Archive for the ‘Coaching’ Category

Towards individualised training models

Individuals respond differently


If you have not seen the Horizon documentary on exercise I recommend it. While generally promoting the virtue of exercise and activity they specifically asked the question “can three minutes of exercise per week make you fit?”. The presenter was subjected to a 4 week program of training (a 10min session including 3x20sec max effort 3 times per week) that was know to increase VO2 max in around 50% of ordinary people.

To the presenters dismay he fell right at the bottom of the “non-responders” group and showed no improvement at at all in VO2max for his effort. In search of a glimmer of hope, he looked up and was met by the smug grin of the scientist who had secretly predicated the result from a genetic test he did 4 weeks earlier. I was left praying this scientist would never turn to coaching.

I believe athletes deserve options, alternatives and plan B’s when plan A’s fail. A coach who uses only one training model will fail to achieve results in a high proportion of athletes. The way individuals respond to training in terms of duration and intensity can vary enormously meaning an optimal training plan can not be picked off the peg or fitted to a strict calendar but needs to evolve with and adapt to the athlete (not the other way round).

Now don’t get me wrong I’m going all Anders Ericsson 10,000 hours on you. We all have limits and many of these are influenced if not limited by our genetics. The woefully genetically ungifted are however unlikely to get so far as searching for a triathlon coach so I am confident that everyone I work with has some talent in that respect.

A mistake that is commonly made is believing there is one ideal training model, an optimal that we can all apply. Often we look to the best, maybe should all train like pro cyclists? We should do lots of distance, 1000s of kilometers of riding every week. Unfortunately pro cyclists are a rather uniformly talented, ultra high responding group of genetically talented individuals who are unfortunately frequently doping. Well I can tell you now I will not base my own or anyone else’s training on them.

The truth is there is no single ideal model. You may find you respond best to different patterns of low and high intensity, a generalised program working a range of intensities, you may want to go for a classical periodised approach or an ironman type periodisation.

There are very few studies that describe how this might work in real life but there are some. Gaskill et al followed 14 cross country skiers over two years (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10449026). In the first year they all performed 16% of training at high intensity (>lactate threshold) averaging 12-13 hours per week. After a year 7 had responded well while 7 had not responded. During the second year the responders continued with the same regimen while the non responders undertook a program with less hours but with an increased proportion of intensity at 35%. By the end of the second year all 14 were showing significant improvements.

This provides an documented example of how different athletes respond to different training. The more we begin to understand this the better we will be able to predict who will response best to what training. Until we can do this by taking a blood sample and doing a genetic analysis however you will have to be open to learning and trying new things.

Increase your VO2max today

Graeme Stewart Triathlon


A bold claim you might say more likely to appear in an advert for a dodgy fitness supplement than a serious training blog but a recent observation noted in work from the group of Tim Noakes (http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/46/1/23.abstract) suggests that you may be able trick your brain in to releasing the brakes on your VO2max.

The group set out to test the theory that the bodys maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 Max), a key determinant of athletic ability, is limited by the cardiovascular system. Noakes however has long believed that it is the brain not the cardiovascular system that limits VO2 consumption during exercise, a theory know as the central governor theory.

By cleverly redesigning the traditional incremental VO2max test, where maximum O2 consumption is reached by gradually raising the intensity in set stages, they hoped they could trick the brain in to permiting higher than normal O2 consumption. They created a decremental test where exercise begins at a very high intensity and is reduced consecutively at defined points.

“We reasoned that if subjects knew beforehand that the test would become progressively easier the longer it continued, the possibility was that any biological controls directing the termination of exercise might be relaxed, thus allowing the achievement of a VO2max higher than that achieved with conventional [incremental test]“
VO2 max tests

Indeed when they subjected runners to a series of VO2 max tests including initial incremental then either incremental or decremental tests they found the decremental test gave significantly higher scores. This result supports the theory that it is not the cardiovascular system but possibly the brain that limits VO2max.

A report published at the same time using a closed loop test with self selected pacing confirms that traditional tests do not elicit true Vo2max(http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/46/1/59.abstract).

The remarkable thing with first study however was when they retested the subjects at the end with a final traditional incremental test they still maintained a higher VO2 max following a decremental test.
VO2 data
There was no increased performance associated with the increased VO2max presumably because it was elicited by biological trickery rather than hard training but that does not mean to say that having “unlocked” this extra VO2max it would not facilitate training to a higher level.

Should we all go a perform a decremental VO2max test now to unlock our unused aerobic potential? It is imposible to say but it would be interesting to follow these athletes to see if they can turn this increased VO2max in to increased performance.

Certainly the use of decremental high intensity intervals in training can be very effective but perhaps we just did not realise that there was a component of “brain training” involved. If you want to try this sort of training yourself a good place to start is with 4x3min where the first minute is extremely hard close to max, the second minute in at VO2 max and the 3rd minute is at threshold. These hard intervals require large amount of recovery ~4-5minutes but I promise threshold has never felt so easy.

If you want to try the decremental they used in the study I recommend you find a good sports scientist to supervise you as it is a highly demanding and complicated protocol that shouldn’t be attempted without support. It is also likely the stress of operating a treadmill yourself would negate the effect.

