In an earlier column, I encouraged you to try some fast 25s to boost your swimming speed. People have been trying the workouts and, lo and behold, they are swimming faster. Excellent!

Now that you’ve mastered some of the shorter workouts, let’s bump the distance up some. Below [...]]]> By Gale Bernhardt
For Active.com

In an earlier column, I encouraged you to try some fast 25s to boost your swimming speed. People have been trying the workouts and, lo and behold, they are swimming faster. Excellent!

Now that you’ve mastered some of the shorter workouts, let’s bump the distance up some. Below are new workouts for you to try:

Workout No. 1

Complete a mixed warm-up totaling 500 to 1,000 yards/meters.

After the warm-up, go through the following set two or three times:

• 2 x 25 — Build speed throughout each 25
• 2 x 25 — Swim half the distance as fast as you can, it doesn’t matter if it is first half or last half. Swim the “other half” easy.
• 1 x 50 — All-out fast
• 1 x 50 — Easy

Make your swim interval something that gives you 5 to 10 seconds rest on the 25s, about 20 seconds of rest on the 50-all-out-fast and about 90 seconds on the 50 easy.

After the speedy set, head into your main set. The main set can include swims in the 100 to 300 range.

Workout No. 2

Complete a mixed warm-up totaling 500 to 1,000.

After the warm-up, go through the following set two to four times:

• 4 x 25 — Build speed throughout each 25 (Make the swim interval something that gives you about 10 seconds of rest.)
• 1 x 50 — All-out fast (Make the swim interval something that gives you about 20 seconds of rest.)
• 1 x 25 — Easy (Make the swim interval something that gives you 15 to 20 seconds of rest.)
• 1 x 25 — All-out fast (Make the swim interval something that gives you about 10 seconds of rest.)

After the speedy set, head into your main set. The main set can include swims in the 100 to 300 range.

Optional Main Set

An optional main set to include after Workout No. 1 or 2 follows:

• 3 x 100 on a swim interval that gives you 10 to 15 seconds of rest. Swim all of these at a steady pace.
• 3 x 100 on a swim interval that gives you 15 to 20 seconds rest. Negative-split each 100.
• 3 x 100 on a swim interval that gives you 20 to 30 seconds rest. Swim these so that each 100 is faster than the previous one. The last one is a fast one.

If you have the time and fitness, go through the set of 100s twice.

Workout No. 3

Complete a mixed warm-up totaling 500 to 1,000.

After the warm-up, do 4 x 25 building speed throughout each 25 (Make the swim interval something that gives you about 10 seconds of rest.)

Take one minute of rest, then do:

• 6 x 50 — All-out fast. No holding back. Expect the fastest one to be the second or third one. It’s okay if speed fades some, just swim fast. Make the swim interval something that gives you 80 to 100 seconds of rest between each 50 swim.

After the speedy set, head into your main set. Keep it primarily aerobic. If you swim really, really fast (like the instructions tell you to do) you won’t have much high-end speed for the rest of the workout.

The biggest mistake you can make in the workouts above is to try to be a Sammie Save-up. Of course there are times when you should be holding some speed in reserve so you can negative-split a swim; but not in these workouts. Cut loose and see how fast you can go.

How much did you improve? If you’ve tried these workouts, head to USAT’s Facebook page and tell us about it!

Gale Bernhardt was the 2003 USA Triathlon Pan American Games and 2004 USA Triathlon Olympic coach for both the men’s and women’s teams. Her first Olympic experience was as a personal cycling coach at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Thousands of athletes have had successful training and racing experiences using Gale’s pre-built, easy-to-follow training plans. For more information, click here. Let Gale and Active Trainer help you succeed.

This article originally appeared on Active.com—your source for event information, training plans, expert advice, and everything you need to connect with the sport you love.

Tags: half ironman, olympic triathlon

I completely agree that doing form drills to practice good swimming technique is critical to the process of becoming a faster swimmer. That written, you cannot expect that slow and purposeful drills will increase your sustained swimming speed if you never swim fast.

Certainly, a beginning swimmer [...]]]> By Gale Bernhardt
For Active.com

I completely agree that doing form drills to practice good swimming technique is critical to the process of becoming a faster swimmer. That written, you cannot expect that slow and purposeful drills will increase your sustained swimming speed if you never swim fast.

Certainly, a beginning swimmer can make significant gains in speed because they are starting with a baseline limited to no fitness and skills; but after a few weeks, they will reach a speed plateau. They cannot improve their average speed for long swims. Even intermediate and advanced distance swimmers can hit a speed ceiling.

These more advanced swimmers can often be found churning out set after set of repeat 100s to 500s with very short rest intervals. These swimmers also like long and steady open water swims. Managing a certain level of discomfort for a long period makes them feel like they accomplished something in the workout.

But, what if you are stuck at your current speed and can’t seem to get faster?

One answer seems obvious: You need to swim faster in order to get faster. Swimming fast and experiencing a load of lactate is not a feeling long-distance swimmers or triathletes enjoy. They would rather swim 1,000 or 2,000 steady than swim six all-out, fast 50s—even if there is generous rest between each 50.

Speed It Up

Let’s save the fast 50 workouts for another column. For this column, I’ll have you sneak up on some speed with shorter efforts. These workouts come from Masters swim coach Scott Allen. He is a former USA Swimming staff member and helped Susan Von der Lippe qualify for the Olympic trials this year. As well as Olympians, he has coached many triathletes and age-group swimmers of all ages.

He believes, and I agree with him, that you need to swim fast early in the workout, before you have any accumulated fatigue. You need to begin with short distances and then build the distance of fast swimming over time, in a progression.

To get you started on the path to faster swimming, try to do one of the sets outlined in this column after your warm-up swim, but prior to the main set.

For all the sets, the 25s are on a swim interval that gives you around 15 seconds rest. The 50s and 100s are done on an interval that gives you 20 to 30 seconds rest. If you swim in a long course pool, get creative about modifying the workout to achieve the goals in the set.

Option 1
Repeat the following set two to three times:
2 x 25  Build speed throughout the 25
2 x 25  Swim half the distance as fast as you can, it doesn’t matter if it is first half or last half. Swim the other half easy.
1 x 25 All-out fast
1 x 50 Very relaxed and easy

Option 2
Repeat the following set two or three times:
1 x 25  Steady swimming
1 x 25  Build speed throughout the 25
1 x 25  Swim half the distance fast
1 x 25  Easy

Option 3
Repeat the following set two times. Wear fins for the entire set:
2 x 100  Do 25 kick, 25 swim, 25 kick, 25 swim
2 x 25  Kick fast
2 x 25 Swim fast—really fast
1 x 50 easy

Include one of these fast swimming segments between your warm-up and main set at least once, and preferably twice, per week for the next six to eight weeks. On your other swim days you can include form drills between the warm-up and the main set.

At the end of your experiment, answer this: did it gradually get easier to swim fast on the short sets? Were you able to swim faster in some of your longer sets too? Did you bump your overall speed? Think about your experience, and how it can impact your swim in future events.

Gale Bernhardt was the 2003 USA Triathlon Pan American Games and 2004 USA Triathlon Olympic coach for both the men’s and women’s teams. Her first Olympic experience was as a personal cycling coach at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Thousands of athletes have had successful training and racing experiences using Gale’s pre-built, easy-to-follow training plans. For more information, click here. Let Gale and Active Trainer help you succeed.

This article originally appeared on Active.com—your source for event information, training plans, expert advice, and everything you need to connect with the sport you love.

Tags: triathlon gear, triathlon results

James Marshall looks at the evidence.

Resistance training (RT) takes many forms, including strength training, power training, plyometric training, muscular endurance and hypertrophy (increasing muscle size) work. Most of these forms, [...]]]>

Can lifting weights help middle distance runners run faster or further with no corresponding improvements in aerobic fitness?

James Marshall looks at the evidence.

Resistance training (RT) takes many forms, including strength training, power training, plyometric training, muscular endurance and hypertrophy (increasing muscle size) work. Most of these forms, except hypertrophy (see below) can aid middle distance running in some way:

• Strength training – enables runners to maintain form when running and be more efficient. Certain exercises are useful in helping prevent injuries;
• Power training – helps with change of speed and acceleration during races, and with changes in incline during cross-country courses;
• Plyometric training – helps improve running mechanics (if performed correctly) by improving the reactivity of ankle, foot and pelvic joints whilst running. This can lead to an overall increase in running efficiency and therefore less energy expenditure whilst running;
• Muscular endurance – where increased local muscular endurance can help with overall endurance by increasing the number and density of mitochondria in the muscles.

The tricky part, of course, is knowing how to balance all the different aspects, without detriment to running training and mechanics.
In terms of muscular coordination, running is an extremely complex activity so care has to be taken to enhance, rather than inhibit it. For example, just using large bounding activities will help use the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, but will inhibit the smaller foot and ankle muscles that are used to land and react when running. Conversely, wobble board exercises will use the smaller muscle groups, but don’t require enough strength in the main muscles to create real improvements in running economy. Specific exercises that enhance the running economy need to be introduced, but research studies have not always used such exercises.

How can you build strength?

Strength improvements and adaptations occur in three ways and generally in the following order(1):

1. Intra-muscular coordination – The motor units within each muscle group may not previously have been stimulated adequately. By training the movement patterns you want to optimise with adequate resistance, these motor units can be effectively recruited. By recruiting more motor units within each muscle, more work can be done. Frequent training also enhances the motor units’ ability to work in concert with each other and to be recruited simultaneously, rather than one after another.

