Triathlon Training and Competition

The Sprint, Olympic And Iron man triathlons are becoming more and more popular in my home town of Singapore and all over the world as well.

As a personal trainer in Singapore as well as a sports performance coach, I see many tri-athletes who want to improve their performance and prevent injury.

There are many common injuries and problems with triathletes. Knee pain, back pain, poor posture and low values for male sex hormones are all caused by excessive triathlon training.

Here are 3 mistakes that tri-athletes make that totally stop them from reaching maximum performance.

1. They ignore maximal strength. That results in insufficient time spend building strength. The general thought is that triathlons are endurance event and that strength training is no important. But almost all sporting activities are strength and power events. You win and improve your triathlon timing by doing the events faster than the competition, not by lasting longer. Perform a good weight training program with a good personal trainer or sports performance expert.

This program must include stuff to strengthen your buttocks, muscles that stabilize the knee, your postural muscles of the back and also those that take care of your shoulders.

2. They don't care of their back. The cycling and running components in the triathlon are especially harsh on the back. Cycling means many hours in a hunched over position. This means the lumbar (lower) back is left in a rounded, bent, flexed state.

This is a weaker and more injury prone position. The running also means that forces which are more than 3 times your body weight run through your body with each of the hundreds of thousand steps.

3. They don't take care of their joints. Running long distances is tough on your knees, ankles, feet and back. Running for such long distances is not really something our bodies are designed to do. You do need to do some special exercises to activate and strengthen the hamstrings and the stabilizer muscles of your hips so that they can work properly to take care of your hips and knees. Some of the muscles that need work include the hamstrings, the psoas, and the glute complex (buttocks) this includes the glute maximus, minimus, and medius.

There we have it, some of the common mistakes that give triathletes pain, injury and frustration. Don't let it happen to you. Make sure you don't make these mistakes when training for a triathlon and you can have a safe, enjoyable race.

About the Author:

Coach Jonathan Wong, is a sought after Singapore personal trainer and sports performance expert who has helped hundreds of clients in Singapore achieve their fitness, fat loss and sports performance goals. He Is also a fitness author and a member of Singapore Men's Health Advisory Panel. Visit his website for a free 1500 page e-book, blog, newsletter and constant updates. http://www.coachjon.com