During the last two months I've had the opportunity to attend 3 conferences all involving sport science and/or coaching. The first was USA Track and Field's Podium Education Project in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Next I attended East Tennessee State University's 5th Annual Sport Science and Coaches College. And this past weekend I went down to Charlotte for the National Distance Summit at Queen's University...Each of these meetings were unique, informative, and definitely worth the trip; however amongst these different groups of people I found myself on different sides of the same argument.
The attendees at the Podium Education Project and the National Distance Summit were mostly track and field coaches. Coaches from all event groups (distance, sprints/hurdles, jumps, throws) were in Virginia Beach for the Podium Education Project, while the large majority of those in attendance for the National Distance Summit were distance coaches (go figure). The 5th Annual Sport Science and Coaches College was well attended by coaches and scientists from Strength and Conditioning backgrounds. At all of these symposia questions were raised about the place for resistance training in a distance runners training program.
Slowly more distance coaches are moving toward using heavy barbell training and plyometrics with their athletes. Coach Bill Aris, from Fayetteville Manlius High School in New York, spoke about the importance of heavy barbell training for his athletes. He's cited many of the works I've included in prior posts that speak of enhancing stretch shortening cycle function and neuromuscular recruitment. Maintenance of bone mineral density and improving overall athleticism are pretty nice side effects as well. While he was speaking I noticed some coaches in the room rolling their eyes when he claimed that 3 sets of 5 squats with heavy weight will not put on muscle mass and that sets of 10-15 may actually be detrimental. This goes against the old school approach of lifting for muscle endurance with distance runners. I would definitely say Coach Aris is on the right track with his advice and his team's results speak for themselves...In most cases I do think endurance sport coaches could benefit from incorporating more (or better designed) resistance training programs into the overall training plan for their athletes.
During the Sport Science and Coaches College a prominent Sport Scientist in this country suggested that endurance athletes should replace 1/3 of their overall training with resistance training. This conference wasn't just a bunch of ex-football strength coaches talking about getting big. These speakers are all very well-respected internationally for their contributions to the fields of Strength and Conditioning as well as Sport Science. Definitely a group of intelligent people who each of us (no matter what sport we coach) could learn a lot from. Now I must admit I'm all for resistance training with endurance athletes, but removing 1/3 of their endurance training seems crazy to me. At the very least we're neglecting specificity. Anyone who is familiar with distance running in this country knows that we were at an all time low during the 90s. During this time period we moved away from the high mileage training that was prevalent during the 70s and early 80s (see successes [medals] of Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter, etc). Even with training and technology advances during the 90s we saw substantially fewer athletes qualify for our U.S. Trials in the Marathon when compared to the 70s and 80s. I've spoken with a number of U.S. National and Elite coaches who would agree that our neglect for high mileage led to this demise. During the latter part of the 90s and into the present our elite coaches have transitioned back to a more aerobic based training program and records are starting to fall again...
I know, I know it's just anecdotal evidence, BUT there seems to be a trend...
I know, I know the literature supports resistance training for endurance athletes, BUT how many of these studies have employed practical methodologies that are applicable to coaches?
I'm definitely not saying endurance athletes should never lift a weight. I also don't think removing 1/3 of a runner's total aerobic training and replacing it with resistance training is the way to go either. As is always the case we need to make decisions on an individual basis. Each athlete has unique needs that probably fall somewhere on a continuum between the eye rolling anti-lifting high school coach and the over-zealous weight training sport scientist...
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