Your favorite workouts to improve sprinting?

A light bike doesn't replace good fitness.

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nobuseri
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by nobuseri

Lots of good takes and suggestions, here. :)

KWalker, 11.4 - Will see if I can implement some of these in the near future so they become at least routine in the off season.

I have other issues though - even before getting to a sprinting scenario (crits, road races). More training needed to bring up FTP and endurance. :oops:

Thanks for the tips; just wanted to say they are well received.
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boysa
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by boysa

Great thread. I've been toying with the idea of getting in the gym for a few seasons now, but have held off in the name of specificity. I think I'm going to have a go and shake things up.
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KWalker
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by KWalker

Gym work has definitely changed my cycling for the better. For years I thought it had 0 additive effect and avoided it because there weren't 400 studies claiming it would boost my threshold. Except, wait, there is a study that demonstrates that (see below). I'm not even a sprinter nor has it greatly influenced sprint power- its actually helped my climbing the most.

Optimizing strength training for running and cycling endurance performance: A review.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23914932

Cyclists' improvement of pedaling efficacy and performance after heavy strength training.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23197584
"E+S enhanced cycling performance by 7%, which was more than in E (P = .02). Performance was determined as average power output in a 5-min all-out trial performed subsequent to 185 min of submaximal cycling"

Isometric strength training lowers the O2 cost of cycling during moderate-intensity exercise.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22526253
"Isometric strength training rapidly (i.e., after 1 week) decreases the O(2) cost of cycling during moderate-intensity exercise, whereas it does not affect the amplitude of the slow component of the V'O(2) on-kinetics during heavy-intensity exercise."

Strength training improves cycling efficiency in master endurance athletes.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21638070

Effects of resistance training on endurance capacity and muscle fiber composition in young top-level cyclists.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21362056
"Short-term (5-min) endurance performance increased (3-4%) after SE and E (P<0.05), whereas 45-min endurance capacity increased (8%) with SE only (P<0.05). Type IIA fiber proportions increased and type IIX proportions decreased after SE training (P<0.05) with no change in E. Muscle fiber area and capillarization remained unchanged. In conclusion, concurrent strength/endurance training in young elite competitive cyclists led to an improved 45-min time-trial endurance capacity that was accompanied by an increased proportion of type IIA muscle fibers and gains in MVC and RFD, while capillarization remained unaffected."--
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boysa
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by boysa

I've always been quick to add mass, and therefore very reluctant to touch the weights. My training has been progressing very well over the last two seasons, but I'm starting to believe I can do better by adding some leg strength. This becomes more and more important as I age, and more important as I begin to figure out what kind of "horse" I am... as in "horses for courses." Let's just say I'm not going to win any TTs.

I'll have a look at these studies and elsewhere to try and come up with a simple, yet strategic, gym plan.

Great, great stuff.
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KWalker
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by KWalker

You won't add mass if your diet is in check. I haven't added anything that is statistically significant and I used to compete in powerlifting/spent years putting on muscle mass. I tend to lift on days I also ride and haven't added any extra protein or anything to my diet. It hasn't really impacted recovery in a negative way. If anything its ramped up my metabolism and allowed me to eat more than normal without gaining weight, but that is to be expected since lifting increases BMR.

I must add that how you lift also matters. I wouldn't do many upper body movements if any and only if I needed to as supportive work. I also think most people focus too much on traditional weight training programs that emphasize hypertrophy and volume and less on movements that aim to work on coordination, stability, and firing patterns. Think pistol squats vs deadlifts. Or a tall, weighted step up vs a box squat. Goblet squats vs. leg press, etc.

If you have any questions shoot my email a message and I can at the very least let you know what has worked for me as a road rider during the season. Off-season will be an experiment as I only added the strength work in during the season to work on issues I was having with central fatigue, muscular stability, and nagging injuries. The other benefits were a byproduct it seems, but lots of very successful athletes from the local level up to the World Tour all lift 2-4 times a week and sure as shit don't resemble bodybuilders (Hesjedal, Haas, Dombrowski, lots of Garmin guys are good examples).
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boysa
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by boysa

Thanks, Karsten. I'll be sending you something...
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by Tapeworm

KWalker wrote:You won't add mass if your diet is in check. I haven't added anything that is statistically significant and I used to compete in powerlifting/spent years putting on muscle mass. I tend to lift on days I also ride and haven't added any extra protein or anything to my diet. It hasn't really impacted recovery in a negative way. If anything its ramped up my metabolism and allowed me to eat more than normal without gaining weight, but that is to be expected since lifting increases BMR.

I must add that how you lift also matters. I wouldn't do many upper body movements if any and only if I needed to as supportive work. I also think most people focus too much on traditional weight training programs that emphasize hypertrophy and volume and less on movements that aim to work on coordination, stability, and firing patterns. Think pistol squats vs deadlifts. Or a tall, weighted step up vs a box squat. Goblet squats vs. leg press, etc.



