7 Key Principles of Training for Ironman with Minimum Time Commitment

If you have a deep desire and dream to cross the Ironman finish line, or you're simply a busy person with absolutely no time, passion or desire to neglect work and family for 2 hour pool sessions, 7 hour bike rides, and 3 hour runs, then then this article was written for you.

Here is the key: there are 7 Crucial Principles that triathlon coach and author Ben Greenfield has discovered over the past decade of studying, training, racing and coaching pro and amateur endurance athletes... 

Principle 1 - "HIT Training": Research has proven that high-intensity interval training (HIT) can produce superior cardiovascular and muscular endurance adaptations, allowing you to simulate the endurance enhancing effect of a 3-4 hour training session with as little as 30-40 minutes of scientifically based interval training. A good training plan takes full advantage of this research by telling you exactly how many intervals to do, how long to work, how long to rest, and which days to perform these "get the most bang for your buck" sessions. As an added bonus, short and highly effective gym workout sessions should also feature HIT sessions, instructional exercise videos and exact protocols for ensuring you're in and out of the weightroom as quickly as possible. 

 Principle 2 - "Periodization": Periodization is the practice of splitting a training and an eating year (or in this case, a 9 month period of time) into specific blocks of training and eating, each with a specific purpose. By hammering home skills such as force, power, muscular endurance, explosiveness or speed into separately designed training blocks of key workouts, this type of training allows your triathlon fitness to progress at bullet-speed. Furthermore, to keep your body bulletproof and at razor-sharp recovery capacity, a well designed meal plan should have carbohydrate, protein and fat intake changes along with these alterations in training. The principle of Periodization means that your plan includes precise instructions for swim form drills, cycling skill workouts, running drills, how to calculate your heart rate zones, how to use an optional power meter on your bike, quick and easy to prepare meals, and the dozens of other crucially important details the Ironman triathlete should be incorporating (although most of them don't..they just train 20 hours, eat as much crap as possible, and hope their plan's insane volume will fix it's complete absence of pre-planned training and eating periodization). 

Principle 3 - "Strategic Rest & Test": Most training programs adhere to the ho-hum concept of simply laying off and resting every 4th week. Instead of utilizing this rigid method, Maximal training benefit with minimum time takes advantage of rest weeks by A) combining exact protocols to test your swimming, cycling and running progress with the weeks where you performing the easiest, recovery workouts; andB) giving your body the exact dietary supplements and fueling specifications it will need for the recovery week. So you don't have to worry about randomly jotting your test results onto a notepad, you should have structured logs that you use to keep track of these important tests. This means that during your 9 months of training for Ironman, you'll never go more than just a few weeks without getting to recover, re-test and discover exactly how quickly your body is transforming to dominate Ironman. 

 Principle 4 - "Racing": The fastest path to both physican and mental domination in Ironman triathlon is to race and compete in triathlons during your build-up to the big day. Therefore, a good plan allows for a half-marathon or an Olympic distance race or race simulation, a sprint distance race or race simulation, and a Half-Ironman race or race simulation. By utilizing this principle, your mind will be razor-sharp for race day, and your confidence will soar. Of course, you also have to know what to eat for the week leading up to the race, and you have to know that you won't be that person with severe "nutritional issues" - walking with a stomach cramp or doubled over with diarrhea on the marathon. 

Principle 5 - "No Guesswork": You can't afford to waste any time, to guess about how long to go, how hard to go, or which drills to do, right? You also can't waste your time wondering what to order at the restaurant, how to choose your post-workout meals, and which pills, capsules and powders are the best or a waste of your money. So always have a plan. If it's not 100% clear what you're supposed to be doing in your training, you're going to be more likely to fiddle away your precious hours with "junk miles". This not only steals time from family, fun and work, but also leaves you more likely to make mistakes, to overtrain, or to completely destroy your potential to dominate. Furthermore, if it's not 100% clear how you're supposed to be fueling or hydrating, you're going to be more likely to mess up your workout recovery, unable to exercise at your maximum capacity, and most importantly, unlikely to complete the Ironman (unless you're OK with a slow walk during the marathon). So from day 1 of your training, you must beyond a shadow of a doubt, exactly what you are supposed to do for both exercise and eating. 

