TRAINING BREAKDOWN
"Take away better performance, this is for a better life."
By Emma O'Toole
Hi there,
We’ve all been there… feeling a bit more achy in the mornings, a bit clumsier on our runs and rides, needing an extra day or two to recover from our long runs and rides, feeling as if you’re running slower and not getting as much power through the pedals.
Yes, the dreaded natural ageing process which begins after 30. You may well be reading this newsletter approaching your fifth, sixth, even either decade and can remember that shift in how you felt towards your training. Maybe it even caused you to have to step away from running and cycling for a period of time.
Reading this newsletter, you’ll certainly be aware of the benefits that strength training can have on your running and cycling, from improved training and performance, resilience to injury and recovery to name just a few.
Strength training for runners and cyclists of any age is invaluable. Period.
However for you reading this aged over 30, it’s even more important.
and here are 5 reasons why:
1. You’ve started to naturally lose muscle mass.
Sacropenia is loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength due to the natural ageing process. It’s inevitable and it begins at 30. It is estimated that you can lose as much as 3-5% per decade, so from turning 60 you’ve potentially lost 15% from when you were 30!
Strength training slows down that decline and helps support your running and cycling. It’s often why we see so many runners and cyclists set personal bests, exceeding when they were in their 20’s, because they have the strength and power to sustain their training and performance oriented goals.
2. Most running and cycling overuse injuries occur over 30.
Numerous studies have shown that overuse injuries in runners and cyclists occur over the age of 30. Research shows that 34-36 is the typical age for runners and 45 is the typical age for cyclists. Now whilst strength training isn’t a magic wand that we can wave to prevent you from ever getting injured, it is a proven practice and research supported intervention to help reduce your risk and keep you doing what you love to do the most long into the future.
Most overuse injuries for both runners and cyclists occur in the lower limbs, which isn’t too much of a surprise. However, injuries can present here due to weaknesses and imbalances in other areas of your body. In fact most injuries are multifactorial and despite manifesting in one area are caused issues in the rest of your kinetic chain. This is why your strength sessions should work on strengthening more than just your legs.
The Achilles tendon is one of the most common injury sites in runners, especially those beyond 30, the working theory behind this is that, as we naturally age, our tendons lose some of their ability to generate and transfer force to the muscle. They lose some of their natural “stiffness” - this is where plyometrics have become very popular in recent years with exercises like pogo jumps to develop the stretch shortening cycle and improve tendon stiffness. Plyometrics are a great addition to your strength sessions.
3. Improve your body’s mechanics.
Fall prevention might not be top of your list at 30 or even 60, but having the balance and coordination to avoid tripping on the trails and rolling your ankle should be. When you’re coming to the end of a long run and ride, do you ever get that feeling where you’re ready to stop, you’re feeling pretty cooked- maybe you didn’t fuel enough? I know I’ve certainly experienced that wooziness before. At this point, you’re at an even higher risk of trips, slips, crashes, falls and your reaction time is slower. This is where you want to have the skills ingrained into your nervous system to help reduce those risks.
A well rounded strength training program develops your neuromuscular coordination, as well as, your postural control and gait stability.
4. Improve your body’s composition.
After turning 30, we often hear tales of individuals becoming more concerned with their body composition. Testosterone takes a sharp decline for men after 30, 60-70% midlife women experience weight gain as a symptom of menopause and this can come earlier in life due to hormonal changes from perimenopause.
This combined with our first point regarding the natural loss of muscle mass can make the weight even harder to shift as each pound of muscle burns roughly 6 calories per day, whereas each pound of body fat burns roughly 3-4 calories per day. If you were to lose 10lbs of lean muscle mass over 5 years, your basal metabolic rate- the number of calories you burn as your body performs basic life-sustaining functions to keep you alive would have decreased due to the loss of lean muscle mass.
Strength training develops your lean muscle mass and in turn your metabolic rate.
5. Your peak bone mass has been reached at 30 and it begins to decline at 35.
Low bone density is associated with a higher risk of fractures, be this impact breaks from crashes or falls, or overuse injuries- commonly seen in runners as stress fractures. Bone density naturally starts to decline after the age of 35 and for some the loss can occur quicker than for others leading to conditions like osteoporosis, a condition where simple acts such as coughing and sneezing can cause fractures. Biological women after the menopause are more at risk of conditions like osteoporosis as oestrogen levels fall and the female hormone oestrogen is essential for healthy bones. Its loss can lead to a rapid decline in bone density.
Low bone density in endurance athletes exists in both sexes, whilst the research has favoured biological women due to hormonal imbalances being easier to detect in women than men, for instance loss of menstruation. Nonetheless it effects both genders.
Strength training, by stressing your bones, improves your bone density, slows the natural decline and promotes healthy bones.
This is why my 1-1 strength coaching has had great success in runners and cyclists across the globe. They often get in touch for injury and performance reasons, yet cannot believe the positive benefits strength training has on their running and cycling- plus the savings their making from trips to the physio! If you’re looking for a strength training plan truly tailored for you, please contact me here and I’ll get back to you to see if it’s a good fit for us both.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for consistency and a starting point with your strength training with a plan that is made for runners and cyclists, like you please get in touch as I have just the thing for you!
Have a great day!
Thank you!
Emma x
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