Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Brad Lackey's championship training program By Dean Miller and Len Weed Th is and f utu re in stall m ents are excerpted from Champions h ip Trai ni ng . feat u rin g Brad L ackey, by Brad's p ersonal trai n er. Dean M iller, and Len Wee d. A II fi rst person commen ts are by Dean M iller. Be aw are t ha t m an y areas of spo rts m ed icin e, tra in i ng , and nutrition do not offer bl ack-and-wh ite answers. Tra in ing is as m uc h an art [o rm as it is a scienc e. In many ways, preparing an athlete is simi lar to tu n i ng a racing en g ine . It' s p art st udy , part experiment, p art dreami ng u p new ap p roaches , part trying differen t co m binatio ns. I t's pu tting past resu lts and p resent ideas toget her , searching for so me thing th at works better. R esearch often s uggests an sw ers but concl usive evidence ma y be lack ing . And co n ti n uing research so me ti mes questio ns o r in validates prin ciples an d approach es pr ev iously accep ted . Differing v iews, w here ap p licable, will be m en tioned along w it h in dic atio ns of new research th at ma y change pr eva il in g v iew s. An Athl ete has to pl a y the ge ne tic ca rds h e's dealt. Some qual iti es, such as heigh t, are fixed. Oth er qual iti es vary sign ifica n tly w i thi n ge ne tic potential. For exa m p le, with sta min a, stre ngth , or en d ura nce, yo u ge t wh at you p ay fo r by trai n ing . Genetic Traits 14 In h is bo ok , T h e Superii tness Hand book. Ell ingto n Darden , Ph.D., poi n ts ou t five ge ne tic qualities of particular va lue to a th letes: Bo dily p rop ort ion. A weight lifter must have a h igh m us cle co ntent. A basketball center mu st be tall. A Ioo tball lin eman m u st be bro ad a nd bulky. S ke letal fo rmation . Bone size a nd shape h elps determine bod il y prop ort ion s. La rge bones a llow th e development o f large muscles. Small bones ge ne ra lly do n't. Neuro logical efficiency. T he nervo us sys te m trig ger s m o ti on , the muscl es respond. Ther e's a vary ing ran ge of response in a th letes a nd non -athlete s. Research indica tes tha t most p eopl e can o n ly co ntract abou t 30 per cent o f th e fib ers in a muscl e g ro u p under maximum stress . Fo rt y . pe rce nt efficiency is rare. So me peopl e ma y o n ly have 20 percent efficie ncy, o r less. Neu rol og ical efficie ncy , however. docs not necessaril y ass u re at h letic success in m an y sports , o n ly th e potent ia l for success. M u scl e len gth . Lo nger mu scl es h a ve th e gre ates t po te n tia l [o r strength. More length generally means more wid th a nd th us grea ter m uscle vo lume. Muscle length is no t necessarily co nsistent in th e same body. Some muscles may be longer th an average [or bod y size while others are shorter. Bod y fat. Stud ies ind ica te th at the qu ant it y o f ad i pose cells. th e fa t acc u m u la to rs in th e body, is a n in herited tr ait. Fat cells co nt in ue to in cr ease until ad u lthood . (T he a verage ad u lt body ha s 25 to 30 billion fat cells . An overweight individual m ay have 50 hill ion cells or more. ) It is th ough t, bu t not su bsta nt ia ted, tha t nurri rion and exercise durin g chi ldhood may a ffect th e final n umber of ad u lt [at cells. Body types So ma toty pi ng, a co nce p t develo ped by Dr. W.H. Sheldo n, ca tegorizes a ll bodi es in to o ne o f three tenden cy classifica tions: • Endomorp h. A ten den cy to a so ft, ro u nded, sligh tly o verweigh t sha pe. M eso m orph . A ten den cy to wa rd large amou nts o f m uscle tiss ue . A mesomor ph d ispl a ys th e class ic trian gular up per -bod y shape. Ect o m or ph . A tenden cy toward slimness. Ect om o rph s have less tha n normal body [at a nd mu scle tissu e. Th ese cl assificati ons a re ge ne ra l. but o ne o f th e three tend en cies is usu a lly more apparen t in most ind iv idual s. Ectomo rph s ha ve th e pot entia l to be successfu l a t end ura nce sp o rts like di stan ce runnin g, but ca n ' t expect the success of a mesom or ph a t weight lifting or body b u ildi ng . En d o rmorphs of ten do better a t h igh skill sports th a t requ ire less strength o r end ura nce. A su ccessfu l bowl er may be sh ort an d overweigh t, b ut endomorphs rarel y win marat ho ns . Lean body weight Lean bod y weig ht presents a m ore acc u ra te pi c tu re o f th e a t hle ti c ma ch in e th an tot a l weigh t. Lea n we ig h t includ es bon es , mu scl es, o rga ns - everyth ing exce p t fa t. L ean body weigh t ca n be de ter m ined by: D Cali per skin [old me asurement. D Underwa ter weigh in g. T he skin [ol d test u ses measu rem ents (usu all y th e tri cep a n d su prailliac, m idw a y u p the torso ) which gen er all y o ffer a n accu rate estima te o f th e percentage of bod y fa t. Mal e ath letes in the ir ea rly 20s generally ran ge from eig h t to 14 percent. (T he average fo r all mal es in the ir ea rly 20s is 12-15 per cent fat : femal es average 18-25 per cent. ) U nderwa ter weighing is a mo re acc urate but co m p lica ted meth od fo r measuring lea n bod y weight. The subject is low ered underw ater , th en wei gh ed a fter exha ling so th e a ir re mai ni ng in hi s lun gs ha s minimal effect o n bou yan cy. Since bod y fat is bou yant, it does not register on th e underwat er sca le. A m in or a dj us tment is th en mad e to th e read in g to a llow [o r air in th e bod y. Interval training Inter val trai ni ng alternates stress and rest periods. Th e a thle te o fte n wo rks at a less-t h an-m axi mu m (bu t g rea ter-than- co m petitio n ) level for a given time period. recover s part ia lly d uri ng a specified light o r no -work res t per iod. th en repeats th e exertion'. Sometimes. maximum bursts arc a lternat ed with rest periods. Interval trai ni ng is favor ed by man y r un ners because, co m pared 10 co n tinu ous exert io n . it o ffers th e o p portunity to usc h eavier workloads while minim izin g Iarigue. So me st ud ies indi cat e th e work load ma y be as much as three times great er th an th at possibl e wo rking co nt in uo us ly. T he stress a n d rest pe riods o f interva l tra in ing invol ve [our ele me nts th at are determ ine d before exercise begin s: D Distance. D Pa ce. D Reco ver v tim e (d is ta nce a n d pace). . D N urn her of repetitions. Th e ra tio between stress an d rest periods dep ends o n th e inten sit y a nd length o f th e work p eri od. T he m or e inten se th e work, th e lon ger the rest pe riod relative to th e work pe riod. Man y interval p rograms are designed to raise the pu lse 10 a certa in level , th en allow it to drop to a lo wer lev el ( u sua ll y 120 to 130 ) bef o re resumi ng int en se effort . Interva l traini ng teac hes the bod y to adapt to wo rk in g hard er [o r lo nger dura tio ns and to reco ver faster. The m uscl es beco me mo re to lerant o[ lactic acid and more efficient a t reduc• ing ie Re covery time n ecessary before

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