2. Inter-muscular coordination – Frequent RT training will allow more efficient movement patterns because it will decrease the co-contraction of antagonists (opposing muscle groups) when the targeted muscle is required to work. It also develops greater coordination between the targeted and opposing muscles as they become more accustomed to working a certain movement pattern.

3. Hypertrophy – After an initial training period of around 12 weeks, the muscles may become bigger. This can happen in two ways: hyperplasia (an increase in the number of muscle fibres themselves) and myofibrillar hypertrophy (where the fibre size increases).

For runners, the first two adaptations are important because the correct exercises can enhance running economy and efficiency by allowing better inter-muscular and intra-muscular coordination. Too much hypertrophy on the other hand can be detrimental for two main reasons: firstly, an increase in limb mass will make the levers harder to ‘swing’ and will either slow the runner down, or will require more energy to maintain the same speed. Second, an increase in muscle mass is associated with a decrease in mitochondrial density, which will decrease aerobic efficiency at the cellular level.

What do experienced runners do?

Research on what experienced runners actually do  in terms of resistance training is actually quite limited. Anecdotally, it’s widely accepted that some form of RT will improve running performance in middle-distance running. But finding studies on experienced runners who have performed RT and then actually looking at what they have done in their RT programmes as well as their running training is problematic.

A review of such studies was conducted last year and the authors of this review found only five studies that met the necessary criteria deemed to be important for validity(2):

• Longer than six weeks in duration;
• Performance distance of 3km to marathon;
• Well trained runners who ran more than five days a week or covered more than 30 miles a week;

Studies that excluded pre-pubertal children or the elderly.

It’s difficult to compare studies with different methods of design, subject numbers and backgrounds and the varying programmes that were implemented. However, in these studies, the average improvement of running economy was 4.6%, and the two studies that measured running performance showed an average 2.9% improvement at both 3km and 5km distance.

There appeared to be no one particular method of RT favoured and some of the programme designs used training methods more appropriate to bodybuilders than runners! For example, one of the studies used heavy weight training in the gym with the following exercises: hamstring curls, leg press, seated press, parallel squat, leg extensions and heel raises. Of these, only two of the exercises were weight bearing, and only one was a single leg exercise – the hamstring curl. Even then, the hamstring doesn’t function in the same manner when running (see below), so it’s hard to see how this type of training transfers effectively to runners.

Two of the other studies used circuit training as well as plyometric exercises. Here the plyometric exercises used single- and double-leg jumps, bounds and hops, which would have a transfer effect to running patterns. The circuit training may have improved running by increasing local muscular endurance, but circuit training has also recently been shown to improve sprint agility and anaerobic performance in non-runners, although it depends on the exercises that are done in the circuit(3).

The authors of the review concluded that RT does appear to be effective in influencing running economy and performance; however the actual methods used were very varied, so drawing conclusions from them would be very tenuous.

The importance of biarticular muscles

Biarticular muscles pass over more than one joint. These biarticular muscles have more complicated movement patterns than monoarticular muscles (that pass over only one joint) such as the gluteal muscles of the buttocks. They also use elastic strength rather than pure contractile strength in a great deal of the movement(4,5).

There are three main biarticular muscles in the lower limbs which are useful for running: the rectus femoris (frontal thigh), which passes over the front of the knee and hip; the hamstrings, which pass over the back of the knee and hip; and the gastrocnemius (calf), which passes over the ankle and knee. Biarticular muscles use energy efficiently because the counteractive force from one joint is released and used by the other joint. For example, when the hamstring contracts, knee flexion occurs, energy transfer is possible from the knee to the hip, which then helps extend the hip. This occurs very quickly and is difficult to measure – its importance has only recently started to be understood(1).

This combination of joint movements and energy transfer is important to understand when designing exercises to improve efficiency. If a gluteal muscle is contracted concentrically, the hip will extend. Training a gluteal muscle through strength training in almost any form will have a strong transfer to its use within sport, because it is a simple movement. However, the hamstrings are more difficult to train because of their biarticluar nature. The length of the muscle can be changed by either tilting the pelvis forward or back or by extending or flexing the knee. The nature of the contraction also changes depending on whether the hip or knee is fixed and which part of the running stance is being considered. So, the type of exercise to improve the hamstring function needs to be carefully considered. Simple hamstring curls should be avoided because that’s not how this muscle works during running.

What works for runners?

Trying to draw conclusions from research apart from ‘elite middle distance runners can benefit from RT’ is difficult. So perhaps we should look at how the body works best, and then create an exercise programme around that, rather than just doing gym exercises. This may include the following:

• Some form of plyometric activity to work ankle reactivity;
• Single leg strengthening exercises to improve balance and control in the gluteal area and the knee joint;
• Hamstring exercises that develop eccentric strength;

Some exercises that help develop the core complex around the pelvis that assists in minimising upper body rotation during running.

That exact choice will depend on the individual runner; for example, if a runner has had an injury, or is severely deconditioned then there is a place for general strengthening work in the form of circuit training to establish a sound platform. Jumping too quickly into specific work without an underlying strength base could lead to injury. If a runner has suffered a lower limb injury, the level of coordination will be decreased, so exercises need to be included that re-establish previous motor patterns. Examples of exercises that may be useful can be found below:

Ankle reactivity exercises

All the drills below can improve the foot and ankle’s reactivity to changing ground surfaces.

Ankle bounces: The concept behind this exercise to use your calves to propel you off the floor, with as little knee movement as possible. On two feet and keeping the legs almost straight, quickly pull up the toes and jump up off the floor. As you land quickly pull up your toes again and repeat.

Hopping on one leg: In this exercise, you should aim to cover a distance of 15m. The raised foot is used to touch the floor at every hop but with tension held in the foot. Variations on this exercise include:

• Making the raised leg perform a high knee action so it has to move rapidly up and down in between hops;
• Moving the raised leg up and down, but not allowing it to quite touch the floor;
• The raised leg alternately performs a high knee action with the foot touching the floor, followed by a high knee action where the foot doesn’t touch the floor.

NB: In all these exercises it is important to keep some tension in the foot – that means keeping it in a neutral position, not pointed up or down. It is also important to minimise the amount of contact time between the foot and the ground.

Leg and core exercises

Single leg strengthening exercises

Split squat: Carrying any weighted implement (barbell, dumbbells, sandbag), stand with one foot in front of the other, feet about shoulder width apart. Keep the weight and your shoulders above the hips and bend both knees, to lower the hips. Return to the start position.

One leg hip hitch: Stand with weight on shoulders, one foot on floor, the other resting on a small bench. Lift the foot off the bench and bring the knee up by lifting the hip, the stance leg should be fully extended through hip, knee and ankle and weight should be through the ball of the foot. Hold this position for one second and then return to the start.

A variation to the above is as follows: when the foot comes off the bench,  use it to tap the floor by the stance leg then as it returns to the bench, make the stance leg drive forcefully and quickly up until it is fully extended.

Step-ups: With weight on shoulders, stand in front of a small bench or platform that is lower than knee height. As you step up on to the bench with the right leg, drive up quickly with the left leg so it is fully extended. As you transfer weight onto the right leg, bring the left knee quickly forward and up until it is bent at 90 degrees. You are now stood on the bench on your right foot with the left leg bent and raised in front of your body. By varying the weight used, you can vary the speed of movement and change the emphasis of the exercise. Ensure that your head is upright and your back extended throughout.

Hamstring emphasis exercise

Split squat with forward bend: Start as above, but this time, when the thighs are nearly parallel to the ground, bend forward until the weight and shoulders are over the front knee. The weight shouldn’t be so heavy that you are unable to move the shoulders to the front.

Variation: stand with your back to a wall, feet about 50cm away from of the wall, holding a light weight on shoulders. Place one foot on wall behind you and bend forward, keeping your chest out and back extended. Do small bouncing movements under control. Keep the back muscles tense and the back straight throughout.

Core complex exercises

Slow sit up: Lie on the floor with hands behind head, knees bent and feet on floor. Sit up to about 45 degrees and then extend your back by sticking your chest out and pull elbows backwards. As you return to the floor, the back flexes and your elbows return to the front.
Variations on the these core exercises include the following:

• After sitting up, extend and raise both arms backwards  above and behind your head;
• After sitting up and extending your chest, rotate your upper body and point one elbow in front and the other behind.

Medicine ball slams: Hold a medicine ball above your head and reach up as high as you can. Slam it into the ground, catch it and repeat as rapidly as possible.

With all of the above exercises, ensure that you have no existing injuries before starting them. If in doubt on the weight to use, try a very light weight and progress from there. Aim to do five high quality repetitions of each, then rest, then repeat for up to four more sets. The exception is the medicine ball slams where a large number (up to 100) can be performed as a conditioning tool.

Conclusion

Research and anecdotal evidence shows that some form of resistance training is likely to improve your performance as a middle distance runner. However, the quality of the programmes within the research studies and the lack of suitable studies mean that conclusions are difficult to draw as to exactly what works best. However, once an initial strength base has been established, working on specific exercises twice a week for 20-30 minutes may well help improve running economy. During the off-season, this could be increased to three times a week for 45 minutes.

