The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast by CTS
Coach Adam Pulford delivers actionable training advice and answers your questions in short weekly episodes for time-crunched cyclists looking to improve their cycling performance. The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast (formerly The TrainRight Podcast) is brought to you by the team at CTS - the leading endurance coaching company since 2000. Coach Adam pulls from over a decade of coaching experience and the collective knowledge of over 50+ CTS Coaches to help you cut throught the noise of training information and implement proven training strategies that’ll take your performance to the next level.
The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast by CTS
Sprint Training for Time-Crunched Cyclists (#253)
OVERVIEW
Sprinting is something a Time-Crunched Cyclist can be very good at, because it doesn't take a lot of training time to develop a strong anaerobic kick. Yes, you still need an aerobic engine to reach the finale with enough energy left to sprint, but a strong sprint can be a Time-Crunched Cyclist's secret weapon! DJ Brew wins Masters and Pro/1/2 criteriums in the Washington DC area with a strong kick and smart sprinting tactics and skills. In Episode 253 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast", he and his coach, Adam Pulford talk about key workouts, strength training, sprint practices, and even the differences between 10-, 20-, and 30-second sprint efforts.
TOPICS COVERED
- The basics of how to sprint on a bicycle
- The best cadence for sprinting
- Can you train for sprints on an indoor trainer?
- Neuromuscular drills for high cadence sprinting
- How 10-, 20-, and 30-second sprints differ physiologically
- Key Sprint Workouts
- Strength training for powerful sprints
ASK A QUESTION FOR A FUTURE PODCAST
LINKS/RESOURCES
- Analysis of standing vertical jumps using a force platform
- Anaerobic Power Assessment in Athletes: Are Cycling and Vertical Jump Tests Interchangeable? - PMC
- DJ Personal and Music: SoundCloud
- Bike Doctor Race Team and Bike Fit:
GUEST
DJ Brew races Masters and Pro/1 on the Bike Doctor Team and has been a regular on the local group ride and race scene in Washington D.C. and surrounding areas. A true time-crunched cyclist, he is a father, husband, and works long hours as a Maryland-National Capital Park Police officer. More than 10 years ago he started racing as a Category 5, progressing to Category 3 within a year and Category 1 the following year. Competing primarily in criteriums and supplementing his training with fast, competitive group rides, DJ’s developed a reputation for having an explosive sprint.
HOST
Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for nearly two decades and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.
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from the team at cts. This is the time crunch cyclist podcast, our show dedicated to answering your training questions and providing actionable advice to help you improve your performance, even if you're strapped for time. I'm your host, coach adam pol, and I'm one of the over 50 professional coaches who make up the team at CTS. In each episode, I draw on our team's collective knowledge, other coaches and experts in the field to provide you with the practical ways to get the most out of your training and ultimately become the best cyclist that you can be. Now on to our show. Welcome back, time Crunch fans. I'm your host, coach Adam Pulford.
Speaker 1:Today's topic is how to sprint, and I'll admit I'm not an expert in this topic. I can break it down, I can teach it, I can train it and somewhat deploy it, but even one of my own dear athletes once commented on a video of mine where I posted that I got second place in a road race, and his comment was should have been in your drops, coach. Thank you, nathan Cusack. Your voice is now in my head every time that I sprint. So one guy that doesn't mess this up on a regular basis and who can break it down better than any other sprint coach that I've met is local legend, multi-time Mabra champion, father of two and husband of one, dj Brew. Dj, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me back. It's good to be on with you, coach.
Speaker 1:You're right on. Well, it is definitely been a minute since you've been on the podcast before, and if I had better memory, slash less concussions, I know I would know what we were talking about, but I'll blame it on COVID and everything that else that happened. Um, but you know what? Uh, since you've been on the show last, you've had another kid, you've changed jobs, you want a few more championships, and all with your annual volume and ctl going up and down like a roller coaster. So tell us a little bit more about you, why that is who you are, what team you ride for in the dmv area yeah, so I I mean obviously I race in the dc m Virginia area.
Speaker 2:Um, so, yeah, I'm like you said, I'm average Joe father too, like I have a nine year old son and a two year old daughter. Um, you know, my wife, you know, works for government. So you know you've gone through that stress of is she going to have a job? So fortunately things are looking pretty steady. But, um, you know, I still have the same job, I'm a police officer in the area.
Speaker 2:But I finally came off working shift work, which was like evenings, working till 2 in the morning, and now I have a steadier position on the job, working Monday through Friday, mostly 6 to 2. But then there is some times where I have to change my schedule. So it really is just now fitting, like now that my son's older and doing his activities, playing soccer, which seems to be what he's attached himself to. So now it's balancing training with, you know, a two-year-old that's super active and, you know, in daycare, so getting sick on a regular schedule and then getting everybody else in the house sick on a regular schedule. So, yeah, just balancing that and trying to ride whenever I get an opportunity.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, and that's it. And folks listening. One of the reasons I wanted to bring DJ on is not only is he an expert sprinter, like he is good at doing it, he's good at communicating it, but he's like you, he's trying to get it all done, he's a time crunched athlete and he's very relatable, you know, in that sense. And so before we get going today, I will say this the original question came from one of our audience members named Skylar, and I got to apologize because when they wrote in like over a year ago because I remember talking to you about this at Armed Forces, dj, and we had a between you and Battle we had all these ideas of how we're going to actually do this podcast. But then I had like three big trips come up Summer was gone, sprint season was gone, and now we've got like Masters Nats coming up, mountain Bike Nationals, junior Nationals and all the other bike races going around the world. So it is a timely podcast and topic to do. But I just wanted to say, skylar, sorry about that, but it was a great topic and it's been on my mind since. So let's get into the original question and then I'll start uh, uh, riddling brew with a bunch of questions, so here here's the original one Uh, what is the best way to sprint?
