Strength Training

Over the weekend I did a recon mission to the gym, and did a very basic upper body workout.

I'm a member of 24 Hour Fitness, and have been generally satisfied. I joined when I lived in Seattle and used to frequent the downtown gym, but now that I live on the Eastside, the closest gyms are in Kirkland or Bellevue. The Kirkland gym is closer to home but it doesn't have a pool, while the Bellevue one does, so I went there to check it out. Unfortunately, the pool is tiny, maybe 15 yards. Looks like I will be doing most of my swimming at Juanita High School, a few miles from my home. Since the Bellevue gym's pool is unsuitable I'll just go to my local gym in Kirkland.

When I first joined, I also signed up with a personal trainer. This was mostly because I had never lifted weights and wanted some help so I wouldn't injure myself by performing the exercises incorrectly. It was great, I did three sessions a week for nearly six months... but then I stopped as it was getting harder to schedule, and I was planning to move anyway.

Back when I strength trained, I never had muscle soreness after a run. I improved my time at the Shore Run, a 6.7 mile run, from 59 minutes to 55 minutes, all on far less running than I had done previously. So I know there are benefits, I just didn't make the time for it.

To prepare for Ironman, I know that I must do some strength training. This is because strength and endurance are related - you can't have one without the other. Obviously, exclusively lifting weights won't help you finish an Ironman, but the strength gained from doing it will make it easier. I'm not going to body build, where you are constantly working at the upper limit of what you can do, instead I will strength train. My sets will be comparatively lower weights with higher repetitions.

I'll think about what would be a good set of exercises for a full body workout, to be done once a week, or twice a week as time permits.