It’s been about one year since I gave up training in the methods of being a bodybuilder. This meant giving up a lot of heavy lifting and only engaging in minimal cardio. Workouts were orientated towards gaining as much size as possible and the diet was to stay as lean as possible. I started this style of training in 2013 and progressively built a physique that I was comfortable maintaining. Over the 8 year period I went from 175 pounds to 225 pounds at my biggest. Most of that time I managed a 12% or less body fat to help with growth during the winter months and be set for a summer shredding program. 

But, after all those years of gaining size, I wasn’t really happy. The end result was always nice getting compliments from other people and feeling strong with everyday things. But, the constant training indoors I think is what killed my passion for it. Gyms in Minnesota are inside and I like being outside. Also, it’s really good for your mental health being outside. It took having a pandemic and being stuck inside from having less options to do things that brought me to triathlon. At the time I had recently picked swimming back up with a master program in my local area. I just then had to learn how to bike and run, and transition, and eat for triathlons, and swim in open water, and learn to train for cardio endurance sports instead of bodybuilding. 

My strong point was my long history in swimming, but the portion of the swim in a triathlon is peanuts compared to how long the rest of it is. My competitive swimming career through division 1 provided me a lot of guidance through experiencing mental and physical barriers that transferred over into the sport of triathlon. Another strong point was that I had muscle and was strong. While triathletes are normally skinny and lean, that wasn’t me. I weighed in at roughly 215-220 pounds as I started to get into the new sport. I knew I’d lose muscle mass and that would contribute to a significant weight loss. By the end of the summer I weighed in at a consistent 177 to 180 pounds. 

I was light on my feet and getting faster as I entered a new sport. But, I’ve learned now that what I did that first season was basically over training. My testosterone got messed up and I felt fatigued all the time. I didn’t like to go slow and wanted to push my limits each workout session I had. Bodybuilding was different where I could just switch muscle groups throughout the week and not experience over training, but with cardio and training 3 different sports at the same time; my heart needed a rest. I was surprised about how I felt, because I swam competitively in college and exercised more hours per week than triathlon training. And, in hindsight I’ll admit that I had a great coach that didn’t have us going hard all the time and mixed in a lot of drills or other performance enhancing methods that don’t stress the body. 

Turn the page to now. I have felt better than I have in a long time, and am doing more swimming, biking, and running than I did over the summer when I felt like crap. I’m starting to lose weight again after time off from the sport and a long muscle building phase. At the start of the 2022 new year I was 202 lbs and hovered there until recently when I started to watch what I eat a little more, as well as transitioning from polarized training to more pyramid training. My goal weight for racing by the end of the summer for nationals is 185 to 190 pounds, and that’s still large in my eyes for a triathlete. It took me 8 years to gain 50 pounds in muscle, so I can expect it to take years to safely take that back while keeping as much strength as I can. 

I suggest everyone should do a triathlon, or to start with running a 5k race. I think races help a person to become more goal oriented and being outside is just icing on the cake. Yes, you can have goals with bodybuilding, but most often its superficial goals. What can you do with the new fitness you’ve gained? Lift heavier and look better. For me now, I like the ability to do more. And have that ability when I travel or would have not been normally able to get to a gym. For me now it’s more important to maintain a healthier bodyweight for my frame as I was considered obese before, and boost my bodies efficiency for longevity. 

Do I still do strength building exercises? Yes, they are very specific to my weaknesses in certain aspects of either swimming, biking, or running. I do things that directly impact how I perform and not how I look; that will come on its own. Do I still lift heavy? No. While sometimes I would like to throw around some weight now and then. I know that by building strength in areas that are weak, they are going to make me stronger in my current sport, and that doesn’t really tie into heavy lifting. 

If I were to give advice to myself when I started triathlon; the number one thing I would tell myself is to go slow more often. Building endurance takes a lot of time and it is done in a very slow state. You can’t rush through endurance training or skip over it. It’s something that you’ll build up over a long period of time and when that moment or race comes to push hard; you’ll have the endurance to maintain that extra speed for a longer duration.