Speaker 1:Topics Primarily like shifting technique, cadence, pedal form, et cetera. Additional topics lead out technique with and without a team, online on Zwift and in real world, and then training around that. So thanks, skylar. Now this is a pretty big topic. So today we'll focus on the basics, technique form, and we'll provide some ideas and workouts on how to train it. Okay, but we'll touch on. We will touch on the lead out, because that is super important, but we've got another podcast lined up for that with that cheeky little fella, nathan Cusick himself. So lead outs will be coming. But let's focus, let's go to the basics here. Dj, if someone comes to you and wants to learn how to sprint, what is the basic technique and where would you start with them?
Speaker 2:I'll start a lot of what I and you know a lot of people have asked. You know, hey, I'm afraid to sprint. I haven't tried sprinting Like. What's the first thing I need to try? Hey, I'm afraid to sprint. I haven't tried sprinting Like, what's the first thing I need to try? And I think it's the main thing. I tell for one don't fight your body. Like, because a lot of people try to fit themselves Like.
Speaker 2:There's so many different types of sprinters out there, even on the USA crit circuit to the world tour like, the sprinters come in all shapes and sizes and they all ride different ways. So don't fight your body, trying to make yourself look like exactly like somebody else that you see on tv. But there are like a couple basic things. Obviously you want to be in the drops because you want to be the most aero as you come out of the saddle. And when you do come out of the saddle, even when you are in the drops, a lot of people will still of the saddle. And when you do come out of the saddle, even when you are in the drops, a lot of people will still like stand straight up as if they're climbing. But now they're just climbing in the drops, but no, you still, you want to come out of the saddle but remain aero at the same time, and it's kind of it seems like they go against each other but you can be aero and out of the saddle at the same time.
Speaker 2:So it's that being in the drops, and then it's just the action of pushing down and pulling with the opposite arm, like as you, if you're pulling with your right arm on the handlebar, you're driving your left leg down, you're pulling with the left driving your right leg down. A lot of people sometimes they'll just do it on the same side, so you get this weird, like baby giraffe learning how to walk. Action, which is what people will experience almost when, when they, just when they have never sprinted before and they just try to start sprinting. That's kind of like the sensation is like oh, I don't know what, like off balance and you know that. So those are kind of like the. The three basic things I would say is like be in the drops, try to stay arrow, even when you're out of the saddle, and then the opposite push, pull motion.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, that's it entirely. And and one thing that I teach is is how to stay arrow when you're in the drops and on the saddle is you keep your chest low, so head's low, head, head is low, chest is low. You're looking up to see where you're going, more or less, and, uh, you go for it, right, and that that action that DJ is talking about, of pushing with, say, your right leg and kind of pulling or guiding with your left arm and going back and forth, if this is your bike, and for those watching on YouTube I'm, I'm or those listening, um, what I'm describing, what you can see on YouTube, is my hand and that's the bicycle, and the bicycle should be rocking underneath you, as say the riders here. The rider doesn't rock as much, but the bike rocks a lot.
Speaker 1:Okay, and we'll, we'll give some other examples and some, um, uh, some people to Google to watch on how they sprint, Uh, but that's it. I mean that rocking back and forth of the stat of the bike should occur in some form or fashion. Like DJ said, you know you can sprint in many different ways. I think the best advice I can give is there's no like perfect look to it. In fact, sometimes it's a little chaotic, and that's fine.
Speaker 2:I saw it Like I know I joke with a lot of my team like watching one, you know, sprinted out. I like to watch now Jonathan Milan on light or trek. Now watching those sprint, it's like, it's like the way he moves on a bike. It's it's funny to watch. But his motion is like the, the lack of motion and everything's just going forward, like there's you could tell like when he sprints like there's no wasted energy, like no, no wasted, no excessive rocking of the bike, like every. It's like his bike is on rails and it's just going as fast forward as possible yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:And you've got fast sprinters like that. That's uh like super generative of their forces, going directly into the cranks and into the bike and propelling them forward. And then the name still escapeslling them forward. And then the name still escapes me, but we were talking about, uh, the short guy on lotto where he opens up his sprint and the tires are just all over the place but it's still fast. So again, it's like no perfect, um, like look to it, but we can focus on the basics and get the technique good. So a couple of other things on that is when you're starting to deploy the sprint to and you start to go.
Speaker 1:I generally don't, I don't prescribe or tell somebody to do a certain cadence, I'm just like make it high, so you shouldn't be grinding, you shouldn't be bogged down. It should be a high cadence, but there's a feel to that. So, dj to you, when you're maybe teaching somebody to sprint and they haven't done it before, what, like how do you get them to pedal? Well, what should they feel? And how do you get that like gearing right?
Speaker 2:With the gearing is you want? You want to be pushing against some resistance, but not overcome by it. So it has to be just enough resistance where you can. You're still accelerating because you want to feel like you're accelerating the whole time, like I'm accelerating. I'm accelerating until you're finally on top of it. Then it's just all cadence. It's like now I just got to run this cadence until I get to the finish line because you, you're past the point of actually accelerating, so it's like you have to. This is where practice comes in is defining that gear where, when you come out of the saddle, like all the resistance just doesn't disappear. And when you or you come out of the saddle and it's like now my cadence just dropped 10 RPMs because I had, you know, the gear was too big. Like you know, you never, you never want your cadence really to be slowing down as soon as you start the sprint, like, if anything, you want to be accelerating.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep. I remember we worked a camp with, uh, sam Boardman here in DC and Justin Williams was there and you and Williams were kind of giving that same talk and one of the things Justin said was like finding that right gear with the right speed at the right moment. There's a, there's a beautiful timing that goes on with that, and that's an art form that takes years in my opinion, but essentially he said the same thing as you and he said if you're, you know, if you're shifting a bunch in your sprint, that's wrong. If you're bogged down, that's wrong. Go lighter gear, he's like if anything, maybe you shift once, like if, because you're accelerating, accelerating, and if you're going that fast, maybe there's one shift, but that's it. So for those who are learning how to sprint, if your shift, you don't want to be shifting a bunch. So find that right gear, find a good jump, make it smooth, have the timing. It's all practice, right, but the major thing is like you shouldn't be shifting a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think I I don't think I've ever like, if I've ever shifted in a sprint, it was. I was in like panic mode, my legs are about to lock up, and it was like go to a heavier gear. So I don't cramp, for the most part I don't think I've. You know for them, if I'm, if I'm coming off of a wheel, I'm coming off in a gear where I know I can still accelerate that that gear, and not like run out, run out on top of it. So, yeah, I, I, yeah very rarely do I ever try to sprint, unless I'm going from a long way and I know I have time to actually shift.
