Hi friends, it's not about developing the same thighs as Marcel Kittel or the best track cyclists in the world, when you see the size of these beautiful babies: it would be completely counterproductive for a small build or a climber to get heavier, but for all that, developing your explosiveness can make sense whatever your level!

What is maximum power?

What is maximum power? Develop your power maximum is developing your ability to send a maximum of Watts in a very short time and your ability to reach the highest speed in a few seconds.

The typical example of the most explosive cyclists is of course sprinters like Mark Cavendish, André Greipel or Peter Sagan. So you're going to say to me "yeah but I'm not a sprinter, I'm not a track cyclist, what's the point of developing my explosiveness?"

I am looking to progress in cyclo-sportives, particularly mountain cyclo-sportives. Is this of interest to a climber or a puncher climber?

Track cyclists do a lot of weight training and that's why they have thighs twice as big as mine! However, it's about developing your maximum power, so the maximum number of watts you can send in a few seconds: if you are able to send 1000 watts in a few seconds, you will necessarily be more efficient on lower power levels, you will have in a way what we call a reserve of watts...

When we see the starts that Peter Sagan is capable of making on 6 or 7% slopes like on the Poggio in Italy during Milan-San Remo 2017, we cannot deny that his explosiveness serves him well on hills...

Another huge example: look at Valverde's starts in the Huy wall on the Walloon arrow!!! There you go... I think you get the idea!

VIDEO BIKE

Valverde's terrible start in the Huy wall (17% max, almost 10% average)!

Similarly, to hook the right wagon onto a cyclosportive which starts on the flat, if you are able to send 7 to 800 watts on the flat to plug a hole for a few seconds it is of course all good!

I found myself on the Madeleine cyclo in August 2016 at almost 50 km/h on rolling sections in the first 10 kilometers: I can tell you that to be able to move from one pack to another or plug a gap, your Watt reserve is essential...

So let's talk muscles now:

Red fibers or white fibers?

At the muscular level, two types of muscle fibers must be distinguished: slow-twitch red fibers and fast-twitch white fibers. White fibers are called type II while red fibers are type I fibers.

Red fibers are rich in myoglobin, which stores oxygen, the fuel for the muscle.

White fibers, which have fast contraction, are fibers that react quickly in a very powerful way and in a very short time.

In this case, we are not all equal by nature: you are either genetically endowed with many white fibers and you will be much more explosive and powerful than average or not...

Each muscle is made up of a combination of both types of fibers.

Each type of fiber you are looking to develop corresponds to a different training.

Slow fibers are specific to endurance sports of course. Through training You can increase the size of the fast fibers, but scientists now agree that it is impossible to change the distribution of the two types of fibers in an individual: this distribution is given to them by their genetics and nothing else...

Why work on maximum strength?

So why work on explosiveness and maximum strength? Simply because if you can send 1000 Watts over a few seconds you will necessarily have a higher PMA than that of the cyclist who can only send 600 or 700 W.

So for example, a cyclist X who sends 700 W over a few seconds would have a pma (PMA, FTP, IF, TSS it’s HERE) at 250 W while another amount at 1000w could turn to 300 W of PMA… It's a bit reductive but the principle is there: the higher your maximum force, the more you have a sort of power reserve at the lower intensity levels.

And of course, the higher your PMA, the better your performance will be in a cyclosportive or a race!

How to develop your maximum power?

Maximum strength and explosiveness are worked on several aspects: velocity and strength.

First of all you need to try to improve your pedal stroke and your pedaling skills: if you are a young rider these are skills that you normally already have…. If you are over forty (like me unfortunately…) you need to work on it or maintain it. You will therefore work for a few weeks at hypervelocity, doing specific work above 100 pedal revolutions per minute, go up to 120/130, more if you can manage it. At this pedaling frequency, the movement through repetition becomes much rounder and more harmonious, you will gain in efficiency…

Secondly, you will seek to work on pure explosive strength in sessions with short starts of 10 to 30 seconds max.

In sprints of 8 to 10 seconds you will try to pull off the biggest load with force gear possible, 10 seconds max, you are just starting to produce lactic acid. Recovery will be 2 to 3 minutes between each sprint, sets of 8 to 10.

In sprints of 10 to 30 seconds, you cannot produce the same power as in 10 seconds in theory, and lactic acid will flow freely this time! In this case, recover for 7 to 8 minutes in velocity between each sprint… This will allow you to recycle the acid lactic and do a succession of sprints during the same session.

Be careful, these sessions are very hard and as you get older, make sure you are very warm to start the exercise. In the same way, don't return to the pit with your thighs burning from the last sprint... Plan a quarter of an hour to cool down, with a small chainring if necessary to turn your legs. Clearly, on this type of outing, we don't care about the average on returning…

Plan this as a 6-week block, for example. Three weeks of speed and strength, then 3 weeks of sprints, with 2 or 3 sessions per week between your endurance outings. or active recovery.

And we find ourselves in the walls at 15% at the end of the cycle or in the right place at our next cyclo!!!