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Strength for the Female Athlete
7 Plays2 minutes ago
Coaches Chantelle and Alexa make the case that strength training is non-negotiable for female mountain athletes. They debunk the myth that lifting makes women bulky, distinguish between hypertrophy and functional strength, and walk through the three phases of strength programming: max strength, muscular endurance, and maintenance. Special attention is given to eccentric strength, an often-overlooked element critical for the downhill demands of mountaineering, trail running, and skiing. Learn how to get started as a beginner, common training mistakes, smart recovery practices, and how to measure progress beyond the weight on the bar. Get practical, accessible options for fitting strength work into a busy life. No matter your experience level or life stage, the best time to start is now.
Special Offer to Listeners: Receive free four week samples of our most popular training plans, visit uphillathlete.com/letsgo
Write to us at coach@uphillathlete.com
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Transcript
Benefits of Strength Training for Athletes
00:00:00
Speaker
I think the stronger we get, the more potential we have, right? Like, I mean, I certainly couldn't run 250 miles without strength training. My body physically cannot do that. So the stronger we are, the more capable we are and less injury prone, which is often an inhibitor of a lot of the sports that we want to do.
00:00:26
Speaker
If you're enjoying the show and want to take the next step in your training, join our newsletter and receive a free four-week sample training plan. Head on over to UphillAthlete.com slash Let's Go, and once you sign up, you'll instantly get a link to try out some of our most popular training plans.
00:00:43
Speaker
It's a great way to get a feel for how we train our athletes for big mountain goals. Check it out UphillAthlete.com slash Let's Go. UphillAthlete.com slash L-E-T-S-G-O.
Integrating Strength Training for Female Athletes
00:00:58
Speaker
Welcome back to the Uphill Athlete Podcast. I'm Chantelle Robitaille and I'm here again with Alexa Hassman. Today we're going to get into a bit of nitty gritty and we're going to talk about how to build in strength training as a female mountain athlete.
00:01:14
Speaker
Alexa, welcome back. Hi, thank you so much for having me I'm excited to be back. Yeah, it's going to be great. So in our ah we're continuing a similar theme ah from Dr. Christine Theodorovic's quote, ability is the measure of permission.
00:01:31
Speaker
And if you listened to that podcast, I encourage you to think about what's something that you are going to stop waiting for permission about. And I think strength training is probably one of the best ones that I can think of because our physical strength really determines what what we can do in the mountains, how we move in the mountains, how well we move in the mountains, and how well we can continue to do all the awesome things that we like to do.
00:02:02
Speaker
So Alexa, let's just put this up there right front and center. Why is strength training a non-negotiable for female mountain athletes? Oh my gosh, for so many reasons. One, bone health.
00:02:16
Speaker
Two, maintaining ligament strength. Three, supporting our aerobic system. ah All of the things, right? Strength training is just a pivotal part of our training and should not be forgotten to about, especially as we hit different life stages.
00:02:33
Speaker
Yeah, most
Phases and Misconceptions of Strength Training
00:02:34
Speaker
definitely. I will say for me now in my 50s, strength training is a non-negotiable. If I look at my schedule for the week and there's something that I need to cut out, um it's not going to be strength training. And I will say when I was younger, i could probably get away with it more and I could lean a little more heavily into running and cycling and the other things that I was doing. Whereas now,
00:02:58
Speaker
um I realize at this stage of life as a post-menopausal woman, I cannot – it is a non-negotiable for me now So I think this will be a really great conversation. And I hope ah for those listening who um have not done any strength training or not sure what to do about strength training, I hope that we can help give you some guidance. And I hope that if you feel like up to this point that strength training isn't very important for you, I hope we can change your minds, even if you're not a female athlete.
00:03:34
Speaker
um This is for all athletes, really.
00:03:39
Speaker
So let's start from the beginning. Alexa, what are some of the key benefits um of strength training that are particularly important for any athlete involved in mountain sports?
00:03:51
Speaker
Well, the biggest thing is injury ah prevention, right? The stronger our muscles are, the more they're going to support our joints, the more they're going to support our ligaments and tendons. So that's going to really prevent us from getting injured. It's also going to increase our bone density, which is going to also decrease our likelihood to get injured. So that'd be our number one thing. It's going to help with hormonal shifts. It's going to help regulate that. It's going to help increase our ability to have an aerobic performance because our muscles are supporting that.
00:04:19
Speaker
um Our muscles also hold our glycogen stores. So that's another big thing that muscles do that is really important. So really, they do all the things and strength training is super important for all that.
00:04:31
Speaker
So why do you think strength training kind of comes as an afterthought for a lot of people? I mean, it's obviously so fundamental to everything we do, to how we move, to the efficiency of our movement, to how much power output we're going to have doing these types of activities. Why is it such a side note for most people?
00:04:54
Speaker
I think one, as endurance athletes, we get um really into the aerobic side of our training. That's like the the joy of it for a lot of us. And strength training can be a little bit less comfortable or out of our knowledge base, right?
00:05:09
Speaker
And so i think there's a hurdle with that. Like, I don't really know what I'm doing in the gym or I don't really know what to do for strength training.
Strength Training for Mountain Sports
00:05:16
Speaker
That's number one hurdle. And then two is the societal expectations, especially around female athletes. of I don't want to be buff um I don't want to be bulky. I don't want to look like ah a bodybuilder.