Speaker 1:Um, and I think, to cadence. We've been talking a lot about cadence. We'll talk about how to train it and then, um, how to kind of train your cadence early on so you have the neuromuscular uh, I would say infrastructure to handle these high efforts like DJ is talking about. Because when you're sprinting DJ, I mean what are yourj's talking about? Because when you're sprinting dj, I mean what are your, what are your rpms, when you're in a fully deployed, full-on sprint?
Speaker 2:130, 135. Yeah, like really quick cadence yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:so in training we oftentimes need to over cadence I just call it over cadence to stimulate that neuromuscular system. Neuromuscular is just, uh, the brain to the muscle and um, high leg speed with lower resistance to get that done. So we might be doing cadences one, 50, one 60, one 70 track People are like that ain't nothing, you know, they're up in the 200. Sometimes it's ridiculous. Um, bmx people same. So we don't need to go that high, uh, on the road side of things. But so we'll break that down a little bit more. But to keep it real simple, um, when we're practicing that good technique and we're learning timing, we're learning our gears, we're learning coordination, because just that side to side and I've seen riders, dj, like you said, that kind of look like a giraffe, it's like they don't get the opposite lean going on. The best way to practice this is outside. Am I wrong in saying that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and you, yeah, I've, yeah, maybe can count on one hand how many times I've ever sprinted on a trainer to realize like I hate it. I hate it with a passion. It drives me crazy and it never. I just feel so restricted. So I'm like you know what? I'm saving this for when it warms up or when it's nice to be outside, so this is not doing me any favors.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and so in that way, just in terms of practicing, we'll talk about Zwift and like virtual racing here in a second. But when it comes to practicing your sprint, best to do it outside, because you're going to form good habits out there. I think you'll form bad habits potentially if you're learning inside, because, again, that bike needs to rock back and forth and you need to feel that in real life and if you don't, you're missing, you're like you're missing out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, even the dynamic of going from sitting to standing on a on a trainers like even with the little rocker trainers it's still not as real as like what your bike does when you go from sitting to standing on the road and it drops. It's not the same.
Speaker 1:And even somebody like DJ, who's really powerful and can produce a lot of power like he, won't generate as much power inside. Because when you stand up and deploy the sprint, you're using not only some body weight but biomechanics in order to produce that power, leaning that bike over and being able to really crank on the cranks themselves. You need that, okay. But, dj, if you're going to sprint, if you're super into Zwift or TP virtual or whatever, how would you advise somebody on how to sprint inside if they're going for the win?
Speaker 2:If I was to have to sprint, I would probably lean more into cadence than I would, as you know. So much as like getting out of the saddle and like grinding it over. And it's funny because I've watched, you know just like, footage of some Zwift race sprints and how some of the races end and it's like dudes mostly in the saddle anyway, even after they've tried to sprint out of the saddle, like when you've gone from, because the sprints normally start from a long way out on Zwift, they always end up back in the saddle anyway. So it's almost like why does it just stay in the saddle really and just use cadence? To you, you know, to sprint basically like I've, you know, done over a thousand watts sitting, so you know, seated on zwift before. So I know it's doable for guys that actually race on zwift and know how to use the drafting and whatnot.
Speaker 1:So it's possible, yeah, yeah yeah, and I wouldn't consider either of us to be like a Zwift specialist here, but my observation is typically the sprints inside are longer. High cadence is the way. If you're a feeble creature like myself, I need to jump out of the saddle, even inside to go over a thousand Watts. I can't do it seated like DJ, can, uh, but generally like train. The cadence uh typically go from a long way out. In the lead outs, uh, virtually, are usually long as well.
Speaker 1:So it's a good segue to talk about cadence and some neuromuscular drills. Now, generally, when I'm say, building an athlete up or just general early season stuff, January, February is where I'm using a lot of high cadence and neuromuscular drills to kind of pave the way for better sprints. High cadence or fast pedal drills are what I use to prescribe that on training peaks and that's going to be anywhere between one minute, two minute, three minutes, sometimes four minute high cadence and I usually start wherever the athlete can kind of do and what I say is do, uh, do a high cadence up to the point where you're bouncing in the saddle and then back down five RPMs. Hold that for the duration of the interval. Let the heart rate climb up, keep the power tempo or below.
Speaker 1:So when I'm, when I'm doing high cadence work, I start there for somebody like DJ, I give you some fast pedal work here and there, but you have such a good neuromuscular system we're not doing a ton of that in the off season, even though I weave it in sometimes for you, though I know you do some sprints outside Is there or in some other stuff. But is there anything that you do personally or would advise somebody that's talking about sprinter stuff to work on in terms of the neuromuscular drills talking about sprinter stuff, uh, to work on in terms of the neuromuscular drills.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's almost. I mean it's not fancy, but it is just the working, the extremes of it. You know so, doing like extremely, like high cadence, low force. You know those kinds of drills, um, like a very easy gear and just try to get a max cadence out of it. Like you know those kind of things, and for one especially, you know during your base season, those kind of drills like break up a ride, like instead of mindlessly riding around, you know, for our area and circles around Haines, you know for hours, hours on end, why not break it up and and try things like that. You know, um, and then the opposite end of the spectrum, putting it in a heavy starting in a heavy gear and muscling it over until you're at your. You know your regular, self-selected cadence, and then you know calling it a day, like just working those extreme ranges.
Speaker 2:And then I, I, I even like to have fun. You know, even on group rides, like if I go for a sprint on a group ride, it's like, ah, let me see if I can do this in a small ring, like pick a gear in a small ring, and I mean, it's not overthinking it, but it's like I'm gonna sprint in a small ring, you know, just to see what this feels like, what you know what my body's gonna do, like how it's actually gonna feel. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's. It's kind of like you, you treat sprinting like you're you're, you're playing, you really you're playing on the bike and you kind of are seeing what your bike can do, what your legs can do. For one, like is seeing okay, can I, can I crank out a one 60 cadence? Like, can I? You know, it's kind of like picking that number that you think is unattainable and like, okay, let me see if I can do it, you know did we do the one minute challenge today?
