SetS & RepSTwo sets of five, with a 45-second rest.

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Hop, skip & jumpto a fitter, leaner bodyStrength training makes you faster, stronger and more resilient to injury. Gerald Smith explores how to give yourself a jump start by using plyometric training techniques

Improving cycling performance can be a difficult task because there are many aspects of cycling that need to be improved. For instance, hill climbing, sprint performance and average power output are all important to cycling

performance. In most cases the answer can be really simple — if you want to improve your ability to climb than spend more time hill climbing, or improve your core strength.

However, there are other options that can yield faster results. One option is plyometric training, which can be thought of as jump training, which trains your muscles to release force as quickly as the string from a bow and arrow. Jumping movements are quick and jumping actually trains the nervous system, and because of its affect on the nervous system you won’t get bulky like a bodybuilder. It will also strengthen your muscles, tendons and ligaments.

Training the nervous systemMost of us think that when we train it’s just our muscles that benefit, but the nervous system is as important as your muscles because your nervous system decides how many muscle fibres you recruit when you cycle, or how quickly you produce force. For example, during the cycling stroke you may currently be using 60 per cent of your muscle mass in your legs. If you improve the nervous system’s ability to recruit a greater amount of muscle fibres to around 70 per cent of your muscle mass, you will produce 10 per cent extra force even if you don’t improve your body’s aerobic (working with oxygen) capacity.

The way the nervous system improves during plyometric training is that it will increase how quickly your muscles will produce force. You can think of your nervous system in the same way you think of a computer’s processor and random access memory. The processor is what decides how quickly your computer will run the different programmes on the computer. This means that if your processor is slow than your software like word and excel will also run slow. Well the nervous system can also decide how quickly your body will use your muscles to produce force. A great example of this is in Olympic lifting when athletes get under the bar at blistering speeds. Obviously we can’t upgrade our nervous system like we can with a processor

but with training we can improve the speed at which our nervous system produces force.

The origin of plyometric trainingPlyometric exercises were first used by athletes involved in jumping, sprinting and throwing sports, by countries from the Eastern Bloc. All these sports are anaerobic (short duration) but the popularity of plyometric workouts has increased to the extent that other sports like football and volleyball use them. Plyometric training is used for power development, where power can be described as strength and speed combined. Plyometric training can be used to improve cycling performance because force development and the average force generated determine how quickly you move the bike. There are other factors like power- to-weight ratio and lung capacity that have to be factored in as well, but the advantages to be gained from plyometric training alone are considerable. It has also been found that using this type of training also helps the body overcome the physiological hangover caused in triathlon when you transition from cycling to running, so there are many benefits to plyometric training.

Now it is well-known that cycling is a sport that requires great lung capacity and conditioning. You won’t need to worry about building large muscles from this type of training because it trains the nervous system. It must be remembered that even though you want to improve your heart and lungs’ ability to get oxygen to the working muscles, you still need to produce large forces to move the bike forward at speed. So whether you need to improve your sprinting ability or if you want to be a better hill-climber, plyometric training can help you in many ways.

As previously mentioned, plyometric training develops the speed of the nervous system, which in turn uses the strength of the muscles and the tendons and ligaments. Plyometric training trains the muscles and connective tissues to produce force faster by increasing the rate of force development (speed the muscles produce force). Once you train the rate of force development through plyometric training your muscles and connective tissues will be able to produce force faster due to an increase in your ability to make explosive muscle movements. The easiest way

Plyometric traininginvolves jumping movements

and originated inEastern bloc countries.

Duration: 20-30 minutesBenefits include a more forceful pedal

stroke with less effort, increasedclimbing performance, faster sprinting

ability, improved cycling efficiency, increased time to exhaustion.

STanDing long jUmP1 Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Lower your body by bending your knees and winding your arms back behind.

2 Immediately jump. Swing your arms as you jump to gain greater distance and aim to jump as far as you can.

3 Land on both feet.

If you want to progress this exercise make it into a step-up exercise, which is performed on a bench.

BenefitsMore forceful

pedal stroke and improved climbing.

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SetS & RepSOne set of five each leg,with a 45-second rest.

SetS & RepSOne set of five, with a 45-second rest.

training to get the best results. This is because power is a combination of strength and speed, so if you train strength first, you can convert your strength to power so that you produce your new speed quicker. You can perform your strength work early on in the season by using big gears during your hill training, and once you have developed this strength you can than combine it with speed by incorporating plyometric training. Another option to develop strength is to use resistance training in the form of weights. By cross training with weights you reduce the chances of injury and improve your core strength specifically for cycling. Weight training will also help you perform more advanced plyometric training.

If you have read other articles on plyometric training you may be under the impression that doing plyometric training you should be able to lift at least one-and-a-half times your own body weight. So if you weigh 60kg you should be squatting 90kg. This is because the force that goes through your body when you perform plyometric training is far greater than normal weight training or most types of activities.

However, don’t be alarmed by this information. If you were to wait till you could lift one-and-a-half times your body weight you may never get to use the programme that I recommend. During plyometric training repetitive stresses are placed on the structures of the body

(muscles, ligaments), and providing these forces are low enough for the tendons to handle, and that the muscles are strong enough to resist the force, you’ll be fine.