00:05:30
Speaker
That's what I hear a lot. o Yeah, well, there's one myth we can put to rest, right? it would We'd have to work extremely hard to look like to look like bodybuilders. And thankfully, I think you know there are a lot of people that that that is changing. you know We're even seeing this now in you know where it used to be that we would see like Hollywood female characters just looking like sticks and, you know, not looking like they had much muscle, but you look at now, you know, you see a lot of them that do look, you know, do look more, um, athletic and that is, you know, considered to be a ah healthy look rather than being something that looks like a man or, or whatever, Um, and I think, you know, that's something, a myth to put to rest. Obviously we'd have to work extremely hard to look that way. And for female bodybuilders who have a lot of muscle mass, there's a lot of very specific intentional things that they're doing to look that way. That's not what we're talking about, right? We're, we're talking about, um,
00:06:36
Speaker
improving muscle muscle capacity, um improving muscle resilience so that we can do the things that we want to do for longer. Particularly when we think about a lot of the mountain sports, they are endurance sports. It's it's not that that you're doing this thing for an hour. We're doing this for many hours. In some cases, we're doing this for many days in a row, right? So The stronger we are, the the stronger our muscles are, the more resilient our bodies are, the more um we can we can be able to do these things day after day, year after year, hopefully decade after decade too.
00:07:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think and ah something that people need remember is there's a difference between hypertrophy, which is muscle size, and muscle strength. And we're not going for hypertrophy. Hypertrophy is a different way of training. That's what bodybuilders are doing. We're doing muscle strength. We want to be strong. And that doesn't necessarily mean that our muscle is going to look the biggest, ah but we're going to be able to move our body differently.
00:07:39
Speaker
Right. I think that's the biggest thing. It's not about how we're not looking to see how big our muscles can grow. Maybe for some people, they're concerned about that. But a typical math athlete is not looking for that. It's more we're thinking about like, how how much stronger can we be? How much longer can we do something for? We're looking for um maybe some people want to have their muscles be bigger. But for the most part, we want to be able to be stronger, to be able to to do something repetitively over and over again. And having strong muscles and being able to move those muscles fully through their full range of motion is what's going to allow us to ride our bikes for many hours at a time or hike for a long time
Seasonal Strength Training Regimens
00:08:24
Speaker
or... carry a heavy pack on our back for a long time or run 200 miles if that's your thing.
00:08:32
Speaker
So let's think about the different um ways that muscles are important for us, right? they're Obviously, they're important for our metabolism. They're important for ah moving us around. They're important important for our hormones. and They're important for energy production.
00:08:48
Speaker
Lots of different things. When we think about strength training, you mentioned there's, you know, bodybuilding. That may be one type of strength training. And we have many different types of strength training and maybe just like um with a having a goal in the mountains. Your strength training may have a goal as well. So hypertrophy, having bigger muscles could be a goal. um Being able to carry a heavy load for a sustained uphill effort, that could be a goal. And the way that you train for those two different things are going to be are going to be very different. So if we think about, let's mountain-specific strength training, all Alexa, what are some things that come to mind that might be different from strength training for other purposes like CrossFit or high rocks or um even just someone that wants to look good at the beach?
00:09:45
Speaker
A silly reason, but that's still a reason for some people. Yeah. So one is we are training not the superficial muscles. That's going to be the number one thing for like the beach body versus the athletic body, right? We're not as concerned about having the superficial like six pack or eight pack. We want to have functional core muscles. So that means working more of like ah by And then eccentric exercise.
00:10:14
Speaker
ah the central part of our body next you have muscular endurance we want to be able to carry our body weight and extra weight for a really long time which is very different than like crossfit or higher rocks during that stuff which is more explosive of power movement and then um ecentric strength is like the big one because eccentric strength is when you're putting stress across the elongation of the muscles. So like when we're going downhill in our mountaineering or trail running or skiing or any of those things, we're in an eccentric position. And that's something that you don't really encounter as much when you're doing some of these more explosive things. You're not consistently in a eccentric position. So that's one of the biggest things that we need to treat as uphill athletes.
00:10:57
Speaker
I think that's something that a lot of people don't think about as uphill athletes, that we are also downhill athletes. What goes on must come down. And so for, you know, for a lot of people, maybe particularly I think about people who are living in ah an area that's a little bit flatter and they don't have access to natural hills. Right. So for those of us who have natural hills, what comes up does come down.
00:11:18
Speaker
But for someone who's training um for a more mountainous objective that lives in a flatter area or they don't have access to trails, Very easily, they're doing a lot of uphill training on stair climbers. They're doing a lot of maybe incline treadmill work. And then they do a lot of that stuff. They feel very prepared, but they haven't done anything to prepare for that eccentric loading.
00:11:40
Speaker
And, you know, they haven't done anything to prepare for What happens to knee stability when they've got a heavy pack on? What about the braking forces when they're running downhill and they're in the backseat or even downhill skiing?
00:11:54
Speaker
So when we're thinking about mountain-specific strength training, we have to think about moving in all planes. We have to think about also dynamic movement, right? We're not just forward and back. We have to think about uphill as well as downhill.
00:12:10
Speaker
So we really want to think about, you know, think about all the different movements that you make as a mountain athlete and being able to, you know, be as strong as possible moving in all directions and uphill and as well as downhill. And that takes a little bit of thought to um prepare in that way. It's just a little bit different.
00:12:32
Speaker
okay Yeah, absolutely. And when we think about having strength training being a ah focus of our training and being really fundamental to mountain athletes, how would you say that strength training plays a role throughout someone's
Starting Strength Training: Tips for Beginners
00:12:50
Speaker
season? Because obviously strength training matters for performance, but there's also a durability piece here too. So how might that change um throughout the year, Alexa, based on someone's different goals?
00:13:04
Speaker
Well, just like with aerobic training, we're going to do it in phases, right? So we can't be consistently doing like the exact same strength training workout. We're going to plateau. We're not going to hit our goals. ah But we also need to go through different phases of training. We need to hit a max strength phase. We need a muscular endurance phase. We need to maintenance phase. So we need to cycle through it just like we do with our aerobic training.
00:13:26
Speaker
And as you're thinking about those three phases, for some people who maybe are new to some of these concepts, Alexa, would you mind backing up a step and explaining the difference between those different types of strengths?
