If a professional stopped cycling...

nitrogen

Let's say someone mid-20s.

...how long would it take for that cyclist to be back to a level of fitness equated to a casual commuter?

Or would that person always have an advantage since they'd spent years in the saddle?

Serious question about sports science.

Thanks.

12 sprocket

Re professional cyclists rate of detraining
If you look for some articles on detraining by Dave Costill you might get that info. I know he deals with it in some of his books

Khannie

Answer: I'm not sure how long it would take to reach zero advantage, though once you'd hit commuter levels of fitness you would gain it back much faster than someone who had never achieved pro level.

My trainer (totally different sport) says that you get your first week off basically free and that after that, each week off takes 2-3 weeks of training to get your fitness back. :eek: Now that's just anecdotal / from his experience. His experience is fairly vast though.

It is depressing how quickly you lose pro levels of fitness.

Beasty

As highlited by Khannie, it's relatively easy for an athlete to "lose" fitness. However it's much easier for a trained athlete to regain fitness than it was to gain it in the first place. The body "learns" how to adapt to the training quicker. Hence, all other things being equal, a cyclist who "retires" in, say, their late 20s and returns to cycling 20 years later will be better than one starting to cycle in their late 40s

In answer to the specific question, I do think there's an element of technique that will give the professional an advantage over the non-trained athlete, and there almoss certainly was a high level of inbuilt ability that allowed them to reach the professional ranks in the first place.

kincsem

In my late 20s I played soccer (badly) almost every Monday and Friday for two years, sometimes Wednesday as well, with the occasional 90 minute game or six-a-side tourney at the weekend. My experience was I could miss six days without noticing a drop off. More than that and I would notice. It was at 4,200 feet altitude and hot.

The playing level was amateur (very) but it was consistent, and over a long timeframe.

RobFowl

Generally (and I fear the sports scientists here reaction ...) it takes 2 weeks to lose tope end form and after 6 weeks of no training fitness returns to baseline levels.
You have to consider that pro cyclists are almost always exceptional physiological specimens so their baseline is still way ahead of the usual Joe Soap could manage.

Hmmzis

The advantage I can see from my own experience (different sport though) is that while you loose your fitness you generally don't loose the technique (every single sport needs that) and that gives the ex-pro an advantage over the average Joe.

I could probably still do a 5k cross country run and be less dead after it than somebody who has never done that before in his life.

The other advantage would be (as others have already stated) the body and mind of the ex-pro will already be familiar with the pains of exercise and competition and the ways how to push beyond that.
It takes time, patience and determination to learn that and the later in your life you start the longer it will take. There are a lot of things going through your head when pushing the limits.

Just my 0.02$

Inquitus

RobFowl wrote: »

Generally (and I fear the sports scientists here reaction ...) it takes 2 weeks to lose tope end form and after 6 weeks of no training fitness returns to baseline levels.
You have to consider that pro cyclists are almost always exceptional physiological specimens so their baseline is still way ahead of the usual Joe Soap could manage.

What are baseline levels? The longer you are bone idle the more unfit you will become surely?

RobFowl

Inquitus wrote: »

What are baseline levels? The longer you are bone idle the more unfit you will become surely?

Means non sport specific fitness (ie once you stop specific training, rather than actually sitting on the sofa drinking beer and eating pizza for 6 weeks )

Jawgap

In rugby, I think the estimate is 8 weeks off and you're back to being a mortal again!

The only advantage is that the top end of fitness can be regained quicker - typically 25% - 30% quicker.

I've also read that 4 to 7 days off with a cold is the equivalent of 10 to 14 days no training, or to put it another way 1 day with a cold = 2 normal non-training days - I'd also add this is no way suggests you should train through a cold, particularly if your chest is congested.

trad

Sean Kelly retired in 1994. Would you fancy taking him on it a commuter race?

Inquitus

trad wrote: »

Sean Kelly retired in 1994. Would you fancy taking him on it a commuter race?

No, but Stephen Roche looks a bit portly!

Jawgap

trad wrote: »

Sean Kelly retired in 1994. Would you fancy taking him on it a commuter race?

