LUNG CAPACITY, CORE STRENGTH & X TRAINING

[macca1234]

After reading up on many of the greats eg. anquetil, armstrong, indurain, hinault etc i noticed an underlying skill. MASSIVE LUNG CAPACITY. I was wondering what is the best way to work on this skill obviously cycling but what about swimming. im going to try and get one of those tools that measures lung capacity from school & compare the difference before and after a month of training with swimming built in as well as running and my usual 550km's a week cycling. At the start of december i go on holidays with my family (no bike rack) damn, lol. so i will be doing plenty of swimming and running, afterwards i will test my capacity again. Also i think i might start doing 50 sit ups, 50 push ups & 50 reverse dips a night also 1 minute ab and back holds aswell as a drill where you keep both legs in the air (head up) and lower one leg and raise again 25 times each leg. Are squats a good idea? infact are push ups etc necessary either? i think swimming will have the most benefit but do we need to work on core body strength as cyclists?

Hopefully i can get that tool and give you some results in future weeks.

 

[Dini77]

After reading up on many of the greats eg. anquetil, armstrong, indurain, hinault etc i noticed an underlying skill. MASSIVE LUNG CAPACITY. I was wondering what is the best way to work on this skill obviously cycling but what about swimming. im going to try and get one of those tools that measures lung capacity from school & compare the difference before and after a month of training with swimming built in as well as running and my usual 550km's a week cycling. At the start of december i go on holidays with my family (no bike rack) damn, lol. so i will be doing plenty of swimming and running, afterwards i will test my capacity again. Also i think i might start doing 50 sit ups, 50 push ups & 50 reverse dips a night also 1 minute ab and back holds aswell as a drill where you keep both legs in the air (head up) and lower one leg and raise again 25 times each leg. Are squats a good idea? infact are push ups etc necessary either? i think swimming will have the most benefit but do we need to work on core body strength as cyclists?

Hopefully i can get that tool and give you some results in future weeks.

Macca, i think you'll get a lot of responses on the scientific/physiological implications of your question. In providing my less than expert view, i'm assuming you refer to both volume and V02 max - both of these are not skills, rather genetic traits and unfortunately, largely pre-determined. Yes you can do specific training to increase them to a certain extent (i'm not an expert here so might be off), but if you're not born with the 'tools' to give u lungs like lance & co, no amount of training will get you there - it's unfair , but that's life. You're best served working on increasing lactate threshold which can be increased/trained to a much greater extent than V02/lung capacity. I've had lab tests done over a 2 yr period and seen my LT and functional threshold power increase by a much greater % than V02max, in fact V02max plateued on my last test - i'm not saying to go out an do this (they're expensive), rather highlighting what is more trainable. I don't think hopping in the pool or running miles will necessarily increase capacity/V02 any more/less than specific bike training aimed at doing the same thing (again, not an expert) - although you can achieve higher V02max and MHR in running/swimming than on bike due to greater muscle mass utilised.

I certainly wouldn't recommend using these exercises in a high intensity capacity (which is what you'd want if trying to increase V02) in conjunction with your cycling workloads - you'll just burn yourself out. I used to be a runner and your body/joints really get hammered doing this. If you are planning on using them, i'd say use them as recovery exercises. On vacation, i'd say the best you could expect is maintaining general fitness.

 

[biker-linz]

i think swimming will have the most benefit but do we need to work on core body strength as cyclists?

In short no. Regarding lung capacity in all but a few elite athletes or some very sick people lung function is not a limiting factor in the oxygen transport chain. In other words you can try increasing lung function as much as you want but it won't improve your bike riding one iota becuase other things are holding you back. Besides it's mostly genetic, although there is some evidence that training your 'breathing muscles' can improve performance, although a lot of the existing literature is contradictory.

L.

 

[Peka]

Lung capacity is not a skill. That's like saying endurance is a skill. I've also read some literature showing that lung capacity is not a limiting factor. I'd guess, just as Dini has implied, that any increases possible through training are going to happen in the course of your normal training. So there's nothing specific you need to do, just do your VO2Max and LT intervals, along with whatever else you're doing, and it will happen.

 

[acoggan]

In providing my less than expert view, i'm assuming you refer to both volume and V02 max - both of these are not skills, rather genetic traits and unfortunately, largely pre-determined.

Only about 50% of your VO2max is due to genetic factors - that leaves the other 50% environmentally-determined, e.g., by training.

 

[acoggan]

After reading up on many of the greats eg. anquetil, armstrong, indurain, hinault etc i noticed an underlying skill. MASSIVE LUNG CAPACITY.

Of all endurance athletes, only swimmers consistenly have a vital capacity that is significantly greater than that of untrained individuals of comparable build. IOW, what you've read is incorrect.