00:13:38
Speaker
Sure. So our max strength phase is where we are building... um our max strength, right? We're building our strong, our base. I think of it as like a house or a tree. We're building that strong foundation. we're building force capacity. We're making sure that our body is strong enough to take what we're going to be putting onto it. And that's going to take a lower rep cycle. So three to six reps. ah The good thing about that is you get longer rest. This is heavier loads, right? So what I think when I guide my athletes in that max phase, I want them doing a weight that is not one reps max, right? Because we're doing three to six reps, but it's it's a heavy enough weight where you could go one or two or more reps, but you don't want to, right? You know that burn that you get? um
00:14:24
Speaker
That's what we're looking for. You get a longer rest. You get like two to three minutes of rest. I always say this is a good time to go and ultra sign up and sign up for all the races in this two to three minute rest period. um This is making our muscles stronger so that they fatigue less. It also improves economy and power and all those important things.
00:14:43
Speaker
So that's the max strength phase. And then we move on to the muscular and burns phase, which is, like we talked about, really important for uphill athlete because typically we're doing stuff that is sustaining us across several hours. um So that's what we're looking for in this phase. ah So we're doing more of a moderate load. So we're not looking for...
00:15:02
Speaker
that heavy heavy weight we're still looking for having you enough weight where you get that uh that burn in your muscles uh that is like nothing else i don't know how to describe it um you want to stop uh but you still have a few more reps left uh we're doing higher reps 12 to 25 plus uh we have shorter rest because and we're building on that endurance uh we're building fatigue resistance through this and this is this is really an important phase for making sure that we can maintain our sport right because uh we're we're endurance athletes and then we have ah maintenance phase so we can't be in this build build build section the whole time because eventually we're going hitting really high um
00:15:45
Speaker
work on the aerobic side too. So we don't want to be like really burning ourselves at both ends. So this is lower volume, not as heavy work. And this is just sort of maintaining our muscular strength and muscular endurance.
00:15:59
Speaker
That's really awesome. And I think that's really helpful for our listeners to think about the different types of strength training and that it's going to change over time that we're going to be working on um Just like your aerobic training where you're going to have some phases, your strength training is going to have some phases too. Then that's going to change with time. And depending on what type of goal you are working towards, we always have to balance out all the different types of training because we can't be increasing everything all at once. So let's say if you're a trail runner and you're increased, you're at a phase where you are increasing your volume
00:16:36
Speaker
week to week, we want to we you know you only have so many hours in the day to train and it was so much time, right? And so many days in the week. So maybe as you're early on in your training phase, maybe you are training doing strength training three times a week.
00:16:54
Speaker
Over time, that might go down to two. And then as your volume is is is um increasing and you're getting maybe closer to your your more specific goal, maybe your strength training is moving down to one. So just like with aerobic training, we have all the different variables that we adjust during training. Strength training is the same because we always want to make sure that the training load is is really well balanced.
00:17:19
Speaker
yeah um So that's something to think about, too. And it's a skill, you know, just like running is a skill, climbing is a skill, strength training is a is a skill, it's strength is a skill, it's not just a physical quality, right? It's something that we can improve and something that we can work on. And just because you you know, you can, you find that, wow, I can, if I do this movement with ah an overhead lift and I realize that I've only been able to lift 20 pounds over my head for the last six months, is that a bad thing, Alexa? Yeah.
00:17:57
Speaker
No, no, no, absolutely not. um It's a, it's a, it's a cue. It's a starting point, right? And so all of these things are cues into where we are in our fitness journey.
00:18:09
Speaker
That's it. That's awesome. I think that's a ah good one to think about is how we judge ourselves and how we gauge improvement. If someone is new to strength training,
00:18:19
Speaker
Just like if you're new to running or anything, right? you your Your rate of improvement is pretty quick and pretty incremental in the beginning. But if you've been doing it for a long time, you know don't be frustrated by realizing that you know the amount of weight that you're able to lift each week is not necessarily changing. However,
00:18:39
Speaker
You know, the fact that you're doing the strength training, you may be seeing the results not from the amount of weight that you can push, but rather how well you're recovering from the other things that you're doing. um Maybe your running pace is improving.
00:18:53
Speaker
um Maybe your form is improving. Maybe you can run downhill for longer without pain. in your knees So all of these things are working together. So when you're thinking about your training, your strength, how you are, you know, um gauging your progress, it's not necessarily so black and white, and so segregated, right? All of these things are working together.
00:19:19
Speaker
Yeah, my biggest clue that it's working for me is less less pain, like less injuries, right? Like less hip pain, less knee pain. All of those things are a cue to me that my strength training is working.
00:19:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's a that's a great thing to to notice. um So I think hopefully if you were not if you were not convinced that that strength training was important for you, we are starting to change your minds.
00:19:46
Speaker
um That would be a good thing. Because really, you know, it with the risks over time of continuing to train and not bring any element of strength training and mobility training into your overall programming and you just did, you know, focus on doing aerobic work, things that you are going to notice are going to be potentially overuse injuries, maybe some decline in your bone health, maybe some performance plateaus, and certainly you're going to notice, naturally anyway, some muscle loss with age. So maybe in your 20s, even in your 30s, you could get away with just being a cardio bunny and running around all the time and never having any injuries or problems.
00:20:31
Speaker
But eventually that may catch up to you um and you're going to start noticing some differences. So let's talk now about, you know, from a point of being convinced that we should strength train.
00:20:43
Speaker
If someone has never started or never done any strength training before, Alexa, what are some things that they should think about as they're getting started in terms of some key patterns that um mountain athletes should have in their strength training programming?
00:21:01
Speaker
So key patterns are working on ah making sure that you're balancing your muscle groups, right? We're not working on just quad strength. We're working on glute and hamstring strength. You can't just work on the front. You have to work on the back. Same thing goes for biceps and triceps. You can't just work on chest. You have to work on back. All of those things.
