Training neuromuscular power with a dodgy knee



tk_bike

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Feb 18, 2005
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Sprinting is one of my weaknesses and I want to work on this over the winter, inspired by Andy's post of how much he increased his peak power by standing starts I was going to try incorporating these once a week into a 2 hour low intensity ride.

However, I have a dodgy knee so I am a bit concerned incase this type of effort, eg standing start efforts 10sec from almost standstill in say 53x16-17 will hurt my knee again.

Any other suggestions apart from this type of effort? similar efforts sat down in a small gear? that works the leg speed part of the equation but not the overall power i think?

Any knee-friendly suggestions welcomed!
 
Start with legspeed work. That will develop legspeed, but not neuromuscular power. You'll at least have have of the sprinting equation down.

Ease into the NM work by using the small ring from a standstill. This way, you begin using legspeed and adding power slowly. If outside, keep your knees covered and warm. Increase number of sprints by 1-2 ever week.
 
Sorry about your knee situation, I'm sure that is difficult.

I do a good deal of sprint training and that naturally involves different methods. I consistently generate the highest torques of all my sprints when doing standing starts and jumps from a low speed. That's just physics, being that very low cadence at the start is going to require the most force to generate power.

Lead-out or rolling sprints conversely, result in my lowest torque numbers because I'm already spinning 80+ rpms, so forces aren't as high, but legspeed is. I've generated my highest 5-30 second numbers on these types of sprints. You can definitely gain from doing them.
 
Isn't high L6 work good enough to see improvement in L7 with less risk to the knee?
 
tk_bike said:
Sprinting is one of my weaknesses and I want to work on this over the winter, inspired by Andy's post of how much he increased his peak power by standing starts I was going to try incorporating these once a week into a 2 hour low intensity ride.

However, I have a dodgy knee so I am a bit concerned incase this type of effort, eg standing start efforts 10sec from almost standstill in say 53x16-17 will hurt my knee again.

Any other suggestions apart from this type of effort? similar efforts sat down in a small gear? that works the leg speed part of the equation but not the overall power i think?

Any knee-friendly suggestions welcomed!
I have had 5 knee operations . It would help if I knew what the problem was. Without that , the best advice I can give you is to be very warmed up prior to hitting any starts or overgear sprints. and finish your warmup with something that involves a bit more torque such as an 80-90% 1 minute effort. You culd also do your warm up on the trainer with tights on and get the legs real warm. After the session, an extended warmdown, and then ice when finished. You might get lucky and have the NP training help your knee. Good luck
 

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