You all killed it adapting to the Drill based workout we had planned. Solid low cadence, High torque work to put in a good ON BIKE gym session. We dove into the depth of the science behind why its good to do drill work like these low cadence high torque pushes on occasions to better you muscular strength and pedal stoke.
Lets recap the benefits of the drill work we did
Lets first note a couple of things...
1- as for recovery..
it's important to focus on getting in at least 40 grams of protein with a well balanced meal after doing a ride like we did on friday. Strength work this this requires the muscle to tear to then rebuild and one of the most important factors is essential protein containing all 9 essential amino acids to help rebuild those muscle fibers into stronger ones.
2- doing these low cadence high torque workouts should be occasionally , but its good to work on the recoveries as higher cadence to offset the slow cadence.
Keep in mind that these occasional workouts are meant to be slow cadence, but you should really keep cadence about 70rpm for the other climbing efforts and 90rpm for regular workouts. again, this adds versatility to your adaptation and also efficiency.
Slow Frequency Repetitions (SFR) or high torque training
This torque training technique is all about maximizing muscle recruitment. Basically, you’re doing strength training on your bike!
THESE ARE ALL DONE STAYING SEATED.
The purpose of SFR’s is to strengthen the muscles used specifically for cycling. This is a great preliminary exercise prior to doing harder hill repeats, or to just get yourself used to doing more hill climbing. it is also fantastic for building strong leg muscles for more power output. It does not emphasize high heart rates, instead you are pushing a “big gear” which taxes the muscles rather than the aerobic system. SFR’s are like “weight lifting” on the bike as mentioned
its best to Concentrate on smooth pedal strokes; relax the upper body, keeping it “quiet”. Relax the hands and neck. Really focus on the lower body.
Focus on the working muscles: Quads, hip flexors, glutes and hamstrings. Your pedal stroke should be defined. Your heel usually drops down when doing them properly.
Keep you butt glued to your saddle and focus on using those leg muscles to push power
Now lets chat about how muscle is created.. This is known as hypertrophy
There are two types of muscular hypertrophy:
1-myofibrillar:
growth of muscle contraction parts- Myofibrillar training will help with strength and speed2-sarcoplasmic:
increased muscle glycogen storage-Sarcoplasmic growth helps give your body more sustained energy for endurance training.Within building hypertrophy, you also increase the mitochondrial density, meaning you will have more energy cells to power your workouts.
When muscles undergo intense exercise, as from a resistance training bout, there is trauma to the muscle fibers that is referred to as muscle injury or damage.
This disruption to muscle cell organelles activates satellite cells, which are located on the outside of the muscle fibers between the basal lamina (basement membrane) and the plasma membrane (sarcolemma) of muscles fibers to proliferate to the injury site. In essence, a biological effort to repair or replace damaged muscle fibers begins with the satellite cells fusing together and to the muscles fibers, often leading to increases in muscle fiber cross-sectional area or hypertrophy. The satellite cells have only one nucleus and can replicate by dividing.
As the satellite cells multiply, some remain as organelles on the muscle fiber whereas the majority differentiate (the process cells undergo as they mature into normal cells) and fuse to muscle fibers to form new muscle protein stands (or myofibrils) and/or repair damaged fibers.
The muscle cells’ myofibrils will increase in thickness and number. After fusion with the muscle fiber, some satellite cells serve as a source of new nuclei to supplement the growing muscle fiber.
With these additional nuclei, the muscle fiber can synthesize more proteins and create more contractile myofilaments, known as actin and myosin, in skeletal muscle cells.
Muscle growth occurs whenever the rate of muscle protein synthesis is greater than the rate of muscle protein breakdown. So this is why I stated the importance of refueling with completes protein after rides like this. Both, the synthesis and breakdown of proteins are controlled by complimentary cellular mechanisms. Resistance exercise can profoundly stimulate muscle cell hypertrophy and the resultant gain in strength. A single bout of exercise stimulates protein synthesis within 2-4 hours after the workout which may remain elevated for up to 24 hours
Some specific factors that influence these adaptations:
Men and women respond to a resistance training stimulus very similarly. However, due to gender differences in body size, body composition and hormone levels, gender will have a varying effect on the extent of hypertrophy one may possibly attain. As well, greater changes in muscle mass will occur in individuals with more muscle mass at the start of a training program.
Aging also mediates cellular changes in muscle decreasing the actual muscle mass.
This loss of muscle mass is referred to as sarcopenia. on the bright side....effects of aging on muscle have been shown be restrained or even reversed with regular resistance exercise.
Heredity differentiates the percentage and amount of the two markedly different fiber types.The proportions and types of muscle fibers vary greatly between adults.
To conclude: Hypertrophy is an increase and growth of muscle cells.
Over time, our bodies adapt to the stimuli we expose them to.
The adaptations to these stimuli fall under the phenomenon of General Adaptation Syndrome.
Thank you all for joining and I hope you had a fantastic weekend. stay tuned on what's coming up this next Friday Smash session! longer climbing. I will be away in California Coaching at a gravel camp, but do not worry.. Matthew my amazing boyfriend will be there to help guide you and I will pop in to say hello! Further details coming up!