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Train Like
Lance Armstrong
From the Team Beachbody Club - Join Today and Workout to
Win!
Lance Armstrong became the best
Tour de France rider in history by revolutionizing the way cyclists train. But
instead of following the time-honored principles of training longer and harder
with Rockyesque fervor, he and his coach, Chris Carmichael, decided to train
more efficiently. It's no longer enough, or even a good idea, to try to simply
outwork your opponents. Instead, the most efficient way to win the Tour is to
outsmart them.
Here are five ways Carmichael and
Armstrong outsmarted their opponents to win six straight Tours. These
principles can help you achieve your own goals.
1. Motivation. Not one
aspect of your training is as important as motivation. In fact, nothing else is
even close. With enough motivation, you will succeed at some level. It's the
one ingredient that assures success and, when lacking, will lead to failure.
Here is what Carmichael has to say about Lance and motivation:
"Lance Armstrong can be beaten
at the Tour de France, but only by an athlete who is better prepared than he
is. To accomplish that, an athlete would have to be more motivated than
Armstrong, and I believe the depth and intensity of Lance's motivation comes
from a place very few people can understand, let alone match. He's the hardest
working man in the peloton, perhaps in the world of sport, and his commitment
to excellence in training, nutrition, equipment, and team selection have
elevated him above everyone else." [1]
Also, being motivated yourself
makes motivating others a natural extension. A few years ago, Armstrong
recruited a young rider for the Postal team, Floyd Landis, who was talented but
unfocused. Taking him under his wing, he taught Landis the importance of
treating his training and racing as a job. As a result, Landis has turned into
a major force in the pro peloton. This year, he's won a handful of races, and
he's led Armstrong through the mountains in the Tour, finishing fourth in the
final time trial.
Champion rock climber Wolfgang
Gullich once said, "The hardest part about training is making the decision to
start training at all," meaning that once your mind is focused, every
subsequent step is easier.
2. Singularity of
Focus. Again, breaking with tradition, Carmichael and Armstrong work toward
one goal, winning the Tour de France. This was instigated by Johan Brunyeel,
the director of Lance's U.S. Postal Service team. There are many races in
cycling, but the Tour is the biggest, by far. Winning the Tour is more
important than winning every other race of the season. With this in mind,
Armstrong trains with one objective, while most of his rivals still look toward
winning numerous races. This single-minded focus is a huge advantage.
Armstrong's Postal squad is built
entirely around helping Lance win the Tour. Most other teams are not structured
this way. In fact, the team of his main rival, Jan Ullrich, attempted the dual
task of helping him win the Tour and helping sprinter Eric Zabel win the sprint
stages. They paid for this lack of focus on both ends—Ullrich fell to
fourth place in the general classification and Zabel failed to win a single
stage.
The lesson is that those with a
singular goal will always have an advantage.
3. Efficiency. Motivation
alone is enough to give you results, but if you have an efficient plan, those
results are likely to happen much quicker. The entire Beachbody concept is
based on efficiency. Most of us don't have hours a day to spend exercising. But
Armstrong makes his living by winning one bike race, so it makes sense that he
should spend all day long training, right?
Wrong. Traditionally, cyclists
have done this, even going so far as setting early-season mileage goals that
aim to "get a lot of miles in the legs." Many still train this way. But
Carmichael strayed from this old-school attitude, instead trying to cut down on
time spent on the bike:
"Lance
doesn't waste time on his bike. He knows the goals of the day's workout before
he leaves the house, and once his power meter tells him he has ridden long
enough to accomplish those goals, he goes home. Extra time on the bike isn't
necessary and just leads to more fatigue and longer recovery periods."
[2]
Carmichael thinks that efficient
training leads to not only more time away from training, but also a more
relaxed attitude. With the belief that's he's been as efficient as possible,
Armstrong can more freely go about his daily tasks of being a father,
businessman, philanthropist, and rock star accoutrement.
4. Periodizational
Training. Armstrong trains in blocks, starting in the off-season, leading
toward a peak during the race in July. His blocks have different goals than
most of yours, but the principles are the same. You should not train your body
the same way all year long. Instead, focus on different energy systems.
In Armstrong's case, weaknesses,
or places where radical change may be needed, are focused on in the off-season.
Then he'll work on more and more subtle items as he gets closer to his goal
period. You can't peak all year long, so it's better not to always try to be in
your best condition. Sometimes, we let ego get in the way of the goal. We only
focus on our strengths or do what we're good at. But that is not the best way
to reach a goal, because if you train your hardest you will have good days and
bad, even good periods and bad. Each time you switch your training you go
through an adaptive period where your performance suffers, but this will make
you fitter in the end.
A case in point: Armstrong got
creamed by two of his primary rivals in a time trial just over a month before
the start of the Tour. There was panic in the press, but for Carmichael and
Armstrong, it was business as usual. Those other guys had peaked too early,
whereas Lance was still coming into form. During the first mountain stage in
France, he gained massive time on both of them.
5. Nutritional
Periodization. Again, a revolutionary concept. Actually, it's only
revolutionary in that it was planned periodization. Traditionally,
cyclists would gain weight in the off-season and then try to burn it off at the
beginning of the race year, which is a type of random periodizational training
that isn't too effective. But Carmichael figured that if Lance didn't gain so
much weight, he could instead focus on getting his body to use fuel more
efficiently. Therefore, he cycles his eating throughout the year.
In the winter, he eats far fewer
carbs because he isn't burning so many calories. Because high performance isn't
necessary (i.e., no races), he will train his body to more efficiently burn fat
for energy but will restrict his carbohydrate intake. This comes in handy
during the race season, when he needs to hold onto glycogen stores as long as
possible. So by withholding some carbs (he still eats some and never approaches
anything resembling an Atkins approach), Lance trains his system to be more
efficient.
During the season this will
change, and he'll add more and more carbs as the races get more intense. Your
body will not function at its highest level without carbs (which you know if
you've read almost anything I've written). So as Lance starts to race, his diet
becomes more carb-oriented. During the Tour, Armstrong may consume up to 1000
grams (4,000 calories) in carbohydrates alone. Carmichael says, "If Lance tried
to race on a low-carb diet, he'd die."
If this strategy sounds familiar,
it's because we're always prescribing similar eating styles at Beachbody,
especially for P90X®. Some form of periodizational nutrition
works for almost every individual, because it's very rare that we do the same
thing, in the same way, throughout the year. In a very basic sense, proteins
make muscle, fats make the body function properly, and carbs give it energy for
both athletics and brain function. So the more sedentary you are, the fewer
carbs you need, but as your activity level changes, your carb level must change
too if you want to perform your best.
1. From Carmichael's
column at www.thepaceline.com
2. From www.cyclingnews.com |
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