00:21:21
Speaker
Core strength is critical. And by core, I don't mean, again, the six pack, that eight pack. I mean your obliques. I mean your lower back. All of those things. Hip strength is integral in every aspect of this. And also, remember to start where you are. I hear so often when I have a new athlete being like, oh, I can't do regular push-ups.
00:21:43
Speaker
Start on your knees. We're not trying to be a hero here. okay Start where you are. Do what you can. You don't need to start with 50-pound weight. Start with 2-pound weight. It doesn't matter. Forget what people are what you think people are perceiving you as. Nobody cares. and Nobody is watching you. ah Start where you are and then build from there.
00:22:05
Speaker
That's really good guidance because sometimes that that can be the hard thing. It's hard to be a beginner at something, right? Especially if you're doing, let's say you have been um a climber for a long time or you've been a runner for a long time and you're really good at those things.
00:22:20
Speaker
And to feel like a newbie doing something new, it can feel really hard and you think you maybe feel quite defeated if like, wow, I can't even do one push up or I can't even do one pull up.
00:22:32
Speaker
you know There are many ways to do the different um fundamental movement patterns in strength training that don't you know that don't include those things. So there's many ways to scale. And if you're not sure where to start, that's where working with a coach can be particularly helpful.
00:22:50
Speaker
That's where working you know having a couple sessions with a personal trainer to walk you around your local gym to introduce you to the different types of equipment and to the different types of movements and help you to determine what your starting point is. So if you can't do a full push-up just yet, um there are so many ways that we can scale that down, right? So Alexa talked about doing the push-up from your knees.
00:23:14
Speaker
You could do the push-up against a wall standing. You could do it against a table or something that's countertop height. So there's many different ways that we can scale it based on where you're at.
00:23:25
Speaker
If there are certain movements and you say like, I can't do any kind of push-up movement because I have had a shoulder injury, there are again so many different ways that we can work the same muscles but in different ways. So if you're, you know, it can feel pretty overwhelming and because there's, there are, you know, unlimited options of things that you could do. But um you want to make sure that you're getting good advice if you're new at these things to make sure that you are doing the right movements and that you're doing the movements correctly.
00:23:57
Speaker
Because doing the movements in an incorrect way is going to cause more harm than good. So get some good advice. Don't follow some random workout that you see on Pinterest or TikTok or anything like that.
Complementing Aerobic Activities with Strength Training
00:24:11
Speaker
Because again, the the things that they're demonstrating there may not be the best option for your sport that you're doing. So, you know, it helps to get some good advice so that you start off in a good way from the beginning. The good thing about being a beginner and feeling like you so you suck at something is that you're very quickly going to get better, you know, compared to when you've been doing something for a long time. And let's say if I use a climbing example, it's pretty difficult from being a 5'11 climber to being a 5'12 climber, right? Making that change is really difficult.
00:24:47
Speaker
So don't be afraid to ask questions. Yeah. To speak to your point, find a ah coach that you can trust. And like you talked about TikToks. I've seen some crazy workouts on TikTok, as I'm sure we all have.
00:24:58
Speaker
But once I even saw in a gym um a training group where the trainer had the athletes throwing, tossing the kettlebell back and forth between each other. oh my gosh. Yeah. And I was like climbing on the Stairmaster, just like dying inside, just being like, oh, this is not going to end well.
00:25:16
Speaker
make sure you get a trainer that knows what they're doing because there are a lot of trainers out there. Oh my goodness. Yes, for sure. You want to be able to follow someone that is reputable and has a good amount of training, has some experience also with the type of athlete that you are and the type of things that you're preparing for. Because if you have someone that, let's say, has a lot of experience working with CrossFit athletes and you're training for a two hundred mile race,
00:25:47
Speaker
The movements that they're used to doing and have experience with doing are not going to be a good fit for what you need to be training for. So they they have a lot of experience with quick, explosive, powerful movements.
00:26:01
Speaker
And not they don't have experience with the type of muscular endurance and muscular resilience that you're looking to do. to train for. And same goes with maybe the, the, you know, the, the particular differences that we need to consider as uphill and downhill athletes.
00:26:18
Speaker
Those are different too. So let's think about um what are some of the some of the common mistakes maybe we can think about we've seen. Maybe people that are maybe not following the right kind of programming, people that are doing random workouts. We've probably all seen those people that go through the gym and they don't have a plan.
00:26:36
Speaker
You know, we want to think about being really intentional about our training. So If we think about planning our training for each year, each phase, each week, we want to have some intention behind it. We want to know, you know, what are the aerobic workouts that we're going to do each week? What are the strength workouts? What do they look like? And make sure that they fit, that the the strength component and the aerobic components fit together.
00:27:01
Speaker
So people doing random stuff, that's something that I definitely see people doing. And people um not moving well with weight. I can't stress this enough. If you're going to go through the time and energy of strength training, make sure that you have a good plan and make sure that you're moving well. So, you know, check yourself in the mirror to make sure that you are executing the movement properly. If you're not sure, ask someone in your gym.
00:27:30
Speaker
If you're working with a coach, you can, you know, video yourself take doing those movements and ask your coach to take a look and give you some tips. But it's really important. It's best that you use no weight and move well than trying to load up with the weight and, you know, moving in a in a wrong way or ah an incorrect way that potentially could cause you some harm down the line.
00:27:55
Speaker
Yeah. I think another big thing I see is people only playing to their strengths. Like, oh, I love doing bicep curls. I'm just going to do a lot of bicep curls and I hate doing tricep work. So I'm going to avoid that.
00:28:06
Speaker
We actually want to focus on the stuff that we don't like doing because that's usually where we have a weakness, right? Don't just do the stuff that's fun and and feels good for you. do Do the lateral raises because those deltoids do need some work too, not just those biceps. um so And then doing the the like not sexy power lifting movements like hip work, banded hip work, not sexy, not not Instagram cool, but really important. Yeah, that's a really good that's a really good point.
