Non-Strength Sports

[Neil G]

Hi Mark,

A couple of questions about sports that are typically thought of as non-strength dependent (I know there's really no such thing as a strength-independent sport, but you get what I mean!).

1) Regardless of a person's previous advancement and level of fitness in one sport, they are still considered a novice in the barbell exercises at first. Is the reverse true? For example if I was an intermediate lifter and then took up an endurance sport, does the fact that I am stronger mean that I am more advanced in that sport in terms of programming needs for fitness (technique considerations aside)? From personal experience, I recently undertook a mountain bike race and discovered that it was very hard to get recovered during training because my previous strength training allowed me to push very hard on the bike - much harder than would have been possible without such a strength base.

2) Are there any plans to publish any material on weight training programming for non-strength/power sports? Even a chapter in future editions of PPFST/The Crossfit Journal would be most excellent and very much appreciated. I understand that endurance sports are not your field of interest, but I'm certain there would be lots of folks out there that would find it incredibly useful and would benefit from it greatly. Hell, I'd be more than happy to pay for the information and I'm sure others would too!

As always, thanks for your input on these boards and your excellent books.

Cheers,

Neil

[Mark Rippetoe]

1. In terms of the strength required to effectively execute the repetitive movements, yes. I terms of the skills, mechanics, and substrate requirements of the specific sport, of course not. Just because you pushed very hard on the bike didn't make you able to win the race, did it? Well no, it didn't. You're still a novice mountain bike racer, even if a strong one. You will probably advance faster than a runner that takes up the sport, if that's any consolation.

2. No plans to stray outside my area of interest and expertise.

[JLascek]

Regarding #2, I know Brian MacKenzie of CrossFit Endurance has his endurance based athletes strength train. Since he trains endurance athletes in a more unconventional method, I would say he is the one who would have the best input that would be worth anything regarding strength training for endurance sports.