The Benefits of Strengthening and Lengthening Your Body

Laying in the grass, looking up at the beautiful blue sky while holding that hamstring stretch you think, “Ahh, another workout in the bank! What a great day! A long endurance ride followed by a solid 45 minute run. Okay, time to shower and eat.” So you head inside and tackle the other tasks on your to-do list. Tomorrow brings a long run and perhaps a swim. As a triathlete, your days are filled with swimming biking and running. With your busy schedule and all of this exercise, how often are you really taking the time to stretch? How often are you strengthening your core?

Strengthening and lengthening the body is an often overlooked task for most endurance athletes. However, the benefits of spending just a few short sessions a week on stretches and strengthening exercise from Yoga, Pilates and Triathilates™ are immense.

Many endurance athletes are turning to workouts like Yoga, Pilates and other forms of core conditioning because they see significant performance gains due to increased flexibility, improved core strength and injury prevention.

There are various types of Yoga with its roots in religion and spirituality. Yoga typically uses a combination of physical postures (known as asanas) and breathing techniques (known as pranayama) as well as meditation to purify the mind, body and spirit. The word “Yoga” means ‘Union,’ a definition which fits well with its ability to center the mind and the body. Yoga allows the mind to enter a relaxed and meditative state, while also pushing the body to gain increased flexibility, strength and balance. Athletes use restorative Yoga sessions to put the mind and body back in balance by deeply opening tight muscle groups through deep stretches and various poses performed in a relaxing environment. Other short Yoga sequences are often used during a warm-up and/or cool-down to center the mind and steady the pulse. Yoga poses increase range of motion which supports and stabilizes the skeletal system, further preventing injury. The concentration and mind-body connection gained in Yoga can enhance the mental focus needed in endurance sports training and racing. Combined with slow breathing, relaxation and meditative aspects of Yoga, it can be a great way to relax and unwind. Yoga alleviates stress, muscle tension and many aches and pains as well as improving flexibility, muscular strength, posture, circulation and general well-being. With all of these benefits athletes are able to train harder, get faster, prevent injury and stay focused!

Pilates and core conditioning are also proving to be advantageous for the endurance athlete. Pilates was founded by Josef Pilates back in the early 1900s and continues today because it’s benefits are numerous from increasing flexibility and core strength to improving physical fitness and declining stress. Pilates teaches control of the muscles with the mind. Pilates builds strength in the body’s core postural muscles which support the spine. Each exercise requires awareness by control of breathing, spine position and torso muscles thereby creating a total body workout without impact. During Pilates movements, the mind and body connect, focused breathing provides a relaxed environment and controlled positions heighten the sense of awareness as each core muscle is used to strengthen and lengthen in position. Pilates tones and realigns the body improving flexibility, strength and posture. Athletes use Pilates and other core conditioning exercise to develop a strong core, lengthen the body’s muscles, reduce the chance of injury, realign the body, even muscular imbalances and develop a sense of focus, calm and relaxation. Because Pilates improves posture, helps prevent injury, and increases energy, strength and flexibility, athletes see dramatic increases in speed, power output and performance. Athletes become more agile and less likely to be injured as they even out their muscular imbalances and with all of the other benefits they continue to be able to train harder, get faster, prevent injuries and stay focused!

Triathilates™ is a new combination of Pilates and core conditioning specifically for endurance athletes. Triathilates™ uses several basic mat Pilates exercises and various other core conditioning and balance movements to create a workout specifically to improve muscular imbalances of triathletes and sharpen mental focus. Triathilates™ positions stretch and strengthen the muscles of the body that often become imbalanced by triathletes. Swimming, biking and running motions mostly occur in the Saggital plane of motion. As such, endurance athletes often over develop certain muscles such as the quadriceps and under develop other muscle groups like the abductors and adductors. Together, the over and under developed muscles create imbalances that may eventually lead to injury, biomechanical inefficiencies and wasted effort. Doing Triathilates™ just one to two times a week for 30 to 60 minutes will greatly reduce the risk of injury and make the athlete muscularly balanced, strong and flexible.

As an endurance athlete we need to keep the mileage up, but adding things like Yoga, Pilates, core conditioning and Triathilates™, can take our training and racing to a whole new level!

Coach Kelly
www.energyfitnesscoaching.com