Question about split workouts...

[jennifermaria]

Hi everyone,

Would love to get some opinions on this .

Because I'm doing Team in Training right now and we have a pretty set training schedule, I don't have a tone of time to do non-TNT workouts (we meet 3x a week to run for anywhere from 1 hour to 2-3 hours on our long runs and we have to take 1 day off for rest, which leaves me only 2 days to do cross-training, which for me, are my strength training workouts). I just ordered PUB/PLB and GS, both split-style strength workouts, and the way my schedule is, I'll only be able to do each workout once per week, which means I'll hit each body part only once a week. Does this seem enough to build strength? Should I be hitting these body parts 2x a week? If so, I don't think a split workout may work out, at least during my training period, because there's simply no time to squeeze in another total body workout during the week .

Should I stick to 2 full body strength workouts a week until training is over? I also want to make sure I don't have to reduce my cardio time to get in more strength time, and I have a pretty busy schedule outside of working out, so I don't have more than an hour every day to get in a workout...

Advice, please?

Thanks,
Jennifer

 

[SRP]

I don't feel qualified to give advice on weight training, but I thought you should know that the PUB/PLB DVD has a full-body premix that's really good. Good luck!

 

[jennifermaria]

Ooh I didn't know that! Thanks for the heads up

 

[kathryn]

> I just ordered PUB/PLB and GS, both split-style
>strength workouts, and the way my schedule is, I'll only be
>able to do each workout once per week, which means I'll hit
>each body part only once a week. Does this seem enough to
>build strength? Should I be hitting these body parts 2x a
>week?

Working each body part once a week works fine if you are doing a split, so that you workout most days of the week, but I feel that a once-a-week full body workout isn't enough for most people. The minimum effective workout, in most cases, would be two full body workouts per week.

Or, if you can find 10-15 minutes a day to do weights, you could do 10 minutes of one body part per day, similar to what CTX does.

 

[jennifermaria]

Thanks, Kathryn! I plan on doing the split workouts no more than 4 weeks at a time, so I'll rotate them with 4 weeks of full-body workouts 2x a week. Hopefully I'll still be able to maintain (or even gain!) strength that way. Unfortunately I just don't have enough time to be able to do a split routine AND a full-body workout in the same week (and still get my cardio in!), so I will have to experiment and see what my body responds to. I've been doing the 2x a week full-body workout for years now, so maybe it's time to change it up a little bit and shock my body .

We'll just have to get Cathe to make some more full-body routines *hehe*. I've tried other DVD's, but Cathe's just have no equal!

Jennifer

 

[Lynn M.]

Hi Jennifer:

Here's a suggestion... why don't you do one full body workout on one of your strength training days and then on the other day just do a challenging upper body workout.. ie all of the upper body strength workouts from CTX, or do PUB, or do the "express premixes" from the GS upperbody workouts only-- Those upper body workouts are about an hour (give or take) each.

With all of the running you are doing, you might be able to forego that extra leg workout that you are doing on your full body weight day.. it might help to focus on your upperbody only on one of those strength training days to give your legs an additional day of rest.

This has worked well for me...I'm doing a couple of triathlons this summer. The first was a mini that I actually did this morning and the second is an Olympic distance one that's in Sept. I've had to cut down my strength training quite a bit as well.. have found that the above suggestion has worked well at least for trying to fit it ALL in w/out the most time effective way I can.

Good luck in your training!!! Lynn M.

 

[jennifermaria]

Thanks, Lynn!! That's an awesome suggestion, and a very timely one, since we're about to go into our "taper" phase (where you start to reduce mileage since it's getting closer to the event ). Our coaches usually advise us to lay off weight-based strength training for our legs during taper, to make sure we're giving our lower body as much rest as possible and avoiding any risk of injury. This is probably the perfect time to try a rotation like this!!

Jennifer