00:28:38
Speaker
So if we think about you know going to the gym, having a good program, everything is kind of structured and organized. One question that we get quite often is, let's say someone is is um preparing for a mountaineering objective and they're doing some weighted box step-ups.
00:28:54
Speaker
And they say, well, now I'm doing the weighted box step-up and I have got 50 pounds in my pack, and I can do box step-ups for 25 minutes.
00:29:05
Speaker
Should they keep adding weight? How strong is strong enough? Yeah, good question. I think you also have to think about your objective, right? What is your objective going to require? Because, I mean, going to be long. Like, are you doing Baker are you doing like a ah range or Everest, right? Like, there's such a range in mountaineering objectives. It's like, how heavy is your pack going to be? We don't want to keep adding weight.
00:29:27
Speaker
Right. So does that mean we're going longer or does that mean that now we're going to start including lateral step ups and eccentric step downs, which should already be part of the process, but we're just changing our training. Right. So I think we have to look at that, too.
00:29:42
Speaker
Yeah, that's a that's a good point, I think. And that comes back to the intention. Right. What's the intention of the movement and what phase are you at in the training and also how um how closely linked to your actual activity is this going to be in terms of of what you're going to need?
00:30:02
Speaker
So that's, you know, maybe speaks to some of the different variables that we have with strength training, because we have the different types of movements that you can do to improve um strength in a certain way.
00:30:14
Speaker
You have um the amount of weight that you're going to use. That's of certainly a variable that you're going to, that potentially you're going to change. You have the amount of sets and reps that you're going to use.
00:30:28
Speaker
um during your training. You're going to want to have a balance of concentric and eccentric movements, which we've talked about. And then maybe something we haven't talked about yet is ah the tempo of training in terms of, and that means, you know, how, when you're doing, let's say you're doing 10 reps of something, how quickly are you doing those? How important is tempo in strength training, Alexa? Yeah.
00:30:55
Speaker
Well, it's important, but I think form over tempo, right? If you cannot do your reps properly at ah at a higher pace, then you shouldn't be doing them at all. So slow down to make sure that you're doing the proper form, but make sure that you're getting through it But it also depends on which phase you're in too, right? Muscular endurance versus the next phase. In some of these phases, we might want to be a little bit slower and some of them we might want to be a little bit faster. Same thing with the maintenance phase, right? So it just depends on phase you're in and also making sure that you have the proper form because the worst thing that you can do is move quickly through like a deadlift um and tweak your back.
00:31:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's something um as ah ah something I often see in a public gym. You know, I don't know if you find yourself doing the same thing, you're looking around at people. And often when people are moving really quickly, it's often because they're using a weight that's not, that's heavier heavier than they should be using. And so they're rushing through it and trying to get momentum.
00:31:54
Speaker
And we really want to make sure that we're moving, you know, with intention and that we're moving deliberately. Now, there might be a reason in your strength training where, especially if you're looking at muscular endurance, that you're doing a repetitive motion pretty quickly.
00:32:08
Speaker
um And you're doing that for a lot of reps. And again, that's the intention of of the movement. And if that's the intention and you're moving well, then that's great. But make sure that you're not just rushing through it because it's uncomfortable or doesn't feel good. In that case, lower the weight or drop the weight entirely until you're able to really move in a good, full way that makes sense for the movement that you're doing.
00:32:36
Speaker
Yes. um When we think about strength training, you know, it's often a sort of a fundamental part of our training anyway, right? So it's part of your mountaineering training. It's part of your running training. They're not separate things.
00:32:53
Speaker
These are things that really complement each other and help each other. Is there any point in time where strength training might interfere with with a particular goal or with, with some let's say a mountain, mountaineering goal or climbing goal or running goal, Alexa. Yeah.
00:33:12
Speaker
Oh, sure. I think timing is really important when it comes to strength training. You don't want to do like a heavy leg workout right before you're doing speed work or a long day in the mountains because you you always want to put your first objective sport first, right? So running or climbing is going to be first. Strength training comes after that. So that's going to be really key. And then also when we're in that maintenance phase ah where we're really high on the aerobic side,
00:33:38
Speaker
that just can't do high strength training like we talked about earlier because then you're burning the candle up all beds. So even if you had unlimited time and you could fit in, you know, a six-hour day in the mountain and still do strength training, that's not ideal because then you might be overtraining.
00:33:55
Speaker
Yeah, very important. I think it's good to you know look at what, again, thinking about your training phase, the reason for that training phase, what the focus is, and thinking about what the week should look like based on where you're at in your training cycle. So at a certain point, let's say if you're in a base aerobic building phase,
00:34:17
Speaker
You could have, ah you know, maybe you have one recovery day in that week. You maybe have three strength sessions in that week. And then you might have um three aerobic sessions in that week as well. Again, there's no, you know, specific pattern, but just generally speaking.
00:34:35
Speaker
And then over time, that might shift a little bit where you're always keeping that one rest day a week. And you might even be a person who needs two rest days a week, and that's also okay. But then you're also then going to think about, you know, how to strategically plan the aerobic sessions and the strength training sessions together based on where you're at in relationship to your...
00:34:56
Speaker
your big objective So your strength training may change to two days a week as your aerobic training volume gets bigger. It might be one day a week to sort of maintain some strength as your aerobic volume gets bigger.
00:35:12
Speaker
And you're getting closer to your main objective. So we're always thinking about progressive training um and that it's strategic and, you know, has a purpose. We all have busy lives and we don't want to be doing things just, you know, for the sake of doing them. We want to make sure that we're training with intention.