*f##k*, I'm becoming redundant round here. :lol: That pretty much sums up my approach to the "off-bike work" thus far. It *seems* (because I am one data point and not a study) that the single leg movements, especially those which recruit more of the glutes (Bulgarian split squat is a fav) are helping, especially when in the TT tuck. I say this, as they damn well are sore after a good TT.

I have been a long advocate for the weights for general health. I was certainly of the opinion that the transfer to *aerobic* based power was very unsubstantiated. I am shifting that opinion. The evidence is growing that it *can* help. Exactly how, when, how much etc still being established... or a least filtering down to the masses from those who *do* know.

But as KW mentioned, a lot of people are still hung up on a "body-builder" mentality. Go past the leg press and leg extension machines and good things *might* happen.
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by KWalker

Ahh, Bulgarian split squats- forgot about those. A great movement especially as a starter for someone trying to get better at pistol squats.

This is a very interesting post that somewhat pertains to this thread, lifting, and work to support sprinting:
New Ideas About Nutrition and the Adaptation to Endurance Training http://www.gssiweb.org/Article/sse-115- ... e-training Keith Baar

“One of the reasons that lactate begins to accumulate is that as exercise intensity increases we recruit larger motor units, whose fibers tend to be type II fibers with fewer mitochondria (Gollnick et al., 1974). Power/velocity at lactate threshold is therefore partially determined by the number of mitochondria and blood vessels in the largest motor units. Abundant vessels are necessary to maximize the ability to deliver oxygen to mitochondria for aerobic energy production and the fibers in the smaller motor units have already maximized these adaptations. Interestingly, the genetic profile of an individual who does not increase his aerobic fitness in response to endurance training is characterized by the inability to increase blood vessels and mitochondria in his muscles (Timmons et al., 2010). Clearly then, the goal of the endurance athlete is to maximize the number of mitochondria and blood vessels within his larger motor units.”

So when “smaller motor units have already maximized these adaptations” of abundant vessels there have to be other pathways to promote adaptations. In the article, they repeatedly say the focus should be “the goal of the endurance athlete is to maximize the number of mitochondria and blood vessels within his larger motor units,” which would be the type II fibers recruited by both on and off the bike strength work. So aerobic training can recruit some of your larger motor units over time, you need to do some higher intensity efforts and maximally recruit your larger motor units to enhance the effects of normal training and provide additional potential for aerobic adaptations. As Couzens has said, fast twitch fibers of today have the potential to become (or at least behave more like) the slow twitch fibers of tomorrow.

So how do you best recruit these fibers and a lot of motor units?
-Strength training off the bike focusing on movement and firing patterns that mimic various parts of cycling. That is why I gave the example movements above. A pistol squat in which you push the glutes back is very similar to the firing pattern of a hard pedal stroke albeit much more force. You're more concerned, in this case, with teaching your body maximal recruitments with a specific firing pattern.
-On the bike strength drills. This builds on the off the bike work by making the firing pattern completely sport specific. This is why one would do the workouts I mentioned as they tend to be in Q2.
-Really, really hard efforts in a glycogen-depleted or reduced state. You can get this a billion ways either through dietary manipulations, long rides, racing, or efforts done during a training block where glycogen is not likely to be topped off (think doing a T-Th training block and including some hard efforts on the last day).

Like anything this is only one piece of a puzzle. You can train this stuff all you want, but unless you go out and use it in the correct situation its relatively useless. This is why 11.4 makes a good point in that you have to be there in a sprint whether it be in races, on group rides, etc. Some of the best sprinters I've met know absolutely nothing about training, but have spent a lot of time on group rides incredibly focused on the km before a sprint point, timing their jump, watching the wind, watching opponents. A lot like how Cav talks about how he slows the race down in the last few minutes and intensely focuses on every single variable.
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KWalker
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by KWalker

Something that just came to mind-

Another reason why Litvinov conversions and other potentiation tactics don't work with cycling is due to the fact that muscle potentiation only happens for short periods of time i.e. seconds and it depends on maintaining tendon and muscle elasticity i.e. a shortening of the muscles from an eccentric movement.

Think of the difference between a box jump and a plyometric jump. A plyo jump requires some sort of shortening, either a pre-bend or pre-jump. A regular box jump is just that- a jump and isn't actually plyometric. So if you go do a 3 rep max squat there is a loaded eccentric portion. When you take a break, walk over to the erg, etc. you are losing that elasticity and potentiation. Moreover, cycling doesn't have an eccentric phase in the first place really. My guess would be that strict concentric power movements i.e. tall box jumps, some olympic lifts, and some forms of squats could be the closest one could get, but there would still not be a direct conversion affect like that that is seen in other sports, such as American football where a squat is very similar to what a lineman would do. In track and field this is why you see athletes do small hops or jumps and then "load" the blocks as for a long time coaches thought doing that after some plyos in the warm up room would keep some of that elasticity in there.

