Strength for the Female Athlete

Alexa: I think the stronger we get, the more potential we have, right? It’s like, I mean, I certainly couldn’t run 250 miles without strength training. My body physically cannot do that. So the stronger we are, the more capable we are and less injury-prone, which is often an inhibitor of a lot of the sports that we wanna do.

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Chantelle: Welcome back to. Athlete podcast. I’m Chantel Robitaille, and I’m here again with Alexa Hassman. Today, we’re gonna get into a bit of nitty-gritty, and we’re gonna talk about how to build in strength training as a female mountain athlete. Alexa, welcome back.

Alexa: Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be back.

Chantelle: Yeah, it’s gonna be great. So in our, uh, we’re continuing a similar theme, uh, from Dr. Christine Theodorovic’s quote, ability is the measure of permission. And if you listened to that podcast, I encourage you to think about what’s something that you are gonna stop waiting for permission about. And I think strength training is probably one of the best ones that I can think of because our physical strength really determines what we can do in the mountains, how we move in the mountains, how well we move in the mountains.

How well we can continue to do all the awesome things that we like to do? So Alexa, let’s just put this up there, right front and center. Why is strength training a non-negotiable for female mountain athletes?

Alexa: Oh my

Chantelle: So.

Alexa: for so many reasons. One, bone health, maintaining ligament strength. supporting our aerobic system. Uh, all of the things, right? Strength training is just a pivotal part of our training and should not be forgot to about, as we had different life stages.

Chantelle: Yeah, most definitely. I’ll say for me now in my fifties, strength training is a non-negotiable. If I look at my schedule for the week and there’s something that I need to cut out. Um, it’s not gonna be strength training. And I’ll say when I was younger, I could probably get away with it more and I could lean a little more heavily into running and cycling and the other things that I was doing.

Whereas now, um, I realize at this stage of life as a post-menopausal woman, I cannot. That is a, it is a non-negotiable for me now. So I think this will be a really great conversation, and I hope, uh, for those listening who, um, have not done any strength training, are not sure what to do about strength training, I hope that we can help give you some guidance.

And I hope that if you feel like up to this point, that strength training isn’t very important for you, I hope we can change your minds, even if you’re not a female athlete. Um, this is for all athletes really. So let’s start from the beginning, Alexa, what are some of the key benefits, um, of strength training that are particularly important for any athlete involved in mountain sports?

Alexa: Well, the biggest thing is injury. Prevention. Right? The stronger our muscles are, the more they’re gonna support our joints, the more they’re gonna support our

Chantelle: Uh.

Alexa: tendon. So that’s gonna really prevent us from getting injured. It’s also gonna increase our bone density, which is gonna also decrease our likelihood to get injured. Uh, so that’d be our number one thing. It’s gonna help with hormonal shifts. It’s gonna help regulate that. It’s gonna help increase our ability to have an aerobic performance because our muscles are supporting that. Um. Our muscles also hold our glycogen store. So that’s another big thing that muscles do that is really important. So really, they do all the things and strength training is super important for all that.

Chantelle: So why do you think strength training kind of comes as an afterthought for a lot of people? I mean, it’s obviously. So fundamental to everything we do, to how we move to the efficiency of our movement, to how much power output we’re gonna have doing these types of activities. Why is it such a side note for most people?

Alexa: I think one endurance athletes, we get, um. into the aerobic side of our training. That’s like the, the joy of it for a lot of us. And strength training can be a little bit, uh, less comfortable or out of our knowledge base. Right? And so I think there’s a hurdle with that. Like, I don’t really know what I’m doing in the gym, or I don’t really know what to do for strength training. That’s number one hurdle. And then two is the societal expectations, especially around female athletes of, I don’t wanna be buff. Um. I don’t wanna be bulky. I don’t wanna look like, uh, a bodybuilder. That’s what I hear a lot.

Chantelle: Hmm. Yeah. Well, there, there’s one myth we can put to rest, right? It would, we’d have to work extremely hard to look like. To look like bodybuilders. And thankfully, I think, you know, there are a lot of people that, that, that is changing. You know, we’re even seeing this now in, you know, where it used to be that we would see like Hollywood female characters just looking like sticks, and you know, not looking like they had much muscle.

But you look at now, you know, you see a lot of them that do look, you know. Do look more, um, athletic, and that is, you know, considered to be a, a healthy look rather than being something that looks like a man or, or whatever. Um. And I think, you know, that’s something a, a myth to put to rest. Obviously, we’d have to work extremely hard to look that way.

And for female bodybuilders who have a lot of muscle mass, there’s a lot of very specific intentional things that they’re doing to look that way. That’s not what we’re talking about. Right? We’re we’re talking about, um, improving muscle. Muscle capacity. Um, improving muscle resilience so that we can do the things that we wanna do for longer, particularly when we think about a lot of the mountain sports.

Are endurance sports. It’s, it’s not that you’re doing this thing for an hour. We’re doing this for many hours. In some cases, we’re doing this for many days in a row, right? So the stronger we are, the, the stronger our muscles are, the more resilient our bodies are, the more, um, we can, we can be able to do these things day after day, year after year, hopefully decade after decade, two.

Alexa: I think something that people need to remember is that there’s a difference between hypertrophy, which is muscle size. Muscle strength and we’re not going for hypertrophy. Hypertrophy is a different way of training. That’s what bodybuilders are doing. We’re doing muscle strike. We wanna be strong. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that our muscle’s gonna look the biggest, but we’re gonna be able to move our body differently.