James Marshall MSc, CSCS, ACSM/HFI, runs Excelsior, a sports training company

References

1. F. Bosch & R. Klomp, Running: Biomechanics
and Exercise Physiology Applied in Practice.
Netherlands: Elsevier.
(2007)
2. JSCR, 22(6) p 2036-
2044, (2008)
3. JSCR, 23 (6) 1803-
1810, (2009)
4. Brain Research 751 p 239-246 (1997)
5. Journal of Biomechanics
27 (1) p25-34 (1994)

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Tags: ironman training, tri bike

ELEVEN represents 11global’s exciting long-term mission to provide an annual international Olympic-distance triathlon series that will culminate in age-group and relay team champions. 11global owner, Ryan Landy explains, “We strive to recalibrate the Olympic-distance experience [...]]]> September 21, 2010 – ironguides concluded a deal this past week to become the official coaching partner to the ELEVEN triathlon series.

ELEVEN represents 11global’s exciting long-term mission to provide an annual international Olympic-distance triathlon series that will culminate in age-group and relay team champions. 11global owner, Ryan Landy explains, “We strive to recalibrate the Olympic-distance experience and have carefully designed and planned each race. Locations with superb landscape and environmental conditions have been selected to deliver the ultimate racing experience”.

“As a global company, it made sense for us to partner with ironguides” continues Landy. “ironguides is a renowned international coaching company and their athlete’s results each year speak for themselves. This way athletes wishing to compete at any of our events now have the chance to be fully prepared by purchasing one of their pre packaged programmes or go for the ultimate experience and be coached by one of their highly qualified registered coaches, be it online or in person”.

Speaking to ironguides owner and Head Coach Vinnie Santana, he said “One of our company slogans is ‘Your best is Our business’. At ironguides, we resist the ordinary approach to help our athletes live extraordinary lives! To us, our clients’ participation in a multisport event must be the most enjoyable experience possible”.

Beginning with ELEVEN Sun City on November 7, 2010 athletes will be able to attend a workshop run by ironguides. Details of these workshops will be made available to each athlete once they have registered for their chosen event. For more information on ironguides coaching services, visit www.ironguides.net. For more information on 11global, visit www.11global.com.

About ironguides:

ironguides is the leading Lifestyle Facilitation company for endurance athletes of all abilities. ironguides provides coaching and training services, plans and programs, as well training education, and health and fitness products to help you thrive in your active lifestyle.

Get fit with one of our monthly training subscriptions, event-specific training plans, coaching services, a Tour de France bike tour or a triathlon training camp in fantastic locations! ironguides also provides Corporate Health services including Corporate Triathlons, Healthy Living retreats and seminars. At ironguides, your best is our business! For more information, visit: www.ironguides.net

About 11global:

11global has embedded its passion for triathlon and the Olympic-distance into ELEVEN – the first international triathlon series geared towards the amateur triathlete. Following its first triathlon in 2008 ELEVEN is now four triathlons strong in three countries (South Africa, USA and UAE) with two additional locations set for 2011.

Striving to recalibrate the Olympic-distance experience each race is carefully designed and planned. Locations with superb landscape and environmental conditions have been selected to deliver the ultimate racing experience.

ELEVEN – Come Prepared!

Contact Information:

Ryan Landy, Race Director

ELEVEN

ryan@11global.com

Vinnie Santana, Head Coach

ironguides
vinnie@ironguides.net

Tags: wetsuit, half ironman

More in the series on recovery and the prevention of overtraining which again emphasises the importance of having a good balanced nutrition programme. – Mike

Where should we draw the line between appropriate ‘heavy training’ and overtraining? And are there specific nutritional practices that can prevent [...]]]>

More in the series on recovery and the prevention of overtraining which again emphasises the importance of having a good balanced nutrition programme. – Mike

Specific nutritional practices can prevent overtraining and accelerate exercise recovery

Where should we draw the line between appropriate ‘heavy training’ and overtraining? And are there specific nutritional practices that can prevent overtraining and accelerate exercise recovery? Mike Saunders explains and shows that these two concepts are intimately linked.

In simple terms, overtraining is the result of intense training stimuli (and other stressors) combined with inadequate recovery. If appropriate recovery is not provided during hard training, you experience a downward spiral in which continued heavy training creates diminishing returns, and performance levels continue to get worse. However, determining precisely when the ‘overtraining line’ is crossed is very difficult. This is because the symptoms of overtraining are highly individualised and varied – a laundry list of physical, psychological, immunological and biochemical symptoms.

A consistent end result of overtraining is the impairment of physical performance. When you are overtrained, you can expect to see elevated perceptions of exertion/fatigue during exercise, decreased movement economy, slower reaction time and impaired performance times. To make things worse, overtraining status is usually only diagnosed with the benefit of hindsight. In other words, by the time you know you are overtrained, it is too late to handle it effectively!

Overtraining terminology

Recently, the terminology around overtraining has been improved. Researchers from the Netherlands and Belgium have described the overtraining process as occurring in three progressive stages (see box 1)(1):

1. Functional overreaching
2. Non-functional overreaching
3. Overtraining syndrome

Functional overreaching is the normal process of fatigue that occurs with sustained periods of heavy training. Although these periods of hard training cause short-term impairments in performance, this effect is reversed with a relatively short pre-planned recovery period. For example, a 1-week block of hard training may cause moderate levels of fatigue, impairing your peak performance for a few days. However, when you balance this hard training period with a period of adequate recovery, you can quickly return to a level matching and ultimately exceeding your initial level of performance.
Non-functional overreaching is a more severe level of fatigue reached when your performance and energy are not restored after a planned short-term recovery period. This often happens if you work too hard during your recovery days, if you underestimate the impact of the non-training stresses in your life, or if you simply train too long and hard before a recovery period. As a result, you may still feel fatigued following your planned recovery period. This is where flexibility in your training programme becomes very important. If coaches recognise the continued fatigue of an athlete, they can delay the next heavy training phase or competition. This is often enough to reverse the fatigue and restore performance levels.

However, if coaches and athletes ignore fatigue in the non-functional overreaching stage, further heavy training simply results in deeper levels of fatigue. This can become a vicious cycle in which athletes continue heavy training in an attempt to reverse their declining performance, only to exacerbate the problem by further impairing their recovery. True overtraining syndrome is reached only in the most severe cases, and can be quite debilitating. Symptoms of overtraining syndrome overlap with chronic fatigue syndrome and clinical depression, and can only be reversed with several weeks or months of recovery(1).

Balancing training and recovery

The model of overtraining discussed above illustrates the critical balance of well-timed recovery periods within a training program. Your training phases can be specifically designed to cause functional overreaching at strategic times. However, effective training programmes are  created to include adequate recovery to prevent both non-functional overreaching and overtraining syndrome.

As an example, professional cyclists often perform team training camps that provide a significant early-season training stimulus. The volume of training performed at these camps can induce significant fatigue. However, training camps can produce important improvements in performance if the heavy training is balanced with an appropriate period of short-term recovery.

Recent studies from our Human Performance Laboratory at James Madison University (USA) provide some quantitative evidence to support these concepts. We studied professional cyclists who completed at least three consecutive days of high-volume training, averaging almost 100 miles/day. Not surprisingly, the heavy training caused significant changes in a number of overreaching/overtraining symptoms. These included increased levels of mental and physical fatigue, increased muscle soreness and elevated markers of muscle damage.

About half of the cyclists then performed an ‘easy’ day of training on the fourth day – about 30 miles at low intensity. For these highly trained athletes, this was enough recovery to initiate improvement of all of the symptoms mentioned above.

Overtraining and diet

Appropriate nutrient intake and timing can play an important role in influencing the overtraining process. It has long been established that adequate carbohydrate intake is required to maintain muscle glycogen levels during heavy training. This is critical to sustaining high training volumes, as muscle glycogen is a primary fuel stored in muscles and used during endurance training and racing. In addition, we know that exercise stimulates enhanced uptake of carbohydrate in the muscles. This so-called ‘insulin-like effect’ of exercise remains for a short time following exercise. As a result, the consumption of carbohydrate immediately after training (within 30 minutes) produces faster replenishment of muscle glycogen than if carbohydrate intake is delayed. Thus, it is now common practice for endurance athletes to consume a carbohydrate-rich recovery beverage or snack immediately following demanding training sessions.

More recently, scientists have begun to investigate how carbohydrate intake and timing influence specific aspects of the overtraining process. Researchers from the University of Birmingham examined how dietary carbohydrate intake influenced overreaching symptoms during a period of intensified running training(2). When performing 11 days of intensified training consuming relatively low carbohydrate intake (5.4 grams per kilo of bodyweight per day), the runners experienced significant worsening in mood states, fatigue, muscle soreness, and declines in running performance. These factors were considerably (though not entirely) reversed when the athletes performed the same training demands with higher carbohydrate (8.5g/kg/day) in their diets.

The same research group performed a similar study in cyclists(3). Athletes consumed sports beverages with low or high carbohydrate content during exercise (low=2%; high=6%) and immediately following exercise (low=2%; high=20%). When consuming the low-carbohydrate drinks over eight days of intensified training, the athletes experienced significant declines in their mood states, increased perceived effort during exercise, and declines in cycling performance. All of these factors improved when the high-carbohydrate beverages were consumed during/following training.

Following the eight-day period of intensified training, the cyclists received fourteen days of reduced volume training to promote recovery. This resulted in significant improvements in cycling performance (exceeding baseline levels) but only when the athletes drank the high-carbohydrate beverages. By contrast, performance remained suppressed below baseline levels with the low-carbohydrate drinks.

Thus, altering the carbohydrate levels of the cyclists’ sports drinks was enough to influence their responses to training. As a result, the intensified training represented a functional overreaching stimulus when appropriate carbohydrate was provided, but a non-functional overreaching stimulus without adequate carbohydrate. This is an excellent illustration of how ‘optimal recovery’ represents much more than simply lowering the demands of training (see figure 1).