For pure power on the bike I would thus place the most emphasis on the on-the-bike work. Everything else would be done to augment gross firing rates and patterns. This is why I think that some very basic unilateral movements for most of the year and some core work is all that most roadies would need. Any additional barbell movements or strength work in the off-season or base period would actually serve as accessory work to make the unilateral movements stronger and then maintain these benefits more into the season.

Lastly, there is quite a bit of research done on the effects of strength training and muscle-wasting while in a caloric deficit. The body is actually more able to mobilize adipose tissue and preserve muscle mass in recruited/worked muscle groups so if anything it would help to maintain lean body mass during a caloric deficit. This is my guess as to why Sky places such an emphasis on strength work even in their Grand Tour riders.
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by Tapeworm

Pistol squats? Gah! My legs hurt just thinking about those. :faint: But yes, certainly a "king of single leg exercises". How people do them with a load...

I mentioned the Litvinov and PAP just as I know it's popular in Crossfit circles and had speculated about it use in a cycling-centric format or application. Yet to see anything of an established protocol or decent evidence that it could help. I had visions of a an erg next to the squat rack... :lol:
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KWalker
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by KWalker

My general opinion that I think most legit strength coaches would agree with is that almost anything popular in Crossfit is typically not a good idea for optimal health or performance. They're just starting to understand the purpose of periodization and even then its a giant face palm when you see their implementation of it.

Anyways, a tangent there but all of this is a giant black box anyways. There isn't much written out there which is why I'd love to know more about what 11.4 posted.

Ferrari supposedly had athletes setup their bike on a trainer with the front wheel raised and had them do either sprint or big gear work right after sets of squats. Unfortunately his love for administering PEDs means we only get to see poorly translated explanations on his website with no real insight beyond that.
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11.4
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by 11.4

I guess I come at this issue slightly differently. Here's why. (A couple minor edits added.)

First issue:

First, a track cyclist riding a kilometer in a 92 inch gear has to do 136 pedal revolutions from start to finish. All are high power output strokes. Anybody who can do 136 plyo jumps in quick succession has a blue skin suit and red cape and boots. Plyo jumps don't train a kilo as well as, say, running a sprint with a sled -- the sled has become one of my favorite tools for building that 136 step sequence.

Second, that track cyclist is having to apply intense power over a very short foot movement range -- either 13 inches in a vertical dimension or, if one counts a half-circle of a pedal revolution with 165 mm cranks, about 20.4 inches. Either of this is smaller than almost any plyo jump one might consider. That 13 inches isn't even a full deep squat for most riders. So one needs to consider whether one is training for a circular movement of the foot, or for such a short range of motion, or even more, for an ability to initiate extreme power, relax, and repeat, in such rapid sequence.

The power requirement is rather different for a plyometric jump compared to a sprinter's pedal stroke. Even at 140 rpm, the sprinter has to apply power in a rapidly repeating pattern without -- without -- a reactive intermediate countermovement. One can go into a squat to begin the next plyometric jump, but on a track bike you aren't building for a reflexive movement, or you wouldn't be ready to begin the next cycle (pedal revolution). At high sprint cadence, one pedal is also pushing the other foot into position for the next stroke and one (a) has to keep the relaxed foot out of the way, resistance-wise, and (b) one has to begin applying force on the next stroke without an attenuation step. Further, the time it takes to squat and prepare for a next plyo jump (which is basically defined by gravity unless you bolt your feet to the floor) is actually more than the time your foot moves into position for a sprinter's pedal stroke -- just do the basic physics of how fast you can drop down a foot versus what a cranking pedal can do to you. It's no different with a bar in your hands (Newton's law, remember), but you are addressing other aspects of the pedal stroke with the weights.

On the flip side, a plyo asks you to contract muscle and jump at a faster rate than you will contract on a track bike (assuming it's a fast hard plyo -- we can do plyos all day long that are simply unloaded squats). Plyos build a potentiation from the initial crouch leading to the positive action. You don't really have the same kind of potentiation on the bike. It's a big difference.

In short, a plyo might look at first glance like it's a good proxy for training for a sprint pedal stroke, but it really isn't that close. On the other hand, a very rapid, maximally-loaded squat actually gets closer, especially for the hardest part of a sprint which is the acceleration phase (either initial or final). And a sled push or sled drag can also be very effective.