Chantelle: Right. I think that’s the biggest thing. It’s not about how, we’re not looking to see how big our muscles can grow. Maybe for some people they’re concerned about that, but a typical math athlete is not looking for that. It’s more that we’re thinking about, like how much stronger can we be? How much longer can we do something for?

We’re looking for, um. Maybe some people want to have their muscles be bigger, but for the most part, we want to be able to be stronger, to be able to, to do something repetitively over and over again, and having strong muscles at being able to move those muscles fully through their full range of motion is what’s gonna allow us to ride our bikes for many hours at a time or hike for a long time, or carry a heavy pack on our back for a long time, or run 200 miles.

If that’s your thing. So let’s think about the different, um, ways that muscles are important for us, right? They’re obviously, they’re important for our metabolism, they’re important for, uh, moving us around. They’re important, important for our hormones. Um, they’re important for energy production. Lots of different things.

Um, what we think about strength training. You mentioned there’s, you know, bodybuilding that may be one type of strength training. We have many different types of strength training and maybe just like, um, with a, having a goal in the mountains, your strength training may have a goal as well. So hypertrophy, having bigger muscles could be a goal.

Um, being able to carry a heavy load for a sustained uphill effort, that could be a goal. And the way that you train for those two different things are gonna be. Are gonna be very different. So if we think about, let’s say, mountain-specific strength training, Alexa, what are some things that come to mind that might be different from strength training for other purposes like CrossFit or High Rocks or, um, even just someone that wants to look good at the beach.

A silly reason, but that’s still a reason for some people.

Alexa: So is we. Our training, not the superficial muscles. That’s gonna be the number one thing for like the beach body versus the athletic body, right? We’re not as concerned about having the superficial like, uh, six pack or eight pack. Um, we wanna have functional core muscles, so that means, uh, working more of like the back and the hips and like really everything that makes up, uh, the central part of our body. Next you have muscular endurance. We wanna be able to carry our body weight and extra weight for a really long time, uh, which is very different than like CrossFit or higher ops or any of that stuff, which is more explosive of power movements. um, eccentric strength is like the big one because, uh, eccentric strength is when you’re putting stress across the elongation of the muscles.

So like, when we’re going downhill in our mountaineering or trail running or skiing or any of those things, uh, we’re in an eccentric position and that’s something that you don’t really encounter as much when you’re doing so many. It’s more explosive things. You’re not consistently in a decent position. So that’s one of the biggest things that we need to trade as uphill athletes.

Chantelle: I think that’s something that a lot of people don’t think about as uphill athletes, that we are also downhill athletes. What goes on? Us must come down. And so for, you know, for a lot of people, maybe particularly I think about people who are living in a, an area that’s a little bit flatter and they don’t have access to natural hills, right?

So for those of us who have natural hills. What comes up does come down, but for someone who’s training, um, for a more mountainous objective that lives in a flatter area, or they don’t have access to trails very easily, they’re doing a lot of uphill training on stair climbers. They’re doing a lot of maybe incline treadmill work, and then they do a lot of that stuff.

They feel very prepared, but they haven’t done anything to prepare for that eccentric loading. And you know, they haven’t done anything to prepare for what happens to knee stability when they’ve got a heavy pack on. What about the breaking forces when they’re running downhill and they’re in the backseat or even downhill skiing?

So when we’re thinking about mountain-specific strength training, we have to think about moving in all planes. We have to think about also dynamic movement, right? We’re not just. Forward and back, we have to think about uphill as well as downhill. So we really wanna think about, you know, think about all the different movements that you make as a mountain athlete and being able to, you know, be as strong as possible, moving in all directions and uphill and as well as downhill.

And that takes a little bit of thought to, um, prepare in that way. It’s just a little bit different.

Alexa: Yeah, absolutely.

Chantelle: When we think about having, um, strength training, being a, a focus of our training and being really fundamental to mountain athletes, how would you say that strength training plays a role throughout someone’s. Because obviously strength training matters for performance, but there’s also a durability piece here, too.

So how might that change, um, throughout the year, Alexa, based on someone’s different goals?

Alexa: Just like with aerobic training, we’re gonna do it in phases, right? So we can’t be consistently doing like the exact same strength training workout. We’re gonna plateau, we’re not gonna hit our goals. Uh, but we also need to go through different phases of training. We need to hit a max strength phase. We need a muscular endurance phase.

We need a maintenance phase. So we need to cycle through it just like we do with our aerobic training.

Chantelle: And as you’re thinking about those three phases, for some people who maybe are new to some of these concepts, Alexa, would you mind backing up a step and explaining the difference between those different types of strengths?