Speaker 1:Did I do that with you and we can or like the one minute cadence, like how, how high of a cause I know I did it with.
Speaker 2:AJ, I feel like I've done that with you one time before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause basically, the one minute challenge that I have is I pick on a few athletes and I think you smoked me, by the way. That's what I'm remembering, but again, this was a couple of years ago. Anyway, let's go one minute. What's your highest average RPMs that you can hold? And you beat me. I think you're the first athlete to ever beat me. Aj got in on it, a couple of my juniors did. I'm pretty good on cadence. I'm not the greatest sprinter in the world, um, but so, so that is. One tip here is like, just go one minute, try to go as high of cadence as you possibly can You're. It's crazy what your heart rate does, cause it does spin up because your leg speed is so high, right, um, and and you, just you do that, maybe once on a ride you know, maybe peppered into on another later on the ride, like that.
Speaker 1:But again it's more like play. I don't prescribe this, I'm just like beat this right. And another one that I do is is and you touched on it was max cadence, and this is what I do with this with my juniors quite a bit and I used to do this on like talent id mountain bike camps with usac is we just like go downhill, get some really high speed in our biggest gear.
Speaker 1:Get and get the legs spinning in the biggest gear and then shift down like two or three and just have your legs like super, like spin out of control and see what your max cadence is, and that's a really good way to develop absolute cadence yeah yeah yeah, and those, to me, those kind of things are just fun to do, because I feel like you always end up discovering something.
Speaker 2:You might find a hack or some way, like how you work biomechanically, like, okay, if I do this, I'll always have a higher cadence. This is kind of how I have to center my weight over my bike in order to really fully activate all the muscles. And you know, because the having the cadence is all about, you know you have to. You're firing and relaxing all those muscles at the same time. So it's like, okay, where does my weight have to be, you know, on the bike, or am I centered over the bottom bracket and am'm a little forward over the bottom bracket? Do my levers work behind the? You know?
Speaker 1:so it's kind of you get to play around and find out to see where you, where you have the most leverage on on the bike exactly and when you do like these little games and you and you just play like that, it's I would say it's a simple way to train all that other important stuff that you're. Just because your, your, your brain becomes more aware of it and in the way of like, oh, my core engages when I do this. However, I don't tell anybody now, engage your core. Yeah, you know what I mean. It's like if you, if you, if you just go high cadence and, if you like, have fun doing it, the body will figure it out. So I would say for listeners, don't get too bogged down in the details, because learning how to sprint is actually just like doing it Right.
Speaker 2:And this is why I what I was thinking. You know, of course we had some sprints peppered in the ride today, and it's one thing that I really what's hard for me is, um, so for me sprinting comes naturally, but when it's like in my workout, then I start to overthink, like, ok, this is like I got to do this for coach, like you know. So then I start, ok, remember to pull on the bars. Like no, I already know how to do all that, just sprint, just go out and do it. So it was always, you know. Now it's much harder.
Speaker 2:I feel like, you know, a few years ago, when I could come to the noon ride and you know we were always sprinting there.
Speaker 2:So that was my sprint training and it was like you didn't really have to think, you just did it. So now that I'm forced to like I don't have that opportunity every day, don't have that opportunity every day. So it's like now, when I actually have to sprint, I'm forced to like, okay, this is sprint time, like you know. Now it's like, just do it, but it's so like shutting my brain off and and just doing it is the hardest thing, and it always feels like, okay, I'm working against, like my own self. But yeah, it's like one of those things like you, you just gotta do it. You know, even if you have to pull in a buddy, it's like, hey, we're just you go to pick a spot and you know we'll sprint to it, or you know we'll start from here and we'll go for 10 seconds or 15 seconds or 20 seconds, you know yeah, that's it, and I think too I mean, that's one observation I made like just with your your training is I.
Speaker 1:I need to prescribe in sprints more often, because we ain't doing it at Hanes as much.
Speaker 1:So, naturally we're not. We're not getting it in and that's for audience members. It's basically a group ride, right? That's what we're talking about when we're like deploying that sprint and it's a unique one, but we're also supposed to not talk about it. Not talk about it. But my but my point is sprint often right In the group rides.
Speaker 1:You're talking about group rides. That's a good segue for it because, uh, sit in wait for the sprint or attack hard, go for a sprint. Group rides are a great way to incorporate sprinting into it. Don't overthink it, go with it. That it's a huge component to it. Now there's dedicated workouts, like I gave DJ today, and there were flying sprints. I think there are 20 second efforts. Well, I'll talk about that one here quickly.
Speaker 1:But like that's another good way to incorporate sprints in is just have a dedicated sprint day. Solo is different than you know, going with a buddy or in a group, but just know, like, intentionally, if you don't have a group ride on a regular basis, you need to intentionally build it in. And then, finally, another point on like how to sprint often is adding in the sprints on an already hard day. So if DJ is doing like threshold work or something like that. I'll say dedicated sprint day, because we're just like not enough time in the schedule.
Speaker 1:But if the day is already hard, do some sprints, because you've already switched the anaerobic uh levers on right Might as well, sprint and get her done. And then I generally do it at the end of a ride like that, so it doesn't get in the way of the threshold, um but uh. And you can also do some openers early on, just to like open the legs up and you can practice your sprint technique and things like that. Um. And one thing that I've actually leaned in, leaned into a little bit more, but DJ, he has this thing that well, I'll have you describe it, but it's your, your thousand watt rule that you used to do a lot more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tell us tell us about that.
