A revised and updated version of Cliff Harvey’s original GPP article from 2006. I have been known to drop the odd clanger about the the inherent weaknesses of cyclists. In iRULE speak I said “most cyclists are unhealthy and out of shape”; and guess what, this article is no retraction. It’s true that virtually all of you are or should be fitter and more functional than your average couch potato. It’s the reason why you are here, because of your love for the sport and its benefits. Riding on a bike will increase your: cardiovascular fitness glycogen reserve substrate utilization muscular endurance, strength but only a little. Believe it nor not, there comes a point where you are only getting better and better at riding a bike, and not becoming any more functional at living your life! This may not alarm the more myopic among you.

If your goal is to become fitter and healthier through your chosen pursuit this is a BIG problem. If your goal is merely to ride faster (and all power to you) it may not seem like a problem at all until your body begins to become less efficient due to accumulated postural and muscular imbalances. These will have been caused by performing the same movement patterns day in day out. For recreational and elite riders a case can be made for doing some training using natural, evolutionary movement patterns, exercises that will aid not only riding but also posture. Such movements can help us in our daily lives and will provide training variety and give an additional crossover benefit of increased strength, muscular endurance and lactate threshold.

The other great thing about this type of training is the simplicity and ease with which it can be incorporated into your routine without the need for expensive equipment. I’m sure most people will be able to get their heads around the concept of GPP. GPP is: ‘General Physical Preparedness’. It refers to fitness factors that technically speaking fall outside the fitness developed for and by our chosen sport (often referred to as SPP – Special or Specific Physical Preparedness.)

“GPP training serves several functions:

1. The formation, strengthening or restoration of habits (skills) which play an auxiliary, facilitatory role in sports perfection.
2. As a means of educating abilities, developed insufficiently by the selected type of sport, raising the general work capacity or preserving it.
3. As active rest, assisting the restoration processes after significant, specific loading and counteracting the monotony of the training.

These functions define the role of the general-preparatory exercises in the athlete’s training system.” (Medvedeyev, 1988)

Applying GPP concepts in training has been a tenet of military physical preparation and was a mainstay of many athletes prep in the early part of the last century. Within the latter part of last century and today we have become very specific in our training and whilst this has been positive we seem to have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

In conjunction with your specific training and with your strength and power work, GPP training can be of huge benefit. Depending on your recovery ability try implementing the following routine 2-6 x per week. It should not be performed to failure and can be incorporated as part of active recovery sessions. Many athletes (assuming that nutrition and the rest of their training is in line) find that the addition of a little GPP has a tonic effect on the nervous system and aids recovery.

A basic circuit that I have found greatly improved the performance and recovery of several of my top boxers and riders is:

Star Jumps Burpees Shuffle Splits (the boxers ‘Ali shuffle’) Mountain Climbers Stride Jumps Do each exercise for a count of 30 and repeat the circuit 2-3 times. Remember this can be done 2-6 times per week. Don’t sacrifice rides for it but if your nutrition is adequate and you are getting enough rest then it should be fine.

There are also other aspects of GPP that you can add in to your gym training that will aid recovery and further increase functionality. After leg (or posterior chain) training Do a couple of light sets of high rep
dumbbell swings (about 25 reps) Do ‘pool walking’ or running in a pool. I prefer a shallow pool where I alternate running and walking and also walk sideways and backwards. I usually set aside a time limit (say 10mins) and just walk. Cool water is best. I found that when I was dead lifting very heavyweights it really helped with recovery. After Upper Body (or anterior chain) training Perform ‘Farmers Walks’. Take a set of heavy dumbbells and walk for time. Change the time between 45s and 6min and try
to use heavier dumbbells.

You could also try wheelbarrow walks for time. Load up a wheelbarrow with some thing heavy and walk with it for up to 6min. Moving along with the agrarian theme, try finding yourself an old tractor tire and mimic the strongmen competitors by flipping these for a total body workout; it may be practical for the lighter off road endurance athlete to start out with smaller, lighter 4 WD tyres.

Weighted sled towing is an often used regime for GPP training. “It can be done in two different intervals, in measurements of time and distance. When dragging the sled for time, usually you will tow for two minutes in one style, rest 30 seconds, tow for two minutes in a different style, and repeat until your time is achieved (Tate). For example, tow by dragging the sled forwards for two minutes, then turn around and drag the sled while walking backwards for two minutes, then laterally for two minutes. Often times people start out dragging for about 14-15 minutes and work up to 20-30 minutes. The time doesn’t increase after you achieve the desired fitness level of dragging a weight for that amount of time, instead of increasing the amount of time, you increase the amount of weight.

Dragging for distance is done for 200 feet (Simmons), stop, rest (if the exercise will be changed, do so now) then repeat the distance. At the rest point, changing the style of dragging is optional. An athlete can change exercises each rep, as explained earlier, in the same manner as explained in time or do all reps in the same style. ” (Bryan Mann www.elitefts.com )

Incorporate a little GPP into your life and the benefits will be markedly obvious. Get your diet into line, strength and power levels up and you will not only be good on the bike, you’ll be a truly functional athlete and that pesky kid on the trike will stop kicking sand in your face!

