3 Exercises To Get Faster, Prevent Injury, Increase Mobility, and Live Longer

By Justin Sorbo, Owner/Operator of Quaero LLC Personal Training

You balance a demanding job, family responsibilities, and intense training for triathlon. You’re short on time, and don’t know where to start. For the triathlete, just one hour in the gym per week can decrease your times on your swim, bike, and run while creating lean muscle mass, growing bone, and increasing flexibility.

A properly designed strength and power routine yields a greater benefit than nearly any other form of exercise in a given time period. I love efficiency!

Let me explain, using the run as an example:

Running speed is calculated as Stride Length*Frequency. To get faster, you must increase either or both these qualities. Strength training improves your muscles’ ability to produce force. When training with a full joint range of motion (for example, squatting as low as possible pain-free), your joints will gain range of motion, too.

When you put more force into the ground through a longer distance, you run faster.

Meanwhile, purposely adding stress via extra gravity (that’s weight training, folks) happens to increase lifespan, improve metabolic rate, lower the risk of dementia, regulate blood sugar, and mitigate osteoporosis.

Since time in your life is the only fixed variable, I like to look for athletic qualities that will take the least of it to develop. Most triathletes don’t strength train at all or with adequate weight (sorry Peloton), so you’ll improve quickly. It’s a no brainer.

Here are a few of my favorite exercises to get faster, stronger, and prevent injury as a busy triathlete:

1. Split Squats train both the front and back leg simultaneously in different positions. These will make you run and bike faster, while decreasing the likelihood of a quad strain.

2. Suspension Rows will make you a faster swimmer and help manage the shoulder stress associated with the catch.

3. Rack Pulls will make you a faster swimmer, biker, and runner. They increase glute, hamstring, and core strength while minimizing the risk of low back and hamstring injury.

To learn more, send me a message at justin@quaerofit.com or text me at 978-790-1775. Follow me on Instagram @justinsorbo. For in person training, I'm at 107A Atlantic Ave near Christopher Columbus park in Boston.