Training Articles

Often at cycling workshops I am asked how hard should one exercise or how much weight should they be lifting for their level of fitness. Often I can't tell them exactly how many pounds to lift or how steep a hill they should climb to reach a moderate or vigorous level of exercise, because what is easy for one person might be strenuous for another. It¹s different for different people.

I can, however, provide some advice based on scientific research: In addition to heart rate you can listen to your body. The level of effort you feel you are putting into an effort is likely to agree with what actual physical measurements would show, researchers have found. In other words, if your body tells you that the effort you are putting in on the bike is moderate, measurements of things like how hard your heart is working would probably show that it really is working at a moderate level. During moderate cycling, for instance, you can sense that you are challenging yourself but that you aren't near your limit.

One way you can estimate how hard to work is by using something called the Borg scale. It was named after Gunnar Borg, the scientist who developed it. The scale is also often referred to as the Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale. The numbers on the left of the scale don't indicate how many times or how many minutes you should do an activity; they are just a way of helping you describe how hard you feel you are working.

For endurance activities, you should gradually work your way up to level 13 the feeling that you are working at a somewhat hard level. Some people might feel that way when they are riding on flat ground; others might feel that way when they are riding up a 3 to 4 percent hill. Both are right. Only you know how hard your exercise feels to you.

Strength exercises are higher on the Borg scale. Gradually work your way up to level 15 to 17 - hard to very hard - to build muscle effectively. You can tell how hard an effort you are making by comparing it to your maximum effort. How hard does your current effort feel compared to when you are lifting the heaviest weight you can lift? Once you start exerting more than a moderate amount of effort in your muscle-building exercises, your strength is likely to increase quickly.

As your body adapts and you become more fit, you can gradually keep making your rides more challenging. You might find, for example, that riding on a flat surface used to make you feel like you were working at Level 13 on the Borg scale, but that now you have to ride up a mild hill to make you feel like you are working at level 13. Later, you might find that you need to ride up an even steeper slope or ride faster on the flats to feet that you are working at Level 13.

The Borg scale is simple to use. But if you feel that your level of effort doesn't match the numbers you see on the Borg scale for example, if you feel you are doing the exercises correctly, but you aren't progressing or you feel exhausted by your effort - check with your coach to give you more advice on how to use the scale. These experts are likely to understand the science that went into developing the Borg scale, and they can teach you how to match your level of effort with the right number on the scale.
Borg Scale - Rating of Perceived Exertion
6 least effort
7 very, very light
8
9 very light
10
11 fairly light
12
13 somewhat hard
14
15 hard
16
17 very hard
18
19 very, very hard
20 maximal effort
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How to take your heart rate and pulse rate. Edit Text

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Starting the Year Off Right

Most of you could ride almost as well Lance Armstrong. You probably couldn't ride their times or beat them in a race, but, properly trained, you could as closely approach your potential as they approach theirs. While we each have different genetic gifts for cycling, most of us have the ability to fully realize our promise if we go about our training with intelligence and restraint.

Whether you choose to try and maximize your talent or simply to obtain the greatest possible fitness benefits from your cycling, the results will depend largely on how you train. As we begin the new year, lets explore some of the key concepts used by many great athletes in designing their overall training program for the year. Much of what separates the good cyclist from the back-of-the-pack cyclist is their individuality, consistency, slow progression, fulfillment and goal selection, concepts from which we can all benefit.

1. Individuality. First, you must plan your training to your needs, abilities and routines. While we must listen to the training programs of elite cyclists, read books and articles on training, you must know your strengths and weaknesses. What is good for Lance Armstrong, may not be good for you. The smart cyclist listens to everyone and then selects what is best for them in training. In addition, you must also train your weaknesses, if you are a poor climber, make sure to spend time on climbing technique and building anaerobic power, so you climb better in your first race of the season. Too often, we train at what we are good at already, and neglect our weaknesses. By strengthening your weaknesses you will become a better all-around cyclist.

2. Consistency. It is more important to do less more often than to do more less often. When in doubt about a ride, the choice that will improve consistency is to be conservative. Often it is better to do less than more. You'll probably avoid the three major reasons most athletes spend time away from training: injury, illness and lack of motivation. Lance Armstrong attributed much of his success in 1999 and 2000 seasons to his ability to train consistently and take a few days off his bicycle every few weeks. He also pointed out the need to monitor his state of health and fitness during a long hard season which lasts from early March to September.