 Principle 6 - "Holistic Fueling": Unfortunately many endurance athletes use the rigor of training and a speedy metabolism to justify a diet that is incredibly calorie dense (as it should be), but is also high in foods that can cause damage to human performance, the immune system, the heart, the hormones and overall health. It makes you want to shout, "If your diet wasn't so crappy, maybe you wouldn't have to train so much!" It is very important to understand that with an exercise regimen that is already very difficult for the average human body to absorb, you as a triathlete must adopt a nutrition protocol that supports complete health, and not just “cheap gasoline fuel” for exercise. The solution involves focusing on promoting rapid recovery, fighting inflammation, reducing potential toxins, and powering the immune system. A healthy meal plan includes anti-inflammatory foods and nutrition supplements, avoids common traps while grocery shopping (screenshot below), and gets a perfectly balanced ratios of protein, carbohydrate and fat. When your cells are “firing on all cylinders”, it is really a magical feeling, especially during a long day like Ironman, and this principle is the key to ensuring that you cross the finish line with a smile on your face, knowing that you’ve cared for your body and that you’ve done no damage with your high daily caloric intake. 

 Principle 7 - "Time Flexibility": Let's face it - life happens. As a result, there may be days where you simply can't complete a planned workout or you have to "mix-n-match" workouts in order to attend an important board meeting, make it to your kid's soccer tournament, or go to a holiday party. With your hectic lifestyle in mind, A good plan should be incredibly flexible and can be re-arranged without disrupting the overall effectiveness of the program. For example, one week in your schedule might involve Monday and Wednesday cycling and strength training sessions, Tuesday and Thursday runs and a Friday rest day. But you can easily shift the workouts to separate days, or even choose a different day for a rest day. Even the weekends should be flexible, you get to choose which days to complete the workouts depending on whether Saturday or Sunday is best for you. Perhaps you’ve heard that the “average” age-group or amateur Ironman triathlete cycles 300 miles per week, runs 30 miles per week, and swims 10,000 meters per week. And perhaps you’ve heard stories of the year long sabbaticals from work, the neglected families, the ruined marriages and the obsessive lifestyle that results from these insane attempts to maintain a “normal” lifestyle while training for Ironman. And perhaps you've also noticed that the majority of these individuals walk across the finish line and have a complete lack of confidence and preparation for the race, despite giving up their lives to barely even complete the race! 

A plan actually exists that utilizes each of these 7 Key Principles so that you break the mold and dominate Ironman with just 8-12 weekly training hours! You have to see it to believe it. Check it out here at bengreenfieldfitness

Core Training for Cyclists

The IT Band Friction Fix: Bulletproof Your Knee

A recent study in the National Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research outlined the importance of core training for cyclists. The title of this study was "Relationship Between Cycling Mechanics and Core Stability". The purpose of the study was to determine whether cycling mechanics are affected by core stability. The foundation behind core training for cyclists is that pelvic stabilization maintains a natural curvature of the spine. The core is defined as the collection of primary stabilizing muscles for both the front and the back of the pelvis and lower back. A weak core could potentially inhibit power production, since the pelvis is the "lever" for the psoas and gluteal muscles, both of which are your cycling power muscles. If your lower extremities are not aligned properly and the lever is in an incorrect position, then power is compromised.

During a long distance cycling event such as Ironman, the pelvis is fixed in a constant position, and subjected to tens of thousands of muscle contraction repetitions. If the core breaks down during this time due to fatigue, then the pelvis will shift and wattage will suffer. So even if the legs are ideally prepared and adequately tapered, a cyclist could still have subpar results. For the triathlete, this problem is compounded by the fact that the core is already pre-fatigued by the swim.

So, how can a cyclist prepare the core properly for the rigours of triathlon? Crunches alone will not do the trick, because the low back is supported by the ground, which is not the case while cycling. Here are 3 effective functional core training moves for enhancing pelvic stability and core endurance.

1) Brick Walls
This is a strategy I will use during a long hilly ride or a hill interval workout, and can be performed on your indoor trainer or during an outdoor ride. Climb an entire hill in the standing position. As you climb, try to breathe from deep in your core, just behind the bellybutton. At the same time, visualize your abdomen as a "brick wall", and maintain a tight core, especially as you drive your knees up to your chest. If you do this properly, then every the leg comes past the top tube you'll feel your abdominal muscles contract. For added effect, avoid bouncing on the handlebars.

