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If you are passionate about cycling and love to challenge your own limits, you are most likely to be constantly looking for ways to improve your performance on the bike. One of the most important skills in cycling is explosiveness, that is, the ability to accelerate quickly and build speed in a short period of time.
This ability is essential for sprinters, but can also be of great help in situations where you need to close a gap or respond to an attack. In this article, we’re going to give you six tips to improve your explosiveness and make sure you don’t get left behind.
Train your muscles specifically
To improve explosiveness, it’s important to train the leg muscles used in cycling, such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. Perform strength exercises, such as squats, lunges, and deadlifts, to increase power in your legs and improve your acceleration ability.
Perform short sprints and maximum intensity
Incorporate short sprints into your regular workouts. Do 10-20 second sprints at maximum intensity, followed by a 2-4 minute recovery. Repeat this cycle 6 to 10 times in one training session. This type of training will improve your ability to generate power quickly and help increase your top speed.
Work at high intensity intervals
High intensity interval training (HIIT) is a great way to improve your explosiveness. Perform sets of 1-2 minutes at maximum effort, followed by a 1-2 minute rest. Repeat this cycle 6 to 10 times. This type of training helps improve anaerobic capacity and muscular endurance, allowing you to maintain a high intensity for a longer period of time.
Also remember that, with our Workout Creator, you can design custom workouts.
Increase cadence
Working on cadence can be a useful tool for improving explosiveness. Try to maintain a high cadence, between 90 and 110 rpm, during your workouts. As you get used to pedaling at a faster cadence, it will be easier for you to pick up speed when you need to.
Incorporate hills into your workouts
Going up hills will help you improve your strength and explosiveness. Focus on maintaining a high cadence and shifting gears efficiently while climbing. You can also do short hill sprints to specifically work on explosiveness on incline terrain.
Rest properly
Don’t underestimate the importance of rest in improving explosiveness. Make sure you give your body plenty of time to recover between intensive training sessions. Rest and recovery are essential to allow your muscles to repair and grow, which in turn will allow you to generate more power in the next training session. Strike a balance between training and rest, and don’t hesitate to take days off if you feel your body needs it.
Improving explosiveness in cycling takes time, dedication, and hard work. However, by following these six tips and being consistent in your training, you will be able to develop the ability to accelerate quickly and respond to launches successfully.
Don’t forget that targeted training, high intensity intervals, cadence, hill work, and adequate rest are key to improving your explosiveness and performance on the bike. Do not fall behind in any demarcation and keep improving day by day!
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