Co-ingestion of carbohydrate and protein

The effects of protein intake on recovery from endurance training have been understudied compared to carbohydrate. As a result, there is no clear consensus among scientists regarding the role that protein plays in the overtraining process. However, recent studies suggest that there may be some additional recovery benefits associated with consuming a mix of carbohydrate and protein following heavy endurance training.

Carbohydrate-protein and glycogen replenishment Combined intake of carbohydrate-protein may influence a number of factors that are important for recovery in endurance athletes. For example, some studies have shown faster rates of muscle glycogen replenishment when carbohydrate-protein is consumed immediately following endurance exercise (compared to carbohydrate alone).

Other studies have suggested that the additional benefits of added protein are negligible if the carbohydrate doses are very high (over 1.2 g/kg). At a minimum, it appears that carbohydrate-protein ingestion is a highly practical way to ensure high rates of glycogen replenishment following exercise, especially when you are not consuming a high-calorie recovery drink or snack. This is particularly relevant in conjunction with the other potential benefits of carbohydrate-protein ingestion discussed below.

Carbohydrate-protein and protein balance Combined carbohydrate-protein intake may also have positive effects on protein balance for endurance athletes. Researchers at Maastricht University in Holland observed that carbohydrate-protein consumption increased protein synthesis and decreased protein breakdown in endurance athletes, compared to when they consumed carbohydrate alone(4).

Investigators at McMaster University (Canada) made similar observations of enhanced protein balance with carbohydrate-protein ingestion following aerobic exercise(5). In addition, they reported that the fractional synthetic rate (FSR) within the muscle was improved with carbohydrate-protein intake (see figure 2, overleaf). Collectively, these studies suggest that protein synthesis in the muscle may be improved with carbohydrate-protein intake. Though the long-term effects of improved protein synthesis and protein balance have not been studied in endurance athletes, this evidence suggests that protein may be helpful in stimulating muscle recovery and promoting positive muscle adaptations following heavy endurance training.

Carbohydrate-protein and muscle recovery Carbohydrate-protein ingestion has been associated with improvements in various other markers of muscle recovery in endurance athletes. For example, researchers from our Human Performance Laboratory at James Madison University have observed that carbohydrate-protein ingestion results in lower blood creatine kinase (CK) levels (an indicator of muscle damage)(6,7), less muscle soreness(7), and improved muscle function(6)following heavy endurance exercise (see Figure 2).

We have observed these benefits in carbohydrate-protein versus carbohydrate-only drinks matched for both carbohydrate content and total calories(6). In addition, we have observed these effects when we studied carbohydrate-protein beverages consumed during endurance exercise(6) or immediately following exercise(7). In one study, we examined carbohydrate and carbohydrate-protein recovery beverages during six days of consecutive training in collegiate distance runners(7). While consuming the drinks containing carbohydrate-protein, the athletes had lower blood CK levels and less muscle soreness, despite performing identical training loads between the two periods.

Carbohydrate-protein and subsequent performance

A critical question for coaches and athletes is whether the improved muscle recovery markers observed when consuming carbohydrate-protein drinks relates to any tangible benefits with respect to sport-specific performance. In other words, if carbohydrate-protein intake improves ‘recovery’, does this lead to enhanced performance during subsequent exercise?

Studies investigating this issue to date have produced mixed findings. For example, in our aforementioned study of runners, we did not observe differences in running performance following the six-day training period between the two beverages. However, this was probably due to the fact that the athletes were reducing their training levels in preparation for a race. Thus, they were probably well recovered prior to the race under both beverage conditions.
This evidence leads to an important observation: no supplement can be expected to enhance your recovery if you are already fully recovered. If you only perform light exercise, and take relatively long recovery periods between workouts, then the composition of your post-exercise nutrition regimen is far less critical, and perhaps irrelevant altogether if your regular diet is appropriate. However, if you perform heavy exercise on a regular basis, then it is important that your recovery nutrition includes adequate carbohydrate to maximise your post-exercise recovery. Under these conditions of heavy exercise and short recovery periods, it also seems likely that carbohydrate-protein sustains high performance levels better than carbohydrate alone.

Evidence supporting this concept can be observed in recent studies on this topic, including our study of runners discussed above. As mentioned previously, carbohydrate-protein did not produce performance improvements in runners who were tapering slightly prior to a race. However, the athletes who continued to perform the highest training mileage throughout the six days had the greatest improvements in muscle recovery with the carbohydrate-protein. This same group of ‘harder-training’ athletes also had a stronger tendency towards faster race performance with the carbohydrate-protein drink.

More convincingly, US researchers at the University of California-Davis examined the effects of carbohydrate-protein drinks during a short period of heavy cycling training(8). They assessed changes in blood CK and time to fatigue during three consecutive days of exercise. These variables got significantly worse over the three days of hard training when the cyclists consumed carbohydrate-only drinks. However, these declines were prevented when carbohydrate-protein drinks were consumed.

Similarly, researchers from Canada tested recovery and performance during two 60-minute cycling performance tests, separated by six hours(9). Carbohydrate or carbohydrate-protein recovery drinks were provided immediately after the first exercise trial. The cyclists were able to generate higher power output and better performance in the second exercise session following the carbohydrate-protein beverage, compared to the carbohydrate-only drink.
Not all studies have shown significant improvements in subsequent performance following carbohydrate-protein intake. However, the positive effects of protein seem to appear more regularly in the studies that provide the more demanding training/recovery periods. Thus, the longer and harder you train, the more important the details of your recovery nutrition, including the inclusion of protein, become.

The bottom line

In summary, overtraining is a complex issue, which can have important consequences for endurance athletes. Functional overreaching can be an intended outcome of heavy training periods, provided it is balanced with an appropriate period of recovery. The consumption of adequate nutrients, especially in the period immediately following heavy exercise training, can augment recovery from exercise. Thus, recovery nutrition can assist in the prevention of non-functional overreaching, and allow you to get the most out of your training. In short, this means making sure that your daily carbohydrate intake (especially immediately post-exercise) is adequately high to maintain your muscle glycogen levels during training. In addition, adding protein to your post-exercise recovery drinks and meals appears to have further benefits to promote optimal recovery from heavy exercise.

References

1. Sports Med 2006; 36: 817-828
2. J Appl Physiol 2004; 96: 1331-1340
3. J Appl Physiol 2004; 97: 1245-1253
4. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2004; 287:E712-E720
5. J Appl Physiol 2009; 106: 1394-1402
6. Int J Sports Nutr Exerc Metab 2008; 18 :363-378
7. Int J Sports Nutr Exerc Metab 2006; 16: 78-91
8. Int J Sports Nutr Exerc Metab 2008; 18 : 473-492
9. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2009; 5(24): [in press]

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Tags: triathlon, duathlon

Creating a great training programme is not just a matter of writing [...]]]> This is the third article in this excellent series containing absolutely vital information about programming training for maximum gains. Every athlete owes it to themselves to thoroughly grasp and apply these concepts. Mike.

Too much hard training can devastate your muscles and implode your immune system.

Creating a great training programme is not just a matter of writing tough, high-quality workouts. Almost anyone can do that.

In fact, if reaching maximal athletic potential were simply a matter of finding the right workouts, then you would have no difficulty becoming maximally fit. You could carry out a strenuous effort on Monday to boost VO2max, a rough affair on Tuesday to breed better economy, a scintillating tempo session on Wednesday to heighten lactate threshold, a sizzling set of intervals on Thursday to further raise VO2max, and so on. Within a few weeks, you would be performing as well as you possibly could.

Unfortunately, that won’t happen, because high-quality work is a double-edged sword. It can lead you to your highest-possible level of fitness, or it can destroy your ability to produce top performances. Doing too much hard training can devastate your muscles, harass your hormonal system, and implode your immune system.

That means that to create your best-possible training programme, you have to figure out a way to do as much quality training as possible during a given time period – without doing too much work.

You’re looking for the right balance of hard work and recovery, and that’s the really difficult problem in putting together the right training programme. Basically, you must figure out a way to complete a difficult training session, one which will produce the needed improvements in your fitness, and then recover for just the right amount of time before undertaking another quality session.

If you don’t recover for long enough, your muscles won’t be ready for the subsequent session, and muscle damage will occur. If you recover for too long, you’re wasting your time. Instead of carrying out another fitness-boosting workout, you’re taking it easy, thinking that you need recovery.

You have to recover for just the right amount of time. As noted training theorist Tudor Bompa says in his popular book Theory and Methodology of Training: ‘Recovery should be so well understood and actively enhanced that it becomes a determinant component in training’.

How not to do it

But how can you determine exactly how much recovery you need? Most athletes simply use a trial-and-error method. Many of them train hard until they become overly fatigued and then have to take time off to recover. It’s an inefficient system, and one that carries a high risk of overtraining. Other athletes are more cautious, training hard once every three or four days or so because they’re afraid to overdo it. This is also inefficient; these individuals could perform much better if they could fit more quality work into their schedules.

What does science have to say about finding the right balance? Researchers know that the key aspect of the recovery process occurs in the muscles. After an intense workout, muscles are slightly damaged. Damaged structures need to be repaired to prevent more serious damage in subsequent workouts – and to ensure that the next workout can be carried out effectively. Also, muscle fatigue must disappear; otherwise the subsequent session will be carried out in the tired state, increasing the risk of injury.