Second issue:

This is more anatomical an issue. Your glutes are extraordinarily powerful muscles, enabling you to lift a good bit more than your quads can do. A standing start in a big gear goes a lot better with your glutes doing the work. Plus, it reserves your quads for a better purpose. Your quads don't have the sheer power, but they have the ability to effect a long and very rapid contraction, and to do so in rapid succession many times. Now think about a kilo. For the first dozen pedal strokes or so, you want to get up to speed using primarily your glutes. And if you watch a world-class kilo rider starting an effort, she/he'll be pumping the glutes more than the quads (the Aussies used to refer to it as a monkey humping a watermelon, mostly referring to a couple riders who had incredible accelerations by focusing on this identification of which muscle groups come into play when). At this point the rider is out of the saddle. A few pedal strokes later, the kilo rider (or sprinter) starts to drop into the saddle and the effective angle through which the glute operates becomes less efficient. But at that point the quads and related thigh muscles take over and push for higher rpms (because the glutes aren't any good at cadence, only at power). So when you do electrode studies (or get phosphate plugs) from a sprint cyclist, the glutes start things off and as they exhaust and the rider drops into the saddle, the quads are relatively untested and can handle acceleration through higher cadence and at somewhat lower power output. (Think about how you can squat x kilos but can deadlift x++ kilos -- this is because a deadlift is much more glute oriented, and a good squatter learns to engage the glutes to do these incredible Donnie Thompson world record 1,235 lb squats.)

So ... the basic point here is that you have two different pedaling actions at work in a good sprint. Two different types of training required. The first part is definitely improved by maximal squats and dead lifts. The quad portion is partly helped by different and very focused weight workouts, by very focused plyo exercises, and also by work on the bike. Oh, and very effectively by fast sprints with a sled. But a rider with bad glute performance will always find her/himself accelerating too late and too slow, no matter how strong the rider. This is one of the common situations a coach runs into with a rider that has all the numbers but is never there in the sprint.

This is why Litvinov workouts can work with single impulsive actions (like Litvinov's hammer throw -- an accelerating speed with a super-powerful fling at the end), but don't work with cycling. Ditto for PAP and its variations. It also explains why riders often can not achieve improvements on the bike from a winter of either free weights or plyos. The kinesiology of a sprint is just a little more complicated than coaches give it credit for. When we ask why the Aussies took sprints to a new level and why the Brits were able to recruit some of their trainers and do it one better, it's because they dissected the sprint and understood what they had to train.

Hope this makes sense. It's a much bigger topic and I'm just grazing the very tips of the forest. Sorry if I'm leaving out parts of it that make it coherent. But it's worth considering if you want to become a serious track sprinter or develop a modern pro lead-out train sprint. I spent three years looking at the data and training results after a couple riders just happened to fall into the issue and started winning in phenomenal ways. I wish there were better research data (most of the stuff, even from AIS, is pretty pathetic), but the coaching results from the elite track world are pretty persuasive.
Last edited by 11.4 on Sun May 31, 2015 6:25 am, edited 2 times in total.

drchull
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by drchull

Best physiological explanation of how I sprint that I have seen in a long time. Have always had good long sprint and sprinted better on a rise but not great initial acceleration especially on the flats. Gotta work on my watermelon humping.

Did start adding deadlifts and cleans a couple years ago but man my glutes hurt after. Would love to hear your opinions on both weight and trainer exercises for recruitment of the gluteal phase specifically. Some track exercises would be good too. Would like to see if can work on this over the next winter and tend to ride a mix of trainer, track and weight room.

Doing a web search for gluteal recruitment could yield some very interesting results.

And completely off topic, anyone find anything for DOMS, the scourge of my weight training program. Very little research that I could find. Maybe I should start another topic but figure it fits loosely into a topic that has wandered so far into the weight lifting realm.

KWalker
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by KWalker

Best movements for glute recruitment: Romanian deadlift, Good Morning, Glute Ham Raise (GHR), and hip thrusts/glute bridges. Squats are great, but not quite as posterior chain dominant depending on your stance nor would I use them for such for a cyclist. Reverse lunges and split squats can also hit the glutes if you use a really wide distance between feet.

For a cyclist though I would stick more towards him thrusts, RDLs, and glute bridges. A good morning will load the spine and upper body a bit much for a road cyclist and you can get the same firing pattern out of other movements. Moreover you can make them single leg as accessory work.

Bike fit is also a tremendous factor in glute recruitment.

DOMS is discussed on basically every weightlifting forum ever. Its going to happen, but if your on and off the bike programming is sound performance shouldn't be influenced too much. In the base period you might not even mind if it is.
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by 11.4

DOMS really should be a separate thread. Start one if you want to see a discussion. The short version is that it appears to be strongly an inflammatory response, which is why some people get DOMS and some don't. And if you get it, you tend to keep getting it. However, it doesn't respond much to NSAIDs or to any of the usual tricks. Better warmup is usually the best solution, but it's something one tends to live with. It's not muscle damage, so unless it is interfering with your lifts or other workouts, you can work through it. I haven't seen any studies showing whether it leads to fiber calcification or other damage responses over years. That would be interesting to know.

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