For track cyclists (Journal review)

Happened across this article and thought it may be useful to track cyclists, especially those that compete over several events during a day.
As we all know warming up is an essential part of performance, it is always thought of as an injury prevention tool. But did you know that it has been demonstrated that there is a ~4% per degree improvement of vertical jump as muscle temperature increases. Also during track sprint cycling, peak power output increases between 2% - 10% per degree (C) that muscle temperature increases.
It is important to keep in mind those that compete in longer duration events the risk of glycogen depletion during extensive warm ups.
So seeing as performance improves as muscle temperature rises, the exact opposite is also true. This can be a problem when riders experience delays between warm up and event or between multiple events. This article looked at the effect of artificially heating the legs after a standard warm up using heat pads and insulated pants.
Cutting a reasonably long story short, unsurprisingly the heated pads improved the sprint performance after warm up when compared to standard tracky bottoms and also tracky bottoms with insulation.
It may seem a bit obvious but when its been tested thoroughly it really hits home! So for you guys that compete at multiple events throughout the day the warmer you keep your legs between events the better!

I'm not sure you can get heated pants down Decathlon or on Wiggle so it may mean digging your nan's electric blanket out of the loft!!!

For those interested in the full article it is.
Faulkner et al. Reducing Muscle Temperature Drop after Warm-up Improves Sprint Cycling Performance. Med. Sci. Sports. Exerc, Vol 45, (2) pp. 359-365 2013 

Part one of my strength training for cyclists is coming soon

Introduction

After completing my first sportive, The Hell of the Ashdown, I decided I wanted to start a blog about cycling. My knowledge on the technical side of cycling is shall we say novice like and my mechanical knowledge is even worse! I’m ashamed to say as the son of a mechanic changing the tyres on my bike is a “big job”.

However, I do know my stuff about nutrition and training so Condition for the Ride will be all about off the bike training to complement your cycling. Nutrition for both on and off the bike will also be a regular feature.

During Hell, and it really was, I came to the conclusion that I needed to increase the power in my legs. I was reasonably happy with my climbing but I want that bit more oooomph to get me up the hills a bit quicker. After all, isn’t it all about that power to weight ratio?

As we all know the foundation of power is strength so I thought a good blog to start with would be a leg strength programme. Not only is strength essential for power, if you’re strong you will reduce your chance of injury. Training properly will stabilise your joints and you will avoid any imbalances. Muscle imbalance is a topic I will cover at a later date.

I'd just like to mention please do not worry that weight training will have a negative impact on endurance,  make you bulky and therefore slow. I have lost count of the number of clients of mine who were endurance athletes, particularly marathon runners, who, after initial scepticism, are now amazed at the power in their legs after I (initially) bullied them off the treadmill and into the weights room!

Strength training will not hinder your endurance capabilities, providing you put the miles in on the road of course. We’re not aiming for Forstermann thighs here, just strong legs! 

So, after a very brief introduction I hope to get the leg programme up asap, first up is the Cycling Weekly South Downs Spring Sportive. Lets hope spring actually arrives.