Most marathon and triathlon plans skip upper body training for runners entirely, but a German study found trunk fatigue wrecks running economy late in a race
The ab wheel bit made me laugh because I tell my pickleball players almost the same thing about their trunk. Everyone wants to talk about paddle speed, but the players who hold up in a three game match are the ones whose core doesn't fold when they're stretched wide for a low ball at the kitchen line late in the third.
I've got students in their 70s who can't do a single ab wheel rollout, so we get there with dead bugs and suitcase carries instead, same pattern you're describing, just built for joints that have some mileage on them.
Do you find the trunk fatigue shows up faster in swimmers than runners, or is it pretty consistent across the three disciplines?
It’s a good question and I don’t have an answer. As always, the answer is, it depends…are you just doing a long bike ride? running a marathon? doing a long swim? depends on how prepared you are for each. Now, if you are doing a triathlon, which is one after the other, then you’ll feel it for sure late in the bike and definitely in the run…it will impact your posture, form, everything. I recommend the exercise to everybody, because although it is hard and boring, the benefits are huge in the long term.
The ab wheel bit made me laugh because I tell my pickleball players almost the same thing about their trunk. Everyone wants to talk about paddle speed, but the players who hold up in a three game match are the ones whose core doesn't fold when they're stretched wide for a low ball at the kitchen line late in the third.
I've got students in their 70s who can't do a single ab wheel rollout, so we get there with dead bugs and suitcase carries instead, same pattern you're describing, just built for joints that have some mileage on them.
Do you find the trunk fatigue shows up faster in swimmers than runners, or is it pretty consistent across the three disciplines?
It’s a good question and I don’t have an answer. As always, the answer is, it depends…are you just doing a long bike ride? running a marathon? doing a long swim? depends on how prepared you are for each. Now, if you are doing a triathlon, which is one after the other, then you’ll feel it for sure late in the bike and definitely in the run…it will impact your posture, form, everything. I recommend the exercise to everybody, because although it is hard and boring, the benefits are huge in the long term.