Alexa: Sure. So our max strength phase is where we are building. Um. Our max strength, right? We’re building our strong, our base. Like think of it as like a house or a trait. We’re building that strong foundation. Uh, we’re building force capacity. We’re making sure that our body is strong enough to take what we’re gonna be putting onto it. Uh, and that’s gonna take, uh, lower rep cycle. So three to six reps. Uh, the good thing about that is you get longer rest. This is heavier loads, right? So what I think when I guide my athletes in that next phase, I want them doing a weight that is. Not one reps max, right, because we’re doing three to six reps, but it’s. It’s a heavy enough weight where you could go one or two or more reps, but you don’t want to, right? You know that burner that you get. Um, that’s what we’re looking for. You get a longer rest, you get like two to three minutes of rest. I always say this is a good time to go on Ultra, sign up and sign up for all the races in this two to three minute, um, rest period. Um, this is making our muscles stronger so that they fatigue less. Uh, it also improves economy and power and all those important things. So that’s the max strength phase. And then we move on to the muscular and burns phase, which is like we talked about, really important for uphill athlete because typically we’re doing stuff that is sustaining us across several hours. Um, so that’s what we’re looking for in this phase. Uh, so we’re doing more of a moderate load, so we’re not looking for that heavy heavyweight. We’re still looking for heavy enough weight where you get that. Uh, that burning in your muscles, uh, that is like nothing else. I don’t know how to describe it. Um, you wanna stop, uh, but you still have a few more reps left. Uh, we’re doing higher reps, 12 to 25 plus, uh, we have shorter reps, and we’re building on that endurance. Uh, we’re building fatigue resistance through this. And this is, this is really an important phase for making sure that we can maintain our sport, right? Because, uh, we’re we’re endurance athletes. And then we have a maintenance phase, so we can’t be in this build, build, build the whole time because eventually we’re gonna be hitting really high, um, work on the aerobic side too.

So we don’t wanna be like really burning ourselves at both ends. So this is lower volume, not as heavy work, and this is just sort of maintaining our muscular strength and muscular endurance.

Chantelle: That’s really awesome, and I think that’s really helpful for our listeners to think about the different types of strength training and that it’s going to change over time that we’re going to be working on. Um, just like your aerobic training, where you’re gonna have some phases, your strength training is gonna have some phases too, then that’s gonna change with time.

And depending on what type of goal you are working towards, we always have to balance out all the different types of training because we can’t be increasing everything all at once. So let’s say if you’re a trail runner and you’re increase, you’re at a phase where you are increasing your volume week to week.

We wanna, we, you know, you only have so many hours in the day to train and it was so much time, right? And so many days in the week. So maybe as you are, you know, early on in your training phase, maybe you are training, doing strength training three times a week. Over time that might go down to two. And then as your volume is, it is, um, increasing and you’re getting maybe closer to your.

Your more specific goal, maybe your strength training, is moving down to one. So just like with aerobic training, we have all the different variables that we adjust during training. Strength training is the same because we always wanna make sure that the training load is, is really well balanced. Um, so that’s something to think about, too.

Um, and it’s a skill, you know, just like running is a skill. Climbing is a skill. Strength training is a, is a skill. It’s strength is a skill. It’s not just a physical quality. It’s something that we can improve and something that we can work on. And just because you, you know, you can, you find that, wow, I can, if I do this movement with a, an overhead lift and I realize that I’ve only been able to lift 20 pounds over my head for the last six months.

Is that a bad thing, Alexa?

Alexa: No, no, no. Absolutely not. Um, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a cue. It’s a starting point, right? And so all of these things are queues into where we are in our fitness journey. That’s it.

Chantelle: That’s awesome. I think that’s a good one to think about, is how we judge ourselves and how we gauge improvement. If someone is new to strength training. Just like if you’re new to running or anything, right? You’ve, your, your rate of improvement is pretty quick and pretty incremental in the beginning, but if you’ve been doing it for a long time, you know, don’t be frustrated by realizing that, you know, the amount of weight that you’re able to lift each week is not.

Necessarily changing. However, you know, the fact that you’re doing the strength training, you may be seeing the results not from the amount of weight that you can push, but rather how well you’re recovering from the other things that you’re doing. Uh, um, maybe your running pace is improving. Um, maybe your form is improving.

Maybe you can run downhill for longer without pain. In your knees. So all of these things are working together. So when you’re thinking about your training, your strength, how you are, you know, um, gauging your progress, it’s not necessarily so black and white and so segregated, right? All of these things are working together.

Alexa: Yeah, my biggest clue that it’s working for me is less, less pain, like less injuries, right? Like hip pain, less knee pain. Uh, all of those things are cue to me that my strength training is working.

Chantelle: That’s a great thing to notice. Um, so I think hopefully if you were not con, if you were not convinced that strength training was important for you, we are starting to change your minds. Um, that would be a good thing. Because really, you know, with the risks over time of continuing to train and not bringing any element of strength training and mobility training into your overall programming, and you just did, you know, focused on doing aerobic work, things that you are gonna notice are going to be potentially overuse injuries, maybe some.

Decline in your bone health, maybe some performance plateaus. And certainly you’re gonna notice naturally anyway, some muscle loss with age. So maybe in your twenties, even in your thirties, you could get away with just being a cardio bunny and running around all the time and never having any injuries or problems.

But eventually that may catch up to you. Um, and you’re gonna start noticing some differences. So. Let’s talk now about, you know, from a point of being convinced that we should strength train. If someone has never started or never done any strength training before, Alexa, what are some things that they should think about as they’re getting started in terms of some key patterns that, um, mountain athletes should have in their strength training programming?

Alexa: Key patterns are working on, making sure that you’re balancing muscle groups, right? We’re not working, found just quad strength. We’re working on pollute and hamstring strength. You can’t just work on the front, you have to work on the back. Uh, same thing goes for biceps and triceps. You can’t just work on the chest.

You have to work on back. All of those things. Core strength is critical. And by core, I don’t mean again, those six pack, that eight pack, I mean your obliques, I mean, uh, your lower back, all of those things. Hip strength is integral. In every aspect of this, and also remember to start where you are. I hear so often when I have a new athlete being like, oh, I can’t do regular pushups. Start from your knees. not trying to be a hero here. Okay? Start where you are. Do what you can. You don’t need to start with. 50-pound weight. Start with two pound weight. It doesn’t matter. Forget what people are, what you think people are perceiving you as. Nobody cares. Heck, nobody’s watching you. Uh, start where you are and then build from there.

