The 5 Steps To Be A Winner

Want to be a winner? Then follow these 5 steps:

1. Maximize your aerobic capacity (V02max) so that more oxygen, and thus energy, is available to exercise.

2. Raise your lactate threshold to a high percentage of VO2max, so that intense efforts can be maintained before energy stores are used up.

3. Become more efficient at carrying out the activity, so that less energy is wasted and hard exertions feel less stressful.

4. Boost yourself mentally so that training and competing become easier.

5. Get adequate amounts of rest for proper recovery.

1. Increase your aerobic capacity

This is probably the easiest of the 5 steps to do, since just going out and participating in your sport for long periods of time will increase VO2max or the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use. If you're an endurance athlete, for example, 30 minutes of 70% maximum heart rate will be of some benefit, but 40-60 minutes are even better.

However, beyond a certain point, increasing your quantity of training no longer boosts V02max. There is a point at which the negative effects of long duration training have on breaking down and injuring muscle tissue that outweigh the cardiovascular benefits. Once that point is reached, intensity of training becomes the key factor: you'll have to cycle, run, or swim at speeds which lift your heart rate to at least 90 per cent of maximal, for the event you're training for and ride at least 110% of the distance, in order to push V02max as high as possible.

To make things more difficult, attaining such high heart rates for brief periods of time won't work. If you're really interested in sending V02max upwards, train at approximately 90% of your max. heart rate(85% VO2max ), but to much training above this level will increase the potential for injury. Intervals of four-to-five minute durations several times during selected workouts is what will raise your VO2.

2. Increase your lactate threshold

Increasing your lactate threshold, the point at which lactic acid accumulates faster than it is removed,is fairly straight forward. If you increase V02max, you will usually raise your threshold as well, since LT is a fixed percentage of aerobic capacity. Your LT limits your rate of maximal effort. Your effort can only be exceeded for a few minutes above LT before you build up to much oxygen debt. The more you exceed LT the more lactic acid that will build up and reduce your performance.Howe Training intervals of about 80-90 per cent of maximal heart rate for 20- to 25-minute periods will generally have an enormous effect on LT. In this day and age of cheap heart rate monitors, I highly recommend the use of one. Don't train blindly.

3. Become more efficient

The key to improving your efficiency of movement is to recognize that each muscle in your body is composed of collections of individual muscle cells. In making a particular muscle stronger fewer of the individual cells within that muscle will be required to sustain a certain level of effort. In other words, more muscle cells within the muscle are allowed to rest while you're engaging in your sport, and other muscles which assist your active muscle are less likely to be called into play. Since you'll need to activate fewer individual muscle cells to pedal a bicycle, your overall energy demand will be lower and you'll be more efficient! As a result, you'll be able to achieve higher than expected levels of exercise intensity and conserve large quantities of muscle fuel.

To get more powerful and more efficient, you'll need to do some intervals which are higher than your usual competitive intensities. Exertions in the ranges of 30-90 seconds. Then include some recovery durations that are equal to 30-90 seconds. This helps with lactate tolerance and the ability to sustain high power outputs. Even longer rest intervals allow more work to be done during each work interval. Sprinters will want to do efforts less than 30 seconds.

An additional way to become more efficient is to make use of what is called "fartlek" training. The idea is simply to do some "specific" training at your competition intensity. There is little scientific basis for this training and it benefits.

For example, the top-level runner who wants to sizzle through a 5K in 13:10 should complete some 1000m intervals in 2:38 each, the 10K competitor shooting for a 30-minute race should carry out 2000m intervals in six minutes, and the marathoner hoping for a 2:11 clocking should cruise through 10-miles runs in 50 minutes. In each case, these runners are practising the exact tempo which will be required for the race. Likewise the rower who wants to hustle a boat through the water at a particular cruising velocity, the cyclist shooting for a goal time, and the skier needing a specific pace to win a race, must all practise that particular intensity during training.

Competition is not just a muscular event. Specific training allows the nervous and muscular systems to come together in a synchronous way.

4. Boost yourself mentally

Your state of mind is also closely tied to your training and riding. Mental preparation is often undervalued. Focusing on what you're doing right now and thinking positively have enormous benefits to your performance.

You also need to learn to "roll with the punches". Don't let a bad day training or racing get in the way of your objectives. Use it as an opportunity to learn more about yourself. This is where setting the proper goals come into play. Goals that are to lofty are a reason for disaster. Use mental images of how the race will progress and a successful outcome.

Finally, learn to stay relaxed but at the same time tense. Ready to leap into action when the time comes.

5. Learn how to rest

Hard workouts are necessary but rest is just as important. Rest is all too often missing from an athlete's schedule. Thinking that more duration, intensity and volume will gain them a top performance most athletes are on the brink of overtraining. It's not possible to reach top performances without proper rest.

Recovery comes in many forms. Nutritionally you must eat correctly to build that power house. Stay properly hydrated. Take easy recovery days at your sport or complete days off. Have a week of reduced training every 4-6 weeks. Yearly take 4-6 weeks of reduced or absolutely no training. The body likes small increases in training not drastic changes.

Not every athlete needs to reach the five goals. Sprinters, for example, don't require high V02max levels or lofty lactate thresholds, and they may in fact lose some of their muscle power if they focus to much on V02max training. However, for athletes involved in activities which last for more than a few minutes, hitting all five steps will lead to a podium performance.


Marc Walter Rightway Performance