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Adaptation Phase

Muscle is a highly trainable and adaptable tissue. However, the tendons and ligaments surrounding the joints are not as adaptable as muscle tissue and require more time to adjust to the stress of strength training. Therefore, it is necessary to start a strength-training program with a period devoted to progressively adapt the muscles and support structures (ligaments, joints, tendons, etc.) for the intense training of later phases. Muscles will always adapt faster than tendons and ligaments. The main goal during this adaptation phase is overall body conditioning not just of the leg muscles, but the abdominal and back musculature as well. Upper body exercises could also be done during this phase. It is important that intensity start at a low level, approximately 40-50% 1RM and increases be made slowly after complete recovery from the previous sessions. If done properly, this phase will build joint integrity, which can prevent overuse injuries later on in the season and earlier injuries resulting from intense strength training. There is plenty of time during later phases for cycling specific exercises, so for now focus on a balanced program working both sides of the joint, flexors and extensors, agonists and antagonists.

The amount of time to schedule for the adaptation phase largely depends upon strength training experience. The more experienced, the less time required for adaptation. If you have strength trained for the past 3-4 winters but have not in the past 6-months then you should still schedule 6-weeks of adaptation. Those just starting a strength-training program should schedule at least 8-10 weeks of adaptation. Many athletes fail to start strength training early enough to allow 8-weeks of adaptation and end up with an injury. Adaptation is a very important phase because it primes the muscles and support system for the rest of the program. Insufficient adaptation here will lead to higher injury rates and lackluster improvements later on.

The number of exercises should fall within the 10-12 range. Any more than that makes training volume too stressful and impractical and any less makes a well- balanced whole-body workout difficult. The lower work intensities of this phase make it possible to perform more exercises in a session, training the muscles and joints in a multitude of ways. The best method for a large number of exercises at relatively low intensities is circuit training. Circuit training is accomplished by alternating muscle groups or exercises one after another until all of the exercises are gone through once. Then after a brief rest period they are run through again. This continues until all sets are completed. After each set you quickly move to the next exercise giving little chance for heart rate to recovery. This method also trains the cardiovascular system for this reason. Because you are training opposing muscle groups you can quickly move from one exercise to the other while also getting the proper recovery before working the same muscle again. Recovery between sets or exercises should be 20-50 seconds and 2-3 minutes between circuits.

Before beginning the adaptation phase it is important to test for 1RM. The best way to do it is to test for 3-5 RM (weight you can accomplish in good form for 3-5 repetitions) and then using a weight chart to estimate your 1RM (Click Here for 1RM Weight Chart - MS Word Document). Try to do this for all exercises.

The types of exercises in this phase should include:

1. Abdominal - Pick 3-4 exercises and rotate through them, two one day and another two the next session. Try to get at least these exercises: obliques, crunches on a stability ball, and reverse curls.

2. Back - Depending on how your back responds will determine how many exercises you can do in one session. The low back is used constantly and takes longer to recover to strength training and is more susceptible to injuries so be careful and pay attention to proper form when lifting. To start pick one exercise, such as the dead lift or back extension and stick with it for 2-3 weeks. After 2-3 weeks try and add the other and begin to do both during a session.

3. Multi-Joint Exercises - squats, lunges, step-ups - These are the best exercises for building base strength and support. These exercises are also good for developing general strength and stability.

4. Single-joint Exercises -Knee extensions, hamstring curls - These are great ways to target a selected muscle group. Make sure to work both sides of the joint equally or run the risk of injury due to poorly balanced joints.

5. Leg Press machines - These are good exercises for targeting the prime movers of the leg without stressing the abdominal and back muscles.

6. Upper Body Exercises - Some upper body exercises can help negate the initial soreness in the shoulders and arms felt during those first few weeks of long distance rides. But upper body strength is debatable for cycling unless you are looking at improving your sprint. However, it can be beneficial to have a little upper body strength to help prevent serious injuries during a crash. If you are one of those people who gains mass easily then one day a week of upper body weights is good enough to get benefits without adding a lot of weight.

The order of exercises is important and can have an impact the quality of your training sessions. Try not to group exercises that stress the same area of the body close to one another. For example, don't try free squats after doing back extensions or dead lifts. The back exercise may limit or affect free squat performance and chances are you will not be working the legs enough and stressing the back too much. It is less important at the beginning of the phase but becomes more important later when loads increase.

After you have tested your 1RM it is necessary to determine the loads for each exercise. Certain abdominal and other exercises do not require large weights or 1RM testing but instead are trained by performing the exercise to failure a number of times. For all other exercises start at 40-50% 1RM. If you are just starting weight training and have not had any previous sport training then start at 40% 1RM. As you progress through the phase the load will increase and repetitions will decrease. This will continue until a peak of 70% 1RM for this phase. Once you are able to handle 70% 1RM comfortably it is time to move to the next phase. An example of a 10-week loading program follows:



The other part of training volume is repetitions and sets. The number of repetitions should be reduced over the weeks as load increases starting with 15-20 for the large multi-joint exercises and 12-15 for single joint exercises. As the weeks continue and the load jumps to the 60-70% 1RM range you should drop the repetitions to 12-15 for the multi-joint exercises and 10-12 for the single joint exercises. Begin with two sets for the first two weeks of the program and then to three on week three. Start the next recovery (Week 4) with two sets and then jump back up to three for weeks 5 and 6. Jump back down to 2 sets for the 7th week and back up to 3 for the remaining 3-weeks. Remember that during weeks 1,2,4, and 7 you are back to 15-20 repetitions.

The main goal of this phase is to progressively increase the training volume. Remember that volume is LOAD X REPS X SETS. So lets take get some data for the aforementioned example. Say for a given exercise your 1RM is 200 lbs. So we begin week 1 exercising at 80lbs (40% 1RM) performing 15 repetitions for 2 sets. The volume for this one exercise once per week is 2400 lbs. If we were to figure out the weekly volumes for the rest of this phase for this one exercise it would look something like this:



Keep in mind that this is only one exercise and these volumes are only one session a week but the principle remains the same and when additional exercises are added and the frequency increases to 3 times per week only absolute volumes will change while the relative load increases and decreases per week would remain the same. You can see the progression in volume over the course of the 10-weeks followed by recovery weeks to provide the proper amount of rest. A program like this will prepare and strengthen the muscles and support system causing a smooth transition to the next phase when load increases even more.

Try to get three days per week during this phase. It is important that while the load is low, the muscles and support structures need as much stimulus as possible.

The next article will discuss hypertrophy training, the next phase, and why it may or may not be good for cyclists. Thanks for reading.

References:
Bompa, T.O. (1999). Periodization Training for Sports. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

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Chad Butts (chadbutts@earthlink.net) is a personal trainer in the Ithaca area and Cat 2 cyclist for the Maxxis-SpokePost.com Cycling team. He has 8 years of training and racing experience and coaches endurance athletes in and around the central New York region. He is also currently finishing his Masters degree in exercise physiology at Ithaca College.