Reference

Mann, B General Physical Preparedness: The missing link in strength
training. EliteFTS.com
Medvedyev, A (1989) A system of Multi-Year Training in Weightlifting.
Sportivny Press, Livonia, MI

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Clearly, anybody who has raced a 24 hour, 48 hour or expedition event will attest to the dramatic effect sleep deprivation has on performance and recovery.  The devastating effect that poor sleep has on health and well being was recently bought to the fore by the meltdown of players and coaches in the AFL who routinely take a plethora of legal uppers to get ready for night games and then prescription sedatives afterward to try and grasp somesleep. Getting the balance seems elusive.

Events to one side, quite often the juggling of exhaustive training loads with work, study and family comes at the cost of regular sleep.

Research over the past decade has looked to understand exactly what the metabolic and performance downsides are of disrupted and truncated sleep patterns.

Eve Van Cauter, Ph.D., (University of Chicago Medical School) in 1999, studied the effects of three different durations of sleep in 11 men ages 18 to 27. For the first three nights of the study, the men slept eight hours per night; for the next six nights, they slept four hours per night; for the last seven nights, they slept 12 hours per night.

Results showed that after four hours of sleep per night (the sleep deprivation period), they metabolized glucose least efficiently. Levels of the stress hormone cortisol (a by product also in abundance post heavy resistance exercise) were also higher during sleep deprivation periods.

This has been linked to memory impairment, age-related insulin resistance, and impaired recovery in athletes.

Van Cauter said that after only one week of sleep restriction, young, healthy males had glucose levels that were no longer normal and showed a rapid deterioration of the body’s functions.

There have been some more recent studies link sleep deprivation with decreased aerobic endurance and increased ratings of perceived exertion.

What is the science behind this?

Glucose and glycogen (stored glucose) are the key athletic performance reservoirs.  Storing glucose in muscle and the liver is crucial for endurance athletes. The evidence is that the sleep deprived may experience slower storage of glycogen, which prevents storage of the fuel an athlete needs for endurance events beyond 90 minutes.

Elevated levels of cortisol may interfere with tissue repair and growth. Over time, this may affect an athlete’s ability to respond positively to heavy training, possibly contributing then to over-training and injury. Of course, growth hormone secretion can be triggered by a number of natural stimuli, the most powerful of which are sleep and exercise. hGH is important for athletes as it acts to increase lean body mass by decreasing glucose uptake and increasing amino acid uptake and protein synthesis in skeletal muscle tissue.

Diet, exercise and sleep patterns work synergestically to elicit human growth hormone (hGH) secretion. The most prominent human growth hormone (hGH) output usually happens an hour or so after you go to sleep at night.  Denuding your necessary sleep requirements will adversely affect the volume of HGh secreted and potentially play havoc with health, fitness, mood, safety (cycle,vehicular) and general well being.

Remember, the cornerstone of modern periodised training is the alternation of adaptation and recovery, necessary so that sustainable improvements are made. Clearly, the more demanding the schedule, the more crucial the extent and quality of recovery. Get into the practise of using SPUTNiK or equivalent old school watch-based devices (manufacturedby over-rated multi-nationals) to track, comment on and share your contextual-environmental variables such as sleep patterns along with your core measured data.

Some simple better sleep behaviours

All workouts require an active recovery including recovery nutrition and yoga. With high stress sessions such as bricks and time trials requiring active hydro-therapy post workout.

Regular sports massages to help clear up the metabolic waste after a tough micro-cycle and to ease pain and stiffness.

Insert regular cross-training routines into your program.

Extend nightly sleep for several weeks to reduce your sleep debt before competition.

Maintain a low sleep debt by obtaining a sufficient amount of nightly sleep (seven to eight hours for adults, nine or more hours for teens and young adults).

Keep a regular sleep-wake schedule, going to bed and waking up at the same times every day.

Take brief naps to obtain additional sleep during the day, especially if drowsy.

Common sense (and medical studies) dictates you should avoid caffeinated drinks and foods — coffee, tea, many soft drinks, and chocolate — several hours before bed. You should also avoid alcohol and consume light evening meals 3 hrs before sleep, with no fluids 90 minutes before bed.

References

Spiegel, Leproult and Van Cauter, Impact of sleep debt on metabolic and

endocrine function. The Lancet (1999;354:1435-1439).

Udo Meinhardt, Anne E. Nelson, Jennifer L. Hansen, Vita Birzniece, David

Clifford, Kin-Chuen Leung, Kenneth Graham, Ken K.Y. Ho. The Effects of

Growth Hormone on Body Composition and Physical Performance in

Recreational Athletes: A Randomized Trial. Annals of Internal Medicine,

2010; 152 (9): 568-577

American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2009, June 10). Sleep Extension

Improves Athletic Performance And Mood. ScienceDaily.

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