Strength For Endurance Podcast

Andrew Sillitoe is a well renowned coach in the area of leadership, working with high-achieving managers throughout the business world and helping them to build winning teams. Kriss & Andrew (or Smilie as he is better known to Kriss) go back a long way, to the days of their player/coach relationship when they were representing Great Britain in Inline Hockey. Naturally they had alot to talk about a...

Todays podcast looks at why we need to include to include single leg strength work into our training and what the possible repurcussions are if we don't. Kriss talks about where to start in terms of exercises and how we progress these exercises over time? Finally we discuss the commonly asked question "What weight or load do you need to be working towards?" How's your single leg strength and how a...

If you haven't yet managed to catch last weeks episode with Dr. Richard Blagrove, then head back to that episode right away for a great listen. Our conversation last week was jam packed full of insights from Richards' position as Senior Lecturer of Physiology and S&C Programme Lead at Loughborough University. Listening back to the episode there was too much great content to just leave it there, so...

Kriss had the pleasure this week of sitting down with Dr Richard Blagrove, Lecturer in Physiology and currently the Programme Leader for the MSc Strength and Conditioning at Loughborough University. We first met Richard back in 2016 when he was Programme Director for the BSc Strength and Conditioning Science at St Mary's University, after recently publishing his book 'Strength and Conditioning for...

Think about this...6 days of trail running across the island of Madeira, covering roughly 130km, with 8000m elevation (and back down again!) Now think about doing this after you've been told 9 months again, it's unlikely that you'll ever be able to run again. That was where SFE client Oliver was at the beginning of 2022. Struggling with a significant meniscal injury, he could barely run 5km withou...

We kick off todays podcast with an exciting announcement that we're looking forward to sharing with you very soon, so listen in if you want to find out more! But the main focus of todays episode though is the five principles that we incorporate into all our programming here at Strength For Endurance and key factors that you should be considering when designing and working through a holistic and co...

As a GP with regular night shifts and incredibly busy schedule, Aoife's strength training approach was very ad-hoc and unstructured. A relatively young runner, only really starting seriously in the last 4 years it was clear that structure and consistency was something that she needed if she was going to get the most out of her ultra-running goals. Since earlier this year we've worked with Aoife to...

George came to us at SFE with a hip and knee injury that was stopping him from running pain free. With a big year of ultra-running planned culminating in a 100miler in the summer he wanted to see if we could help. Having never done strength training before bar a few sporadic 'off the cuff' strength exercises he has progressed with patience and consistency to become a rather accomplished strength a...

What an inspiring episode we have for you today. We checked in with SFE client Laura off the back of her fantastic 106mile race at Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB). However, it's Laura's back story that makes her result even more special, from a year in a wheelchair following a road traffic accident, two previous medical DNF's at UTMB and two bouts of covid earlier this year, it was Laura's positi...

You might be hitting all your sessions during the week and doing them well, but you're still struggling to see the results from your work or get over a frustrating injury? As endurance athletes, we know the juggle between training, work and family is real. Many of you aren't professionals, so still work full time alongside training upwards of 10 hours a week which can be demanding. So often client...

The bottom line is that if you want to race and perform with quality, you have to train with quality too. Unfortunately many of us in endurance sports get caught up with what others are doing and the common perception is still that more volume is the answer to success. But surely doing more of poor quality is worse than doing less of good quality? Keep up to date with my recent coaching insights -...

In this weeks podcast we look a little closer at hip and knee dominant strength exercises. What the differences are between the two, the benefits of performing both and the key coaching cues and pieces of equipment you can use to perform them effectively. Understanding these better will give you the power to manipulate your strength program and tailor it to your individual needs. Remember, underst...

Kriss is joined this week by our in-house physio at SFE - Sophie, as they sit down to look a little closer at injuries. Often athletes are missing the bigger picture when it comes to injury and working out why it happened, which is an easy mistake to mistake if you don't have help from the right person, asking the right questions. So how do you explain injuries that seemingly come out of the blue?...

We always try to strip back the unnecessary noise when it comes to strength training in an attempt to make it less overwhelming to athletes, who'd honestly prefer to be spending their time out on the the trails, track or road. However there also needs to be an understanding and level of respect around the importance of following an individualised program over a generic 'one size fits all' approach...

A question for you…."Do you have the strength to go the distance?" To keep doing what you want session after session, race after race, year after year, with complete confidence in your body. It's key to remember that strength is the pre requisite to speed and power, and only then can we safely and effectively start to build our capacity for endurance. Unfortunately many longer distance athletes (1...

With so much information available to us, it can be tempting to try and challenge ourselves with exciting exercises and new pieces of equipment. But could this actually be the thing that is holding you back from making any real progress in your training or injury rehab? From Bosu balls and wobble boards to complexed jumps and weights that are too advanced for your current level of condition, make...

It's not uncommon to have a dominant side when it comes to everyday tasks such as writing, kicking a ball or throwing. But what about when it comes to our strength training and applying it to our sport...is it ok if we can only do 10 calf raises on our left leg but 20 on our right? Or if we know our right hamstring is our weaker one - does it matter? Listen in to find out more... Keep up to date w...

Whether you're looking to master the front squat or it's completely new to you then listening in to todays podcast is a must! Kriss shares his key tips for getting the most out of this complexed exercise; from stance and breathing to mobility requirements and the importance of working on your 'front rack' elbow position. So why is this such a great exercise? How does it transfer across into your s...

Ever wanted to know how to make an exercise easier or make your progress move a bit quicker? Today Kriss shares 5 (plus a bonus 4) training aids that he uses with clients to help their training progress further and a little faster. They aren't short cuts, the work still needs to be done, but implement these training aids into your sessions and notice the benefit it has on your training in a very s...

With an abundance of information and access to research, many of us go in search of optimal performance by looking at the stats and the outcome of research studies. But as individuals with different bodies, training backgrounds and injury experiences can we truely rely on everything we read to work for us? Keep up to date with my recent coaching insights -  here   P.S. Whenever you're ready there...

Today Kriss is discussing an issue that he comes across on a daily basis; athletes who are struggling with injury yet can't seem to get get past it and back to performing how they'd like to. Does this sounds famiiliar? You might have had a consultation to find out your injury diagnosis and then been prescribed the rest and remedial work to do. But you can't just sit there and hope that a few rehab...

Are you nervous about increasing your weights in the gym? Do you have a hesitancy to particular exercises or pieces of equipment? If this is you then listen in to todays episode as Kriss shares 5 key ways to build your confidence around lifting heavier. *Remember, if you're not progressively increasing your weights then your body is going to start plateauing. It won't be getting the adequate stimu...

A short but powerful podcast this week as Kriss talks about the importance of Self Autonomy. The benefits of being in-tune with how your body is feeling on a day to day basis plays a huge part in your ability to sustain consistent training. Kriss talks through a few factors that will get you closer to having a greater level of understanding about yourself: Education, Reflection, Implementation, Ma...

Today Kriss is joined by Sophie who came onboard several months ago as our consulting Physiotherapist. As a keen endurance athlete herself, Sophie both understands and has experienced first hand the highs and lows of training, racing and injury. The two sit down to talk about the close link between physiotherapy and strength & conditioning and how they are working together on a weekly basis to ens...

This week Kriss shares his thoughts regarding some common myths and misconceptions many endurance athletes have when it comes to their training approach. He shares 5 common outdated beliefs that he regularly hears from clients and views that are most likely hindering their progress and stopping them from reaching their potential. - Lighter is faster - Volume wins the day - Fasted training - You ne...