Alternative FTP prediction

aleksandar-sorensen-ironman


I must admit I have struggled with meaningful prediction of functional threshold power (FTP) for some time. Typically lactate testing shows poor reproducibility and taking 4mmol-1 as a threshold number vastly over estimates 40k TT ability in most athletes. Functional methods to predict FTP such as taking 95% of a 20min maximal test power (CP20) also tend to over predict FTP in trained athletes but are often poorly executed being excessively stressful to athletes.

While I still use the CP20 method, I have recently settled on two different and complementary methods for FTP prediction I believe are more accurate in terms of predicting 1 hour performance, less variable and less stressful for the athlete allowing far more frequent testing. The first is a functional test and the second D-max lactate bassed method which I will deal with in a separate post.

If you have difficulty executing a good CP20 test or you find it predicts excessively high numbers it may be worth trying this as an alternative.

FTP prediction based on peak power output (PPO)

This method is a functional method using a peak power test. You may wonder how is peak power relevant to 1 hour performance but there is a well establish correlation and Lamberts et al (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21821613) have recently found a very close correlation between 40k TT performance and PPO corrected for body weight. You can download the test protocol and FTP calculator here:
______________________________________________________
FTP calculator
______________________________________________________
The test requires a controlled 1min ramp test starting at 2.5W/kg and increasing by 20W every minute until failure, here’s how it might look.
Example-PPO-test

It does not need to be precise but the build must be steady to ensure your number in the end stage is aerobic power. This athlete clearly let the power go slack at the end of each minute which is not ideal for best results. It is also very simple to program your power trainer to create such a ramp of resistance for you. Your 1min best power at the end is your peak power output and this can be converted to 40k TT power a good estimate of FTP and predicted time using the equations in the spreadsheet.

Easy means easy

Recover

Recently I have been having a lot of discussions on the topic of training intensity. In particular the tendency for athletes on lower volume training programs (whether through choice or necessity) to push too hard on lower intensity aerobic or recovery workouts. This can be bad because of diminished non specific training effects and also excessive fatigue carried through to high intensity sessions.

It reminded me of this old post which I have dug up to try and persuade you to hold back on those recovery sessions even when you feel great because fatigue can be waiting round the corner. Easy means easy no matter how good you feel!

(more…)

Training pedaling technique

pedaling muscles

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17545890

Four basic drills were performed in four body positions:
(1) support on handle bars and saddle
(2) no support on handle bars, but support on saddle
(3) support on handlebars, but no support on saddle
(4) no support on either handle bars or saddle

The first drill was to balance on the pedals with the crank parallel to the floor. Participants were instructed to ‘‘emphasise the application of their body weight onto the pedals’’ until they were able to balance on the pedals without any support on the handle bars or saddle.
The second drill was to move the crank from a position parallel to the floor to approximately 30o from the vertical position and back. Participants were encouraged to perform this reciprocal movement smoothly (i.e., without stopping when the direction of the movement changed). The participants were instructed to ‘‘de-emphasise the application of their body weight while the pedal was moving upward’’. This drill was performed on both sides.
The third drill was to move the crank from parallel to the floor, half a revolution forwards and backwards (i.e., from 90o to 180o and back). Again, the participants were instructed to ‘‘emphasise the application of body weight’’ onto the downward moving pedal and to ‘‘de-emphasise the application of body weight’’ onto the upward moving pedal. The fourth drill was to move the crank from parallel to the floor through a full revolution of 360. Again, the participants were encouraged to ‘‘emphasise and de-emphasise the application of body weight’’ during the respective downstrokes and upstrokes of the respective pedals.

An alternative elite cycling model

Elite cycle training in the snow


You may want to train like a pro cyclist but in reality it is often not possible. Elite cyclist tend to train as much as 3-8 hours per day (100-240km) and use stage races to peak for big event like olympics (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12048333). That sort of volume is simply not compatible with work or family life for most people and if you live in a cold climate it is also dangerous and unpleasant.

That’s why I was so interested to read a case report of a Norwegian elite cyclist using a low volume approach with specific training modifications to be more compatible with their cold climate (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22124353).

They report over the course of one year “VO2max improved by 10.5 %, from 66.6 to 73.6 ml·kg-1·min-1 and the ergometer TT performance improved by 14.9%” while on a program consisting of just under an average of 5 hours cycling per week. His weight and body fat percent were unaltered during the time. That sounds far more realistic to me than any elite cycling program I have seen in the past and coincidentally is very similar to my own weekly average cycling.

Now don’t get too excited it is not quite that easy. While this represented a reduction in total volume from their traditional cycling program, they still maintained a total average of 11 hours per week by the inclusion of running (and we assume functional and strength work) in their program.

This is desirable because it is more compatible with a cold climate but is only effective assuming the gains in VO2 max are transferable between sports, which certainly seems to be the case in this instance.

Støren et al 2012 table 1
Støren et. al. 2012

This low cycling volume approach used high aerobic intensity training (HAIT) consisting of sessions between 90-95% heart rate max. Two intensive blocks of 14 and 15 sessions in 9 and 10 days respectively were separated by more moderate training with just 3 HAIT sessions per week.

Interestingly while the HAIT sessions in the intervening periods were cycling sessions, the HAIT session durring the intensive blocks were all running sessions consisting of 4x4min treadmill sessions.

This report represents the closest model I have seen to something that could be applied to the age group triathlete. With the low volume of cycling and inclusion of running it describes a method to improve performance across disciplins (his running VO2 max also increased substantially)!

Low volume with high intensity sessions across multiple disciplins can be very effective and it seems cycling large volumes at low intensity during the winter is not the only route to cycling success.