- At some point in any bike rider's life,
you might want to sprint.
Maybe you need to escape the local stray dog,
beat your buddies to the cafe,
or maybe even try and win a race.
Either way, it's likely you'll want to improve on sprinting.
(upbeat music)
So in this video, myself and Si,
are gonna run you through three basic training sessions
you can do to help improve your sprint.
- That's right.
Now before we get started you want to find
a quiet stretch of road away from traffic.
And ideally it's gonna be flat
with a very slight gradient.
And that way you can target fast high revving sprints
when you got tailwind, where you're going slightly downhill,
and then slower, power sprints when you're going uphill
or into a headwind.
Those are my forte, the real power ones.
- Lots of watts.
- Yeah yeah.
- A few watts.
- Yeah.
- Now you've found a perfect road
you need to make sure you're both mentally
and physically prepared for these efforts.
You'll want to adjust your shoes
to become as tight as is bearable
and find a good strong grip
on the bottoms hooks of your bars.
You'll want to engage your core muscles
and create a good strong framework
in your shoulders and your arms.
After all, this is your anchor to the bike
so it needs to be strong and confident.
- So now we're prepared, here come the efforts.
First we're gonna target those fast,
high revving sprints in about 15 seconds.
Now, that's a little bit longer
than your body's energy systems naturally want to sprint for
but it's not so long that you're gonna go
into real anaerobic deficit.
- Start off by choosing here in the big room
and the middle of the block at the back.
Remember, these are the tailwind sprints
or with a slight downhill.
You'll want to focus on maintaining a strong
anchor point on the bike at the front
and maintain this throughout the sprint.
Don't just thrash away at the bike and hope for best.
Riders such as Greipel, Groenewegen, Gaviria,
they all do this really well.
Aight, here we go.
- [Si] During the sprint you want to stand out
on the pedals and really explode down
through your core muscles into the bike.
Moving the bike side to side with your legs and arms
with continual smooth motion.
It is a complete maximal effort,
so really push down hard on the pedals
and pull back up through the bottom of the pedal stroke.
- That was tough.
You really do feel every muscles in your body
with these efforts.
It's important to spin gently for eight to 12 minutes
before you go again.
Now, I wouldn't normally mix up my sprints on any given day
but I think for today we're gonna move on
to the uphill, slightly over gear sprints,
or into a headwind if you live in the flat.
Let's get ready for these, shall we?
- We want to select a much higher gear for this one
so perhaps even one or two gears down from your very top.
And we wanna role in to the start of these sprints
a little bit slower.
Probably holding your cadence ideally at around 60 RPM.
- Now, despite the gearing and the gradient
these sprints aren't actually that dissimilar
to the previous ones.
We still need the really strong explosion
down through our core and into the pedals
whilst maintaining our really strong anchor point
at the front of the bike.
Are you ready for these Si?
- Yeah.
- Come on then.
(energetic music)
Now, you really notice that these sprints need winding up.
Allow yourself a good 15 to 20 seconds
to get on top of the gearing.
Or, if that's too long, reach the peak cadence
that you think you'll be able to achieve
and then stop the sprint.
- Now this session is great for muscle recruitment
and muscle strength.
And after just doing a few of them
you will genuinely feel the benefits.
- If your body isn't feeling a little bit shaky
maybe you could have tried harder.
Remember, you really want to drive down through your core
and into the pedals, engaging every muscle in your body.
Allow yourself a good eight to 12 minutes gently spinning
between these sprints to recover enough
to do the next one properly.
- Have you been able to tell a difference?
- Well, I think you're looking a little bit more buffer.
- You can take these efforts into the next level
by paying attention to a few little details
within the session.
You can sprint to an imaginary line,
or between two distinct markers on the road.
- By doing this, you'll start to know
how far you can sprint before fading.
Or, in a competitive environment,
you'll learn when you really need to start
sprinting maximally in order to reach the finish line
before you fade.
Another area you can pay attention to
is this time maintaining that strong frame
but in a more aerodynamic position.
This will help you with achieving higher peak speeds
and the faster you're going,
the more important this one is gonna become.
- [Si] Position within the group is also crucial.
There's no point in having all the power
and speed of Mark Cavendish, if you start your sprint
30 meters behind the front of your group.
You want to be further forward for a fast tailwind sprint,
and put a slower headwind or uphill sprint
does afford you a little extra time to pass riders
that have gone too soon and started to slow.
- And finally, timing.
We've briefly touched on this before.
And what I mean is, you want to start your sprint
with enough energy enough to reach the finish line
just as you tie up, or start to slow.
By doing this, you'll limit the chance of another sprinter
coming pass you at the last minute.
- Yeah, and even if you don't race,
sprinting can be a really effective training tool
for any cyclist.
So if you repeat these sessions
but extending the sprints to 30 seconds,
that counts as a high intensity interval training session
and it can be completed quickly and easily
but still give you some pretty big performance boosts.
- Just remember, the golden number of sprints
we're aiming for is around six to eight in this session.
Once you get past that, you'll lose the quality
and the productiveness of the session.
- That's right.
- Not a lot of point after that.
- And I've also been told that one of the key things
about sprinting, is actually looking fast as well.
So make sure your jersey's zipped up,
your glasses are on,
and you're wearing nice, tight clothing.
Isn't that right Chris?
- That's true, after all, it's the wind that we're racing
at that sort of speed, so...
- I was just noticing about looks, aerodynamics as well.
- Well, looks are pretty important but, aerodynamics help.
- Do make sure you give this video a big thumbs up
and if you wanna see another one about sprinting
why not see that one just there with Marcel Kittel.