 

[frenchyge]

Of all endurance athletes, only swimmers consistenly have a vital capacity that is significantly greater than that of untrained individuals of comparable build. IOW, what you've read is incorrect.

Are we talking consistently (as a populace) or the exceptional greats, as he mentioned?

 

[Don Shipp]

After reading up on many of the greats eg. anquetil, armstrong, indurain, hinault etc i noticed an underlying skill. MASSIVE LUNG CAPACITY. I was wondering what is the best way to work on this skill obviously cycling but what about swimming. im going to try and get one of those tools that measures lung capacity from school & compare the difference before and after a month of training with swimming built in as well as running and my usual 550km's a week cycling. At the start of december i go on holidays with my family (no bike rack) damn, lol. so i will be doing plenty of swimming and running, afterwards i will test my capacity again. Also i think i might start doing 50 sit ups, 50 push ups & 50 reverse dips a night also 1 minute ab and back holds aswell as a drill where you keep both legs in the air (head up) and lower one leg and raise again 25 times each leg. Are squats a good idea? infact are push ups etc necessary either? i think swimming will have the most benefit but do we need to work on core body strength as cyclists?

Hopefully i can get that tool and give you some results in future weeks.

Practically, the best use of your training time is to spend it on the bike, if improving your cycling is your only aim.
Some of those other exercises will improve your general fitness and stop you having that anorexic look that some cyclists have, but will not help, and may harm your cycling.

 

[Don Shipp]

Of all endurance athletes, only swimmers consistenly have a vital capacity that is significantly greater than that of untrained individuals of comparable build. IOW, what you've read is incorrect.

I have read that some famous cyclists did have large lung capacity, something that they had naturally rather than developed with training.
Does your research indicate that this was not significant?

 

[acoggan]

Are we talking consistently (as a populace) or the exceptional greats, as he mentioned?

I'm talking about published studies of groups of athletes, i.e., population values. However, since vital capacity doesn't really play any role in performance (unless it is pathologically low), there's no reason to expect that individual champion athletes would be endowed with abnormally large lungs. Vital capacity is, however, something that is very easy to measure, so that fact plus the usual hyperbole regarding elite athletes probably explains how this urban legend has developed.

 

[Dini77]

Only about 50% of your VO2max is due to genetic factors - that leaves the other 50% environmentally-determined, e.g., by training.

Thanks Andy.

For a reasonably trained individual how close to V02max limit would they typically be? and given the OP's age (i think he's quite young), is there an age at which you'd typically expect to see V02max gains until or can this be incrementally increased continuously (in theory)?

ie. the view that i had was that as most of us are pretty well trained, we're much closer to our V02 limits than our LT/FT/IAT, hence on a personal V02 Vs LT curve, we wouldn't expect to see as high a % increase in V02 as our LT (assuming we're reasonably conditioned). Is this view right?

 

[macca1234]

just to redirect my thread, what can i do for the ten days without a bike.

 

[Jono L]

Have a rest, stretch, sleep, eat. If you are seriously riding 550k every week, you will definitely need a short break for recovery. If not, go swimming.

 

[macca1234]

I will just train really hard until the holidays, bump up to 600 a week then have a deserved rest. I will go to the beach maybe do some hiking & running etc. im really happy with the replies actually because you decisively told me not to do strength work, running and swimming in my normal plan.

Thanks again and hopefully i will come back in mid december only a little bit out of shape for the summer racing we have in Australia.

 

[msummers]

In short no. Regarding lung capacity in all but a few elite athletes or some very sick people lung function is not a limiting factor in the oxygen transport chain. In other words you can try increasing lung function as much as you want but it won't improve your bike riding one iota becuase other things are holding you back. Besides it's mostly genetic, although there is some evidence that training your 'breathing muscles' can improve performance, although a lot of the existing literature is contradictory.

I may attest to that statement. In august 2003 I was diagnosed with stage 3b lung cancer. No, I'm not a smoker. I was an avid rider and part time amateur racer for 8 years prior to discovering I had the disease. I was "A" symptomatic. I never new it. I owned a power meter for 1 year prior to this. The tumor was a little smaller than a tennis ball (6 x 9) and there were two other smaller tumors involved. All the disease was in the upper lobe of my right lung. Needless to say my prognosis was grim because surgery was not an option. I had significant chemo and radiation treatment and had uncommon positive results. The bottom line is that the upper lobe in my right lung contains a huge area of fibrosis caused by radiation therapy. I was told by the doctors I may see a significant decrease in my performance on the bike. I'm here to tell you that as of this month, I have regained the 255 watt LT on my 2 x 20s I had previous to my diagnosis. I know that there is a substantial reduction in the area of my lung that exchanged gas. Perhaps even with this diminished capacity, your lungs are capable of some adaptation.

 

[jrstevens]

just to redirect my thread, what can i do for the ten days without a bike.

try this:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler19.htm

JS