Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Brad Lac~ey's • • p IP training program By Dean Miller and Len Weed This and future installme nts are excerpt ed from Championship Trai n ing, featuring Brad Lackey, by Brad's personal trainer, Dean M iller , and L en Weed. All first person com ments are by Dean M iller. Be aware that many areas of sports medicine, train ing, and nutrition do not offer black-and-white answ ers. Tra in ing is as much an art form as it is a science . In many ways, preparing an athlete is similar to tun ing a racing engine . It's part stu dy, part ex peri men t, part dream in g up new approaches, pa rt trying different com binations. It 's putting past results and present ideas tog eth er, searching for something that works better. R esearch often suggests answers but conclusive evidence ma y be lacking. A nd con ti nuing research sometimes quest ion s o r invalidates pr inciples and approaches previousl y accepted. Differing views, where app licable, will be mention ed aJon g with indicatio1Js of new research thatmay change prevailing views. The Heart and Circulatory Syst em Blood 16 J I sta nce a tt racts o xygen in th e lungs much lik e a magnet attra cts iron fillin gs, th en ca rries the oxygen to cells a nd p ick s up ca r bo n di oxide for a return rid e to th e lungs. H em oglobin a llows blood to carry a bo u t 60 times more o xygen th an it co u ld without it. An average body without h em oglobin would require abou t 75 gallons of bl ood - over 500 pounds - to circulat e o xygen . A bod y st ressed for o xygen co mpe nsa tes by increasing hem ogl obin level s. Training a t a lti tude, in particular, stim u la tes h em ogl obin p ro duction beca use th er e's less oxygen avai la ble in th e ai r. Wh ite blood cells. T he virus and bacteria fighter s. Larger th an red cells (u p to two times bi gger ), w hi te cells a re greatly o u tn umbered in the bl ood. (So me so urces say o ne wh it e eell for every 500 to 1000 red cells). The white cells a re manufactured in bo ne marro w and in the body's lymph (im m uni ty) system. Platelets. T he leak p luggers. Mad e fro m cells in bone m arrow, platelets form web s tha t he lp the blood clot. Pl atel ets h ave a life expentancy o f a bou t fo ur days. Plasma. T he blood 's fluid . Abou t 90 per cent wa ter, it ca rr ies blood ce ll s , pl at el et s . nu tr ien t s . and hormones. D Blood, which accounts for about seve n pe rce n t of body weight, is a lm os t as sa lty as ocean water. D It is esti ma ted th at o ne -q ua rte r o f th e ce lls in th e human body are red blood cells. Guesst im ates pl ace th e red cell co u nt in th e body a ny whe re fro m three to 25 tr illion. D About 50 bl ood ce lls will fit o n th e head of a pin. D A red blood cell ha s a life spa n o f a bou t four months. D Th e a verag e body ha s a bou t 60,000 m iles of blodd vessels. D T he number o f bl ood vessel s in th e body ca n be increased by exercise, especially aerobic exercise D Endurance training ca n increase th e body's blood volume by as much as one quart. (T h is so metimes leads to a fa lse di agnosis o f a ne mia in end urance ath le tes. Th e ir red bl o od cell co u nt a ppea rs low because of thei r grea ter bl ood vo lu me .) Blood has four ba sic co mpone nts: D R ed blood cells. . D Wh ite bl ood cells . D Pl at elets. D Pl asm a . Red bloodcells. T he o xygen ca rriCirculatory system ers. Red cells (w hich account for Blood circu la tes i n a closed system. :r he heart pumps o xyge n -rich blood a bo u t 45 pe rce nt of blood volume in ma les, a bo ut 42 percent in fema les) mto th e ao rta a rtery (w hi ch has a a rc produced in the marrow of cerdia meter o f about one in ch ). The b lo od bri ngs ox yg en , nutri ents , lain bones - primaril y th e sku ll , hormon es, and antibodies (disease breastbone, vert ebrae. hips, and th e fighters ) to the cells a nd ca rries wa ste end s of long bones. products a wa y to th e lungs, liv er a nd H em oglobin , fou nd in the red cells, kidneys. Blood flow a lso helps to is a two- wa y taxi ca b for th e blood strea m . This iron -r ich protein sub- __ . r~gu l a te bodv tem~rature. t . _••• •• ••••••• ••• •• • • •••••• • ••• • _ • • :::~_: :::~:: ::;: :: • •••••• The circu latory system ha s three types o f blood vessels: D Arteries. Oxygen-rich blood