With gyms opening up again this week it's a great time to start implementing some gym work into your training programs. Strength training will have a huge benefit for reducing your chance of injury and will have a great impact on your performance. You want to build up your muscular endurance prior to building on your maximal strength. This will provide you with a solid level of strength and greatly impact your stability and movement patterns which will give you a huge advantage when you look to build your strength levels.

This session is best suited prior to an interval or tempo session as you will activate the stretch-shortening cycle and become more efficient at absorbing and utilising the elastic energy.

Previous research has backed this up, showing improved running economy during tempo sessions where plyometrics have been completed beforehand.

.This week's workout is another simple and efficient full body session to give a go. Sessions like this are great to include in a general preparation phase where you're looking to build a solid base for more intense phases of the training and competitive seasons.

Here is another workout that looks at strengthening your overall core, including your abdominals, obliques, lower back and your hips. Including exercises that target the hips and glutes are essential for injury prevention as weak glutes and hips are the cause of a myriad of running and cycling related injuries.

Hey guys, here's another workout for you to give a go at home.

We are starting off again with some mobility work to increase your efficiency and improve your range of motion. Preparing your muscles, tendons and joint prior to resistance training will massively improve your performance as you will be able to actively move through a greater range of motion and improve your proprioception.

Whole body sessions are a very efficient method to train as you can target a wide range of muscles and are ideal for home workouts.

Whole body sessions may not have the same stimulus on the central nervous system as very heavy or maximal power workout; however, they can allow you to incorporate strength sessions without overloading the body too much. This will allow you to build a stronger base and progress much faster than initially overloading each muscle group too heavy during individual sessions.

Here's another general lower body session to give a go.

With gyms hopefully reopening soon it's a great time to build on your general strength with bodyweight exercises to ready yourself for more functional/heavier exercises at the gym.

Trying to get back to where you were prior to lockdown will take some time, and patience is key as not to train to heavy too soon and pick up an injury.

Here's another core session to give a go at home.

Improving the strength around your core has a great benefit to your sporting performance, allowing you to generate and produce force to enhance your control and stability.

This session also places a lot of emphasis on the glutes as these are often neglected by athletes.

This week is another 'complex' session, including resistance and plyometric exercises.

These types of sessions are a great option to add to your training if you want productive, time-efficient sessions as these sessions are great for developing your reactive strength alongside your general strength.

They are great to compliment with your speed and power sessions as the jumping/plyometric exercises will enhance the reactiveness of the fast-twitch muscle fibres. 

Here's another great session to try at home.

Enhancing your upper body strength not only improves your posture and balance but it makes you a more efficient runner, cyclist or swimmer. Including pull ups and chin ups are great exercises as they work a multitude of muscles in the upper body and core.

Additionally, kettlebell swings are a great exercise for all athletes. They put stress through the whole posterior chain and heavily activate the hips and glutes, which some athletes fail to train correctly.

This session puts quite a lot of stress on the shoulders, which is great for runners. This transfers to a more efficient arm swing and an improved tempo when running.

Give this full body session a go, it requires very little equipment but still provides a great conditioning session. Including movements like the bear crawl, arabesque and depth jumps provide a strenuous workout for the neuromuscular system as it heavily places stress upon your stability and coordination.

With better coordination and stability your body becomes more economical, as you're able to channel the trained muscles more efficiently so you don't lose power through each step or cycle.

This week session is a simple lower body and core workout you can incorporate into your strength training. It focuses on the key muscles you use when running and cycling, helping you to promote performance enhancement and reduce the likelihood of injury.  Building stronger legs are going to make them more efficient at carrying and utilising oxygen and absorbing the stress placed upon them, ultimately improving your performance.

This weeks sessions is a great upper body workout that primarily uses battling ropes. Battling ropes provide a powerful and dynamic workout, allowing you to build strength and endurance in your upper body and your core. These exercises also provide a heavy cardiovascular function, which is a great way of building on your fitness levels whilst enhancing your muscular endurance. This can be a great addition for triathletes and swimmers where the exercises recruit and build on the muscles that are heavily taxed whilst in the water.

This weeks session focuses on our core strength.

The core stabilises your body and increased strength here will build on your trunks ability to generate and maintain force. Enhancing the endurance of your hip and core muscles is very important for sports performance.

Enhanced endurance here will allow stabilisation for an increased duration, providing persistent force and power transitions through the body. Scientific research has demonstrated significant relationships between core endurance/strength and with the ability to produce and maintain force. 

Similar to last weeks session we are focusing on incorporating resistance bands into your strength workouts. Again, these bands are incredibly versatile and will add an extra element to your training. Compared with free weights, they place your muscles under constant tension. This requires a greater activation of stabilising muscles and greatly enhances the control of your movements. This session focuses on upper body exercises, which many runners and cyclists may neglect as upper body strength doesn't initially seem required for performance. However, runners will find a strengthened upper body supports the movement and coordination of each step, making them more efficient. And cyclists will develop a stiffer midsection, providing a more efficient power output through each pedal. The exercises here are great for supporting and developing strength around the shoulder. For swimmers this is hugely beneficial as most swimming injuries occur at the shoulder due to the repetitive motion. Therefore implementing these exercises are hugely beneficial for developing strength and reducing the risk of injury.

Similar to last weeks session we are focusing on incorporating resistance bands into your strength workouts. Again, these bands are incredibly versatile and will add an extra element to your training. Compared with free weights, they place your muscles under constant tension. This requires a greater activation of stabilising muscles and greatly enhances the control of your movements. This session focuses on upper body exercises, which many runners and cyclists may neglect as upper body strength doesn't initially seem required for performance. However, runners will find a strengthened upper body supports the movement and coordination of each step, making them more efficient. And cyclists will develop a stiffer midsection, providing a more efficient power output through each pedal. The exercises here are great for supporting and developing strength around the shoulder. For swimmers this is hugely beneficial as most swimming injuries occur at the shoulder due to the repetitive motion. Therefore implementing these exercises are hugely beneficial for developing strength and reducing the risk of injury.

This weeks session focuses primarily on resistance bands. These are a great alternative to machine or free weights and can provide another element to your resistance training.

Similar to last weeks session, this workout uses very little equipment so you can easily implement it at home. First of, we have included some mobility work in this session.

We have another workout for you guys to try at home. This one uses very little equipment so it is perfect if you're struggling to find ideas for strength training without the use of dumbbells or kettlebells.

Just like with resistance training, jumping form and technique are key for progression and injury prevention. Allow yourself time to recover so you can perform each jump at full capacity.