Chantelle: That’s really good guidance because sometimes that, that can be the hard thing. It’s hard to be a beginner at something, right? Especially if you’re doing, let’s say you have been, um, a climber for a long time, or you’ve been a runner for a long time and you’re really good. At those things and to feel like a newbie doing something new, it can feel really hard.

And you think, you maybe feel quite defeated if like, wow, I can’t even do one pushup, or I can’t even do one pullup. You know, there are many ways to do the different, um, fundamental movement patterns in strength training that don’t, you know, that don’t include those things. So there’s many ways to scale and if you’re not sure where to start.

That’s where working with a coach can be particularly helpful. That’s where working, you know, having a couple sessions with a personal trainer to walk you around your local gym to introduce you to the different types of equipment and to the different types of movements, and help you to determine what your starting point is.

So if you can’t do a full pushup just yet. Um, there are so many ways that we can scale that down, right? So Alexa talked about doing the pushup from your knees. You could do the pushup against a wall, standing, you could do it against a table or something that’s countertop height. So there’s many different ways that we can scale it based on where you’re at.

If there are certain movements and you say like, I can’t do any kind of pushup movement because I have had a shoulder injury. There are, again, so many different ways that we can work the same muscles, but in different ways. So if you’re, you know, it can feel pretty overwhelming, and because there are, you know, unlimited options of things that you could do.

But, um, you wanna make sure that you’re getting good advice if you’re new at these things, to make sure that you are doing the right movements and that you’re doing the movements correctly. Because doing the movements in an incorrect way is gonna. Cause more harm than good. So get some good advice. Don’t follow some random workout that you see on Pinterest or TikTok or anything like that because again, the, the things that they’re demonstrating there may not be.

The best option for your sport that you are doing. So, you know, it helps to get some good advice so that you start off in a good way from the beginning. The good thing about being a beginner and feeling like you, you suck at something is that you’re very quickly gonna get better. Compared to when you’ve been doing something for a long time, and let’s say if I use a climbing example, it’s pretty difficult from being a five 11 climber to being a five 12 climber, right?

Making that change is really difficult, so don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Alexa: Yeah, to speak to your point, find a coach that you can trust, and as you talked about, TikToks, I’ve seen some crazy workouts on TikTok, as I’m sure we all have. But once I even saw in a gym, um, a training group where the trainer had the athletes throwing, tossing the kettlebell back and forth between each other.

Chantelle: Oh my gosh.

Alexa: And I was like, climbing on the StairMaster, just like dying inside. Just being like, oh, this is not gonna end well. Make sure you get a trainer that knows what they’re doing, ’cause there are a lot of trainers out there.

Chantelle: Oh my goodness. Yes, for sure. You wanna be able to follow someone that is reputable. Has a good amount of training, has some experience also with the type of athlete that you are and the type of things that you are preparing for. Because if you have someone who, let’s say, has a lot of experience working with CrossFit athletes and you are training for a 200-mile race, the movements that they’re used to doing and have experience with doing.

Are not gonna be a good fit for what you need to be training for. So they have a lot of experience with quick, explosive, powerful movements and not, they don’t have experience with the type of muscular endurance and muscular resilience that you’re looking to, to train for. And same goes with maybe the, the, you know, the, the particular differences that we need to consider as uphill and downhill athletes.

Those are different too. So let’s think about, um, what are some of the, some of the common mistakes maybe we can think about. We’ve seen maybe people that are maybe not following the right kind of programming, people that are doing random workouts. Um, we’ve probably all seen those people that go through the gym and they don’t have a plan.

You know, we wanna think about being really intentional about our training. So if we think about planning our training for each year, each phase each week, we wanna have. Some intention behind it. We wanna know, you know, what are the aerobic workouts that we’re going to do each week? What are the strength workouts?

What do they look like? And make sure that they fit, that the strength component and that the aerobic components fit together. So people are doing random stuff. That’s something that I definitely see people doing and people, um, not moving well with weight. I can’t stress this enough. If you’re gonna go through the.

Time and energy of strength training. Make sure that you have a good plan and make sure that you’re moving well. So you know, check yourself in the mirror to make sure that you are executing the movement properly. If you’re not sure, ask someone in your gym. If you’re working with a coach, you can, you know, video yourself, take doing those movements and ask your coach to take a look and give you some tips.

But it’s really important. It’s best that you use no weight and move well rather than trying to load up with the weight and, you know, moving in a wrong way or an incorrect way that potentially could cause you some harm down the line.

Alexa: Yeah, I think another big thing I see is people only playing to their strengths. Like, oh, I, I love doing bicep curls. I’m just gonna do a lot of bicep curls and I hate doing tricep work. Uh, so I’m gonna avoid that. We actually wanna focus on the stuff that we don’t like doing, because that’s usually where we have a weakness, right. Don’t just do the stuff that’s fun and, and feels good for you. Do do the lateral raises. ’cause those deltoids do need some work too. Not just those biceps. Um, so, and then doing the, the like, not sexy power lifting movements like, uh, hip work, banded hip work. Not sexy, not, not Instagram. Cool, but really important.

Chantelle: Yeah, that’s a really good, that’s a really good point. So if we. Think about, you know, going to the gym, having a good program, everything is kind of structured and organized. One question that we get quite often is, let’s say someone is prepping for a mountaineering objective, and they’re doing some weighted box step-ups.