2) Mountain Climbers
Your focus during this exercise is very similar to the aforementioned Brick Wall, except now you should be off the bike, in a push-up position, driving your right knee up towards the left elbow and vice versa. Again maintain focus on a tight abdomen and deep stomach breathing. You will also need to focus on maintaining a straight line from the shoulders to the wrist, and hips that are close to the ground. Below is a link to a video of me performing the exercise. These can be performed slowly, as in the video, or quickly, mimicking a rate closer to a cycling cadence:
http://www.pacificfit.net/members/Workouts/exercises/MountainClimbers.html

3) Cable Torso Twists
This exercise requires core force production against a cable resistance. It is important in your core conditioning program to include an exercise that introduces external resistance. What is the external resistance that a triathlete's core experiences while cycling? The bike! You have to steer and navigate your bike against the friction of the road, and for an Ironman triathlete especially, this can lead to fatigue over the course of 112 miles. Force transmission from the pelvis to the lower extremities is important, but functional strength and endurance is also required for the upper body force transmission from the core. The cable torso twists is also a great exercise for swimmers who need to focus on hip rotation. Here is a link to the exercise video:
http://www.pacificfit.net/members/Workouts/exercises/CableTorsoTwists.html

Add these moves into your weekly program and you'll begin to feel the results within about 4-6 weeks. A stronger core will enhance a cyclist's force transmission from the hips and pelvis to the lower extremities. In addition, a triathlete riding in the time trial position will likely have more support from the trunk, and thus place less pressure on the shoulder, upper back, and neck muscles when resting on the aerobars. An effective core conditioning program needs to be consistent, and should be performed at least twice per week during the entire training year. A word of caution: avoid any core training up to 48 hours prior to competition, as muscular fatigue and soreness peaks at about the two day mark. 

By the way, for any of you cyclists out there who might be experiencing knee pain, I've found a fantastic website called "The Bulletproof Knee". Check it out here

Training Through Injury

Run With No Pain

As cold weather approaches, joint injuries become more frequent. Not only do we return to fall and winter sports, but the lower temperatures decrease elasticity of tendons and ligaments, resulting in increased susceptibility to injury. My impetus for writing this article is the number of people who have hobbled into my office lately and complained about "not being able to exercise" in the presence of a shoulder, knee, back, or ankle injury.

Nonsense!

While you want to follow the doctor's recommendation for movement about an injured joint, there's no reason that you can't stay in lean, fit shape while rehabilitating. It's just going to take a modification of your training program - the key being to keep stress off the affected area. Try the following workout programs with these 4 common injuries:

1. Ankle & Foot Injuries

• Perform the following workout 3x/week, with 48 hours rest between each workout.

• Complete 15 repetitions for each exercise.

• Complete the two exercises back to back with minimal rest, then move on to the cardio booster.

• Complete 60 seconds for each cardio booster.

• Move 3-4x through these 3 stations (exercise 1 + exercise 2 + cardio booster)

• Then move on to the next triple set!

• Perform 30-60 minutes non-weight bearing cardio, like swimming or cycling, on the non-weight lifting days.

◦ Machine Leg Extensions + Machine Leg Curls + Bicycle Cardio Booster

◦ Incline Dumbbell Chest Press + Lat Pulldown + Rowing Machine or Elliptical Cardio Booster

◦ Stability Ball Push-Up + Single Arm Dumbbell Row + Bicycle Cardio Booster

◦ Weighted Crunches + Hanging Leg Raise + Bicycle Cardio Booster

2. Knee Injuries

• Complete the following series of exercises as a circuit, moving from one exercise to the next with minimal rest.

• Do the entire circuit 3-4x.

• Complete 10 repetitions for each exercise.

• Do Circuit 1 and Circuit 2 on alternating days

◦ Circuit 1:

▪ Seated Overhead Shoulder Press

▪ Pull-Up or Assisted Pull-Up

▪ Lying Dumbbell Chest Press

▪ Seated Row

▪ Incline Dumbbell Chest Press

▪ Lat Pulldown

◦ Circuit 2

▪ Seated Med Ball Torso Twist

▪ Med Ball Crunch

▪ Side Plank Raises

▪ Med Ball Push-Ups

▪ 5 Second Front Plank Hold

▪ Corkscrew Rotations in Push-Up Position

3. Shoulder Injuries

• Complete the following mini-circuits 5x through every day for three days. do #1 on Day 1, #2 on Day 2, #3 on Day 3. Take one day rest, then repeat.

◦ Mini-Circuit 1:

▪ 2 minute bicycle at 100%

▪ 20 Barbell Squats

▪ 20 Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts

◦ Mini-Circuit 2:

▪ 2 minute elliptical at 100%

▪ 20 Incline Crunches

▪ 20 Low Back Extensions

◦ Mini-Circuit 3:

▪ 2 minute treadmill at 100%

▪ 20 Lunge Jumps

▪ 20 Horizontal Jumps

4. Low Back Injuries

• Complete the following circuit 3x during the week.

