Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Brad Lackey's • • mp IP training program By Dean Miller and len W eed Th is and f ut ure installments are excerp ted from C hampion ship T ra in ing , featuring B rad L ackey, by B rad 's p ersona l tra in er, Dean M iller, and L rn lI'eed. All fi rst per son co mments are by Dean M iller. Be aw are th at m an y areas of sports m ed icin e, train ing, and n utrition do not offer black-and-ui h itr answers. Tra in i ng is as m uch all art fo rm as it is a science. I II man)' wa)'s, preparing all athlru is si m ilar to tun in g a racin g engi Il l'. It 's part stud)', part ex periment, part dre aming u p n ew app roach es, pa rt try in g dif!ere llt combina tio ns . It's putting pa rt results an d pr esent ideas together. searching for something tha t wo rks bett er, R esearch ofte ll suggests allSlL/ers bu t conclusive rui dence ma ), be lack i ng , And co n tinuing resrarrh so meti mes questions or i nva lidates p rin ciples and app roarh es prruious l» accepted. Dif! l'rillg uieuis, w here ap p licab le, w ill be mentio nrd along wit h indicatio ns of nl'W research that ma y change prevailing virurs. Strength, sta mina and muscular en durance Every SpOTt requ ires specific skills tha i o ften don 't relat e to any othe r SpOTl , But a ll ph ysicall y demanding sp orts req u ire ge ne ra l fitn ess. Progressi ve overload ing , stressing o f th e car diovascu lar, resp ira tory, a nd skeletal muscle systems produces fitn ess. Often , th is o verloading need not be, in fact, preferabl y shou ld not be speci fically related to th e a th lete's sport. Fitness has three m ajor ele me nts: o Mu scular stren g th. o Sta mi na (ca rd io va sc u la r effi cie ncy). o Muscula r end ur an ce. 16 Muscula r streng t h 'Streng th is defin ed as th e ma ximum physical force or ten sion th at ca n be deli vered in o ne effort. T h e ddi 11 i I ion is no! ('on n 'n\l~1 wit h the exercise spee d or form, j ust the int en sity (am ou n t o f resistance), Weight lif tin g is th e tradition al stre ngth test. You either ca n or ca n' t lift th e weigh t. Weight lifting or a si m ilar form o f resistance train in g is th e best wa y to develop strength. In th e past , many a th letes were in structed to refrain from stre ngth training to avoid becoming muscle bound. In rea lity, strength doesn't mak e a n ath lete muscle bound. Mu scu lar bulk with limited flexibility does. Strength training, co ordinated with flexibility training, permits th e generation of even more for ce over a great er range of motion. Several factors affect streng th potential : Amount of muscle fib er. This is a ge ne tic limit, but one wh ich offers wide variations in potential development, Ratio of fast and slour twitch mus- cle fib er. A grea ter p ro port ion of fast tw itch fiber hel ps th e strength /power ath lete. Q ualit)'of co nnective tissue. Strong m uscles need strong tendons a nd ligam ents to per m it forceful skeleta l m ot ion. Bod)' size and skeletal stru ctu re, A larger bod y offers leverage adva ntages. A stronger bone stru cture pe rmi ts grea ter stres ses, N euro logical system . T he a bi li ty o f th e cen tra l nervous system to transmi t co ntraction signal s a nd recru it muscle fibers for co ntractio n directl y affects stre ngth perfor mance. The benef its of exercise o In crea sed o xyge n inta ke by th e lungs. o I mproved e ff us io n / d i ffu sio n ra tes between th e lu ngs and blood stream , o Enlarged circu latory system . o In creased cardiac o u tp u t. o Im p ro ved ox ygen p icku p by th e muscles, o Im pro ved conservation of g ly(,o~('n h id . o Impro ved sta mi na. o Improved muscular end u ra nce. o Improved strength . o Impro ved deep sleep, the mo st ben efici al to the system . o Improv ed mood a nd sense of acco m p lish me nt, o Reduced depression, insom ni a , restl essn ess, and tension. o Improved h ealth a nd life expectancy. Force, work and power Force refers to the a p p lica tion of ene rgy to a task. Movin g a onepound weight requir es one pound o f force. Work is a fun ct ion of for ce a nd distance. Moving a one pound weight one foo t is a foo t-pound of work. Po wer, th e a bility to use stre ngth q ui ck ly, adds a tim e elemen t to work. Moving a o ne- po u nd weigh t one foo t (wo rk) in o ne seco nd (time) p roduces o ne foot-pound per seco n d of p ower. One horsep ow er is 550 foot-p ounds per seco nd . It is estima ted th at a power a th lete ca n ge nera te up to si x horsepo wer for one m ovem ent lasting less th an a seco nd. Human limits seem to be a bo u t two horsep ower for exertion u p to five m in u tes a nd a bo u t a half ho rsepow er when exert io n exceeds five m in ut es. S t amina (cardiovascular endu rance ) Stamina refers to th e a bi lity to maintai n physical activity - to ta l body in volve ment - over a lo ng ti me period. Sustai ned aero bic perform ance depe nds on th e efficiency of the lungs, heart , an d blood system to get ox ygen to th e wo rking muscles a nd tak e carbo n dio xide away. , The cardiovascu lar system responds to trai ni ngj ust likeany muscle group. Stress plus rest im proves effici ency. Sta m ina co ndition ing is not as specific as strength tra in in g. It really doesn 't matter wh ich limbs or muscle g ro u ps are used to stress the heart, lung s, a nd circu la to ry system . Th e h eart ' s mu scle fib ers get stronger from exercise . The Cham bers ge t lar ger. Stroke volume in creases. A hi gher h eart rat e ca n be ma intained longer. Stam in a training doesn 't increase oxyge n intake sign ifica nt ly, but it does im p rove th e a bility o f the lungs to tra ns fer o xyge n to th e blood. Stam ina train ing aIso improves th e a bi lity o f th e blood syste m to del iver oxyge n to th e muscles a s well as th e a bi li ty of th e m uscles to u se th at oxygen . Paced , ae ro bi c training in creases sta m ina. Runn in g, sw im m ing, and bicycling a ren ' t th e o n ly ways to tra in aerobica lly. Any co nt in uou s, multipl e-repetition ac tiv ity (suc h as weigh t or ca listhe ru ics circuit training) bui lds stam ina. Aero bics exe rcise classes use calis the nt ics, stre tchin g , and dancing as well as runn ing in place. Aerobic exercise a lso o ffers bene fi ts apart from improved sta m ina. Severa l studies ha ve co ncl uded th at exercise lo wers an xiety a nd depression levels. O th er resea rch indicates th at 20 m inutes of susta ined exercise raises th e level of testosterone which h elps th e muscles store glycogen a nd ma y also increase carboh ydra te metabol ism in th e mu scl es. Aerobic or pa ce train in g has little affect o n strength . Distance runners, .for exa mple, don 't inc rease muscular stre ngth or flexibility un less th ey speci fica lly p urs ue suc h train in g . Burst train in g won 't hel p stam ina as much as steady , p aced work below or at th e anero bic thresh old. H ow ever , restrictin g rest p eriods bet ween bursts o ffers card iovascu lar ben efits. Studies a t West Po int hav e sho wn th at circuit stre ngth train in g with lim i ted rest p eriod s ca n im p ro ve sta mi na. The heat a nd lungs ar e worked co nt in uo usly a t hi gh levels as various muscle gro u ps are stressed to exha ustion . Sprint interval training - a series o f sp ri ngs with bri ef rest periods between - will improve stamina.

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