Cyclists often ask me are there any way to determine if there might be "stress indicators" that could predict oncoming illness or injury and help maintain your training consistency. Several years ago Athletics West, the once NIKE sponsored elite track club collected over 40 daily physiological and training measures to see if any seemed to signal future problems. They narrowed it down to three primary predictors of illness or injury that could be monitored without laboratory equipment.

They are: A. M. heart rate, A. M body weight and hours slept. All are simple to monitor and were found effective in monitoring training health and recovery. If your A.M. heart rate is ten percent higher than normal, if your A.M. body weight is three percent less than normal, and if you had ten percent less sleep than normal, you body is telling you it has not fully recovered from whatever stress you placed upon it during the past several days. The more indicators that are abnormal, the more conservative you should be as you proceed in your training.

3. Slow progression. Along with a consistency in your training should be a progression in training volume and intensity that taxes your body enough to improve it, but not enough to cause it to break down. Again, if in doubt, be conservative. You'll get there. Whether your goal is to climb faster as soon as possible, to finish in the top ten at the National Championships, the season is long and you need to build to a peak during he months of July and August, and not in April. Cyclists that are flying in March are not necessarily the ones with strong legs when the season was winding down in September.

4. Fulfillment. This can be defined as a challenge or goal you enjoy working toward and enjoy, feeling good about yourself and what you are doing; you need this to psychologically stay with any endeavor. However, if you demand too much of yourself to often, your body (especially your immune and endocrine systems) will be unable to respond to the requests you put upon it. You will be more susceptible to injury and illness, and you may even find yourself even dissatisfied with cycling.

5. Goal selection. Your goal must be a major race or race series of the season. Your goal could be finishing in the top five in the Regional Points Series or placing in the top five in ten races this season, but it could also be the fulfillment of other cycling aspirations. If in doubt about some matter regarding your training, racing, commitment or equipment selection, the question you must ask yourself is, "How will this decision affect my goal?" Whatever enhances the accomplishment of that goal and doesn't interfere with consistency is probably the best answer.

Though few of you have all the time you'd like to devote to cycling, you still take it seriously and every once in a while seek to test yourself as a cyclist. Following the above ideas and suggestions will give you a sound and proven methods for better performance in the upcoming season. Edit Text

Keep the Fitness You've Earned

One of the biggest crimes in human performance is the willful loss of the fitness gains made during the course of the season; and it is about time you stopped the cycle.

Fall should not mean the demise of your hard-earned fitness. There is no need to gain 20 pounds between mid-September and November 1, nor is there any good reason why you have to go from the front of the group ride to struggling at the back for the winter. While you should try to maintain your peak race fitness throughout the year, staying in good physical shape year-round is part of leading a balanced, active lifestyle.

In order to make appreciable improvements in your aerobic conditioning and sustainable power from year to year, it is essential to retain at least 75% of your peak summer fitness through the fall and winter. When athletes go into hibernation and allow their aerobic engines to lay dormant for too long, it can take two to three months of training to regain lost fitness. It simply doesn’t make sense to expend three months of energy just to get back to where you've already been.

Fortunately, your summer fitness is easier to keep than it was to gain in the first place. If you cut your training volume by about 25%, and eliminate most of the structured interval sessions, you'll notice your top-end speed and ability to handle repeated accelerations diminish. Your goal is to reduce your overall training load (recuperate from the season) while still retaining the majority of your aerobic conditioning (prepare for next year). Your top-end performance will come back more quickly next spring if you don't have to spend months rebuilding the aerobic engine necessary to support it.

Fall Training

You're not well suited to being a couch potato anyway, so the end of the summer cycling season should just be an opportunity to use some of the other sporting equipment in your garage. The exact mode of exercise you choose doesn't really matter, as long as it addresses your needs as an endurance athlete. The best activities for cyclists are weight bearing and require nearly continuous movement, including running, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, cyclocross, racquet sports, basketball, hiking, and soccer.

While cyclists have highly-developed aerobic systems, we run the risk of being very one-dimensional athletes. Weight-bearing exercise is beneficial for the integrity of bones and connective tissues, and since you are almost certainly less efficient as a runner than you are as a cyclist, you can apply a lot of stress to your aerobic system in less time than you normally spend on your bike. Honing your cycling technique has made you very economical on your bike, but that economy of motion disappears when you enter a different sport.

