We all want to maximize the gains we get from each training session. At first glance, it makes some logical sense to ride as hard as we can each session, maximize the amount of training stress, and expect maximum adaptation.
Well, although anyone who has tried this approach would probably advise against it; James Spragg is here to explain why it’s not the best approach to take.
Sports scientist and trainer James Spragg is one of the experts answering your questions in Cycling Weekly’s ASK A CYCLING COACH series that comes out every Wednesday. Working in both research and applied settings, he currently directs Interception Performance Consulting.
Let’s take a look at what happens when we exercise…
Every time we exercise, we give our body a stimulus to adapt. There are numerous ways in which this adaptation manifests itself; from the growth of new capillaries to the replenishment of glycogen through a greater number of mitochondria in the muscles and more red blood cells to transport oxygen. The adaptations that occur depend on the intensity and duration of the exercise and the level of fitness you already have.
However, even though adaptations themselves are a complex phenomenon, the way we experience them is relatively simple.
As we exercise, we get fatigued. Therefore, we are no longer able to have the same level of performance that we had before we started exercising. We experience a fall in form.
Our bodies then respond to this fatigue by recover effectively after cycling, adapt, and ultimately grow stronger. We call this adaptation supercompensation.
Unfortunately, this is one of those ‘use it or lose it’ scenarios and if we then continue to rest, our bodies will start to detrain again and we will lose those adaptations. We call this reversibility.
(Image credit: James Spragg)
The process of going from reduced fitness due to fatigue to improved fitness due to overcompensation follows a relatively consistent pattern. This is because the timeline for any given adaptation to occur within the body is relatively fixed. It just takes a certain amount of time to make more red blood cells or build bigger, stronger muscles.
Certain adaptations occur relatively quickly (within a few hours), while others may take several days.
What we experience is that our form can recover quite quickly, allowing us to exercise for several days in a row, but we often need a long recovery period to take full advantage of supercompensation. Most of us have experienced that gain in shape after taking a recovery week. Unfortunately, however, most of us have also experienced that loss of form or fitness plateau if we have not cycling often enough.
A perfect cycling training plan allows the athlete to achieve a bit of supercompensation after each session and then induces a new stimulus before the reversibility process begins.
What is often forgotten, and is quite important, is that exercising more in a session does not mean that you will adapt faster, but it can mean that you will continue to adapt for longer.
Let’s look at two examples; The first is where one athlete (blue) works out to exhaustion each session while the other athlete (red) leaves some in the tank. This is what the form graphics of it would look like.
(Image credit: James Spragg)
Clearly, athlete one in blue is getting more and more tired and is experiencing a general loss of form. This is because they are experiencing a high level of fatigue and a big drop in form after each session, and then not giving themselves enough time to see that all-important supercompensation. The red athlete is timing everything correctly and is seeing a small improvement after each session. In general, this means that the form of him has an upward trend. Remember, going deeper into a session will not speed up his recovery.
However, it is possible that you will adapt for longer…
So let’s see what happens when the blue athlete waits a little longer and also times correctly…
(Image credit: James Spragg)
Here we can see that both athletes are improving. However, in this period, the red athlete has managed to fit in four training sessions while the blue athlete has only managed to fit in two training sessions. This is because the blue athlete had to wait longer between sessions to allow supercompensation to occur. All those little extra bits of adaptation after each session have added up over time and the red athlete has improved more than the blue athlete.
When it comes to training, consistency is key. Long-term improvements in fitness and form are the product of many small steps in the right direction. Try to take leaps and bounds and you won’t progress as fast, or worse, you’ll end up stuck in a hole.
with any cycling training plan, the ‘art’ is to induce just the right amount of fatigue with each session and allow enough time to recover afterwards. Both of these factors will differ from rider to rider. However, with any athlete, at any level, consistent small steps in the right direction will bring the fastest overall improvement.
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