You can have the best training plan in the world…
Give 100% effort and focus…
And even have a world class coach in your corner…
But if you get injured, your entire season can be over, just like that.
Even if you’re not competing, injuries are a surefire way to sap all your motivation, make training a miserable experience, and put you on the sidelines for months.
Unfortunately, most athletes don’t do anything about injuries until they’re already injured.
Sure, they’ll hammer the rehab work, do their single leg exercises, and work on their stability when something’s actually hurting, and keeping them off the bike, track, or out of the pool.
But the rest of the year?
Strength training’s an afterthought at best.
Which is a big mistake.
Because the studies show us just how vital strength training is.
For example, a study from The Journal of Sports Medicine concluded:
“Research indicates that resistance training promotes growth and/or increases in the strength of ligaments, tendons, tendon to bone and ligament to bone junction strength, joint cartilage and the connective tissue sheaths within muscle.
Studies involving humans and animal models also demonstrate resistance training can cause increased bone mineral content and therefore may aid in prevention of skeletal injuries.”
Another from PLOS one noted:
“...added strength training would improve performance and running economy through altered stiffness of the muscle-tendon complex of leg extensors.”
The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports said:
“Maximal strength training with emphasis on neural adaptations improves strength, particularly rate of force development, and improves aerobic endurance performance by improved work economy.”
While a report from the American College of Sports Medicine said -
“Reducing the incidence of injury by engaging in a resistance training program is as beneficial for the noncompetitive beginner as it is for the professional athlete.”
I could go on.
But I think you get the picture.
The bottom line is:
If you’re not strength training, you’re very likely increasing your risk of injury.
Not to mention missing out on all the other amazing benefits strength training has, such as increasing time to fatigue, boosting your lactate threshold, and simply allowing you to recover faster.
So my question to you is -
Do you strength train?
If so, what do you do?
And if not, what’s your biggest obstacle?
I’d love to know, to see if there’s a way we can help at Brownlee Fitness.
Pete,
CMO, Brownlee Fitness