Handled correctly, the fall and winter can be the most productive, diverse, and enjoyable portions of your training year. You have worked hard to achieve specific performance and body weight goals this season, and the actions you take over the next eight to twelve weeks will determine how much of that work you're going to have to redo next spring. This is the year to change the normal cycle of gaining weight and losing fitness; keep what you're worked for already and set your sights on ambitious new goals for next season.

Here is information about trigger points and therapy...

Trigger points are described as hyperirritable spots in skeletal muscle that are associated with palpable nodules in taut bands of muscle fibers. The palpable nodules are said to be small contraction knots and a common cause of pain. Compression of a trigger point may elicit local tenderness, refered pain, or local twitch response. The local twitch response is not the same as a muscle spasm. This is because a muscle spasm refers to the entire muscle entirely contracting whereas the local twitch response also refers to the entire muscle but only involves a small twitch - no contraction.

As a cyclist, I am sure you have explored the world of bike fitting and power testing. You are on a constant quest to see how light you can get your bike. We all spend endless dollars every year trying to get the latest in technology to make our bikes go faster, ride smoother and look cool in the process. It is amazing to me that the one thing that is overlooked time and time again is the machine that makes the bike move.

The human body is an awesome machine. It allows us to do what we want, when we want. At the first sign of discomfort while riding, we try to change our seat height, stem length, cleats or pedals. I think you understand what I am trying to say. Have you ever thought to realize you might be neglecting your muscles?

You over train and become dehydrated and sleep deprived, all the while still trying to go as fast or far as humanly possible. Your muscles are starving for the attention they deserve. Rather than addressing the real issue, you try to make changes to the car. Unfortunately, you forget about the oil that allows the car to function properly.

Trigger Point therapy creates the oil for the human muscle fiber by creating elasticity within the muscles to allow them to do their job. If your car runs out of gas you can easily refuel. If your car runs out of oil, the engine locks up and you've got a rough road ahead to get it back into operation. You fuel up by eating energy bars and drinking fluid replacement drinks, thinking that will be enough. What about the oil, the blood flow and oxygen, to allow the muscles to have a superior level of productivity?

The average driver changes the oil in their car every 3,000 miles, which realistically means you really change it about every 3,000-5,000 miles. Typically, your car can handle this type of abuse, because your purpose for driving is to get you from point A to point B. Now, if you were racing your car, you would change the oil every time you got out on the track. You would want to make sure the engine was 100% and able to meet your expectations. The reason I use this analogy is because if you are doing nothing more that getting through life with minimal exercise then the once-in-a-blue moon muscle manipulation might suffice. If you are an athlete or a bike racer you need to replace the oil every time you get out on the road, otherwise you are doing a disservice to what you are trying to achieve. If you create elasticity by force-feeding blood and oxygen into the center or belly of the muscle, the result is added power, resulting in better performance. Therefore, your muscles are able to withstand a longer level of activity without breaking down.
If you are interested in attending a Trigger Point workshop or a Private session, or to order Trigger point tools please call Donna @ (626) 893-6969

I found this article to help those of you with that afternoon lull in the day and those of you who can't seem to draw enough energy to get you to Monday night indoor cycling training this will help you!

