As personal trainers, one of the most difficult groups of clients we have to get to adhere to their resistance training program are runners and triathletes. You wouldn't think that these athletes would have any difficulty with compliance. They are highly motivated and follow their running, walking cycling or swimming programs religiously. But when it comes to the weight room, we hear the same, common excuse "I'd just rather be outside running, walking or biking". We've tried educating them on the importance of strength training. We've tried bribing them with the reported benefits. We've had to even threaten them but to no avail. So rather than beat our head against a wall, we've developed a resistance training program that will please any outdoor warrior while still obtaining the critical benefits of muscular strength, endurance and balance.

As you can expect, the program involves running, muscular conditioning exercise and the outdoors. The program alternates between periods of running or walking and weight training. There is no perfect way to do this. You could run or walk for 5 minutes and then perform an exercise. You could run or walk for 10 minutes and then perform an exercise. You could run or walk for 20 minutes and then perform a variety of exercises and then run or walk for another 20 minutes. Each workout could be a little different which will stimulate your body in a variety of ways and minimize boredom.

Many of the suggested exercises involve no equipment but to ensure an effective full-body workout, come and see us at Northwest Personal Training and purchase a resistance tube with handles for $15. You can wrap these tubes around your waist like a belt during your running or walking stage and then wrap them around poles, trees or benches to effectively target your back, chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps and legs.