• Perform 30 seconds for each exercise, then rest 15 seconds and move on.

• Do the entire circuit 4-6x.

• Complete 30-60 minutes of non-weight bearing cardio on the non-weightlifting days.

◦ Machine Chest Press

◦ Lat Pulldown

◦ Machine Shoulder Press

◦ Seated Rows

◦ Stability Ball Squats

◦ Machine Leg Extensions

◦ Machine Leg Curls

Speaking of low back injuries, I found a great book called "Run With No Pain" that gives advice to instantly treat low back pain in runners, cyclists, and swimmers. You can check it out here:
Run with No Pain

Functional Training That Gets Results

Shape21: The Complete Lean Body Manual

Many people spend the majority of their workout time building non-functional muscles that rely on hinges and bolts to function properly. That's right - I'm talking about working out on weight machines. 

Weight machines have a strong application towards: 1) helping to provide stability and support for a weak muscle (i.e., just starting into an exercise routine or coming off a long break); 2) helping to provide a safe motion when balance is a factor (i.e., individuals with neuromuscular deficits); or 3) assisting in fitness maintainance during an injury (i.e., performing leg extensions when rehabilitating a sprained ankle). The rest of the time, people who work out on weight machines are simply building muscle that has no significant functional application. 

By this, I mean that none of the small, stabilizing muscles have to work to support the major muscle groups that are exerted during a repetition on a weight machine, because the machine is providing the stabilization. Therefore, the major muscle groups are strengthened, but when an individual is no longer supported by the weight machine, they simply have a muscle that can provide a strong contraction with little to no support from the other stabilizing muscles. While this is completely counterproductive for an athlete, it can also cause injury to the average fitness enthusiast.

Take, for example, the machine shoulder press, an exercise in which you sit your butt in a back-supported chair and press overhead two handles attached to a lever. Normally, in an everday situation, if you were to press a weight overhead, or exert a force in that direction, you would not be in a seated position and the item you are pressing overhead (i.e., a milk crate, a child, a basketball, etc.) would not be supported by a lever. Furthermore, the machine moves straight up and down, whereas a free object moves in countless planes of motion (i.e., up and down, side to side, around, etc.). The absence of multiple ranges or planes of motion basically means that you are getting a very strong contraction from the deltoid (the main "overhead presser"), while completely ignoring the rotational muscles (i.e., the rotator cuff), the stabilizing muscles (i.e., the neck), and the supporting muscles (i.e. the feet, legs, hips, torso, etc.). 

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So let's say you're out playing catch and throw a baseball. The deltoid is able to produce a very strong force, but if the rotator cuff, or other supporting muscles such as the low back, are not in the same shape, you're either going to tear your rotator cuff or throw your low back out. And that, my friends, is why weight machines can often cause more harm than good (not to mention the fact that they burn up to 1/4 the calories of the exercises I'm going to talk about next).

I'd like to briefly introduce you to functional exercises, the alternative to working out with machines. The best way to think about functional exercises is to picture the primal man or woman (we're talking caveman type). Functional movement patterns simulate many of the same movements our "primal ancestors" would have had to perform in order to survive in an unpredictable environment, whether tracking a wild animal (or being chased by one!), lifting objects such as logs and rocks, or fighting via swinging, throwing, and pulling (such as a bow). 

Let's split these functional movement patterns into seven basic types.

-Squatting: Involves bending at the knees and the hips, while keeping the back straight, and lifting a weight from the ground or pushing a weight that is placed on the back or chest. Imagine your primal ancestors squatting down and lifting a heavy rock to dig for grubs, or using the legs and hips to lift a heavy log up onto a primal structure. Exercise examples: Barbell or Dumbbell Squat, Squat to Press.

-Bending: Involves flexing and extending at the waist, preferably in a standing position. Often, this type of movement would have been combined with a squatting, lifting, or rotating motion, such as hoisting a heavy rock out of a field. Exercise examples: Medicine Ball Overhead or Side Throw, Deadlifts.

-Lunging: Involves stepping forward with just one leg, and bending that leg down. This motion would have been used for either traversing terrain (i.e., carrying hunted game over a log), or stepping into a throw (such as hoisting a spear). Exercise examples: Walking Lunge, Barbell or Dumbbell Weighted Lunge, Medicine Ball Lunge with Twist.

-Pushing: Involves using the arms, chest, and shoulders to force a weight out and away or up from the body, an action that might have been used, for example, when herding animals, pushing a plow, or hoisting a weight overhead. Exercise examples: Standing Cable Chest Press, Push-up, Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press.

