What are the Pros doing? How do they train? - Part 2

1. First of all, what is the RIGHT gene? And like a recent post from Sprinter della Casa's blog, he says that if one does not have good foundations for the sport, he probably won't be successful and likened that to a building's foundations. Foundations can mean many things. Does it have to be all genetic? I don't know. The fact is, no one knows!

Its easy to generalize genetic foundation with the foundations of a building.

I find it laughable. The way structures work have been analyzed inside out. Its relatively EASY for qualified people to work out through equations and computer analysis and tests what not.

The human body is immensely COMPLEX.

So complex that even the top medical experts like gene scientists don't know for sure which gene codes for superior sporting performance.

So when these people have no accurate information, I don't understand why the rest of us below should be coming up with generalizations that genes overpower any training effects. We still don't know what sport worthy genetic material is.

2. No study I have read yet had solid reasons to attribute physiological differences (like muscle fiber ratios for example) in people from different backgrounds to genetic factors. For example, take sprinting, a type 2 muscle fibre action. Virtually all available evidence suggests that no, a sprinter's muscular makeup is not predetermined by genetics.

3. Height may be certainly genetic, and so would one have a weight corresponding to height but there are lifestyle factors that influence what weight you have. A 400 lb person can lose 200 pounds if he really puts his mind to it. We hear about extra ordinary stories like this. How did he get there in the first place? Were his parents obese? Maybe, but is that a definite conclusion? On another extreme, why are Kenyans skinny? Check out how they live.
World champs with different lives, very simple ones.

So I don't think there is a magical weight figure tied permanently to anyone.

4. How do you attain 400 watts of power. Certainly with training right? A new Cat 5 racer probably will not put that much power on a climb, a seasoned veteran will.

Pros that line up the tour probably have very systematic, scientific training methods. Its not something that they jote down the night before in their training diaries and say, 'ok I'll do this and this tomorrow.'

Yet none of us question how they train. We are more likely to be comfortable reading crap from a website, or taking the advice of a coach. Far more of us train uselessly and end up with overtraining and fatigue. We don't understand rest and recovery. We don't understand how the body works.

I don't believe that sort of training will get you anywhere.

Find out how successful people train, just like you can be successful in other endeavors by learning from people in that field. Napolean Hills success books talks specifically about what people did to become successful in its case studies. Do we have a Napolean Hill for cyclists? He could be used in a way for cycling, but it probably won't do you good because he won't tell you how the successful racers train.

5. Being feather weight and able to crank 400 watts is not everything. Ask a foot ball player to do the same, and he might. But for how long?

My point is that training helps the body work more economically through stronger hearts, bigger lungs, and by managing lactate better. Lance could crank 33-34 mph for maybe an hour. Was that genetic? Maybe yes, maybe no. Who knows? Show me a scientific study on how better his body was, than say, Jan Ullrich's, by how much, and how much of that is behind his victories. (Or you may read the book From Lance to Landis : The American Doping Controversy, and dispose of all fairy tales you saw about Lance on discovery channel.)

And could he have done the same when he just got into cycling?


6. There are also many other complex factors (financial, personal, diet, family) etc that come into the equation and determine whether a person with so called "good genes" makes it at all to the pro circuit. If genetics were everything, East Africans should be massing at the start line at pro races and Boonen would be just another figure in the peleton. Oh, I'm dying to watch a scenario like this. Boonen being shamed at a sprint by a native African. Oooooo...

My point is that its easy for most of us to make a mistake with the whole genetic superiority idea. I did that last year. Until I started thinking clearly.

What I also have to advise people choosing to believe this is that its easy to limit ourselves with the "genes makes perfect" issue. I would say try different training strategies to break that Cat 2 web. What are you doing wrong? Patience and lots of time gets you where you are, nothing is achieved over the course of the night.

None of us really look at how the pro's train. The lame person watching the Tour on Versus TV doesn't have valuable information on what exactly and specifically his favorite rider did to get to where he was.

Sorry, you may think I was crying and whining about this, but I'm really not. I just lusted for my perfect Christmas gift for all time.

Training diaries of the most successful cyclists on the planet, not necessarily limited to the Pros. Pros have all the time they want and their 'office time' is actually ON the bike.

I probably won't emulate every single thing written in the diaries. I'll decide what to do with that material after getting it.

Get me their training diaries... all of them.

Bottom line : Don't limit yourself with the gene pool idea. Train smart and take rest. Genes suck. I love my mom and dad but you know what, I won't waste my time thinking genes and letting it dictate where I go. Neither should you.