Speaker 2:I'll give you my criticisms, but I'm also I'll lean into it, because there's some benefits there yeah, I never, never wanted to end a ride like without hitting over a thousand watts at least once, like I'll, I like I'll have a screen on my computer that I can click to and be like, okay, this is the max. I was like now, honestly, and I pushed it up, if I haven't done over 1,400, either I'm wrecked already and I'm like there's no way I can do that without cramping anyway. So I'm just going to leave it alone. But I've probably gone over a thousand. But if I'm still feeling good and you've, you've like warned me about this before because there's a little section of road I have right outside my neighborhood, that is, it's perfect for sprinting on because the pavement is fresh and there's like the perfect markings that are like a stop line and a, you know, a go line and a stop line. So I'm like, if I can hit over 14 before I turn it to my neighborhood, I'm going after it.
Speaker 1:So I've had conversations with DJ about this Cause and I challenged him. I was like, why the hell are you doing this? What is it like in your head that says like cause, every every day, you just like end his endurance ride with a sprint? And it didn't like for audience members. And there's even a question at some point that somebody wrote in is like basically, how many sprints can I do before I ruin an endurance ride? I thought it was an awesome question, but in my my answer to it was you're thinking about endurance wrong and you're thinking about sprinting wrong. You need to separate them. So keep your endurance. Endurance. Keep your sprints. Sprints Right, but in that way. So like one time sprints, not going to really ruin an endurance ride.
Speaker 1:Okay, but what I was telling DJ is like what's the goal here? Right, because we can make the sprint better. We, we can make the sprint better. We can make the sprint a day better. We can make the anaerobic capacity better if we separate it. And then keep your easy days easy. Hard hard days hard. Now that's my general advice for everybody. But then we also have like race season where we need that snap and we need to keep the feel of a good sprint in there, of which kind of like free reign to. Okay, if you're feeling good and snapping, you have that right moment. I can kind of observe dj's mood on the day, like if he sprints I know he's feeling good, right, because now intellectually he knows when not to do it and when to do it, but it kind of like now I lean into it and the more sprints he does because he ain't doing as many group rides, it's it. I get that like neuromuscular thing. And, by the way, when you're doing like 10 second sprints versus 20 seconds, it's very different.
Speaker 2:The 10 second ain't gonna hurt you as much, right yeah, and as these are, by the time I'm sprinting at the end of a ride, it's, yeah, 10, 12 seconds max really, and it's only because that it's it's really dictated by the stretch of road. Like, even when I'm on my way into work in the morning, there's like this, this perfect little, it's kind of like maybe like 2% grade, but it's just like just long enough to like you get to the top 10, 11 seconds and then I'm just coasting in the rest of the way to work. So yeah, yep.
Speaker 1:Yep. So let's, let's talk, cause we're kind of talking about and I use the term sprinter stuff Cause, uh, it was I had a conversation with DJ at some point and he's like, yeah, I was just talking about sprinter stuff and I was like, okay, I'm, I'm the coach, I'm definitely not a sprinter stuff. That I probably don't understand. Um, but in the way so we talked, we've been talking a lot about some abstract stuff. So good, technique on sprinting, just go sprinting, don't overthink it. But a lot of people on this podcast like workouts, they like structure. So let's bring some structure to this and let's just say, in a sprint workout or some of the sprint workouts I prescribe, there's hill sprints, there's flying sprints, there's standing starts, and let's talk about those a little bit. And then let's let's first talk about like 10 second versus 20 second versus 30 second sprints. For you, when would you use a 10 second sprint versus a 20 second?
Speaker 2:So for me a 10 second is like good. I feel like 10, 10 second sprints are good for practicing, like that initial jump and acceleration in my sprint. So like if I feel like that's what I'm lacking, like I'll throw in several of those in like my rides, just like I just gotta, you know, kind of get the snap back in my legs, like I, you know, and I feel like for me, maybe not being I think that's where I guess my skill lies not necessarily that I'm like pushing like massive power and like super big watts, but I think having that quick acceleration and creating a gap that makes it harder for people to have to close the gap and then still accelerate past me. So like that quick snap is what I really like to have just always in my back pocket, like it's kind of to me it feels like a get out of jail free card, because it's like if I'm not feeling good, like I can kind of save my sprint to the last second and then, you know, create a gap and it'd be hard for somebody to come around me in the amount of time like depending on how much time I leave left to the finish line. So it's one of those things like I keep in my back pocket.
Speaker 2:But that 20 second, the 20 second sprint is like a legit like race, race winning, ending sprint, because it kind of the 20 second feels like the sprint actually started already and now you still have to sprint, like you're basically hold, like is after the initial acceleration. Now it's building on how long you can stay at top speed before things just quickly start fading to the line. So keeping that and then like the 30 second is almost like what we like from the 1k out, like when you have to sprint, then you have to sit down to get back in the wheel, then you have to sprint again to actually win the race. So it's like those, those three different things that you're practicing in those three different with those three different time frames. That's a perfect description three different with those three different timeframes.
Speaker 1:That's a perfect description of all of them and I'll add to that and say, like the, the stress to the body changes on those durations as well. And I would say, without getting too deep in the weeds, one thing that I said was you know the 10 seconds, they ain't going to hurt you all that much generally, because if you do three or four of them and you're just working on the jumps and let's just, let's just call them jumps, uh, for now you can do four by 10 second jumps with full recovery in between, full recoveries, I don't know eight to 10 minutes easy endurance, spinning, and you just work that into a 60 to 90 minute ride. Okay, and you're working on that, that, that anaerobic pop, the snap, the ability to accelerate quickly, because it's a neuromuscular sort of stress, you're not changing muscle physiology all that much, you're not, you're not inducing acidosis, you're not causing a ton of like lactate spike and because it's full recovery in between, it's not causing a ton of fatigue. So I again allow you know, athletes, when they want to work on that snap, yeah, go ahead and do three, four, whatever feels good, cause it's not going to, it's not going to add too much fatigue residually to the system, okay. But then when I start doing 20 seconds now, it starts to add more fatigue.
Speaker 1:Okay, so maybe five, you know five or six, 20 second full tilt sprints, that will change the fatigue system, right, and so everything that DJ described there and then 30 seconds, that's super deep and that's when you're working on, like I mean, anything from mental toughness to sprinting durability, to, I'd say, from the physiological side of things, that's anaerobic capacity. 30 to 60 seconds is that capacity to do as much work over ftp as possible, to do as much power as possible. Um, and it's different than like the winning move, it's like being able to last. If the winning move plan didn't work out, then you gotta keep going. Yeah, yeah, um, and so you know, five or six uh by 20 seconds, full tilt, flying sprints, um, amidst the 90 minute ride.