In addition to the repair and fatigue-removal processes, things need to be created in the muscles. More proteins must be laid down so that the muscles can contract more forcefully, and more energy-producing enzymes must be synthesised so that the muscles can work harder without becoming fatigued.

In other words, recovery is a process involving the creation of new muscle proteins. If scientists could track how long this process goes on after intense sessions, they could help us reckon optimal recovery lengths. After all, you don’t want to work out when protein creation is just getting started – or when protein is being produced at a high, steady level. Working out then would disrupt the recovery process. You want to wait until the protein creation has just about ended – and then immediately train again to start the process anew.

The latest evidence

Recently, researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis made a head start on reckoning recovery times. Their subjects, six healthy young men who regularly engaged in weight training, carried out four sets each of biceps, ‘concentration,’ and ‘preacher’ curls (12 sets in all), with three to four minutes of rest between sets. Resistance (weight) was set at 80 per cent of maximum (80 per cent of the heaviest weight which could be lifted successfully one time), and each set consisted of as many reps as a subject could handle.

The unique aspect of the research was that each subject carried out the curls with only one arm; the other arm rested. The scientists could then use an isotope tracer to determine protein uptake in the exercised arm and compare it with routine protein synthesis in the arm which had not exercised.

Combining this research with a similar, past effort, the scientists determined that muscle protein synthetic rate increases by about 50 per cent four hours after a workout. This is evidence that muscles are repairing damage accrued from the workout – and also building new ‘stuff’ to make themselves stronger and more fatigue-resistant.

This ‘repair and renew’ process seems to peak about 24 hours after a workout, when muscle protein synthetic rate was up by a hefty 109 per cent in the McMaster-Washington research. However, about 36 hours after a workout, the whole process is pretty much over, and muscles are back to routine housekeeping.

It’s important to point out that this study was done with experienced weight trainees; novice lifters might have required a longer recovery process. It’s also important to note that the research was conducted with strength rather than endurance athletes. The recovery process might proceed with a different time frame following a more endurance-type workout. Also, there is variation between athletes. Some individuals might be all done recovering after just 30 hours or so, while others could take 40 to 48 hours.

Still, the McMaster work is intriguing – and has some interesting implications. If 36 hours is about the right recovery time for most athletes, then training could be adjusted accordingly – and in a pattern which most endurance athletes do not employ.

Using a 36-hour recovery clock

For example, you might carry out a lactate-threshold workout early Monday morning. 36 hours later you would be recovered, so you could do fast, hard intervals at 90 to 95 per cent of maximal heart rate on Tuesday evening. 36 hours after that, you would be ready again, so you might complete some hill work or fast reps on Thursday morning. By avoiding working out at the same time every day and by using the 36-hour principle, you would have completed three good sessions in the Monday-through-Thursday time slot, instead of your normal two, and yet achieved excellent recovery (naturally, you would ensure that your fluid, protein, and carbohydrate intake would be high between workouts, especially during the two-hour ‘window’ following each session). Not wishing to push your luck, you could take it easy (or do nothing) on Friday, and then have a race or long run on Saturday. After an easy Sunday, you would be ready to resume your 36-hour plan.

Wanting more precision, serious athletes could have their muscle protein synthesis rates assessed in the laboratory after different workouts and determine their required recoveries after intervals, long runs, reps, tempo efforts, etc. They would then be better able to coordinate their quality efforts with their recoveries and lay out scientifically sound training programmes.

Not just the muscles

Of course, one problem is that recovery is not centred only in the muscular system. You have to recuperate psychologically from stressful sessions (if your concentration is below-par during subsequent efforts, your coordination and overall form will deteriorate), and the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems all have to get well, too. However, the muscular and immune systems are interrelated (the muscles produce chemicals which stimulate white blood cells), so good muscle recovery should enhance immune functioning. If overwork is being prevented at the muscular level, we can only hope that the nervous and endocrine systems will be okay, too.

The bottom line? You probably can do more quality work than you’re doing now, but you have to make sure that the quality increase doesn’t lead to overtraining. Since scientists suggest that 36 hours may be enough time for recovery, one solution to the need for more quality work is to ‘stagger’ good workouts so that they occur on Monday morning, Tuesday evening, and Thursday morning (or some other similar pattern). That would still leave you with 48 hours to recover if you wanted to race on Saturday morning.

Unfortunately, we still don’t know much about recovery over the long term, so it’s not clear whether you could do this every week. One possibility would be to work out in a quality way just twice during the first week of the month, use the 36-hour principle during the second and third weeks, and then return to less-frequent intense training for the fourth week.

We also don’t know what effect a very easy workout has on the recovery process (using the schedule above, with 36-hour recoveries and tough work on Monday morning, Tuesday evening, and Thursday morning, would you be better off resting completely on Wednesday – or engaging in some light exercise?). You’ll have to study yourself to see how you respond. Although much more recovery research needs to be done, it’s safe to say that judicious use of the principle of 36-hour recoveries should help you gradually increase your frequency of quality work – and make you a better athlete.

Questions you’ve always wanted to ask about the recovery process

Athletes are often confused about recovery. To ease that confusion, we’ve posed the most commonly asked questions about recovery below, along with the appropriate answers. First, though, we need to define a couple of recovery terms.

Compensation is what happens to your body after a workout is over. It involves a return to normal for heart rate and blood pressure, removal of excess lactate in the blood, storage of glycogen in muscles, repair of muscle fibres, restoration of normal hormone levels, and so on. Compensation brings your body back to its normal state of functioning after a training session.

Overcompensation is the process that actually makes you a better athlete. During over-compensation, your muscles stockpile higher-than normal amounts of glycogen, synthesise greater-than-usual quantities of aerobic enzymes, add new proteins to muscles to make them stronger, etc. In other words, your training stimulates you to ‘rebound’ to a higher physiological state.

Q: Should you try to conduct another quality workout during the overcompensation phase which follows a strenuous session, as experts recommend?
A: Ideally, the time to carry out the next quality workout would be at the exact end of the overcompensation stage, which appears to be about 36 hours after a previous tough session. If you try to train before overcompensation has ended, you won’t be able to perform as well as you can, since restoration and repair won’t be completed (your workout will be lower quality).

However, it is true that top athletes sometimes try to ‘jam’ workouts together so that a second exertion occurs well within the overcompensation phase (an extreme example of this is the Kenyan cross country runners’ tendency to conduct two quality sessions within about four hours of each other when they are attempting to peak for the world championships). This jamming would interrupt the compensation process before it really got going – but might lead to ‘superovercompensation’ – a greater-than-normal response during the next 36 hours.

Q: Do men recover from tough exertions more quickly than women, as the experts suggest?

A: That would seem to make sense, since the male sex hormone, testosterone, is a noted booster of protein synthesis, but the available research doesn’t support the idea. If anything, studies suggest that females may recover more quickly from roughly equivalent workouts (say, doing numerous sets of a tough weightlifting routine). It is clear that age and experience play a strong role in recovery; the younger you are and the more experienced you are at a particular activity, the quicker your recovery.

Q: Is the recovery process psychological as well as physical?

A: Yes. Anything which enhances your ability to relax between workouts will help you, because it will improve your concentration and motivation during subsequent exertions. Relaxation also helps reduce stress-hormone levels, which should promote greater glycogen storage in the muscles.

Q: What if I start feeling too tired to train properly when I use 36-hour recoveries?

A: Go back to your usual recovery period, and try using 36-hour recoveries when you are better rested and fitter.

Q: What can I do to optimise the recovery process?

A: When you’re training strenuously, make sure you take in about 16 calories of carbohydrate per pound of body weight each day. Also get enough protein – about three-quarters of a gram per pound of body weight daily. Bias your intake so that much of it occurs during the two hours after a workout. Stay relaxed and get plenty of sleep. And finally, follow the 36-hour rule between some of your quality sessions. All of these steps should allow you to get in more quality work – and yet still recover effectively. The bottom line is that you’ll become a better athlete.

Owen Anderson

This article was taken from the Peak Performance newsletter, the number one source of sports science, training and research. Click here to access these articles as soon as they are released to maximise your performance

Tags: triathlon bike, triathlon

Carrying out great training is not just a matter of conducting tough, high-quality workouts. If [...]]]> This article continues to expand on the preceding ones published in this blog, and which should form the basis upon which all good training programmes are designed. You can only train as well as you are recovered. Lessons hard learned… Mike.

Carrying out great training is not just a matter of conducting tough, high-quality workouts. If reaching one’s potential depended solely on training very hard, all resolute athletes would be in top form. But all resolute athletes are not in top shape; in fact, just a small percentage of them actually reach their pinnacle of fitness. The reason for that is not that athletes are lazy; most work very hard. The real problem is that high-quality work is a double-edged sword: it can lead you to your highest-possible level of performance, or it can destroy your ability to perform as well as you can. Doing too much hard training can devastate your muscles, harass your hormonal system, and implode your immune system. Strenuous training must be balanced optimally with rest and recovery in order to reach the mountain-top.

Unfortunately, identifying the right balance of hard work and recovery is the most difficult part of serious training. It’s much more intractable than the creative process of determining which workouts will actually be undertaken. If your training programme has too much recovery, you won’t be able to carry out enough quality work to reach your peak. If your schedule has too little recovery, muscular trauma will accumulate steadily over time (because muscles won’t be able to repair themselves properly after workouts), until performances actually worsen instead of getting better. As noted training theorist Tudor Bompa said in his popular book Theory and Methodology of Training, Recovery should be so well understood and actively enhanced that it becomes a determinant component in training. In other words, recovery must do more than simply rest the muscles; it must actually move fitness upward.

