Fitness questions and answers for May 17, 2004

Form & Fitness Q & A

Got a question about fitness, training, recovery from injury or a related subject? Drop us a line at fitness@cyclingnews.com. Please include as much information about yourself as possible, including your age, sex, and type of racing or riding.

Carrie Cheadle, MA (www.carriecheadle.com) is a Sports Psychology consultant who has dedicated her career to helping athletes of all ages and abilities perform to their potential. Carrie specialises in working with cyclists, in disciplines ranging from track racing to mountain biking. She holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University as well as a masters degree in Sport Psychology from John F. Kennedy University.

Kelby Bethards, MD received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University (1994) before obtaining an M.D. from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 2000. Has been a racing cyclist 'on and off' for 20 years, and when time allows, he races Cat 3 and 35+. He is a team physician for two local Ft Collins, CO, teams, and currently works Family Practice in multiple settings: rural, urgent care, inpatient and the like.

Fiona Lockhart (www.trainright.com) is a USA Cycling Expert Coach, and holds certifications from USA Weightlifting (Sports Performance Coach), the National Strength and Conditioning Association (Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach), and the National Academy for Sports Nutrition (Primary Sports Nutritionist). She is the Sports Science Editor for Carmichael Training Systems, and has been working in the strength and conditioning and endurance sports fields for over 10 years; she's also a competitive mountain biker.

David Fleckenstein, MPT (www.physiopt.com) is a physical therapist practicing in Boise, ID. His clients have included World and U.S. champions, Olympic athletes and numerous professional athletes. He received his B.S. in Biology/Genetics from Penn State and his Master's degree in Physical Therapy from Emory University. He specializes in manual medicine treatment and specific retraining of spine and joint stabilization musculature. He is a former Cat I road racer and Expert mountain biker.

Since 1986 Steve Hogg (www.cyclefitcentre.com) has owned and operated Pedal Pushers, a cycle shop specialising in rider positioning and custom bicycles. In that time he has positioned riders from all cycling disciplines and of all levels of ability with every concievable cycling problem.They include World and National champions at one end of the performance spectrum to amputees and people with disabilities at the other end.

Pamela Hinton has a bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and a doctoral degree in Nutritional Sciences, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She did postdoctoral training at Cornell University and is now an assistant professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she studies the effects of iron deficiency on adaptations to endurance training and the consequences of exercise-associated changes in menstrual function on bone health.

Steve Owens (www.coloradopremiertraining.com) is a USA Cycling certified coach, exercise physiologist and owner of Colorado Premier Training. Steve has worked with both the United States Olympic Committee and Guatemalan Olympic Committee as an Exercise Physiologist. He holds a B.S. in Exercise & Sports Science and currently works with multiple national champions, professionals and World Cup level cyclists.

Richard Stern (www.cyclecoach.com) is Head Coach of Richard Stern Training, a Level 3 Coach with the Association of British Cycling Coaches, a Sports Scientist, and a writer. He has been professionally coaching cyclists and triathletes since 1998 at all levels from professional to recreational. He is a leading expert in coaching with power output and all power meters. Richard has been a competitive cyclist for 20 years

Andy Bloomer (www.cyclecoach.com) is an Associate Coach and sport scientist with Richard Stern Training. He is a member of the Association of British Cycling Coaches (ABCC) and a member of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). In his role as Exercise Physiologist at Staffordshire University Sports Performance Centre, he has conducted physiological testing and offered training and coaching advice to athletes from all sports for the past 4 years. Andy has been a competitive cyclist for many years.

There is certainly a relationship between body type and cycling ability. Smaller riders who are relatively lightweight for their height will excel at climbing because of their high power to weight ratios. Conversely, larger riders who are heavier because of their larger muscle mass have higher absolute power outputs and will dominate on the flats and in time trials (see an article in Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise, 31(6):878-885, 1999).

I'd like to ask the opposite question of Marcus Tudehope (Fitness Q&A May 10): Is there ever a time when a cyclist should consider gaining weight? I have often wondered if I'm too thin for my height and if my power output is suffering. I'm 35 years old, 6 ft. tall and weigh 145-146 in the summer and 147-149 in the winter. I am noncompetitive and my riding consists of 3 hours a week on the trainer or rollers and then two 2-3 hour group rides on mostly flat to rolling terrain (longest hills are 2-5 minutes) at an average pace of 19-21 mph. Would an increase in muscle mass be to my advantage for my type of riding or am I okay at my current weight? If I need to gain weight, how would I do that? I am a vegetarian and consume lots of vegetables, grains, legumes and essentially no processed foods and I seem to have a really fast metabolism since I've weighed the same for the last 15 years.

You asked, "Is there ever a time when a cyclist should consider gaining weight?" The answer to your question is, "yes". There is point of diminishing returns when it comes to losing body weight with the goal of increasing the power to weight ratio. The power you can generate is proportional to your muscle mass, so if you have lowered your body weight to the point of losing muscle you are hurting your absolute power output. Having said that, however, our potential to gain muscle is largely determined by genetics and some of us will never have the quads of Nothstein or Cipollini no matter how much strength training we do or how much extra protein we eat.