And they say, well, now I’m doing the weighted box, step up, and I have got 50 pounds in my pack, and I can do box step-ups for 25 minutes. Should they keep adding weight? How strong is strong enough?

Alexa: Yeah, good question. I think you also have to think about your objective, right? What is your objective gonna require? ’cause I mean, it’s gonna be long, like, are you doing Baker or are you doing like a, A RA or Everest, right? Like, there’s such a range in mountaineering objectives. It’s like how heavy is your pack gonna be?

We don’t wanna keep adding weight. So does that mean we’re going longer, or does that mean that now we’re gonna start including lateral step-ups and, uh, eccentric, uh, step downs, which should already be part of the process, but we’re just changing our training. Right. So I think we have to look at that too.

Chantelle: Yeah, that’s a, that’s a good point. I think, and that comes back to the intention, right? What’s the intention of the movement, and what phase are you at in the training? And also how, um. How closely linked to your actual activity is this going to be in terms of what you’re going to need? So that’s, you know, maybe speaks to some of the different variables that we have with strength training because we have the different types of movements that you can.

Due to improve, um, strength in a certain way, you have, um, the amount of weight that you’re going to use that’s of certainly a variable that you’re going to, that potentially you’re gonna change. You have the amount of sets and reps that you’re gonna use, um, during your training. You’re gonna wanna have a balance of concentric and eccentric movements, which we’ve talked about, and then maybe something we haven’t talked about yet is.

The tempo of training in terms of, and that means, you know how when you’re doing, let’s say you’re doing 10 reps of something, how quickly are you doing those? How important is tempo in strength training? Alexa?

Alexa: Well, it’s important, but I think form over tempo, right? If you cannot do reps properly at a, at a higher pace, then you shouldn’t be doing them at all. So slow down to make sure that you’re doing the proper form. Make sure that you’re getting through it, but it also depends on which phase you’re in too, right?

Muscular endurance versus the next phase. Uh, in some of these phases we might wanna be a little bit slower, and some of them we might wanna be a little bit faster. Same thing with the maintenance phase, right?

Chantelle: Mm-hmm.

Alexa: It just depends on which phase you’re in, and also making sure that you have the proper core.

’cause the worst thing that you can do is move quickly through like a deadlift, um, and tweak your back.

Chantelle: Yeah, I think that’s some I’m as, uh, something I often see in a public gym, you know, I don’t know if you find yourself doing the same thing, you’re looking around at people. And often when people are moving really quickly, it’s often because they’re using a weight. That’s not, that’s heavier. Heavier than they should be using.

And so they’re rushing through it and trying to get momentum, and we really wanna make sure that we’re moving, you know, with intention and that we’re moving deliberately. Now, there might be a reason in your strength training where, especially if you’re looking at muscular endurance, that you’re doing a repetitive motion pretty quickly.

Um, and you’re doing that for a lot of reps. And again, that’s the intention of, of the movement. And if that’s the intention and you’re moving well, then that’s great. But make sure that you’re not just rushing through it because it’s uncomfortable or doesn’t feel good. In that case, lower the weight or drop the weight entirely until you’re able to really move in a good, full way that makes sense for the movement that you’re doing.

Um, when we think about, um, strength training, you know, it’s often a sort of a fundamental part of our training anyway, right? So it’s. Part of your mountaineering training, it’s part of your running training. They’re not separate things. These are things that really complement each other and help each other.

Is there any point in time where strength training might interfere with a particular goal or with, um, let’s say, a mountain mountaineering goal or climbing goal or running goal? Alexa.

Alexa: Oh, sure. I think timing is really important when it comes to strength training. You don’t wanna do like a heavy lake workout right before you’re doing speed work or a long day on the mountains because you always wanna put your first. Objective sport first, right? So running or climbing is gonna be first strength training comes after that. So that’s gonna be really key. And then also when we’re in that maintenance phase, uh, where we’re really high on the aerobic side, that just can’t do height strength training as we talked about earlier, because then you’re burning the candle at both ends. So even if you had unlimited time, you could fit in. A six-hour day in the mountains and still do strength training. That’s not ideal because then you might be.

Chantelle: Yeah, very important. I think it’s good to, you know, look at what, again, thinking about your training phase. The reason for that training phase, what the focus is, and thinking about what the week should look like based on where you’re at in your training cycle. So in, you know, at, at a certain point, let’s say if you’re in a base aerobic building phase, you could have, uh, you know, maybe you have one recovery day in that week.

You maybe have three strength sessions in that week, and then you might have, um, three aerobic sessions in that week as well. Again, there’s no, you know, specific pattern, but just generally speaking and then over time that might shift a little bit, where you’re always keeping that one rest day a week, and you might even be a person who needs two rest days of the week, and that’s also okay.

Then you’re also gonna think about, you know, how to strategically plan the aerobic sessions and the strength training sessions together based on where you’re at in relationship to your big objective. So your strength training may change to two days a week as your aerobic training volume gets bigger.

It might be one day a week to sort of maintain some strength as your aerobic volume gets bigger. And you’re getting closer to your main objective. So we’re always thinking about progressive training, um, and that it’s strategic and you know, has a purpose. We all have busy lives and we don’t wanna be doing things just, you know, for the sake of doing them.

We wanna make sure that we’re training with intention. Um, if we think about someone, you know, progressing their, their training, Alexa, what are some things about train, um, progressing strength training that go beyond just adding more weight? What might that look like?