It is also likely that you have already done some plyometric training. One example of plyometric training is sprinting or running. These exercises are plyometric in nature and they are commonly performed without much risk, so you have probably done plyometric work at some time in your life already. As long as you use lower intensity exercises like the ones given in this article you will not only be safe, but you will see a difference in your performance. Try this 30-minute programme two to three times a week.

to understand how the rate of force development works is to think about what happens if you hit a forehand tennis shot.

How plyometrics impacts performance When you hit a tennis ball you swing your arm back, which causes a stretch in the chest shoulder and bicep muscle. Try this right now. You will feel the stretch if you do this quickly. Once you have created this stretch you use it immediately to hit the ball as hard as you can. Now if you create this stretch and wait five seconds than hit the ball you lose the momentum caused by the quick back swing and you will hit the ball with less power. This is because once a

muscle is stretched it has potential energy, similar to that which is stored in an elastic band when it’s stretched. Once you release an elastic band after it has been stretched it has recoil causing it to snap back quickly. Your muscles have the same recoil but if it is not used immediately you will lose the potential energy. These stretches occur all the time in movements like jumping, kicking a ball and running and they can be trained to be even more powerful.

Once you train elastic energy through plyometric training your muscles will be able to produce force faster and will have more time to relax, causing a more economical cycling stroke. The rate in which you stretch the muscle will improve with training

because the muscles will relax more and they will be stronger. Before you know it you will start dropping training partners who used to be your equal, your cycling will feel easier and more economical and you will feel more relaxed when you cycle. This in turn will lead to better blood flow around the body, which will provide more oxygen and energy to the body, leading to a longer time to exhaustion, so you will feel stronger and last longer.

Strength trainingOne thing to add here is that although plyometric training is effective in its own right, it is recommended that you also do strength training before you start plyometric

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Plyometric training improves the speed of the nervous system so that it can use the muscles to produce force faster.

The muscles are also trained by plyometric training and the ability to harness potential or elastic energy is improved so your muscles will produce more force faster!

The connective tissues that attach your muscles to your bones, or connect bones to bones are also able to store more potential energy with training.

Your body will feel like a coil waiting to explode at any time. You will have so much strength and power in the legs that getting up hills will be easier.

tips for Best results

If you are serious about cycling and competing, use plyometric training in your yearly training plan once or twice a year.

Think of your body as a house and build a solid foundation with strength training, and place plyometric training at the top of the house as the roof towards the end of year.Use plyometric training four-six weeks before your race or competition.

Even if you are not training to compete but you just want to be better at cycling, try these exercises. They’re a lot of fun and they will get you results.

1 Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your body upright. Bend your knees and lean your body slightly forward and swing your arms back.

2 Quickly jump as high as you can while lifting your knees as high as possible. When you land keep your ground contact time as short as possible by immediately jumping again.

1 Stand in a lunge position with one leg forward.

2 Swing your arms as much as you can and jump as high as you can.

3 Land in the same position as you started with the same leg forward. Try to keep the contact time as short as you can once you land (less than a second).

TUck jUmPSSPliT SQUaT jUmP How itworks

BenefitsIncreased glute strength and power in the front

of the leg.

BenefitsIncreased hip-flexor

strength and power for the upstroke of

your pedal.

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SinglE lEg PUSH oFF

STanDing jUmP & rEacH

SetS & RepSTwo sets of five, with a 45-second rest.

SetS & RepSOne set of five each leg, with a 45-second rest.

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1 Place your whole foot on a step or bench that is six-12 inches high.

2 Jump as high as you can off that leg. Be sure to swing your arms as you jump, alternate legs.

1 Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and then lower yourself to the floor at approximately 90°.

2 From the bottom position jump as high as you can using your arms to gain maximum height. As soon as your feet touch the floor jump again. This is a non-stop jumping exercise so try and keep the ground contact time as short as possible.

I started competing in triathlons five years ago as a complete novice to the disciplines of swimming and cycling. Having always been a decent runner I had to work hard to get the other two elements of triathlon up to speed. With a full-time job, it was always tricky to fit training sessions in so I began cycling to work, 11 miles each way, and decided to make cycling my top priority.

Someone recommended plyometric training to me to help me improve my cycling. I had my targets — the London to Paris cycle ride as well as a 120-mile through-the-night race. I started plyometric training in the park and the results were pretty much immediate. As I had a good base fitness level I was able to really hit the ground running.

Now, while most people would look at standing jumps as being a little tame, believe you me they work! Medicine ball throws, tuck jumps and drop jumps all hurt but they worked, and the overall result was the fact that I was always in the top group of the L2P race, and I completed the 120 miles (130 as I actually got lost) in seven hours. I can cycle faster for less effort and became a lot more powerful climbing hills.

Aged 42, Susan has been cycling for five years. Her season’s targets included the London to Paris cycle ride

CF

CF

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BenefitsIncreased strength in

quads and glutes.

BenefitsSingle leg exercises

promote more balanced musculature.

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