These days, you can’t hit the gym without seeing uber-fit women pounding the treadmill, powering the bike or making waves in the pool. And you’ve got one sport to thank for that – triathlon. Over the past few years, the triple-threat activity has skyrocketed in popularity. A whopping 680 official triathlons, boasting 154,000 competitors, took place in England alone last year*.
Shocked? You shouldn’t be. Multisport athletes have incredible bodies and boast amazing levels of fitness. After all, training for a three-sport event requires oodles of endurance, burns hordes of fat and tones nearly every muscle in the body. But you don’t have to do triathlon to reap the figure-sculpting rewards – a cross-training programme, consisting of different kinds of workouts like running, yoga and weight training, could help you slim down and tone up. And the variation in activities will keep exercise monotony at bay. Want to be in the shape of your life? Then copy these triathlon-inspired strategies.
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Train Smarter, Not Harder Cross training is not about doing as many sessions as possible – it’s about switching between different workouts while maintaining a sensible training volume. “Quality is more important than quantity,” agrees Georgie Rutherford, half ironman triathlete and Human Race events manager. “Raising your heart rate and getting sweaty is going to get you fitter, faster.” If you already run six times a week, reduce the amount of miles you cover on foot and add swimming, rowing or any other discipline into the equation. “If you want to do more than one activity a day, build up to it gradually,” adds Emma Barraclough, age group triathlete and SiS nutritionist. “Double up on workouts a couple of days per week to give your body time to adapt to the increased daily volume, without putting too much stress on your immune system.”
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Don’t Ditch Strength Work If you’re a cardio queen, chances are you’ve got a good aerobic base. But you can’t stay fit on cardiovascular exercise alone. While cardio will burn fat and build strength, most aerobic activities up injury risk by moving the body in one plane of motion and using isolated muscle groups in a repetitive manner. For a more balanced approach, devote some of your time to strength training. Not keen on weight work? You don’t need to strength train the whole year round – some of the best triathletes do their resistance work in the months during off-season. Up your stamina while building full-body strength by doing a circuit of 15-20 push-ups, planks, squats and rows.
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Mix and Match Intensities Don’t do everything at the same intensity – a mixture of low, moderate and high intensity workouts is key to reducing stress on the body. If aerobic fitness is what you’re after, a long distance workout, mid-distance tempo session and interval training should be your weekly staple workouts. “Try rotating the focus of your sessions and the intensity of each one,” adds Barraclough.
“A heavy arm set in the morning could be complemented by a steady aerobic ride in the evening, or a core workout might follow an interval run. Always avoid putting two high-intensity sessions back-to-back.”