Alexa: But new movement patterns is always important, right? So not, not doing the same, you know, instead of just doing. Squat. Let’s do a front-loaded squat. A backload squat, a goblet squat, like changing up the movement pattern so that we’re working muscles in a different way. Yeah. Then changing up, uh, duration could be another one.

Or changing up, like doing a superset. So, uh, bicep curls, so then bicep row so that we’re fatiguing the muscles in a different pattern.

Chantelle: Awesome. So I think those are good things to think about. Like, there are lots of ways that we can bring in, um, we can bring in some variety into the training, right? And we wanna challenge our, challenge our body in different ways. And, um, there’s so many different options. And again, it can be a little bit overwhelming.

It doesn’t have to be complicated, you know, I think that’s really important to know. Like you should not, if you’re doing strength training. You shouldn’t be in the gym for an hour and a half. You should, you know if, if your training and strength training is part of your training, you’re also doing a good amount of aerobic work in the week.

Your strength training sessions can be between 30 and 45 minutes, and you can get a really great workout in that time. It does not have to be complicated. So, you know, don’t be afraid of, of that. Um, you know, when we say to challenge your muscles in different ways, you don’t have to go crazy. Finding all kinds of wild and wacky movements, the basic stuff, um, is typically the best stuff that you should be doing.

Um, just like we talked about in our last podcast, Alexa, we talked a little bit about. What is normal in terms of soreness or maybe some maybe discomfort during training or after training versus red flags? How do people know the difference between, you know, what is a normal part of strength training adaptations and when they are overdoing it?

Because sometimes there’s a fine line.

Alexa: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I did a High Rocks this weekend, and I overdid it, and I can tell because I cannot, I literally cannot get up and down off the ground like crying. So I know I overdid it. That was out of my comfort zone. Uh, so I think that’s what you all look for. Uh. Intense pain where you’re non-functional, uh, that’s, that’s gonna be your number one cue. but I always say also lean into heat, uh, warm bath, hot baths, magnesium, uh, lean into increased protein to help with like soreness. Soreness is also really good too. I get it shows that we did stuff and that we’re working hard. So if you’re sore, it’s not automatically like a, oh no, I went too hard.

There’s just a level of soreness where it’s like. I’m not a functioning human being right now. Um, that’s too far.

Chantelle: Yeah, there’s a difference between this hurts, and I am hurt. Right? So. Especially if it’s new. You know, if, if you’re doing some new movements or you’re pretty new to strength training, it’s normal that you’re gonna have some soreness. But notice the difference between like, you know, just kind of like a, a dull ache where you feel like, ooh.

Maybe I overuse that muscle that hasn’t worked in a while. You know, that feeling that’s very different from, you know, kind of having a sharp pain in your knee as you’re moving and things like that. So try to think about the differences. Alexa, you mentioned some great things that can help, um, relieve soreness, movement, you know, so if you did something really hard in the gym and it feels really sore and you feel like Alexa, like it’s hard to get.

Up and down from your chair. Um, spinning on a bike for five or 10 minutes could help you feel a little bit better. Taking an easy walk with your dog could help you feel better. Um, one thing I do wanna mention that I see a lot, we talk a lot about stuff you see on social media is people doing their strength workouts and then jumping in an ice bath.

Um, that’s not the best thing. I think ice baths have their time in place. Um. But they’re not particularly helpful if you’re looking to, you know, to, um, improve your strength because when you go do something hard in the gym or you have a hard run and you feel a little bit sore the next day, that’s because you have these little small micro tears in your muscles and they need some time to heal.

So that’s why you feel a little bit sore. You might feel a little bit inflamed. It might feel a little bit warm. And that’s actually okay. It’s a natural part of your body trying to repair itself if you jump into a cold plunge, and that is certainly gonna reduce the inflammation, and you will probably feel better when you get out of it.

Um. That’s a nice thing. However, it’s blunting your body’s natural response to muscle growth. So, the cold plunges might be great if you were like Alexa and you did an oxs tournament and you need to recover quickly for something the next day, then jumping in a cold plunge could be great. But if you’re, you know, just in your regular amount of doing your regular sort of phase of training and you feel a little bit sore.

You know, try if you can, to avoid doing those types of things or taking ibuprofen, which again does the same thing as the, the, the ice bath, right? It’s gonna blunt those natural responses. So, did wanna touch a little bit on that as well because I, I know that’s something we see a lot of and I have been getting a lot of it’s come, comes in waves, but I feel like I have been getting a lot of questions about that again.

Alexa: Yeah, and for female athletes specifically, there are hormonal ramifications with cold plunges too, so be aware of that. There’s a time and place for it, but with muscle soreness, really lean into the heat.

Chantelle: Yeah, heat movement, hydration, um, magnesium, as you mentioned, can be, can be quite helpful as well. So those are all really good, um, suggestions to think about. And again, thinking about, you know, as you’re, as you’re training, um, it can be sometimes hard to know. If, if you don’t feel frustrated, if the amount of weight that you’re pushing around or lifting is not really changing a lot, think about other ways that you can see measures of improvement, um, in yourself.

Whether that’s feeling less tired when you’re doing something, whether that’s being able to carry a heavier backpack, whether that’s, um, not feeling as tired after your long run or after a long hike. All of those things are, you know, so many different ways we can measure our improvement beyond, you know, the speed that we’re moving or the, the weight that we’re moving around.

Um, Alexa, coming back to our theme again about ability being the measure of permission. How do you think, um, strength training actually has the ability to expand what’s possible for us in the mountains with all the different goals we might have?