For that to be true, you must completely understand recovery. You must know exactly what recovery is and precisely how long it takes. Just as you actively work to upgrade your speed of movement in competitions, you must also learn techniques for increasing your speed of recovery, so that the amount of quality work you do can be progressively expanded.

What exactly is recovery?

Understanding recovery is the easy part. It’s simply the repair of the damage which naturally occurs to structural proteins in muscles and connective tissues during a workout. If you’re a runner, those structural proteins are traumatized by the impact forces associated with running; some proteins are literally torn apart by the eccentric forces which occur as muscles are stretched under tension during the gait cycle. If you’re a cyclist, swimmer, skier, race-walker, etc., the impact forces are lower or non-existent, but your muscles still are strained by the forces required to carry out your workouts. Recovery is also the restoration of the energy-producing enzymes inside muscle fibres which are naturally broken down during training. In addition, it’s the refilling of the carbohydrate fuel stores within muscle cells, fuel depots which are at least partially emptied during workouts. And it’s the return to normal of the endocrine, nervous, and immune systems, all of which are perturbed by a bout of physical training.

However, it’s important to remember that if training is proceeding correctly, muscles should do more than just restore their status quo during recovery periods. Rather than merely repair existing proteins, they should add additional proteins to their overall structure in order to increase strength. They should also synthesize greater-than-normal quantities of aerobic enzymes in order to expand lactate threshold and VO2max. And they should store unusual quantities of energy so that the durations of quality workouts can be extended and high-quality speeds can be maintained for longer periods of time during races. If these extra processes do not occur, then one would never improve in response to training. Race performance times would be constant (or deteriorate if recovery processes could not even preserve the status quo).

A one-armed study

But how long does it take for the body to fully recover and perhaps adapt after a strenuous workout? Recently, researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis made a stab at determining how long recovery really takes.

Their subjects, six healthy young men who regularly engaged in weight training, carried out four sets each of biceps, concentration, and preacher curls (12 sets in all), with three to four minutes of rest between sets. Resistance was set at 80 percent of maximum (ie, 80 per cent of the heaviest weight which could be lifted successfully once only), and each set consisted of as many reps as a subject could handle (The Time Course for Elevated Muscle Protein Synthesis following Heavy Resistance Exercise, Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 20(4), pp. 480-486, 1995).

A unique aspect of the research was that each athlete carried out the curls with only one arm, while the other arm rested. The scientists used an isotope tracer to determine protein uptake in the exercised arm, comparing it with routine protein synthesis in the arm which had not done any lifting.

Based on this study and a previous investigation, the scientists determined that the rate of protein synthesis in muscles stressed by a hard workout increases by about 50 per cent four hours after the rugged workout is over, while the rate of synthesis in muscles not used during training remains unchanged. This is evidence that muscles are repairing damage accrued from the workout and perhaps building new structures to make themselves stronger and more fatigue-resistant in the future (if this were not the case, protein synthesis in the exercised and unexercised arms would be the same).

How long does it take?

This repair and perhaps renew process seems to peak about 24 hours after a workout, when muscle protein synthetic rate was up by a hefty 109 per cent in the McMaster-Washington research. However, the McMaster-Washington scientists found that about 36 hours after a rough workout, the building process is pretty much over, and the muscles are back to routine housekeeping. It’s important to point out that this study was carried out with experienced weight trainers; novice lifters might have required a longer recovery process. It’s also important to note that the research was conducted with strength rather than endurance athletes, so the recovery process might proceed within a different time frame following an endurance-type workout. Note, too, that a more difficult workout might have required longer recovery.

Finally, there is undoubtedly variation between athletes. For example, although the average recovery time was 36 hours in the McMaster study, some individuals might be finished recovering just 30 hours after a similar workout, while others could take 40 to 48 hours. As you can see, lots of factors can interact to determine recovery time.

The 36-hour scheme

However, if recovery time truly averaged 36 hours or so after high-quality endurance workouts, there would be some intriguing implications. As a case in point, you might carry out a high-quality workout early on Monday morning. 36 hours later you would be recovered, so you could do some intervals at a high intensity on Tuesday evening. 36 hours after that, you would be ready again, so you might complete some hill climbing (or swimming against resistance if you’re a swimmer) or some fast reps on Thursday morning. By avoiding working out at the same time every day and by using the 36-hour recovery principle, you would have completed three good sessions in the Monday-through-Thursday time slot, instead of your normal two, and yet achieved excellent recovery. You could then take it very easy (or do nothing) on Friday and compete in a race or carry out a long workout on Saturday. After an easy Sunday, you would be ready to resume your 36-hour, training-recovery scheme.

However, there’s an even more appealing aspect to the McMaster research. An elite athlete might carry out a variety of different workouts and using the radioisotope technique perfected by the McMaster scientists check leg-muscle recovery after each type of training session. The same athlete could then carry out his/her high-quality sessions at almost the exact moment at which recovery from prior training was complete.

By doing this, little training time would be wasted (unnecessary recovery would not be undertaken) and more quality work could be wedged into any particular cycle of training.

But here’s the rub

Of course, the only nettlesome point in all of this would be the unpredictable effects of accumulated fatigue. For example, an athlete might normally take 36 hours to fully recover from a particular interval workout. However, if two days prior to the interval session the athlete had undertaken an unusually tough training session, he/she might not be fully recovered at the outset of the interval workout. As a result, recovery from the intervals would take longer than expected (because the muscles would have to repair problems not only from the intervals but from the previous hard exertion as well), and the athlete who confidently embarked on yet another quality session 36 hours after the intervals, believing that his/her muscles were in good shape, could in fact be training in a quality way much too soon, increasing the risk of injury and burn-out.

Since determining optimal recovery time can be tough, it’s very important to take specific steps to speed up recovery time. By doing so, you’ll decrease the risk that you are piling up too many quality training sessions within one portion of your training cycle, and you’ll enhance your chances of really adapting to your training.

Speeding up recovery

But how can you hasten recovery? As we’ve mentioned many times before in PP, one of the best ways to accelerate recovery is to take in an adequate amount of carbohydrate shortly after a workout is over. You’re a wise athlete if you consume 300 to 400 calories of carbohydrate shortly after a workout is over and another 300 to 400 calories of carbs within the following two hours.

Our rationale for recommending this carb-replacement strategy is that it appears to be an excellent way to increase the likelihood that muscular fuel stores will be replenished in time for subsequent workouts. After all, muscle cells are most receptive to the idea of taking on carbohydrate during the two-hour window after a workout is over; after that, the carbo-storage process slows down, even when rich lodes of carbohydrate enter the body.

But there is an additional reason to reach for the carbs shortly after a training session is over. As it turns out, the post-workout carbohydrate also has a positive impact on protein restoration in muscles, because it both inhibits protein breakdown and stimulates protein synthesis.

And now, a one-legged study

We know this thanks to some excellent work carried out by the same research team which completed the radioisotope-recovery studies mentioned above. In their new investigation, eight men who had been carrying out regular resistance training for at least one year challenged the quadriceps muscles in just one of their legs by performing an exhausting series of knee extensions (eight sets of 10 reps at 85 percent of their one-repetition max). Immediately after these cruel exertions and again one hour later, they ingested either a Nutrasweet-dulcified placebo or a carbohydrate supplement containing one gram of glucose per kilogram of body weight. Since the men weighed about 75 kilograms each, this meant that they were taking in 300 calories of glucose right after the workout and also one hour later. Using their familiar radioisotope technique, the researchers looked at protein synthesis in both the exercised and unexercised legs (Effect of Glucose Supplement Timing on Protein Metabolism after Resistance Training, Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 82(6), pp. 1882-1888, 1997).

As it turned out, protein synthesis was 36-per cent greater in the exercised leg, compared to the non-exercised leg, when the men took in glucose after the workout. In other words, the glucose was spiking protein synthesis in the exercise-traumatized leg but doing little for the leg which had not engaged in training. Meanwhile, the protein-synthesis rates in the exercised and unexercised legs of the placebo (no-carbohydrate) subjects were exactly the same! Since protein synthesis was not increased in the exercised leg when no glucose was taken on board, the processes associated with recovery were simply not initiated.

In addition, protein breakdown in the exercised legs was significantly lower when glucose was taken after the workout, compared to when placebo was swallowed. Thus, the ingestion of carbohydrate after the training sessions led to a much more positive protein balance in the athletes’ bodies (protein balance is simply net protein synthesis minus protein destruction) and therefore was associated with a much more effective recovery.

You might be shocked to hear that protein breakdown would occur inside muscles after workouts. After all, why would muscle fibres want to tear themselves down following a bout of physical exertion? As it happens, this teardown is actually part of the remodelling process that muscle cells undergo after stress; damaged structures and enzymes are destroyed to make way for the new proteins which are about to be created. In addition, if fuel is not quickly supplied to the muscle, some proteins may be broken down and used for energy to keep the muscle cells viable until the empty energy depots are re-filled.

Carbs helping proteins

Why did carbs have such a positive impact on protein creation and why did they thwart protein destruction? They may have helped protein synthesis in a couple of key ways. First, the inflow of carbs may have simply given the muscle cells the necessary fuel to embark on the project of rebuilding. Using this carbohydrate energy, the muscles could grab amino acids from the bloodstream and kick-start the process of creating new proteins.