Speaker 2:That's a pretty good workout there, uh, and I I say flying sprints when we're doing uh sprints like at, uh, at speed, so starting at 18, 20, 22 miles an hour, something like that and I mean that that's where a lot of a lot of the difference, like you said it, it comes in because even with the quick ones you still you really aren't in a gear that's going to do much damage either, like you, because you want to have that quick acceleration. You're not going to put it in a heavy gear because 10 seconds will be over about it but before you can actually get that gear up to speed. So you want to pick a gear that's light enough you to actually accelerate it and then by the time you've popped out the effort's over at that point, like you're not then shifting for another 10 seconds, so you know you're the effort's over, so those can get peppered in and you recover pretty quick from those.
Speaker 1:I know, at least I know I feel like I personally recover really quick from you know those 10 seconds, friends yeah, and it's interesting too, because even though dj is doing a lot more power, one could say, well, he's, he's causing more fatigue. Well, it's like he's got more fast twitch, so he can do that and he can recover from it. It's all good. Somebody who's more feeble, who is not producing as many as much power, um, you're all, it's the same kind of thing. It's like I'm not producing so much power, so it's not going to cause so much fatigue, and so you just, I mean it's it's a nuanced thing, um, but what I generally find is the 10 seconds don't cause as much, and some, and then, when you're even aiming for 10 seconds, it's rarely 10 seconds, sometimes it's like seven, eight. You know it's usually a little on Um. So finally, I'll just say there's there's one more workout that I like to put in there, especially for my um either crit racers or mountain bikers, cycle cross racers, and that's standing starts.
Speaker 1:So two ways of doing it. But okay, zero, you're starting at zero speed, no speed. And two ways of doing it. You can either start, uh, with one foot clipped in and one foot clipped out, or you can do a track stand and then go from there. These are like high torque efforts and generally I'm going to be doing like a 10, maybe 15 second effort and there's like riffs and nuance that I'll do on that.
Speaker 1:But we're really working on uh, the start power and generating a really high power with high torque, meaning like you have a lot more uh forced to overcome to produce that power. And it's a very specific way of doing it for, like, how crit start, how mountain bike races start, how cycle cross races start, um, and it's a very specific way of doing it for, like, how crits start, how mountain bike races start, how cyclocross races start. And it's also really fun to do if you got someone next to you and you try to like race each other off the line, something like that. Yeah, dj, anything on standing starts or anything that you want to relate to that, especially in the way of like practicing clipping in and clipping out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, practicing clipping in and clipping out. Yeah, I mean I do. Though if I do those really like in my commute, if I'm at a stoplight and I'm like especially like if I have a car in front of me, I'm like, let me catch this draft. So it's like just, it's kind of like a fun way to see if you can match the acceleration of a car in front of you at a stoplight Like there. Yeah, acceleration of a car in front of you at a stoplight like there, yeah, there's there times I purposely won't pass a car because I want to do like that kind of effort, as you know, when the light turns green.
Speaker 1:so it's like, all right, well, let me see if I can keep up with the the car traffic before getting popped you know, yeah, yeah, and what I try to do myself and my with my athletes, keep in mind, like, don't be afraid to play, and I think that we don't play enough but anytime that there is a stoplight or stop sign to unclip and then practice without looking, clipping back in and pedaling like that's a skill man.
Speaker 1:Like that's a really good skill to have. Meanwhile you can practice your track, stands at the stoplight and stop sign and then smoke your friends right off the line. It's always good.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I suck at track stand so I'm probably always going to be clipped out anyway. So and that's kind of, like you know, for my wife, like when she rides, it's kind of one of those things, because she doesn't ride as often as that's what I tell her. I was, like all you know, practice clipping in and out, clip out every time we come to a light. Don't slow down and like wait for the light to change, like no, go all the way up. Clip out and clip in without looking down and get used to finding where that pedal is and being able to get in. Because if you do come back to racing like that's a big part of it is not screwing up your clip in when the ref says go. So exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so in in hill sprints uh, mentioned that, you mentioned that a little bit.
Speaker 1:But, um, when I'm doing hill sprints, it's usually like a um kind of like on bach road, right, uh, where you got speed coming off the hill and then you sprint going into the hill.
Speaker 1:And the reason why those are so good is it's working on just like raw power production for any athlete sprinter, climber, time trialer, whatever they're going to produce their best power on a hill, because the hill increases the gravity that's pulling down on you, right, and it changes the physics. And so, even for like sprints, if you get the timing right. And so even for like sprints, if you get the timing right and this helps practicing your timing of deploying the sprint too as soon as that hill starts to kick up and you feel just like the tension change a little bit, drill it down on the drops out of the saddle, keep chest low and hit it, and I generally see people producing some of their best power when properly timed on a hill sprint like that. So when you just want to like overload the legs with the power production on the bike, that's a great way of doing it.
Speaker 2:And I was, I like doing those also. It makes it almost feels like you know. Like I say, you don't force your body into a position that it doesn't want to be in, but just following, you know, the basic principles. Basic principles of you know, keeping your chest low, staying aero, like sprinting up a hill. It almost feels like it, or it forces you to be in that position because you know, naturally when you're going up a hill, you want to be on the hoods and you know actually going up the hill like a climber. But when you're forced to like, okay, I'm sprinting now, it's like all right. It kind like it puts you in the mindset of, like I keep the chest low. So when going off of a hill and then reapplying it back on up to a flat, it feels much easier. So it's like, okay, because I was forced to do it on a hill. Like when I come to a flat and I have to sprint, like it just happens naturally, Like the way you hold your body and it all happens naturally.
