscle composition from fast to slow twitch, and makes it easier for your body to lay down fat when you resume a normal diet. Research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition tracked the body composition of 32 men over a six-week period. For the first week they ate 50% more than their energy needs, followed by three weeks at half their energy needs, and finished with a fortnight at 50% more than their energy needs. The results showed that the period of half rations led to 6kgs of weight loss, but not all of this was fat. In fact their fat-free mass, which includes skeletal muscle, liver and kidneys decreased more sharply than fat. The harsh diet also led to a significant reduction in resting energy expenditure of -266 kcal/day, a 14% fall in heart rate and a 22% decline in the calories burnt when walking. Basically, this suggests that under reduced calorific dietary conditions the body closes down its calorie-burning functions to conserve energy, making it harder to lose weight. These findings were echoed by a study conducted by Dutch scientists at the University of Maastricht and published in Nutrition & Metabolism. This also found that the body adapts to energy restriction with a decrease in resting and exercise-induced energy expenditure, both during and after the diet. After eight weeks on a low calorie diet, a trial group of 48 men and women’s total energy expenditure had slipped by an average of 17.5%, including a decline of 10.8% at rest and a massive 22.8% fall in activity-induced energy expenditure. Meanwhile, in the Frontiers of Physiology, researchers who semi-starved then re-fed rats found that fat storage accelerated after the period of restricted diet. In effect, muscles stopped burning as much energy. “These energy-sparing effects persist during weight recovery and contribute to catch-up fat,” said the scientists. So if you’re looking to drop a few pounds, the consensus suggests a better long-term strategy is to burn fat through exercise rather than diet your way to weight loss.
If the festive period is likely to leave you reaching for trousers with an elasticated waist, and the New Year comes with a weight loss resolution, beware going on a diet to achieve your goals. New scientific studies reveal how a significant cut in your calorific intake can lead to post-diet weight gain. While cutting back on calories does lead to initial weight loss, it also reduces your body’s energy expenditure, changes your muscle composition from fast to slow twitch, and makes it easier for your body to lay down fat when you resume a normal diet. Research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition tracked the body composition of 32 men over a six-week period. For the first week they ate 50% more than their energy needs, followed by three weeks at half their energy needs, and finished with a fortnight at 50% more than their energy needs. The results showed that the period of half rations led to 6kgs of weight loss, but not all of this was fat. In fact their fat-free mass, which includes skeletal muscle, liver and kidneys decreased more sharply than fat. The harsh diet also led to a significant reduction in resting energy expenditure of -266 kcal/day, a 14% fall in heart rate and a 22% decline in the calories burnt when walking. Basically, this suggests that under reduced calorific dietary conditions the body closes down its calorie-burning functions to conserve energy, making it harder to lose weight. These findings were echoed by a study conducted by Dutch scientists at the University of Maastricht and published in Nutrition & Metabolism. This also found that the body adapts to energy restriction with a decrease in resting and exercise-induced energy expenditure, both during and after the diet. After eight weeks on a low calorie diet, a trial group of 48 men and women’s total energy expenditure had slipped by an average of 17.5%, including a decline of 10.8% at rest and a massive 22.8% fall in activity-induced energy expenditure. Meanwhile, in the Frontiers of Physiology, researchers who semi-starved then re-fed rats found that fat storage accelerated after the period of restricted diet. In effect, muscles stopped burning as much energy. “These energy-sparing effects persist during weight recovery and contribute to catch-up fat,” said the scientists. So if you’re looking to drop a few pounds, the consensus suggests a better long-term strategy is to burn fat through exercise rather than diet your way to weight loss.
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