A world-class coach explains the best way for athletes to go the distance

Endurance Sports A world-class coach explains the best way for athletes to go the distance kids and 300 adults. Club in Aurora, Illinois, but he also n the ’80s there was a group of In regard to training methods, travels across the world to work indiendurance-sport athletes and Zucco says that endurance-sport vidually with elite athletes. Fifty-five coaches who were often called athletes have to get away from the coaches at four satellite centers work purists, purists in the sense that they misconception that any weight trainunder Zucco, training a total of 150 believed the best way to train for their ing program will cause them sport was the sport itself.

A to develop the muscles of a distance runner who was a bodybuilder. “First, I would purist, for example, believed much rather race with a V8 that weight training was a engine than a V6, even though waste of time and that the the V8 is probably going to be only supplemental form of a little heavier,” says Zucco. “It conditioning worth their time also takes a lot of work to add was stretching. Preparing for a just a pure pound of muscle in 10K? Run a lot. Preparing for a the weightroom, and with the marathon? Run a lot more.

But controlled amount of weight as the level of performance has training we do with the BFS increased in sports that focus program our athletes are not on the aerobic system, as it has going to be presented with the with all sports, there has been opportunity to bulk up.” a need for a paradigm shift in Next, Zucco says that the way the best athletes are because the types of injuries training. most commonly incurred by At the forefront of this endurance athletes are related training is Adam Zucco, to overuse, weight training is director of coaching for essential for his athletes. “Since TrainingBible Coaching.

putting my young triathletes Zucco specializes in training on the BFS program, I’ve seen endurance-sport athletes such University of Idaho’s Dee Olsen won the 2006 not only a drastic improveas cyclists, distance runners and WAC championships in the 1500m and the 10k. Olsen is a product of the BFS system, having used ment in performance but a triathletes. He has a base of the program under the direction of BFS Clinician reduction in injuries as well. athletes at the Provena Mercy Roger Freeborn while attending Estacada High School in Estacada, Oregon.

Also, a lot of athletes I work Medical Health and Wellness University of Idaho SID photo Iwith don’t have a lot of time to train, and weight training is a very efficient way for them to overload the muscles.” This overload, adds Zucco, is especially important to cyclists. In cycling, Zucco says, stronger athletes can make up for lost time, or expand a lead, because they can more easily handle hills and accelerate quickly at key points of a race. “With marathoners you are not going to have the sudden bursts of speed as you will in cycling, but a stronger runner will be able to more easily maintain their form on hills.

So much of running performance is based upon efficiency, and the more a runner’s form breaks down due to fatigue, the more energy it will take to run and the more likely the runner will be susceptible to injury.” Besides strengthening muscles, weight training may create possible hormonal changes that could benefit endurance-sport athletes, says Zucco. “I know that undulating periodization programs such as BFS have been proven in studies to improve the subjects’ ratio of testosterone [male hormone] to cortisol [stress hormone].”

Zucco believes that along with the confidence of going into the weightroom and continually breaking personal records with the BFS program, these hormone changes give his athletes more confidence and enable them to train harder and to recover faster. To be objective, Zucco adds, strength training is just one variable that coaches must be concerned about. For example, one of the most common ailments among cyclists is lower back pain. Although stretching and strengthening exercises can help, often the problem can be traced to the bike itself. “One of the things that I do with my cyclists is to get them a proper bike fitting from a professional.

A ing and strength training, will give a cyclist the best chance of avoiding issues with lower back pain.” Although the wealth of knowledge Zucco has would fill volumes of textbooks, he does have some simple, practical advice for coaches who work with young endurance-sport athletes. “The most important thing you have to work on with kids – and I know this is an unpopular statement – is to make sure their form is correct. After that, strength is a major issue.

When I start working with kids, their muscles may be so weak that when they try to squat, without any weight at all, their knees shake and collapse inward – there is no way this type of athlete will be able to support a good running posture until they improve their strength.” Then there is the issue of overtraining. “So often I’ll see coaches who have good intentions, but they try to throw an amazing volume of training at these kids because kids are resilient and can handle it,” says Zucco. “I want my athletes to be competitive, so I give them as much as their body needs to accomplish their goals but no more than that.

If X plus Y equals Z, why throw a W in there just for the sake of throwing in a W? When you throw too much at kids at a young age, they get burnt out really quick and will often quit the sport, and that’s a shame. One of my main goals is for them to be still doing and enjoying the sport when they are 30 years old.”

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Correct Form To be tall when lifting, means lineto stay in the correct power Correct Form Spread the chest to keep the lower back correct.

Toes are straight when sprinting, jumping, lifting, and even stretching.

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Keep your eyes on tagret straight ahead (generally) when lifting, sprinting, jumping and even stretching.

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From BFS Magazine — March/April 2008. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).