Having a ‘high’ maximum sprint is often the desire of many – whether for the glory of winning the city plate sprint against your mates or for fighting for the final sprint in a race. Particularly in racing contexts, having a high maximum power is often advantageous for responding and ending attacks easily.
With that in mind, cycling coach Alex Welburn is on hand to show us the science behind sprint power and the factors you need to consider – as well as offering some practical suggestions on how you can improve this area off the bike. training.
Performance cycling coach Alex Welburn is one of the experts who will answer your questions at Weekly cyclingfrom the Ask a Cycling Coach series, online every Wednesday. He is currently completing a PhD in Critical Power and W’ at Loughborough University whilst also managing the Performance Project where he trains athletes and provides consultancy.
Let’s cover the basics first. Maximum power is attributed to the contractile speed of type 2 muscle fibers, also known as sprint fibers. The more of these fibers, the greater the amount of force that can be produced. While these are developed through on-bike sprint training, you’ll see greater gains by adding targeted exercises off the bike.
With any gym exercise, having good form and technique will help prevent woundSo if you’re not sure, seek help from a strength and conditioning coach.
It is worth remembering that work in the gym must be periodized, just as training on the bike would be. But while most cyclists stop weight training during the racing season, I advise you to keep it there (at a lower level) as a form of maintenance.
Off-bike routine to improve maximum power
(Image credit: Future)
The best off-bike exercises for improve your sprint are consistent with a variety of movements in the gym – here are the top three exercises I would recommend for cyclists.
Hip Thrusts – you can do this with a barbell and lean your back against a bench. The focus here is to be fast and explosive, this will help develop the glutes.
Squats – a common exercise for cyclists, there are several different ways to do this. You can develop absolute strength by doing 5 x 5 at about 80-90% of your rep max. Additionally, you can also hold the bottom of the squat for 1-2 seconds and then try to increase the power. With the aim of developing your explosiveness.
Box jumps – there are so many ways to do this. (1) single squat jumps to a box as 3 sets of 10 jumps. [2] Another variation is to get into a squat position where the knee angle is about 90 degrees, hold for 1-2 seconds and then jump from there. A position similar to the top of the pedal stroke; as if you were running.
Overall, there are many ways to improve your peak power, both on and off the bike, but context is always key here. Take a look at the bigger picture and it will help direct what you need to do and why. The gym is there to help you develop your strength and then your bike sessions condition it.
How else can you improve your running?
That said, often your Critical Power (CP) / Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is the limiting factor when it comes to sprints, not the power of the sprint. Let me explain. When we exceed our limit, we will begin to accumulate and deplete fatigue metabolites and high energy stores such as Phosphocreatine (PCr).
Although this is a simple overview, we need oxygen phosphorylate Pi [inorganic Phosphate] and Cr [creatine] which is formed when we break down PCr. Pi also begins to interfere with our muscle contractions, which reduces our contractile strength, reducing our energy production.
This is where our CP/FTP comes in, as CP is supported by type 1 muscle fiber types and the number of capillaries that surround these fibers. Essentially, developing an improved skeletal system to deliver oxygen – which will improve your ability to to recover faster – will also improve maximum sprint power at the end of a race or longer course. This is a term we call “repeatability”.
Can I analyze this?
A quick way to gauge this is to look at the time spent above CP during a criterium race. In some analyses, you can also observe energy loss by looking at the average energy trend. So if you increase your CP/FTP, this, in theory, could mean you spend less time above it, allowing you to be in a more refreshed state for the end of the sprint.
So don’t neglect your power limit if you want to improve your sprint for criterium and road races. This focus on CP/FTP allows you to be less tired when you need to run – however, you will still need to do sprint-specific work, like the off-bike routine I detailed above.
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