-Pulling: Involves using the arms, chest, and shoulders, as well as the legs, to drag or pull a weight towards the body. This type of motion would have been used to pull heavy game animals, row a watercraft, pull a bow, or quickly pull onto a tree branch for safety. Exercise examples: Standing High, Mid, and Low Cable Rows, Pull-ups.

-Twisting: Involves turning and rotating with the torso to apply a force, and would have usually been combined with most of the other primal movement patterns for actions such as  pulling, pushing, or lunging. For instance, a twist combine with a lunge and push would comprise a throwing motion, such as hoisting an object like a spear or heavy rock. Exercise examples: Medicine Ball Throws, Cable Torso Twists, Medicine Ball Woodchoppers.

-Gait: Involves moving over terrain, whether walking, jogging, or sprinting. This action would often have been interspersed with other movement patterns, such as walking to track a wild animal, sprinting to hunt it down, then twisting, lunging, and pushing to throw or thrust a weapon. Exercise examples: Sprint to Medicine Ball Throw, Dumbbell Lift and Press to Power Skip.

As you can see, there are countless ways that these movement patterns can be combined to design a workout routine, but there are only a few *optimum* choices. I've actually found a book that is gives  the knowledge to put these movement patterns together into a routine that allows for the ideal balance between muscle groups, efficient caloric burning, fat utilization, and metabolic boosting, and injury avoidance. 

Not only this, but it also includes grocery shopping lists, a nutritional plans, and a range of functional workout programs from beginner to intermediate to advanced. You can check it out by clicking here: bengreenfieldfitness

Imagine how much fitter you could be by incorporating all these patterns into your routine, while only using weight machines now and then for some of the reasons mentioned in the beginning of this article. And by the way, the book I've found really works. Check it out here: bengreenfieldfitness.

100 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

"5 Reasons To Take Dietary Supplements"

So if you eat your fruits and vegetables, expose yourself to adequate sunlight, get plenty of sleep, and stay well hydrated, your body shouldn't really need a supplemental source of vitamins and minerals, right? Wrong. Here are 5 powerful reasons that you need to take a multi-vitamin, no matter how healthy your lifestyle may be (by the way, stay tuned towards the end of the article, where I tell you about a good way to read more on the best multi-vitamin sources).


1. Nutrient depletion in the soil. Modern farming techniques utilize fertilizers that actually deplete the soil of essential nutrients. Agriculture relies on the elements in the soil for absorption of proper amounts of minerals, and when this process is interrupted, the plant does not contain essential minerals and cannot form essential vitamins. And if the plant doesn't have it then you're not going to get it from eating the plant!

2. Your ability to absorb nutrients from food actually decreases as you age. So while growing children should absolutely be taking a multivitamin to support healthy tissue and bone formation, supplementation becomes equally important for the older population. Sure, you could just eat more food, but this introduces a problem with caloric balance. Beware that many medications also interfere with proper nutrient absorption.

3. Commercial harvesting, shipping processes, long term food storage, processing, and addition of preservatives degrades the nutrient content of food. Therefore, unless you're eating a very fresh plant, it is a far different species at consumption than it was when initially harvested. In addition, compounds added to the food during many of these processes, such as MSG, saccharine, nutrasweet, splenda, colorings, and flavors will increase your body's need for nutrients to deal with these damaging synthetic derivatives.

4. Pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals found in the modern food supply are combined with chemicals in water, environmental contamination from elements such as degraded plastic, air pollution from carbon monoxide, lead and mercury. These synergestic elements vastly increase our need for extra vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to combat formation of free radicals and the attack upon our metabolism and immune system.

5. Exercise increases nutrient needs. Are you an athlete or frequent exerciser? The vast amount of extra oxygen and energy used by active individuals will necessitate nutrient consumption that far exceeds the typical RDA of the average population. Consuming just the stated RDA can actually limit your athletic performance.

So what are you waiting for? Get your hands on a multi-vitamin and high quality dietary supplement today.

I've actually found a fantastic book that tells you exactly which types of multi-vitamins and dietary supplements will give you the most "bang for your buck" from a metabolic and health standpoint. It is called "100 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism" and you can get it by clicking here: 

Get the Triathlon Package

The Triathlon Dominator Package

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100 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

"How to Re-Program Your Fat Genetics And Unlock The Secret to Having A Screaming High Metabolism That Blowtorches Bad Calories."

Run with No Pain




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The Strong Triathlete

Bulletproof Knee: The IT Band Friction Fix

The Low Carbohydrate Diet For Triathletes