Topic: exercise bike.

[blob2121]

I am first time sprinter on my track team but am out for a couple of weeks because of turf toe. Right now I  can ride an exercise bike and weight lift. What I am concerned about is that since I have to ride the bike for a long time (about an hour and 10 minutes) I am afraid I will be developing slow twitch muscle fibers. I am interval training doing my first 4 miles at 23 mph the half a mile rest and the 1.5 mile of fast pedaling, i guess all with medium resistance. So far I am averaging about a distance of 24 miles a day. Should I be concerned about this decreasing my speed since I am biking for a long distance and can't put my toe of my right foot on the pedal and thus have trouble working the calf muscle?


(sorry about the long post but i want to be specific) (I'll check rpm's once the weekend is done)

[Steven Low]

Yeah, that will definitely slow you down even if it's intervals. Poor advice to whoever gave you that form of exercise to do...

Hmmm, my advice to you is that if you can you should work on explosive pistols with your toes flexed up so that they don't hit. Keep something around you that you can grab or fall against since you'll be balanced just on your heel. I would say lifting, but there's a good chance that you'll probably just accidentally put pressure on the toe.

Work with the upper body SHOULD be fine. I would say try to do some type of circuit like pullups, dips, pushups, etc. because if it's taxing enough it will keep your cardiovascular activity still high without compromising your legs by stimulating slow twitch muscle fiber growth. You should NOT be doing circuits with your legs. Mainly just sprinting and probably some heavy and explosive lifting in the gym.

[John [sss24] Chadwell]

Pushups would put alot of pressure on his to because unless you do HSPUs you toes will be supporting weight

[Steven Low]

Pushups would put alot of pressure on his to because unless you do HSPUs you toes will be supporting weight

Not necessarily. There are ways to work around this like getting a block to put your feet on so your ankles are your 'hinge' instead of your toes. Or do one leg pushups. Or HSPUs like you said.

There's ALWAYS alternatives.

[John [sss24] Chadwell]

Thanks for that Steve, how would would your feet be orientated if you use a block.

[Steven Low]

Thanks for that Steve, how would would your feet be orientated if you use a block.

For assist? It can either be behind as a safeguard from falling backwards or to the side to grab on if you have trouble side to side. Obviously, front won't help you much because if you can grab that one you're already on your toes and probably in pain.

[blob2121]

yeah I talked to my coach about it today and he said not to worry about it, he said at this level even if it does make me a little slower because of lack of explosive work the cardiovascular benefit will outweigh it. The weightlifting we do is is high weight low reps (2 sets of 3 reps), push press, bench press, squats, deadlift and something called the pain exercise (plus the pull ups and dips i do separately and the occasional six minute abs) which is like squats, i just try to not bend my toe excessively or put to much pressure on it.

[KC Parsons]

Why not just bike explosively as much as possible until near failure. Rest a bit, and repeat. I don't know why you have to bike 1 hr 10 minutes.?

[Steven Low]

Hmm. I still disagree a bit. If you ever want to be ELITE sprinter then you might have to make some sacrifices to conditioning just to keep from hypertrophy of type I fibers. You need ALL the type IIs you can get to be world class.

Anyway, at the very least I disagree with biking. There's other work that can be done instead.

[blob2121]

to steve low, I am just a freshman so im not worried about being elite yet and plus my coach said due to my upper body strength proportioned to my weight i would be a fantastic pole vaulter, so there is always that option.

to aeroblitz, yes i have been trying to do interval type stuff but perhaps i will head more to the extremes of it.

also steve low, what other exercises could i do to help with cardiovascular and leg strength other then biking without putting excessive force and flexing on my toe?

[Steven Low]

If you want to be elite, you have to worry about elite all the time. Training is cumulative on muscle physiology.

Again, I think pistols should work fairly well as long as you're careful. Metcons with upper body would be good as well to keep your conditioning level up.

[Chris Lyons]

theres also the hour of hell.

i cant remember the specifics, but basicaly, you go to the hillyest area you can find, then ride at 100% for an hour, or until you fall off and throw up. Obviously, this only works with a real bike.

[blob2121]

wahoo! Did 26.3 miles today .1 more then a marathon! and about that hour of hell, i dont think im going to do that i would probably pass out and then no one would find me or I would die before they did.