Hybrid Athlete Training Across Life Stages
00:35:33
Speaker
um If we think about someone, you know, progressing there their training, Alexa, what are some things about training um progressing strength training that go beyond just adding more weight? What might that look like?
00:35:48
Speaker
But new movement patterns is always important, right? So not not doing the same, you know, instead of just doing a squat, let's do a front-loaded squat, a back-loaded squat, a goblet squat, like changing up the movement patterns so that we're working muscles in a different way. yeah then changing up ah duration could be another one or changing up like doing a superset. So ah bicep curls and then bicep rows so that we're fatiguing the muscles in a different pattern.
00:36:17
Speaker
Awesome. So I think those are good things to think about. Like there's lots of ways that we can bring in um we can bring in some variety into the training, right? And we want to challenge our challenge our body in different ways. And um there's so many different options. And again, it can be a little bit overwhelming. It doesn't have to be complicated.
00:36:36
Speaker
You know, I think that's really important to know. Like you should not, if you're doing strength training, you shouldn't be in the gym for an hour and a half. You should, you know, if you're training and strength training is part of your training, you're also doing a good amount of aerobic work in the week.
00:36:52
Speaker
Your strength training sessions can be between 30 and 45 minutes and you can get a really great workout in that time. It does not have to be complicated. So, you know, don't be afraid of of that.
00:37:07
Speaker
um You know, when we say to challenge your muscles in different ways, you don't have to go crazy finding all kinds of wild and wacky movements. The basic stuff um is the typically the best stuff that you should be doing.
00:37:23
Speaker
Um, just like we talked about in our last podcast, Alexa, we talked a little bit about, you know, what is normal in terms of soreness or maybe some, maybe discomfort during training or after training versus red flags.
00:37:40
Speaker
How do people know the difference between, you know, what is a normal part of strength training adaptations and when they are overdoing it? Because sometimes there's a fine line.
00:37:52
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I did a high rocks this weekend and I overdid it. And I can tell because I cannot, I literally cannot get up and down off the ground without like crying. So I know I overdid it. That was out of my comfort zone. ah So I think that's what you all look for. Uh,
00:38:07
Speaker
intense pain where you're non-functional, oh that's going to be your number one cue. ah But I always say also lean into heat, ah warm baths, hot baths, my museum. Lean into increased protein to help with like soreness.
00:38:24
Speaker
Soreness is also really good too. like it It shows that we did stuff and that we're working hard. So if you're sore, it's not automatically like, a oh no, I went too hard. There's just a level of soreness where it's like I'm not a functioning human being right now. um that's That's too far.
00:38:42
Speaker
Yeah, there's a difference between this hurts and I am hurt, right? So especially if it's new, you know, if if you're doing some new movements or you're pretty new to strength training, it's normal that you're going to have some soreness. But notice the difference between like, you know, just kind of like a dull ache where you feel like, ooh,
00:39:03
Speaker
Maybe I overused that. That muscle hasn't worked in a while. You know, that feeling. That's very different from, you know, kind of having a sharp pain in your knee as you're moving and things like that. So try to think about the differences. Alexa, you mentioned some great things that can help relieve soreness movement.
00:39:19
Speaker
You know, so if you did something really hard in the gym and it feels really sore and you feel like Alexa, like it's hard to get up and down from your chair, um spinning on a bike for five or 10 minutes could help you feel a little bit better. Taking an easy walk with your dog could help you feel better.
00:39:35
Speaker
um One thing I do want to mention that I see a lot, we talk a lot about stuff you see on social media, is people doing their strength workouts and then jumping in an ice bath. um That's not the best thing. I think ice baths have their time and place, um but they're not particularly helpful if you're looking to, you know, to... um improve your strength. Because when you go do something hard in the gym or you have a hard run and you feel a little bit sore the next day, that's because you have these little small micro tears in your muscles and they need some time to heal.
00:40:13
Speaker
So that's why you feel a little bit sore. you might feel a little bit inflamed. It might feel a little bit warm. And that's actually okay. It's a natural part of your body trying to repair itself.
00:40:24
Speaker
If you jump into a cold plunge, and that is certainly going to reduce the inflammation, and you and you probably will feel better when you get out of it, um that's a nice thing. However, it's blunting your body's natural response to muscle growth.
00:40:41
Speaker
so So the cold plunges might be great if you were like Alexa and you did a Hirox tournament and you need to recover quickly for something the next day. then jumping in a cold plunge could be great.
00:40:53
Speaker
But if you're, you know, just in your regular amount of doing your regular sort of phase of training and you feel a little bit sore, you know, try if you can to avoid doing those types of things you taking ibuprofen, which again, does the same thing as the the the ice bath, right? It's going to want those natural responses. So did want to touch a little bit on that as well, because I i know that's something we see a lot of, and I have been getting a lot of, it comes in waves, but I feel like I have been getting a lot of questions about that again.
00:41:24
Speaker
Yeah. And for female athletes specifically, there are hormonal ramifications with cold plunges too. So be aware of that. There's a time and place for it. But with muscle soreness, really lean into the heat.
00:41:36
Speaker
he Yeah, heat, movement, hydration, um magnesium, as you mentioned, can be can be quite helpful as well. So those are all really good um suggestions to think about.
00:41:48
Speaker
And again, thinking about, you know, as your're as you're training, um it can be sometimes hard to know, you know, if if you don't feel frustrated, if the amount of weight that you're pushing around or lifting is not really changing a lot, think about other ways that you can see measures of improvement um in yourself, whether that's feeling less tired when you're doing something, whether that's being able to carry a heavier backpack, Whether that's um not feeling as tired after your long run or after a long hike, all of those things are you know so many different ways we can measure our improvement beyond you know the speed that we're moving or the the weight that we're moving around.
00:42:33
Speaker
Um, Alexa, coming back to our theme again about ability being the measure of permission, how do you think, um, strength training actually has the ability to expand what's possible for us in the mountains with all the different goals we might have?