Alexa: Yeah. I think the stronger we get, the more potential we have. Right. mean, I certainly couldn’t run 250 miles without strength training. My body physically cannot do that. So it opens the possibility for that. It opens the possibility of getting to the summit, but then getting off of the summit. Um, ’cause we don’t wanna live up there, right?

So the stronger we are, the more capable we are and less injury prone, which is often an inhibitor of a lot of the sports that we wanna do. You know, chronic injury can slow us down. Strength training is gonna help ensure that that doesn’t happen as often.

Chantelle: Yeah, those things are all, all very true. I would think one thing that I noticed for women, too, particularly women who have not experienced strength training before, is that something I see as an interesting side effect of strength training is confidence.

Alexa: Yeah, that’s a good one.

Chantelle: Because a lot of them, a lot of them feel like they, you know, particularly in some of these very long distance runs, or let’s say a multi multi-day, um, adventure in the mountains, whether it’s on a bike, on skis, on foot, um, they feel like they are smaller and they can’t do as much or they’re not as capable.

And then when they feel like they can. Be, you know, feel stronger. I feel like there’s, um, a certain level of confidence that seems to get unlocked with that, which is really wonderful to see. And it’s definitely not something we can measure on our watches. Um, and it’s also giving, giving athletes opportunity to have longevity in the sport, right?

If, if we’re able to be more resilient and we have, you know, we can. Um, recover. Well, we can do things for longer. We can do things for many more years. We see people that are in their fifties and sixties climbing mountains with their kids and their grandkids. All of these things they may not be able to do if their bodies were not strong enough and resilient enough to handle that.

So I think there’s like so many other ways to measure our success and measure our progress that go beyond. Data and numbers.

Alexa: Yep. Absolute.

Chantelle: Um, something else to think about is, um, you know, as we go through this, hopefully now we’ve convinced people that you should be strength training and that there’s always a, a place to start, that it’s actually, you know, really important and, and a fundamental part of training.

Um, we hear a lot about this hybrid athlete thing, and I know we’ve had some funny conversations about this. Um, these things are not separate. You know, if, if you’re an athlete, there should be a component of strength training and there should be a component of aerobic training regardless of the type of athlete that you are.

So, let’s, you know, think about, I really wanna encourage people to think about this as being something that is integrated and that strength training is something that should be a part of your, your training now and into the future. It can be a little bit intimidating if you don’t know what to do. It can be a, a little intimidating if you’ve never picked up a weight before, but there’s plenty of ways to, to get help and to, to get guidance.

I think we’ve given a lot of those things here in this podcast, but if you’re not sure, reach out to us and we’re more than happy to to help you with that. Um, I think strength training also ties into our. Athletic identity in a way across our different life stages because it is something really foundational.

Um, and there are different life stages that we go through. Alexa, we talked about this in a previous podcast, um, about different phases of the lifecycle when we’re sort of in our menstruating years, the times of life where women may be going through pregnancy, postpartum journeys, um, and then into perimenopause and menopause.

Is there any point during any of those times where women should not be straight training?

Alexa: Only if medically advised against, right? So if there’s something happening in your pregnancy where it’s medically not advised or directly postpartum is gonna be medically not advised. Um, otherwise, no. You should absolutely be strength training all the time. Chantelle by the way, uh, is speaking of hybrid athletes. High Rock stands for Hybrid Rockstar. So now you can call me a hybrid rockstar.

Chantelle: You are a hybrid rockstar. I didn’t know that that’s what it stood for. It always makes me think of like an, an animal in a Dr. Seuss book. When I hear high rocks.

Alexa: Totally.

Chantelle: That’s what makes, I had no idea. That’s what it meant. How interesting. Um, so now you are a hybrid rockstar.

Alexa: Mm-hmm.

Chantelle: Well, for those of you listening, you should just be rock stars, right?

We’re gonna be, we’re just rockstar athletes. So it’s really important to think about this regardless of where you are, unless it’s, you know, obviously, unless it’s been, uh, you’ve been medically advised. Not to be training, you know, it’s, it’s just that, um, maybe there’s times in your journey that your strengths training looks different, that your aerobic training looks different, and there could be many reasons why, but both of those things should always be working together and, you know, there are many different ways to find a way to make it sustainable to you.

So I know Alexa, as a really busy mom, you are really big on this of finding ways to fit it in. So strengths training. It doesn’t even mean that you have to go to a gym three days a week, right? Like, what are some easy ways that people could start bringing strength training into their, into their everyday life?

Alexa, you’ve shared some fun ways about this on social media, but maybe for people who haven’t seen that, could you share some ideas?

Alexa: Sure. I call it micro strength, and it’s. Of utilizing that time between things, or while you’re waiting to do little movements, and you know, I’ve seen a couple comments being like, is this really worth it? Well, sure. If you can’t get in a full strength training, uh, program that day and you can get in a little bit of strength, right, of course it’s gonna make a difference.

So oftentimes what I do, like if I’m standing there waiting for my kids to get outta practice, I’ll just be doing some reverse lunges or some step ups on the curb calf raises things that are simple to do while I’m waiting. Poor children, which seems like my life, always waiting for children. Oh, and yes, you’re gonna look like a weirdo occasionally, own it, right?

Um, I do a lot of single-leg deadlifts, uh, working on mobility through my hips. Uh, all of those things add up, and it makes a big difference. So get in what you can. It doesn’t need to look picture-perfect again. It doesn’t need to look at TikTok or Instagram. Perfect. It needs to be just what you can get in, when you can get it in.