The carbs also boosted the production and release of insulin from the athletes’ pancreases; plasma insulin values were three to eight times higher after the workout in the glucose group, compared to the placebo exercisers. Insulin is a noted anabolic (tissue-building) hormone which has a profound positive impact on protein synthesis in muscles. Insulin also tends to suppress protein breakdown.

The lessons from this research are important and obvious. By taking in ample amounts of carbohydrate immediately after training and again an hour later, athletes can get a head start on re-fueling their muscles after workouts, but they will also shape muscle-protein dynamics to favour protein creation and disfavour protein catabolism.

That is THE essential aspect of the recovery process. Athletes who fail to take carbohydrate following their workouts because of sheer negligence or a desire to shed weight are losing out in the long run, because their recovery processes are sub-optimal.

What about endurance athletes?

You might have noticed that both of the studies described above involved strength training. Would the same kind of results be obtained with endurance athletes? That is, do endurance-type workouts produce the protein-breakdown and protein-synthesis rates which are associated with strength sessions?
Research in this area is somewhat sparse, but a couple of years ago investigators at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston studied seven female collegiate swimmers who carried out an interval workout consisting of 4600 total metres of swimming and on separate days a whole-body resistance-training session and also a super-session which combined the interval and strength workouts into one big bout of training (Muscle Protein Metabolism in Female Swimmers after a Combination of Resistance and Endurance Exercise, Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 81(5), pp. 2034-2038, 1996).

The resistance workout was a tough one, consisting of three sets of six reps of bench presses at 80 per cent of the one-repetition max (1 RM), three sets of 10 reps at 65 per cent of 1 RM for military presses, side laterals, latissimus pulldowns, biceps curls, triceps pushdowns, leg presses, leg extensions, leg curls, hip abductions, and hip adductions, and two sets of 30 abdominal crunches. Rest between sets lasted for only 60 to 90 seconds.

Meanwhile, the endurance-training workout, which was typical of the kind of session conducted routinely by the collegiate swimmers, included a warm-up consisting of 500 metres of freestyle swimming, 200 metres of kicking, 200 metres of pulling, and 200 metres of technique drills. The main portion of the session was composed of 10 200-metre intervals at an intensity of 85 to 90 per cent of max heart rate, four 100-metre kick intervals, two sets of four 25-metre pull intervals, plus a 200-metre cool-down. Recovery swims between intervals accounted for the other 700 metres of swimming. As mentioned, the strength-plus-endurance workout simply combined the weight workout described above with this interval session.

What were the recoveries like?

As expected, protein synthesis was greatest after the combined resistance-interval workout, but interestingly enough protein creation tended to be about 35-per workout.

Thus, there’s clear evidence that endurance-type work initiates a recovery process which may be even more dramatic than the restoration which occurs after a pile of tough resistance work. In addition, the rate of protein breakdown was about equal after the resistance and endurance-type interval training.

Given that swimming has none of the impact forces associated with running, those findings are very important for runners. One would expect that an intense running workout would produce even more protein breakdown than a swimming session and therefore necessitate even greater protein-synthesis rates following training. Thus, it appears that runners need to be especially scrupulous with their post-workout nutrition.

Overall, the lesson is that combining an endurance workout with a strength session seems to create a need for even more dramatic protein building, compared to performing a single session. Therefore, you need to be extremely vigilant with your recoveries on days when you complete both a strength and a quality endurance workout. That particular combination requires extra carbs after each session (or extra-extra carbohydrate if the two types of training are combined in one long workout), extra sleep during the night after the workouts, and a light day of work the next day.

Here are the key things to remember about recovery:

1. If you feel tired or sluggish on a particular day, don’t train or train very, very easily: Your body is telling you that what you need is recovery, not hard work.
2. If a quality workout was scheduled for the day, postpone it and carry it out the following day if you feel better, as long as you don’t have another quality session scheduled for the day after that. Two quality sessions in a row are usually too much,especially if you have been experiencing above-normal fatigue.
3. To increase the number of quality workouts you carry out (ie, to avoid spending too much time recovering), try to use the 36-hour principle. For example, you could perform a quality workout Tuesday morning, another Wednesday evening, and a third intense session Friday morning, thus fitting three tough sessions into a time frame which usually accommodates just two. You could then take Saturday off and complete a long workout on Sunday.
4. To jump-start recovery and be kind to your muscle proteins, make sure you replenish yourself with ample amounts of carbohydrate shortly after your training sessions.

Ultimately, you are the best judge of how well you are recovering between workouts.

If you look forward to each week of training and approach your quality workouts with high energy and determination, you are recovering well perhaps too well, but it is better to recover too well than to recover poorly (recovering too well means you could probably carry out your difficult workouts sooner than you usually do). If you are feeling tired during many of your weekly workouts and your performance times are a bit off, it’s quite likely that you can improve your performances not by working harder but by increasing the quality and quantity of your recovery.

Owen Anderson

This article was taken from the Peak Performance newsletter, the number one source of sports science, training and research. Click here to access these articles as soon as they are released to maximise your performance

Tags: open water swimming, olympic triathlon

In recent years, [...]]]> Latest research indicates that over 90% of our endurance training should be done at a pace so slow that we feel almost “guilty”, with only around 3% going really hard and very little in the so called “tempo”  (no man’s land) zone… Mike

How a train low, train high approach can lead to increased performance

In recent years, the ‘middle way’ has been a popular mantra of politicians. However, as Joe Beer explains, when it comes to training intensity in endurance sports such as cycling and triathlon, the middle way is most definitely not the most effective route to elite performance

Professional elite athletes know how to train because they have access to the best coaches and a because of the Darwinian process that ‘kills off’ bad methods and keeps good ones thriving! However, until very recently, the amateurs have never had access to the facilities and coaching backup of elite performers, so more often than not they have tended to source information from the best athletes they know locally and/or the group ethos prevailing in their particular training group or environment. The problem with this approach is that the ‘sheep mentality’ of merely doing what everyone else does is not especially effective. And let’s be honest, sheep don’t win many athletic medals!

Peaks in the clouds

Athletes used to look to the top of the sports mountain, shrouded in the clouds of greatness, and wonder what went on up there. Take, for example, the secret regimes of the 1980s ‘doctors’  behind the Iron Curtain, possessed of the ability to increase team performances in track, field and cycling. Nowadays, we have greatly increased transparency with more and more data from individuals, teams and countries, and from journals and interviews. From 4km cycling powerhouses (1) to elite junior rowers (2), as well as many others, data is published for all to see. Thankfully, we can now see that the gains are less about pharmacology and more about the analysis of training, outcomes and lessons learned.

For example, the prologue ride of cyclist Bradley Wiggins in this year’s Tour De France was online within days so that cycling fans could swoon over the his super-human effort – an average power output of 442 watts. Wiggins also published blood test data to counter any suspicion that he must have been on ‘something special’ to get fourth place overall. However, that’s a separate article entirely about champion genetics, weight loss and superb equipment choices.

Fortunately, this new openness gives sports scientists, coaches and amateur athletes the chance to see how the best actually train, and most importantly for you, it allows a trickle down of certain ‘golden nuggets’ of information from upon high. Think of it in the same way that steering wheel control paddles trickled down from rallying and F1 racing to your family car.

So it was fascinating when recent data were presented in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance on 36 elite junior rowers’ actual training data(2). These data will rock the training methods of some and give the thumbs up to what others are already doing. What they suggest in a nutshell is that the ‘Goldilocks’ approach to training (not too hard, not too easy) is detrimental for optimum performance, resulting in a no man’s land of not much progress.

Standing on the shoulders of giants

Researchers in Germany have looked at the training and competition data of elite rowers with national, world and Olympic rowing performance capabilities. Over a 37-week period, training was quantified methodically using heart rate monitoring, assessment of lactate threshold points (the point at which fatiguing lactate begins to accumulate rapidly in the blood) and performance outcomes. The rowers (14 of whom went onto Olympic finals), were lab tested to find critical points of blood lactate concentration in order to define certain training zones. These have been discussed previously in PP (see issue 239) and are shown below:

While you probably won’t have a blood lactate tester to hand, it’s quite easy to get a feel for the 2 and 4mmol/L levels. Below 2mmol/L of lactate, there’s no burning sensation and heart rates are around 60-75% of maximum. Between 2 and 4mmol/L, blood lactate builds and declines, never quite bringing you to your knees but you definitely get a sense of a ‘workout’. Above 4mmol/L, (sometimes referred to as the ‘lactate or anaerobic threshold’), exercise feels very hard, and in fact rowing data suggests that 6-8mmol/L is often reached in training by elite rowers. This high-intensity effort is such that once under way, you hope it ends very quickly! Typically, it involves from around 40 seconds to 8 minutes of maximal effort (2).

When the researchers analysed the 37-week data, their findings were very interesting. One of the most important of these was that internationally successful junior rowers performed 95% of all specific rowing training at a heart rate corresponding to a blood lactate concentration under 2mmol/L (see figure 1).

Within the average 12-14 hours of training per week the athletes logged over the scrutinised period, this meant six hours of actual rowing in Zone 1 (Z1). Two to three hours were spent resistance training, two hours doing alternative steady state aerobic training, and one hour doing warm-up/flexibility work. Given that this data covered the competition period, it is very, very important to note that the athletes did just 30 minutes a week of very high intensity work.