is ca rried a way from th e lungs a nd h eart by th e a rteries. D Veins. Oxygen -poor blood is bro ught back to the h eart and lungs by th e vein s. Blood is pushed through th e vei n s by adjacent m uscle ac tiv ity. T he veins co n ta in o ne -way val ves th at prevent the blood from a ba ndoni ng its journey toward th e h eart. H ea vy brea thing d uring exertion -a lso tends to speed up th e venous retu rn flow. D Cap illaries. The body's smalles t blood vessles, Some are barel y wider th an a red bl o od cell , a bou t o ne- tenth th e width o f a human hai r. Ca p illaries connect a rteries a nd veins, delivering o xygen -rich blood to the cells an d returning o xygen -poor blood to the veins . T raining stimulates th e capillary sys tem to inc rease it s vol u me . Increasing energy demands activate severa l responses that in cr ea se blood blow (a nd o xygen del ivery ) to work ing m uscles: D Cardiac output increases. In it ially, th e stroke vo lu me increases wi th activity, then levels off as the heart ra te ass u mes responsibil ity for increasi ng ca rd iac o utp ut. D Some blood vesselswiden. Vessels servi ng stressed muscles widen to a llow increased blood flow. (The re lease of potassiu m, phosphate, a n d lactic aci d by th e stress ed muscles rel axes th e d iame terco ntrolli ng muscles lin in g the vessels.) D O th er blood ves sels na rrow. Tho se supplyi ng othe r muscles a nd orga ns narrow ,' a llowi ng more bl ood for stressed muscles. The di gest ive o rgans may be deprived of as much as 80 percent of their n ormal blood su pply. P ressure in th e ci rcu la to ry system is mai ntai n ed by the pumpi ng action of the hea rt a nd the elasticity o f the blood vessels. Blood p ressure rea d in gs measure the h ig hest (systo lic) pressure, which occurs wi th th e heat heat , an d the lowest (d ia sto lic) pressure. whi ch oc cu rs wh en th e h eart rela xes a fter a stro ke . T he two read.i . f . l 1 . ,I (' " ):'1. '. I ~ c r." f o ings, for example. 120/80, refer to millimeters of m ercury displaced in th e mea suring ins tr u ment. The differneee between systolic a nd diastolic p ressure is kn own as pulse pressure. Blood pressure is normally measu red by placing an in fla ta ble cu ff a rou n d th e a rm. j ust above th e elbow. The cu ff is inflated until it temporaril y colla p ses th e bra chial artery. Relea sing th e air pressure permits a rea di ng of blood p ressure as flow res u mes through th e artery. Blood pressu re readings for yo u ng ad u lts range a ro u nd 100-120 systolic a nd 70-85 d iastol ic. Middle-aged an d o lde r ad u lts usually range around 120-140 systo lic an d 70-95 dia stol ic. High blood pressure readings ab ove 140 systol ic or 90 di astolic usually sugges t a medi cal problem. if th e heart is h ealthy, a hi gh pressure reading in d ica tes that th e a rtery system is resisting th e bl ood pumped by th e heart. T ension may be ca us ing a narrowin g of th e flexible arteries. Or th ey may be clogged by fat deposits. The circ u la to ry system's greates t health hazard is a rt herosclerosis hardering o f th e a rteries . The passageways th rough th e a rteries narrow from pl aque accu m u la tio ns of cholestrol fa t, fibrous tissue, a nd ca lci u m deposits. The plaque eventua lly ca lci fies (ha rde ns), ca us ing th e blood vessels to lose the ir elas tici ty and. eventua lly, th eir a bi lity to deliver bl ood. Serum choles terol in the blood is broken down fro m anima l-tissue food. L ow density lipoprotein (L DL) ca rries choles terol a nd deposi ts it in tiss ue. Hi gh d ensit y lipoprotein (H DL) carries excess cholestero l in the bl ood to t he liver to be di spo sed o f. -The blood co ntai ns much m or e LDL than HDL. The higher th e HDL co ntent - a nd the lower the LDL co ntent - th e bette r. But even i n fit bodies, HDL is o u tn um bered . A six- to-o ne LDL/HDL rati o is co mm on in sede n ta ry peop le; a three-t o o ne rat io (less LD LImore HDL) is co nsi dered o p tim u m . Accordi ng to th e Fram ingh am H eart S tu dy, a bo u t half of th e deaths i n America ca n be attri buted to arth eroscleroti s lesions in th e blood vessels . The study fo u nd eveidence o f these lesio n s in anot her 20 pe rcent o f 1i b l ~ d - (t ,l , ,j d " .i,' ~ I]

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