And especially like it, it’s. When we have so much on our plate, and we’re already adding so much time, that might be taken away from our family with training for these, uh, events or endeavors. Getting it in where you can is, is just as important as, uh, making it look perfect.

Chantelle: Absolutely. And I think also just starting with where you are, like if you feel like you don’t, if you don’t. Have access to a gym or you don’t have weight equipment at home. That’s. That’s okay. You know, work with what you have, and there are lots of great ways to work on strength with stuff you have around the house.

You know, loading up a backpack, picking up heavy items around your house. Um, if you are not sure where to start and you want, you would like maybe something safe to follow that needs absolutely no equipment, you could look at, um, our Shamini. Mountain Fit Program, and that’s a sort of follow-the-trainer type program that needs no equipment.

It even has a level zero where it walks you through a self-assessment so that you can take some notes for yourself to see like, Ooh, gosh, I noticed that standing on my left leg is pretty easy. I could do that for a long time, but I can barely stand for three seconds on my right. Starts from level zero.

Um, and it starts with, you know, our level one and two also have kind of a shorter version. Of only 30 minutes. So that’s all you need. And you could do that anywhere. You could do that at home. You could take your phone outside and follow the video out there. So that’s a really great way that, um, you might be able to get started with some fundamental movement.

Um, it’s designed by an incredible physical therapist. Who works with mountain athletes, and even if you are an avid gym goer, I challenge any of you to try to get through level two of Shaman Mountain Fit. Uh, without grimacing, it’s, it’s pretty humbling.

Alexa: it will humble you and there will be parts where you’re gonna question your life choices. And that’s the fun of it, right? And, um, you’ll watch Neil go through these movements effortlessly and be like, what the,

Chantelle: Yeah.

Alexa: get off the. Just know that everybody goes through them.

There’s different movements that are really easy for some people and really hard for others. So, uh, take your strengths and use them in that and learn where you need to improve on other ones.

Chantelle: So I think like, just, you know, a big takeaway today is like, if you’re not doing strength training, get after it. If you’re not sure where to start, um, we can help. So we just mentioned one way that you, that that could be helpful for you. If you prefer to do something in person, look for a strength. A training class nearby.

If, if that’s helpful, look for, um, maybe an introductory, uh, session with a physical therapist or um, personal trainer nearby that can help you. And if you wanted to do something at home, these folks should be able to help you. Find ways to do this at home too, whether that’s with stuff you have around the house with, um, bands that you can buy, like the Pilates bands or the different types of bands that are pretty inexpensive, right?

That’s another way that you could do it. Um, we have in our, in all of our training plans that you can follow independently. We have strength training included in most of those programs, so that’s already gonna be built in if you don’t know how to mix your aerobic training and your strength training together.

We’ve already done that for you. That’s a way to learn. Um, Alexa runs our training groups. Um, and that’s a really great way that you can also get some good guidance on that. Or, you know, consider working one-on-one with a coach that can help you work on that. So what I’m saying here is no excuses. People lift some weights, feel better.

Um, Alexa, as we’re wrapping up, are there any sort of big ideas you would like people to take away from our conversation today?

Alexa: I mean, the big idea is strength train no matter what, unless told by a medical professional. It’s gonna improve your efficiency, it’s gonna improve your mood, it’s gonna improve your athletic ability. And you know, there’s, uh, I’ve heard some professionals say if you’re doing aerobic training, that is your strength training too. Well, add in actual strength training, and you’ll see how much your aerobic ability improves as well. So, uh, it up. No matter your phase of life, there’s always a, a right time to start strength training and that’s now.

Chantelle: That’s awesome and there’s always a way to modify the movement if, if you need to. So it’s, it’s accessible for everybody at every age. It might feel a little bit daunting, but I think we’ve mentioned lots of different ways, um, that you can get started with that. And, you know, I guess my big takeaway that I started with is that, um, you know, it’s, it’s really a non-negotiable if you want to.

Be a good, strong mountain athlete now and in the future. So it’s gonna protect your bones, it’s gonna help, help, uh, protect you from injuries. It’s gonna make you more capable on varied terrain, and you know it’s gonna allow you to go further and longer than you thought possible. So if you’re waiting for permission, this is, this is it.

Um, so here’s our challenge, um, to everyone that’s listening. Think about what is one step you can take this week. Maybe it’s doing, um, one simple body weight workout for 10 minutes. Maybe it’s following Alexa’s advice and doing some step-ups on a bench while you’re watching your kids, um, ski practice or back basketball practice.

Maybe it’s scheduling a session with a coach or a physical therapist, um, or even a personal trainer. Maybe it’s committing to two strength sessions for the next month. If you’ve only been doing one and seeing how that makes you feel. Whatever it is, take a step and just get started and let us know what that might be.

We would love to hear about it.

Alexa: Tag us on Instagram. Show us what you’re doing.

Chantelle: We would, we would love to see that. That would be awesome. Um, Alexa, thank you so much for all your valuable, um, knowledge on all of these conversations. I know that, um, probably our, our listeners will see some more, um. Videos and wisdom from you on social media, but always know that we are open to learning what you all would like to learn about, what you would hear about.

It’s pretty difficult in a podcast to share about specific strength training movements or things like that, but if there are things that you would like to see from us or learn from us, please let us know and we’ll, we’ll do our best to find a way to do that for you.

Alexa: Yes. Thank you so much for having me.

Chantelle: Thank you Alexa, and thank you all for listening.

We’ll see you next time on The Uphill Athlete Podcast.

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