First off, I'm 5ft 10in and currently weigh 131 lbs. However, I'm currently about 4-5lb under my race weight from last season and it's really hurting my power. The reason I feel I'm under-weight is due to me training in Florida during the months of January and February before I headed off to Europe. While in Florida I stayed with my grandparents and was a lacto-ovo vegetarian. But I found that was too hard so now I'm now longer a vegetarian. So, that could be one reason I'm under-weight, however, I feel the next reason is the biggest reason. During my stay in Florida, I started to show signs of depression. It was getting to the point where I was getting moody and wasn't eating enough as I should have been. I was doing on average 425 miles-550 miles per week while in Florida.

It is now almost Mid-May and I'm still struggling to get my weight back up. Only thing is that now I'm racing in long/hard European UCI races as well as training hard. As of right now I'm at 131 lbs, but know I should be around 135-136 lbs. I am desperate for some help, because I came over here to try and get a professional contract, but right now since I feel a lack of power, all I'm doing is getting my butt kicked. If you could please help me, I would be extremely grateful.

I am a 29 yr old female roadie who races regularly and is hoping to lower my body fat percentage significantly to produce better results - especially in the hills. I ride 250-300km per week at an average HR of about 155 and speed 31km/hr on the flat and 27km/hr for rides in the hills. Unfortunately I am limited by the weight I carry - 60kg at 162cm in height, My fat percentage is about 28% according to a set of scales I have - way too high for optimum cycling. Could you please advise on what is the best type of riding to achieve my aims. I eat very healthily (mainly low fat and low GI) and have maintained the same level of riding, eating and weight for a number of years - I just want to get rid of the fat! I could up the kilometres on the bike, but whenever I do, I just get hungrier and stay the same because I find it difficult to decrease my food intake.

Since you've already figured out the low GI as a way to control fat, the next step maybe intensity control. Many of my riders report that higher intensity riding leaves them hungrier post ride than does easier riding. This makes sense as higher intensity riding depletes glycogen more quickly than lower intensity riding, and depleted glycogen supplies must be replenished before you can ride well again, while depleted fat can stay depleted with no adverse effects on your riding.

My advice for weight loss is quite different to what Scott has suggested. Fat loss is as much about what your body is doing off the bike as it is on the bike. Since the majority of our daily calorie needs are burnt up off the bike the key is to turn up your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and burn more calories off the bike even while you sleep. The best way to do this is with high intensity exercise (specifically short intervals of 5 to 10 minutes at 80-95% heartrate). Do this 2 to 3 times a week in the mornings and then follow it up with a steady state low intensity ride. It will give you an elevated oxygen consumption throughout the rest of your day and raise your overall BMR.

I am a Junior racer and plan on doing about 10-12 races this year including some stage races. I have a pair of Mavic Ksyrium Elites on my bike, but I was wowed by the American Classic 420's for their extremely low weight and aerodynamics. I figured I could have the heavier (but bulletproof) Ksyriums as my training wheels and set up the American Classics with ultra-light tires and tubes for race day. My local shop man thinks I'm just wasting my hard earned cash. The question is, how much does 3/4 of a pound help? I ride in the hills a lot and would love to cut a little weight, but he said it's not worth it and advised me to spend it on training tools such as a power meter (which is much more expensive). My training is going great and I have great confidence in my program, I was just thinking the wheels would give me that extra tiny boost as an added bonus.

I'd have to agree with your local shop owner and with Keith Bontrager. If you want to experience the difference yourself, you could climb your longest favorite hill once with two standard water bottles full of water and once with only one bottle. A full standard 20 oz water bottle weighs about 1.3 pounds, which is 1.7 times as much weight as you hope to save. I think you'll find you cannot discern the difference. Use that money toward coaching and/or a power meter and it will be money better spent (but of course I'm biased!).

The relative confort zone for life is approximately 0 to 30 C, or 273 to 303 K. Since, temperatures less than 233 K (-40 C) is beyond the experience of most people, the Kelvin scale is more awkward for everyday use. Similarly, heart rates less than HRresting (and arguably less than HRslowwalk) are uninteresting to athletes. The Kelvin scale is very useful is some scientific areas such as cryogenics and super-conductivity, just like the heart rates less than HRresting are interesting to medical science. So both equations have their uses, just like Celsius and Kelvin; it is just that Equation 3 has a scale that is more appropriate for athletes.

Since we are talking about training intensities for endurance cycling performance, values that are lower than 70% of maximal steady state heart rate (HRmss) are of limited training value except perhaps for active recovery. I do not prescribe specific intensities that are below 70% HRmss, but simply suggest active recovery rides to be generally <70% HRmss. Resting HR need not be factored into training zone determination for endurance cyclists. If you know your HRmss, and you wish to train at an intensity that is a percentage of your individual MSS, there is no reason to alter this value simply because of your resting HR.