- The elite athletes who train with Jon spend the first month of their training getting strong at the gym. “There’s no point in doing 15 repetitions, for no reason. At the beginning of the season, only do five reps, but lots of sets, with lots of rest in between. The weight should be the most weight you can possibly lift, up to five times.
- “The goal is to improve the power to weight ratio,” says Jon. “Then the athlete adds volume, and after a couple of months, the final stage is to start training at race pace and higher intensity.”
- These principles can be applied to everyone. And building strength first, then adding volume, is even more relevant to beginners.
- “This is all about fine-tuning,” Jon explains. “When people who come to us who have never run, and want to do a half marathon, the first thing we do is less running but strengthen the body. It’s about the quality of running and training. Random runs are a waste of time.
- “The body needs to be balanced, on left and right side, front and back, and working out in the gym is the way to get this right. I’ll always put quality over quantity.”
For enquiries and bookings visit www.mattroberts.co.uk, or call Matt Roberts Mayfair on 0207 491 9989.