Speaker 1:It's a good kind of summation of that and and I'd say for all audience members listening, when you're, when you're just refining your sprint, using those hill sprints, flying sprints, standing starts, those are all good ways of doing it and maybe you just start with like three efforts on a ride and then you build up to four or five and maybe up to six. I think that's the most you really need to. After that it's more like training, training where stuff, like in fatigue, starts to change a little bit more. So I think, just like, keep it simple, keep it between three and six efforts total. Make it on a dedicated sprint day, pepper them in after interval interval days. Keep the hard days hard, easy days easy. But those are like bread and butter core sprint sessions and workouts that you, that you can do pretty much all year round yeah, and you know I've tried, if I'm outside I'm, there's something small that's sprint related, that even you know.
Speaker 2:For if it's just cadence, like something small, and it's not even that I'm, I'm like in a full-on. You know high cadence, sprint, but it's like riding above my normally selected cadence, like just always kind of working on, like making a higher cadence feel easier and more natural, like the higher you can push that number when it actually comes time to sprint, the more naturally that higher number will happen.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, yeah, and it did a whole well, a couple of podcasts on that. If anybody searches time crunched athlete in pedaling or time crunched athlete in cadence, you'll find it, and we talk all about why high cadence is the way. So try to bring this thing home here, dj, because you know we are time crunched. I want to talk about developing strength off the bike, and then I also want to just touch on lead outs and kind of give a little sneak preview of what is to come, maybe on the lead out podcast. But when it comes to developing strength off the bike, what we're doing, we're talking about strength training. We're talking about stuff that is not, you know, pedaling. So this is a whole topic. I've done several podcasts on strength training. But questions to you are what are some key exercises that listeners should definitely be doing in the gym if they want to improve their sprint?
Speaker 2:For me it's always. I mean, squat, deadlift, single leg squat and lunge are pretty much my bread and butter throughout the winter, even during the season. I, I personally, love doing them. So you, you never get complaints about me from having oh man, I got to do another workout in the gym today, like no, no, yeah, that's the one complaint I'll never make. So, yeah, if anything, it's not hard to get me out of the gym. And then it's like all right, we got a ride now and and lift less.
Speaker 2:So yeah, but it's true those are really my, my go-to, like bulgarian split squats for like, getting that single leg work, and lunges for getting that, either you know just regular forward lunges or reverse lunges for more single leg work. And then you know squats, if you can handle it like I've been squatting for years now. So I, you know there's not. I don't really I'm not very injury prone when it comes to that, so I can do them safely. So I like a high bar back squat all day, you know. But I mean, if deadlift, trap bar deadlift is essentially a squat where the weight starts at the ground instead of on your back, so yeah, that's definitely a definitely a safe, safer way to do it If you don't want to do high bar back squat.
Speaker 1:Yep Completely agree.
Speaker 1:And all the exercises that he mentioned keep in mind, most of them loaded the full body, they loaded the spine right, so that high bar or or the deadlift, um, and the reason why that's good is it's stressing all of the systems right the, the quads, the hamstrings, the glutes, the, the full body, and there's a lot of other benefits that go on with uh loading the spine in that way.
Speaker 1:Additionally, um, what we're trying to do is, uh, overload those muscles, tear them down so they come back stronger. So, those components that he described, um, that's why you're doing them in the in the long run, what you're trying to do is produce, uh, more strength, sometimes more mass, but also, but definitely, more force productions so that when you pedal, there's more power, uh, on the pedals themselves. But one thing that I always like to mention when it says, well, what's the best way to develop a sprint in strength training backs everything that DJ said, yes, but plyometrics and jumping is even better If, if not like the way once you develop strength and and even I would even say even not, and it's not even so much that you necessarily have to like, we don't hide box jumps or anything like that.
Speaker 2:Like, honestly, I I felt I've done some of my best sprints, like when most of my plyometrics came from jump rope, like I know it's aerobic, but just you know that you know pulling, you bring in the calves, and like strengthening the Achilles, and like being on your toes, like just that bouncing motion, like jumping rope for 10 minutes. You know either before for 10 minutes, you know either before actually lifting or you know after I've finished lifting, like man, like, and just the amount of success I've had thrown adding a jump rope into my workouts was incredible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly, and I was going to share a screen, but I'll keep it simple. I'll just say check the show notes, because here's my point Is, when somebody sprints on a bike versus jumps on a force plate, when they just jump, meaning you squat down and you jump up, you're going to produce about three to five times more power jumping against gravity and lifting your body off the earth than you are in your best sprint. And people are just like mesmerized by this. But like there's multiple studies out there and I've got one here in front of me and I'll, and again I'll link it in the show notes but like we, you have to realize when you're trying to sprint or produce really good power, that when you do that off the bike, you're overloading the body so much more than deploying some best sprint. So the best way to get good at sprinting is sprinting on your bike because there's like so much coordination, form and technique that goes on in that. But when you're trying to develop force and strength off the bike, you need to load the body properly with weight, do all the things there, but then jumping is going to overload that force production so much way more than you need to.
Speaker 1:And jumping rope. We didn't collaborate on what to talk about really here. Jumping rope is where to start and probably the easiest way to do it, because what I don't want people to hear is like oh, coach, ap said plyometrics. I've never done plyometrics before, so I go do box jumps and then you injure yourself. So jump, jumping rope has these little oscillations, right?
Speaker 1:so it's it's training the achilles tendon, your calves and the whole lower body in a kind of a mini way. Do like 20, 30 seconds at a pop, take 90 seconds rest, then do it again and you're going to train your body's ability to handle more jumping down the road. And if you don't have a fancy gym, if you don't have all the equipment, jumping rope is a great place to start on that. And just know too, if you don't have the fancy gym and you want to, you know, increase your force production squat jumps, counter movement jumps, box jumps that's a great way to do it. So I will get off my high horse and off my jumping box, but just know that and check it out, because check out the research that I posted, because people oftentimes ask me that they're like five times more than my sprint. No way, and it's like, yeah, they've done a lot of studies on it.
Speaker 1:All right, two, two last things here. Dj, lead outs. I want to scratch the surface of it. How important is a good lead out to win a bike race and have a good sprint?