The real world

Many endurance athletes do events that, in the real world, typically last from 15 to 20 minutes and upward. These include 5K road races, 10-mile time trials and sprint triathlons. Few actually compete in events as short as the rowers tested, though anyone in an event lasting over 40 seconds is really an endurance athlete. Many people are now entering ultra-endurance triathlons such as the Ironman where finish times are 9 to 17 hours. Similarly, sportive cycle events lasting 4 to 10 hours are attracting record numbers. How should these athletes train?

From earlier work on rowers (3), the importance of training below the anaerobic threshold has been steadily gaining attention; and anaerobic thresholds are increasingly being used as a diagnostic tool rather than a training method. In short, the anaerobic threshold is not the Mecca of training effort; it’s merely one of the many ways used to measure an improvement or decline in fitness capability. Trying to train at threshold is not the way to train: you are working too hard to be easy and too easy to be properly hard!

As respected cycling journalist and coach Fred Matheny put it almost 15 years ago in an article in Bicycling: ‘NML (no man’s land) workouts provide a kinaesthetic sense of working hard but expose the rider to too much stress per unit gain. Instead most base training should be guilt-producingly easy, and the top end, high-intensity-training (HIT) should be very mentally hard, not sort of hard’ (4).

Rowing quality sessions

Lets look at what the rowers in this study did for quality (3). Over the study period, they averaged just 2-3% of their time performing very high intensity efforts. In distance terms they did 73km in the tempo zone (Z2) but just over 3200km in Z1. Although 2000m rowing requires just 6-7 minutes of maximal effort, they still focused on ‘very easy’ or ‘very hard’.

Examples of these high-intensity sessions included:

• 2-3 x 3-10 mins @ 90% HRmax – 10-20 mins recovery between;
• 2-8 x 40-120 sec @ maximal effort – 5-15 mins recovery between.

In order to be ready for this very high level of effort, you need to ensure you’ve done your base sessions in a controlled manner. The priority is being ready to do the hard work, not making endurance sessions harder than they need to be. Far too many athletes try to push the base and then fail to go really hard for their HIT training.

Why does train low, train high work?

How is it that large amounts of low-intensity work can develop base conditioning, aid recovery from HIT sessions yet not turn an athlete into a ‘plodder’, churning out ‘junk miles’? Well, first off if you do your base work in the 60-80% HRmax zone, you will get as fit and efficient as your genetics will allow for that particular training mode.

However, you can’t turn base work into quality – it can be good quality technical work and it can be good quality tempo of movement, but it can’t be harder than the Z1 upper threshold. If you train in Z1 consistently, allow recovery and have no major health issues, your body will reach around 90% of its potential – no tempo work, no HIT and relatively little effort. Although you may feel guilty, easy training can get you 9/10ths of the way to your peak potential!
You can train excessively in the tempo ‘no man’s land’ zone for years. But while it gives you a buzz from your workouts and gets reasonable performances, the inputs verses the outputs never match up. For example, if you train over 15 hours per week but include more than 25% of your training in Z2 ‘no man’s land’, you’ll fail to get better despite logging more time than others who do mostly Z1 and are improving. Remember the phrase ‘guilt-producingly easy’ for more than 90% of your week, especially if you’ve been someone who has always trained too hard up until now. Figure 2 shows how elite athletes across a range of sports spend most of their time in zone 1.

For many athletes, the ‘train low, train high’ mantra requires a mindset change, forcing them to think about things differently. Perceptions such as ‘base is easy now’, ‘I can relax knowing I don’t have to keep up with other people’ or ‘It’s now more enjoyable but also more effective’, are typical when people finally get what the elites already know.

Summary

Whatever endurance athlete type you are, train low, train high can work for you. This does not mean ‘go easy, we don’t want to push ourselves do we?’ Inclusion of the very high intensity (Z3) work is absolutely critical. However, for long-term success, you need to construct your training so that the body can evolve in a very patient way. Many athletes, even with the best coaching, only see on average a 2 to 8% improvement in a given year, especially those who’ve got several racing seasons under their belts already. If you’ve been struggling in no man’s land and not making much progress, try using train low, train high approach and set realistic improvements of say 5% (not 10 or 15%) faster for 2010. And if you remember the valuable three golden nuggets above, better times are ahead.

Joe Beer is an endurance coach working with cyclists, triathletes, duathletes and runners through his company JBST.com. He is also the author of ‘Need to Know Triathlon’ (Harper Collins)

References

1. Med. Sci Sports Exerc. (2002) 34, 6, 1029-1036
2. IJSPP (2009), http://tinyurl.com/kwe26d (in press)
3. Int. J Sports Med. (1993) 14, S3-S10
4. Bicycling Oct (1995) p.90
5. J Strength Cond Res. (2007) 21, 3, 943-949
6. Scand J Med Sci Sports (2004) 16, 49-56
7. Scand J Med Sci Sports (2004) 14, 303-310
8. Med. Sci Sports Exerc. (2005) 37, 3, 496-504
9. Scand J Med Sci Sports (2003) 13, 185-193

This article was taken from the Peak Performance newsletter, the number one source of sports science, training and research. Click here to access these articles as soon as they are released to maximise your performance

Tags: triathlon results, triathlon training

On an annual basis, bicycle riding involves several hundred million people worldwide. Studies have linked perineal pressure caused by [...]]]> The final piece of the puzzle drops into place…

Well listen up guys and dolls, this is serious stuff that effects all of you! Your sexual health could be at great great risk because of the saddle you use!

On an annual basis, bicycle riding involves several hundred million people worldwide. Studies have linked perineal pressure caused by straddling traditional bicycle seats to numbness, urinary tract and yeast infections, prostate inflammation and impotence.

For male riders, in addition to the discomfort and numbness associated with a traditional saddle, there is an increased susceptibility to restricted blood flow, which can lead to arterial occlusion and permanent erectile dysfunction.

For women, the restricted blood flow and hardening of the genital arteries can lead to an inability to reach orgasm. It has been found that as little as 11% of a person’s body weight can compress the genital artery!

So what has  a bike saddle got to do with my arrhythmia?

This perineal pressure and it’s damaging effect, is far greater for triathletes in the aero position, and although I have had minor prostate issues for many years, it was under control and only became severely aggravated after I started triathlon training and riding a bike just over two years ago.

As outlined in my earlier blog post Triathlon Training – Killing Six Birds With One Stone, it is my enlarged prostrate that prohibited the emptying of my bladder, which then got me up every hour at night to go to the loo, which then prevented me getting sufficient rest to recover from training, which then lead to my being in an overtrained state, which then lead to severely aggravated heart arrhythmia!

…so amazingly it actually all started with the bike saddle!

The traditional bike saddle shape has in effect changed very little since the original “Penny Farthing” of yesteryear, but thank goodness at least one innovative manufacturer has at last taken the matter seriously enough to do the necessary research and develop a new design that completely handles the problem:-

ISM Adamo Saddles

Here’s an interesting read on the health benefits of no nose saddles vs. traditional saddles.

On September 5, 2006 Steve Toll traveled to the University of Hamburg to have the new Adamo Road saddle and the Adamo Racing saddle tested by noted German urologist Dr. Frank Sommer. At the conclusion of the testing Dr. Sommer was pleased with the results and congratulated Steve on his design and achievements. Dr. Sommer stated, “A saddle where there is hardly any blood loss. Which is excellent to preserve sexuality and for preventing erectile dysfunction.”

While normal testing involves a 15-minute ride on a saddle, the test using the ISM™ was discontinued after 12 minutes.  Why?  Dr. Sommer commented, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”  In fact, blood flow in the perineum area remained at 100% throughout the test with the ISM™, a mark rarely seen in bicycle saddle testing.

In addition, Dr. Sommer’s prior research has indicated that some saddles restrict blood flow in the perineum area by as much as 95% within the first minute of a ride.  Other studies indicate that such restriction over a long period can result in permanent erectile damage.

The ISM™ is a first-of-its-kind seat.  If a family is in your future, or you’re simply tired of the pain and discomfort associated with a traditional saddle, rest your bones on the ISM™.  It’s medically better for you.

Adamo saddles are currently available from Troisport (best price), Wayne Pheiffer and Triangle Sports in South Africa, so get one now as besides anything else your butt is going to thank you big time!

I will never ride again with any other…

Articles

NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health) Update

National Geographic Adventure, April 2003 – Riding Rough: New Evidence Continues to
Link Biking to Impotence by Jim Thornton.

Bicycling Magazine, August 1997 – The Unseen Danger by Joe Kita

Other Research Studies: Available Through the National Library of Medicine

“Impotence and Nerve Entrapment in Long Distance Amateur Cyclist”
Andersen K.V., Bovim G.
Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, Trondheim University Hospital, Norway.

“Does Bicycling Contribute to the Risk of Erectile Dysfunction?”
Goldstein I., Marceau L., Kleinman K., McKinlay J.

“Type of Saddle and Sitting Position Influence Penile Oxygen Pressure while Cycling“
Dr. Frank Sommer, Cologne University, March 2003.

“Pressure Distribution on Bicycle Saddles” (a comparison between normal “flat” saddles
with gel and saddles with a “hole” in the perineal area)
Renato Rodano, Roberto Squadrone, Massimiliano Sacchi, Alberto Marzegan
Centro di Bioingegneria, Milan, Italy – November 2002.

“Ergonomics of 2 Bicycle Saddles” (Pressure at the Pudendal Area in Women of a
Normal Saddle with Gel and of a Saddle with a Hole)
Dr. Ingo Froboese – Deutsche Sporthochschule, Cologne, Germany
Dr. Luc Baeyens – Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Brugmann, Brussels, Belgium.

Tags: triathlons, triathlon bike