00:42:52
Speaker
Yeah, I think the stronger we get, the more potential we have, right? Like, I mean, I certainly couldn't run 250 miles without strength training. My body physically cannot do that. So it opens the possibility for that. It opens the possibility for getting to the summit, but then getting off of the summit. Yeah.
00:43:08
Speaker
Because we don't want to live up there, right? So the stronger we are, the more capable we are and less injury prone, which is often an inhibitor of a lot of the sports that we want to do. You know, chronic injury can slow us down.
00:43:21
Speaker
Strength training is going to help ensure that that doesn't happen as often. Yeah, those things are all all very true. I would think one thing that I noticed for women too, particularly women who have not experienced training strength training before, something that I see that is kind of an interesting side effect of strength training is confidence.
00:43:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. You know, because a lot of them a lot of them feel like they, you know, particularly in some of these very long distance runs or let's say a multi multi-day um adventure in the mountains, whether it's on a bike, on skis, on foot, um they feel like they are smaller and they can't do as much or they're not as capable. And then when they feel like they can...
00:44:09
Speaker
be, you know, feel stronger. I feel like there's um a certain level of confidence that seems to get unlocked with that, which is really wonderful to see.
00:44:20
Speaker
And it's definitely not something we can measure on our watches. um And it's also giving giving athletes opportunity to have longevity in the sport, right? if If we're able to be more resilient and we have, you know, we can um recover well, We can do things for longer. We can do things for many more years. We see people that are in their 50s and 60s climbing mountains with their kids and their grandkids. All of these things they may not be able to do if their bodies were not strong enough and resilient enough to handle that. So I think there's like so many other ways to measure our success and measure our progress that go beyond data and numbers.
00:45:06
Speaker
Yep, absolutely. um Something else to think about is, um you know, as we go through this, hopefully now we've convinced people that you should be strength training and that there's always a ah place to start, that it's actually, you know, really important and and a fundamental part of training. um We hear a lot about this hybrid athlete training.
00:45:28
Speaker
thing. And I know we've had some funny conversations about this. um These things are not separate. You know, if if you're an athlete, there should be a component of strength training and there should be a component of aerobic training, regardless of the type of athlete that you are. So let's, you know, think about, I really want to encourage people to think about this as being something that is integrated and that strength training is something that should be a part of your your training now and into the future. It can be a little bit intimidating if you don't know what to do. It can be a a little intimidating if you've never picked up a weight before, but there's plenty of ways to to get help and to to get guidance.
Micro Strength Training Tips
00:46:12
Speaker
think we've given a lot of those things here in this podcast, but if you're not sure, reach out to us and we're more than happy to
00:46:20
Speaker
to help you with that. um i think strength training also ties into our athletic identity in a way across our different life stages, because it is something really foundational. um And there are different life stages that we go through. Alexa, we talked about this in a previous podcast um about different phases of the life cycle when we're sort of in our menstruating years the times of life where women may be going through pregnancy, postpartum journeys, and then into perimenopause and menopause. how
00:46:55
Speaker
Is there any point during any of those times where women should not be strength training? only if medically advised against, right? So if there's something happening in your pregnancy where it's medically not advised or directly postpartum, it's going to be medically not advised. um Otherwise, no, you should absolutely be strength training all the time.
00:47:17
Speaker
But Chantel, by the way, is speaking of hybrid athletes. ah High Rock stands for hybrid Rockstar. So now you can call me a hybrid Rockstar. You are a hybrid rock star. I didn't know that that's what it stood for.
00:47:30
Speaker
yeah it always makes me think of like an an animal in a Dr. Seuss book when I hear high rocks.
00:47:38
Speaker
That's what I make. I had no idea. That's what it meant. How interesting. um So now you are a hybrid rock star. Wow. sir Well, for those of you listening, you should just be rock stars, right? yeah We're going to be, we're just rock star athletes. So it's really important to think about this regardless of where you are, unless it's, you know, obviously, unless it's been, ah you've been medically advised not to be training.
00:48:01
Speaker
You know, it's it's just that um maybe there's times in your journey that your strength training looks different, that your aerobic training looks different. And there could be many reasons why. But both of those things should always be working together.
00:48:16
Speaker
And, you know, there are many different ways to find a way to make it sustainable to you. So I know Alexa as a really busy mom, you are really big on this of finding ways to fit it in. So strength training doesn't even mean that you have to go to a gym three days a week, right?
00:48:33
Speaker
Like what are some easy ways that people could start bringing strength training into their into their everyday life? Alexa, you've shared some fun ways about this on social media, but maybe for people who haven't seen that, could you share some ideas? Yeah.
00:48:47
Speaker
Sure. I call it micro strength. And it's sort of utilizing that time between things or ah while you're waiting to do little movements. And, you know I've seen a couple of comments being like, is this really worth it? Well, sure. If you can't get in a full strength training ah program that day and you can get in a little bit of strength, right? Of course, it's going to make a difference. So oftentimes what I do, like if I'm standing there waiting for my kids to get out of practice, I'll just be doing some reverse lunges or some step ups on the curb, calf raises, things that are simple to do while I'm waiting.
00:49:18
Speaker
for children, which seems like my life, always waiting for children. Oh, and yes, you're going to look like a weirdo occasionally. Own it, right? um I do a lot of single leg deadlifts, working on mobility through my hips. ah All of those things add up and makes a big difference. So get in what you can. It doesn't need to look picture perfect. Again, it doesn't need to look TikTok or Instagram perfect. It needs to be just what you can get in, when you can get it in, and especially like it It's when we have so much on our plate and we're already adding so much time that might be taken away from our family with training for these ah events or endeavors, getting it in where you can is is just as important as ah making it look perfect.