Speaker 2:You know it's make everything easier. Put it that way, like I wouldn't and I've, you know, come from a team to that had one of the best lead outs, so, and I've come onto a team that gave me one of the best lead outs, so it's that's something it makes things so much easier and a lot less stressful. At the end of it, you still have to sprint, but it's putting yourself in a position where you only have to do one sprint, as opposed to doing three or four sprints that lead into the actual sprint. You know it's so. It's kind of where it pulls it up.
Speaker 2:You almost you train harder than you race. So you do all this training like as if you don't have a lead up. That's how you want to train your sprint, like it's just me and against everyone else. And then, when you come to the race, it's like, okay're going to make it so that I only have to sprint one time in this race. And that's really what it boils down to. A lead out is designed to keep the speed high and they let you go from the highest speed possible, because at that you have the least amount of actual force and wind resistance to overcome. And now it's just you only have to sprint one time and it kind of keeps you out of the vacuum of riders shuffling back and forth and having a fight for a will. So yeah, it kind of just makes you focus on one thing in a sprint and not a million things at once.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and shout out to the bike doctor crew. I've been behind you on a couple of races already this year and it's the way they lead out is a beautiful thing. So you guys got it dialed on that one. If we do a whole podcast on a lead out there, there's a lot more like nuance and like basics to start from. So if people want more on the lead out, write in and ask, drop it in our comments section. Let us know, because I've got the right person for it. So let me know if you guys want to hear more about a lead out. Two last things it's been rumored that you are a big fan of Folgers coffee. Is that true? Okay, all right, we got the t-shirt to prove it 100% true, 100% true, they are the show sponsor.
Speaker 2:My personal sponsor yes.
Speaker 1:And that's so counter cultural to the pretentious bike snobs that love their espressos and stuff. So why did you choose Folgers? What's?
Speaker 2:it was just like the secrets sprint brew. Caffeine is caffeine, so that's kind of I I do. I will say I love coffee and I will drink fancy coffee when it's available, but for every day I want the least amount of work to have my coffee as possible. So if I could just scoop it out of the plastic container into a percolator and press the brew button, um, and I'll have, like you know, 10 cups of coffee and I'm good to go. So all right.
Speaker 1:Well, we, we differ in that realm, but, uh, I will agree with you caffeine is caffeine and, uh, that speaks to how DJ does. Keep it simple, folks. Um, if you need caffeine, just hit it, it doesn't matter where it's coming from, um. But the last little thing here is a shameless plug. Uh, dj brew has something in common with Christopher Blevins, who has been on this podcast before, but, uh, they both make music, very different music, very different music, in a sense, but in DJ's spare time. I don't even know how the spare time comes, and when he does it, it's usually cause he's not sleeping, and then I yell at him for that. But, dj, tell us about a little bit, about your music and maybe where we can find it.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, that's. That's my other other passion that I really picked up over COVID, actually, when we weren't doing you know six hour days then, but your highest fitness was during covet, by the way. Yeah yeah, exactly. But no, I, yeah, definitely, passion I'm I'm a big house head, so you know I like house music, I produce house music, I dj house music, so I'm all about it. You can find me everywhere dj brew, on soundcloud, on mixcloud, on youtube.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, dj brew house on youtube apple music, yep yep yeah, I've got some of the music.
Speaker 1:It is good, it's chill uh so if anybody's looking for some new music out there, definitely go find it. Um, but you know, you know, overall, today, I think what I want our audience to uh come away with is like sprint training can be really complicated because when you do it and if you haven't done it for the first time you definitely feel like a noob. You're like, you feel like you're all over the place and like, oh my God, I feel like Bambi, but like that's everybody, and the more you practice it, the better you'll get at it. Keep it super simple. Sprint often sprint in the group ride. If you have somebody like DJ in your area that's like known to be like the sprinter, ask him, because somebody like DJ, he helps a lot of people in that way and he ain't like you're not going to hold back because what was your philosophy on that DJ? If you make uh, what was your philosophy?
Speaker 2:on that, dj. If you make somebody faster, what happens? You get faster too. It's like it's. It's like the learning circle of learning. Like you, you end up teaching something about something that you might've forgot yourself or you know. The student becomes a teacher, and it's just cyclical.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. If you're a good, uh sprinter, uh, teach others. If you're not a good sprinter, seek somebody out that can help with that. And then those workouts that we talked about, it's like try to get away from like pure interval way of thinking. Play more, play around with your cadence, play around with it, just like spiking the power up and seeing how high you can get it. See if it's any different on hill climb versus a flying effort, versus a standing start, and see how you sprint your best. And I think when you keep it simple like that, you have fun. You you won't go wrong, that's for darn sure. So any any final words there? Dj?
Speaker 2:No, like I you know I was basically what you just said Like it's. It's many different ways to skin a cat. So figure out how you know what works best for you. Don't force, like you see other people sprint, that doesn't mean that's exactly how you're going to look when you do it. So definitely don't do it from like an outside perspective, Like sprint. You know work on the mechanics, the basics, and then you know your body will do what it does.
Speaker 2:You know, and even for me I feel goofy after a long winter of you know we have a winner, a real winner here, where I'm just on zwift, like when I get in those first one. I mean our friend jason, the first sprint that he saw me do on one of our group rides. He was like well, I could tell you haven't been outside. I'm like you are absolutely not and I agree with it. 100 was like I felt so goofy doing that sprint, Like that first one. It's like, yeah, but you kind of got to get that first one in, like, and then they just all get better from there, you get more comfortable from there. So just start doing it. That's, that's really what I can say.
Speaker 1:Yep, solid advice, solid advice. So I'll leave it there, dj, thank you so much for taking time out of your time crunch day to be with us, and I think I think the audience will learn a bunch from you today. I hope so, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Thanks, man. Yeah, thank you. Thanks for joining us on the time crunch cyclist podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. Thanks for joining us on the Time Crunch Cyclist podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. If you want even more actionable training advice, head over to trainrightcom backslash newsletter and subscribe to our free weekly publication. Each week you'll get in-depth training content that goes beyond what we cover here on the podcast. That'll help you take your training to the next level. That's all for now. Until next time, train hard, train smart, train right.
