Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Lackey (Con ti n ued from page 18) tit e loss, fatigue, loss o f int ere st. d ecreasing perform ance. weight loss, stiffness a n d so re n ess. d ep ression . swell ing o f th e lym ph nodes, frequent co lds , ina bili ty to relax. a nd rest less sleep. T he use o f ha rd a nd easy tra in ing da ys reduces th e ri sk o f o vert ra in i ng . T he less strenuo us work ou t prevents injury as well as atroph y. T h en the a th le te is read y to stim u la te m uscl e g rowth aga in with hi s next strenuous workou t. T h is a p proach m a y a lso h elp prevent m enta l sta leness. One way to gua rd against ov er training is to check yo u r p ul se ra te in th e m o rn in g before g ett ing o u t o f bed. A n i ncrease in yo ur normal a trest pulse sug gest ove rtra ini ng. . It's a lso wise to m on it o r yo u r p ulse rate ri ght after a workout (ide a ll y, aero bic running ) and again 15 m in u tes after th e wo rk out. Keep records. Any increa se. eit her in th e m orning or a fter work outs. sugges t o vertraining. Take some time 0 [[ a n d th en resum e tr aining a t a reduced pace, graduall y building to o ld levels. Do n 't ignore o vert ra in i ng warn ing signals. The longer you put 0 [[ th e rest your bod y is demanding. the longer it wi ll take yo u to revers e the do w n cu rve a nd re turn to yo u r former fitness. Reversibility A level of fitness th at took years o f training to obtain can be lost in a ' surprisingly short time. A three-week layoff ca n play havoc with fitn ess. Two months o f in activity ca n produce as much as a 60 percent stre ng th los s. This loss is rever sibility at work. Reversibility (use it or lo se i t) a ffects endurance a th letes quicker th an burst athletes. The oxygen system reverses quicker than the muscle syste m . However, a burst a th le te 's a bil ity to do repea t bursts will likew ise be affec ted, fir st by de crea sing o xy ge n effi ciency. and th en by muscular a tro p hy . The tw o m ost com m o n indicators of reversibility a t work a re short ness of brea th and sore muscles. The o n ly wa y to co m ba t rever sib ility is to avoid lo ng. d o-n othing la yoffs. A mild orr- season train ing p rogram will make th e cl imb back to pea k form for th e foll o wing sea so n m uc h eas ier. Specif icity The bes t tra ini ng fo r a ny sport is speci fic. G ener al co nd iti o n ing provid es a fo undati on. bu t co ord ina tio n a nd various ski ll s a re bes t d evel oped speci fica lly by p ractici ng th e sport . , For a rnot ocr osser , th at m ea ns ridin g th e m o torcycl e. This ca n be su p ported wit h exerci ses th at m imic th e movem ents o f th e sport. Exercises that requires the sa me kind o f coord in ation. th e sa me kind o f body speed. the sa me kind o f stre ng th a nd en d urance. th e same kind of ca rd io vascu la r efficiency. Strength training. however. should remai n general. Warming up Always warm up bef ore ex ercising. Raisin g the temperature of the muscles just a few degrees stimulates the energy product ion process while red uci ng joint friction and inelasticity. Avoid maxim urn static stretches or bouncing stret ch es for warming up. Use comfortable static stretch es p lus easy twisting. turning. loosening-up motions. Pre-stretch P re-stretch ing is the ac t o f placing muscl e u nder tension before starting a contraction. This tension sen ds a signal to th e brain. a lerti n g it for a major effort. The muscle group then prepares to contract more fiber. Pre-stret ch in g or pre-tri ggering is co m mon i n m a n y sport m o vem en ts. A d ip before lea pi ng . A ba ck swi ng before whippin g a ba seb a ll bat o r golf club fo rward . Bri ngin g the fis t back before throwing a p u nch. Wit h st re ng th train in g , the prestre tch, a qu ick. sho rt thrust , should occ ur j us t before reaching fu ll ex te nsio n in th e lo werin g pa rt of a strength exercise. Workout order Begin with the larg est muscle grou ps fi rst , th en proceed to the sma llest. T his a p proach a llows more ove ra ll str essing . The smaller, " wea ker li nk " m uscles rem ain fresher. T his a llows the b ig ger muscl es to wo rk m ore efficiently. Isolation of m uscle g ro ups Mot51L£' coMM4ND, n l/S IS A IR ~OR.NE ONE... CHE U

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