For many, lunch is little more than an imperceptible blip on the screen of an average workday. Although you may fear that taking a break means sacrificing your productivity, it's quite the opposite. Research shows that when you skip lunch, performance scores plunge. But you don't need to take a 90-minute yoga class or a leisurely lunch to reap the benefits of an active respite from work. Short breaks can help increase overall energy and boost productivity. With that in mind, we've put together a quick, simple plan you can easily incorporate into your lunch hour -- and still have time to eat. Making it a regular part of your day will help reduce stress and release tension and, most important, help you let go of your morning and embrace your afternoon.
Let Go of the Morning
When the first half of your day is over, let it go -- physically and mentally. Here are seven steps for making that happen.
1. Don't Wait Until You're Starving to Take a Break
Once your blood sugar goes off the deep end, it can take a while to get it level again. Pay attention to the signals your body is giving you (difficulty focusing, slowing down, feeling overwhelmed) and stop where you are.
2. Breathe
Relax the belly and let it expand on an inhale for three counts, then exhale for three. Repeat five times.
3. Relax with a Mini Head Massage
With your thumbs at your temples and fingers in a half fist, run your index and middle fingers along the eyebrows and then along the cheekbones and sinuses, feeling the muscles release. Using the tips of your fingers, start at your forehead and rub along your scalp, front to back. Repeat as many times as you like.
Release tension. Lunchtime is the perfect time to stretch, especially if you spend hours hunched over a computer. Try these.
4. Shoulder Lift
Close your eyes and gently bring your shoulders up to your ears on the inhale, then push them down on the exhale, as if drawing them down your back. Focus on how the muscles feel contracting and then releasing.
5. Mid-Back Stretch
Push back from your desk and stretch your arms forward, clasping your hands palms out. On the exhale, reach forward, forming a "C" with your mid-back, letting your head tip forward.
6. Side Stretch
Stand with your right side about two feet from a wall. Place your right palm against the wall for support with your arm extended but slightly bent. Then reach up and over with your left arm, stretching out the left side. Hold for a few seconds, breathing into the stretch. Repeat on the other side.
7. Shake it Out
This gets your blood flowing and loosens up cramped muscles. Start by shaking out your hands and wrists, then your legs and feet. Rotate your ankles a few times each.
Embrace the Afternoon
Once you've put the morning behind you, reclaim the afternoon with renewed vigor by eating, exercising, and meditating. Just follow these steps.
1. Eat a Light Lunch
Choose whole and organic foods when possible. Steer clear of fast food and preservative-filled processed foods. Your ideal lunch shouldn't leave you unsatisfied or in need of a nap. Chicken soup, or any soup that contains vegetables along with beans or meat, is a great choice, as it strikes a healthy balance between protein, carbs, vegetables, and water to keep you fully energized and hydrated.
2. Take a Walk
A brisk 10-minute walk after lunch benefits body and mind by raising your heart rate and improving circulation, helping your body use the calories you've just consumed. A walk can do more than just kick start your metabolism -- it can greatly improve your mood, thanks to the release of feel-good hormones, helping you return to work in a new frame of mind. Spend your walk focused on energizing thoughts rather than reliving the stresses of the day.
3. Yin-Yang Meditation
Even if you can't enjoy a change of scenery at lunch, the power of visualization can give you a much-needed mental vacation, even for just a few minutes. Skye Alexander, author of "The Care and Feeding of Your Chi," recommends this meditation for channeling energy and finding peace through balance.
Connect and center yourself. Sit with your back straight and envision your spine extending down, like a taproot into the ground.
Draw feminine energy up from the earth. To create a sense of calm and serenity, visualize healing blue-green energy traveling like a fountain or spring from deep in the ground, up through the back of your spine, spouting out from the top of your head, flowing down on all sides, washing your aura clean. Inhale as the energy comes into your body; exhale as it spouts out.
Draw masculine energy down from the sky. To inspire courage and revitalize your energy, imagine clouds parting to reveal a bright sun, and feel the warm, golden light beaming down through the crown chakra at the top of your head, all the way to your root chakra, located at the base of your spine.
Join the two energy forces. Finally, sense those two opposing forces, feminine and masculine, yin and yang, joining at the third chakra in your solar plexus, about halfway between your heart and navel. Feel yourself calm, focused, renewed, and ready to face the rest of your day.
All-Day Energy Tips
Energy boosters don't need to be confined to lunchtime, says author and energy coach Jon Gordon. Here are a few of his ideas for picking up the pace.
Do Chair Squats
With feet just a little wider than body-width apart and arms at your sides, start to sit down on your chair, but stop a few inches above the seat. Stand up and repeat. Be careful not to lean too far forward. Repeat 10 times. Once that feels easy, increase to 20 repetitions.
Take a Peppermint Break
Peppermint can boost mood and motivation. Try a cup of peppermint tea, spray an herbal mint spritzer in your office, or dab some diluted essential oil on your wrists or temples to cool and revive you.
Drink Cold Water
Sipping some cold water can be the internal equivalent of a cold shower, giving your body a wake-up call.
Five Minutes of Silence
Cut stress off at the pass by simply halting. Sit for five minutes and do nothing but listen to your breath. Create that separation once or twice a day so you don't get sucked into -- and worn out by -- your work.