You should minimize strain on the sync cords, particularly excessive pulling or bending. Broken wires inside the cord will lead to frustrating intermittent firing or no strobe triggering at all. Although strobes have become much lighter and smaller than models of ten or more years ago, they're still relatively hefty compared to above water flashes. Most of the bulk is made up of batteries that provide the electrical charge and the capacitors that store the charge. When you trip the camera shutter, the capacitors are triggered to dump the charge into the flash tube.
Strobes typically use rechargeable nicad batteries.
Their advantages include the repeated ability to recharge and a fast recycle time. Alkaline batteries can also be used in many models. They will typically provide more flashes before losing charge, but are heavier, take longer to recycle between flashes, and must be discarded when used up. The biggest strobes are generally used for wide-angle photography. Strobe spec sheets will indicate what the maximum angle of coverage is.