As many of us get ready for triathlon season, or in my case, ready for the biggest race of my life...giving birth...strength training is very important. It falls off the to-do list when the priorities shift to longer swim/bike/run sessions and 15-20 hour training weeks start becoming difficult to maintain your work/social balance and the ability of adding 1 hour of strength training or 1 hour of a vinyasa class becomes severely low on the totem pole. So, now is the time - Jan, Feb, March when you are building your bases or just before building your base. I started doing TRX last year in the winter. I was in between trying cross-fit and TRX and well, TRX was offered at the gym and I heard nothing but awesome things from one of my favorite fast tri friends, Hailey , who was raving about using it. I used to be a gym-rat before all this triathlon business took over my life, where I had actual muscles and looked cut and really had a six pack and it wasn't just because I was under 30. So in the strive to get a remotely cut look back I added TRX and plyometric training and really felt that this helped with my PR season of 2012 and a somewhat improved body from what is was looking like over the past few years when I started tris.
In the wake of finding out I was prego I did some research. I found out there was a legit study that showed that strength training 3x per week equated in faster weight loss after the baby was born, which is actually a "no-duh" moment but sometimes you need to read about it again. I also realized that the ab/core work you are allowed to do made TRX training a viable option. I talked to trainer Eric and he said as we go we may need to modify but we should be good.
If you don't know what TRX is - it is a new form of torture suspension training that was built on the philosophy that your muscles are all interconnected and nothing is entirely isolated. With TRX you move on multiple planes and in my opinion helps tremendously in all three of the triathlon disciplines.
Here is a short video of what encompasses my 45 minute sessions of TRX from the #DayInTheLife You Tube series from my trainer Eric (NOTE - ERIC AND SAQUIB MAKE EVERYTHING LOOK SIMPLE - IT'S NOT)
If you have the opportunity check it out, I promise it will help with your next swim session, hill workout etc.
Lastly Eric has another recent total body workout he posted on You Tube so check it out!! It will hurt but so worth it!
