There are a number of different way to improve the performance of these sports. If you are an avid cyclist, runner or swimmer then you will want to know about the following information. You might be practicing for one of these event without any strength and conditioning. Which might lead you to a plateau, leaving you disappointed with your results. Here, leading Ascot personal trainer and conditioning coach, David Thomas will tell you that you can do many movements and exercises to improve your time or distance with all 3 of these sports.

Single limb movements

The first one I’m going to discuss is single limb movements and exercises. With all of these sports above, in fact with any sport you will have to make sure that your equally as strong in all limbs. Take running and cycling for example, Your body is continuously using one leg at a time to move from one to the other. Meaning if you improve strength in both legs they will be able to push and pull. Not just for longer periods of time but also in a stronger way, making you feel lighter on your feet. Start by putting lunges, step ups, single leg balances and many more.

 What set range to use?

As you cycle along your legs will get used to the strain and stresses of pushing up hill. If your legs can’t withstand the hill you will start to fatigue very quickly. Meaning you will become slower over this part of a race effectively decreasing your performance. If you want to be able to push up the hill easier you’ll want to find out how many times you push for certain hills. How long it usually takes you and then start to build the strength and stamina in the gym with single leg movements. If you push 20 times on each leg to get up a hill you’ll want to start doing 20 reps in the gym. However, you’ll need to start to build a foundation of strength before doing 20 reps. This is to make sure your body is going to withstand this sort of pressure.

Core stability for transfer of force

Your core makes sure that your upper limbs and your lower limbs are connected so that you don’t fall over. The core is made up of muscles to protect the spine and to make sure you are transferring force properly though your body when you run to stay up. For example, if you where running along and you had no core stability your upper body would claps. Whereas, when you have a strong core from when your foot touches the ground in a stride your core will engage to make sure your balanced and strong until you other foot hits the floor. The force from your foot goes through your core from opposite hip to opposite shoulder. Any weakness in this chain of events and you will make your performance slower and your body will be less effective.

Runners, cyclist and swimmers want to incorporate the shoulder and the hip when doing core stability movements because that is what you’ll be using when you are competing in an event.

Improve you imbalances in your body

What you don’t know about, you won’t be able to improve on. So finding out what sort of imbalances you have on your body will serve you a great purpose towards your event training. If you know months in advance you’ll be able to concentrate and build them up to make yourself a better athlete. My advice is to talk to your local personal trainer or Strength coach who will be able to guide you through every step of the process.

Establish your weaknesses and work on them

An imbalance and a weakness can go hand in hand. You might be over compensating on one side causing you to have an injury on that side of the body. Over time this will become more pronounced leaving you with an issue you wish you’d have worked on sooner. If you have shoulder issues or back problems that stop you from doing the activities you love. There is a way to combat these and there is definitely a way forward once you have come to terms with what they are and you have asked your trainer to help you. Then you will start to see results in your physical ability as well as your mental health.

Best course of action for you

Even if you are a seasoned athlete and you’ve been training for events all your life. There is always someone out there to help you improve your performance. If you are the kind of person that seeks help you will be the kind of person to succeed in your sport or activity you love. It is the coachable individuals that go far in this world. Everyone has a coach or a mentor in someway or another so find someone that you can work with and see what they can do for you.