00:50:02
Speaker
Absolutely. And I think also just starting with where you are, like if you feel like you don't, if you don't have access to a gym or you don't have weight equipment at home, that's, that's okay. You know, work with what you have and there's lots of, there's lots of great ways to work on strength with stuff you have around the house, you know, loading up a backpack, picking up heavy items around your house, um, Um, if you are not sure where to start and you want, you would like maybe something safe to follow that needs absolutely no equipment, you could look at, um, our Chamonix mountain fit program.
00:50:43
Speaker
And that's a sort of follow the trainer type program that needs no equipment. Um, It even has a level zero where it walks you through a self-assessment so that you can take some notes for yourself to see like, oh gosh, I noticed that standing on my left leg is pretty easy. I could do that for a long time, but I can barely stand for three seconds on my right starts from level zero. um And it starts with, you know, our level one and two also have kind of a shorter version of only 30 minutes. So that's all you need. And you could do that anywhere. You could do that at home. You could take your phone outside and follow the video out there. so
00:51:20
Speaker
That's a really great way that um you might be able to get started with some fundamental movement. um It's designed by an incredible physical therapist who works with mountain athletes. And even if you are avid gym goer, I challenge any of you to try to get through level two Chamonix Mountain Fit ah without grimacing. It's pretty humbling. Yeah.
00:51:43
Speaker
it is It will humble you and there will be parts where you're going to question your life choices. and And that's the fun of it. Right. And um you'll watch Neil go through these movements effortlessly and be like, what the?
00:51:55
Speaker
And you like cannot get off. the um Just know that everybody goes through them. There's different movements that are really easy for some people and really hard for others. So take your strengths and use them in that and learn where you need to improve on other ones.
00:52:09
Speaker
ah So I think like just, you know, a big takeaway today is like if you're not doing strength training, get after it. If you're not sure where to start, um we can help. So we just mentioned one way that you that that could be helpful for you. If you prefer to do something in person, look for strength training class
Encouragement and Resources for Beginners
00:52:27
Speaker
nearby. if if that's helpful, look for... um Maybe an introductory a session with a physical therapist or um personal trainer nearby that can help you. And if you wanted to do something at home, these folks should be able to help you find ways to do this at home too, whether that's with stuff you have around the house, with –
00:52:50
Speaker
Bands that you can buy like the Pilates bands or the different types of bands that are pretty inexpensive, right? That's another way that you could do it. um We have in our in all of our training plans that you can follow independently. We have strength training included in most of those programs. So that's already going to be built in. If you don't know how to mix your aerobic training and your strength training together, we've already done that for you. That's a way to learn.
00:53:16
Speaker
um Alexa runs our training groups. um And that's a really great way that you can also get some good guidance on that or, you know, consider working one-on-one with a coach that can help you work on that. So What I'm saying here is no excuses, people.
00:53:31
Speaker
Yeah. Lift some weights. Feel better. um Alexa, as we're wrapping up, are there any sort of big ideas you would like people to take away from our conversation today?
00:53:42
Speaker
i mean, the big idea is strength training no matter what unless told by a medical professional. It's going to improve your efficiency. It's going to improve your mood. It's going to improve your athletic ability.
00:53:56
Speaker
And, you know, there's ah I've heard some professionals say if you're doing aerobic training, that is your strength training, too. Well, add in actual strength training and you'll see how much your aerobic ability improves as well. So ah keep it up no matter your phase of life. There's always a ah right time to start strength training. And that's now.
00:54:16
Speaker
That's awesome. And there's always a way to modify the movement if if you need to. So it's it's accessible for everybody at every age. It might feel a little bit daunting, but I think we've mentioned lots of different ways um that you can get started with that. And, you know, I guess my big takeaway that I started with is that, um you know, it's it's really a non-negotiable if you want to be a good, strong mountain athlete now and in the future. So it's going to protect your bones. It's going to help protect.
00:54:46
Speaker
help ah protect you from injuries. It's going to make you more capable on varied terrain. And, you know, it's going to allow you to go further and longer than you thought possible. So if you're waiting for permission, this is it. This is it.
00:55:01
Speaker
um So here's our challenge um to everyone that's listening. Think about what is one step you can take this week. Maybe it's doing... um One simple bodyweight workout for 10 minutes.
00:55:14
Speaker
Maybe it's following Alexa's advice and doing some step-ups on a bench while you're watching your kids' um ski practice or backs basketball practice. Maybe it's scheduling a session with a coach or a physical therapist.
00:55:28
Speaker
um or even a personal trainer. Maybe it's committing to two strength sessions for the next month if you've only been doing one and seeing how that makes you feel. Whatever it is, take a step and and just get started and let us know what that might be. We would love to hear about it.
00:55:47
Speaker
Tag us on Instagram. Show us what you're doing. Yeah, we would we would love to see that. That would be awesome. um Alexa, thank you so much for all your valuable knowledge on all of these conversations. I know that probably are our listeners will see some more um videos and wisdom from you on social media, but always know that we are open to learning what you all would like to learn about, what you would hear about.
00:56:11
Speaker
It's pretty difficult in a podcast to share about specific strength training movements or things like that. But if there are things that you would like to see from us or learn from us, please let us know and we'll we'll do our best to find a way to do that for you.
00:56:27
Speaker
Yes, thank you so much for having me. Thank you, Alexa. And thank you all for listening. We'll see you next time on the Uphill Athlete Podcast.
00:56:47
Speaker
One of the most common questions I get is how should I get started with training? Well, they say the first step is the hardest. So let's make that easy. We are offering free four week samples of our most popular training plans for mountaineering, trail running, climbing, and more.
00:57:04
Speaker
Go to UphillAthlete.com slash let's go to sign up for our newsletter and you will not only get monthly insights on training for uphill athletes, but you'll also get a sample training plan.
00:57:15
Speaker
It's totally free, so why wait? That's UphillAthlete.com slash L-E-T-S-G-O.