This is another article from the series by Ben Greenfield and how to be fit, look fit, and compete in triathlon. Strength training plays an important role in triathlon training if you are trying to get faster. But often times, the programs out there do not take into consideration
looking good while you are doing it! This is where Ben’s ideas come in to play. Read on to find out how to make this happen for you! Pay special attention to the nutrition tip. 
So if you read some of the earlier articles in this series, then you’ve learned some tips on how to get yourself in top shape, inside and out.
But can you keep that amazing body and still do endurance sports…like triathlon? After all, it’s pretty typical among the triathlon crowd to have tiny arms, a thin neck, a stick-like midsection, a weak body frame and even a “skinny-fat” look, with a little bit of weight in the belly and waist.
Let’s face it, folks – that ain’t sexy. Even though triathlon is the fastest growing sport on the planet, and races sell out thousands of slots in just a few minutes, it can still be a bit depressing when you realize that traditional triathlon training doesn’t really give you a nice body – and just makes you either really skinny or skinny-fat.
And the fear of having that emaciated, marathoner-like appearance is a legitimate concern if having a nice body is important to you. I know that it was a big concern for me when I got into the sport of triathlon – I didn’t want to watch in the mirror as my lean, hard muscle wasted away and I ended up looking like a skinny weakling.
But the truth is, when you train for triathlon, you don’t have to lose precious muscle, get extremely skinny, or become a scrawny endurance athlete. You can actually train for triathlon while still adding incredibly functional muscle and athleticism. You can swim, bike and run fast – and still have an amazing body.
Here’s how, in five easy steps:
1. Lift Right
There are two styles of weight lifting that most triathletes do: 1) high-repetition, low-resistance endurance style lifting, such as a circuit of 20 reps of several different exercises; 2) heavy, slow, football-style lifting, like deadlifts, squats or benchpress. In reality, there is a third style of lifting that is neglected among endurance athletes, but a long-kept tradition of the bodybuilding industry: “hypertrophy” style training: multiple sets of 8-12 repetitions.
With hypertrophy training, you can add and define lean muscle very quickly. But the problem is that it is very easy with this bodybuilder-style training to build non-functional muscle that actually slows you down when you’re competing in a sport such as triathlon.
The solution to this issue is to still do the hypertrophy-style training, but to avoid single-joint exercises like biceps curls, and instead to choose full body, functional exercises while scattering in just enough explosive and heavy weightlifting to keep your muscles extremely functional and fast.
2. Eat right
This may be a bit of a news flash for you, but fat doesn’t make you fat. Instead, fat – the healthy variety, like olives, almonds, walnuts, fish and avocados – is a hormonal precursor and gives your body the building blocks it needs to develop lean, hard muscle, as well as competitive drive, mental energy, libido, and every other advantage that comes from adequate hormones.
On the flip side, carbohydrates, especially the type that are really favored by endurance athletes, like bagels, sports drinks, and cereal, give you that soft, pudgy look in the mid-section, accompanied by a complete inability to build impressive, defined arms and legs.
So here’s what to do about this: if you’re trying to be fast at triathlon and also have an amazing body, you should eat a diet comprised of a high amount of healthy fats (40-50% fat), add in moderate helpings of natural protein to keep amino acids elevated for your muscles and brain, and top it off with strategically timed carbohydrate doses when they really matter, such as before or after your exercise sessions.
3. Train right
For years, sports scientists have know that short, hard and intense intervals give you just as much fitness and performance benefit as long, slow, aerobic exercise. But like a mouse on a wheel, it is tempting and even addictive for an endurance athlete to continue plugging away hours pounding the pavement, turning the pedals, or swimming back and forth.
Not only does this long, slow aerobic training completely nullify any attempts to add lean muscle or get a nice, defined body, but it also depletes hormones, causes overtraining syndrome, and takes away precious time from family, career and other hobbies.
Instead, for the triathlete who wants to avoid the skinny-fat look and get an amazing, muscular body, the training plan should incorporate strategically targeted high-intensity bursts of energy, a moderate amount of slightly longer “tempo” work, and finally, a low amount of long aerobic training – saving long rides, runs or swims for times when they are completely necessary and crucial to the program.
4. Supplement right
Inadequate hormones are a big issue for both men and women, and especially physically active men and women. “Andropause”, the decline or imbalance in male hormones and “Menopause”, the decline or imbalance in female hormones can begin to occur when you’re as young as 27 years old – and only gets worse as you age. Although hormonal deficits are the biggest problem among endurance athletes, there is also a prevalence of nutrition deficiencies, mineral loss, and very low fatty acid and amino acid levels – all of which keep you from both getting fast and having an amazing body.
These deficits and imbalances can occur because the body simply needs extra help if you’re lifting, swimming, cycling, running and cross-training on a regular basis. This level of activity is just more than the human body can naturally handle! The extra help comes in the form of completely legal sports nutrition supplementation like digestive enzymes, fish oil, vitamin D, greens supplements, magnesium and Chinese adaptogenic herbs. While there are countless supplement ads in magazines and on websites, you really only need a few of these key supplements to have your body ready to both go fast and maintain muscle.
And yes, if you are pushing your body beyond it’s natural tendencies, then even in a situation where your diet is perfect, supplementation is a must if you want to be fast and also have an amazing body.
5. Live right
There are little hacks or tweaks you can make to your lifestyle to simplify this whole process of performing fantastic and looking good.
For example, you can sleep more deeply by using magnesium, melatonin and keeping your bedroom completely dark. You can de-stress at the beginning of the day with a very simple 5-10 minute yoga routine. You can keep bouncing back from your workouts day-after-day by using a ice, compression and foam roller. You can detoxify your body by making sure you aren’t using body-damaging chemicals to clean your house or cook your food.
These are just a few of the little lifestyle tweaks that you can make, but they’re incredibly important if you want to add muscle and athleticism while getting the body of your dreams and still being fast for triathlon.
If you want to learn more about how to swim, bike and run lightning fast, but also have a nice body that looks good, (and get access to the other 6 articles in this series) then head over to tri-ripped.com for a brand new approach to training for the ultimate triathlon body.