He didn't stop cycling though......



The question is, would someone, who retired after him and also kept up cycling, be interested in locking horns with him?

Beasty

trad wrote: »

Sean Kelly retired in 1994. Would you fancy taking him on it a commuter race?

I beat* Martin Earley in the Tour de Kilkenny 2 years ago, and he's younger than me

* not sure he knew he was in a race though...

Hermy

Jawgap wrote: »

He didn't stop cycling though......

Is there any video footage of this?

Jawgap

Plenty of photos, but I couldn't find any video.

Hermy

Remember it being talked about on Eurosport at the time but never saw any footage.
Would like to know how Sean tackled the climb.

RobFowl

RobFowl wrote: »

Generally (and I fear the sports scientists here reaction ...) it takes 2 weeks to lose tope end form and after 6 weeks of no training fitness returns to baseline levels.
You have to consider that pro cyclists are almost always exceptional physiological specimens so their baseline is still way ahead of the usual Joe Soap could manage.

I've had a quite search and am only partially correct here. The above applies to trained non athletes.

Trained athletes lose fitness much slower and after 3 months in activity seem to lose about 1/2 their fitness.

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/Deconditioning.htm

Lumen

RobFowl wrote: »

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/Deconditioning.htm

"The outcome is much different for new exercisers. Another study followed new exercisers as they began a training program and then stopped exercise. Researchers had sedentary individuals start a bicycle fitness program for two months. During those eight weeks, the exercisers made dramatic cardiovascular improvements and boosted their aerobic capacity substantially. At eight weeks, they quit exercising for the next two months. They were tested again and were found to have lost all of their aerobic gains and returned to their original fitness levels."

That's a bit depressing.

Inquitus

RobFowl wrote: »

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/Deconditioning.htm

Studies have shown that you can maintain your fitness level even if you need to change or cut back on you exercise for several months. In order to do so, you need to exercise at about 70 percent of your VO2 max at least once per week.

^^ thats a slightly more cheerful thought though. Some weekend training each weekend over the winter coupled with sensible eating should be more than enough to sustain fitness until the weather picks up!

DirkVoodoo

From my own point of view, I find anything that requires skill seems to go out the window faster for me. Football is one. The running I can do, forever and ever, but stop kicking a ball around for a few weeks and suddenly my feet become totally alien to me and I can't even kick a ball properly.

I've noticed dips in cycling from taking time off, but never that dramatic. This is probably more to do with my "topline" resting so close to my "baseline", i.e. I don't have far too fall.

I say this because I have been dragged into playing tonight and I'm dreading how crap I will be.

hinault

I took part in Get Back challenge out to Doonbeg from Limerick a couple of years ago.
Both Kelly and Greg Lemond took part.
Despite having gained a lot of pounds and having retired 16 years perviously Lemond was still able to go along at a fair old pace.
Ditto Sean Kelly.

naturally neither would be able to race professionally but I reckon they'd give a lot of amateurs a run for their money.

chakattack

Inquitus wrote: »

Studies have shown that you can maintain your fitness level even if you need to change or cut back on you exercise for several months. In order to do so, you need to exercise at about 70 percent of your VO2 max at least once per week.

^^ thats a slightly more cheerful thought though. Some weekend training each weekend over the winter coupled with sensible eating should be more than enough to sustain fitness until the weather picks up!

It depends what you call "fitness" but I wouldn't hold too much faith in that.

That will help maintain your endurance at lowish intensity but your speed/climbing will suffer.

Colonialboy

Lance Armstrong stopped cycling for a year (twice) and look where it got him...

Id say it depends ...

nitrogen

Colonialboy wrote: »

Lance Armstrong stopped cycling for a year (twice) and look where it got him...

Id say it depends ...

But my question was based on never getting on a bike, not to just stop racing professionally.

Morrisseeee

Hermy wrote: »

Remember it being talked about on Eurosport at the time but never saw any footage.
Would like to know how Sean tackled the climb.

Quote from a blog:
"After a quick chat with Kelly, who revealed that the bike he rode up was extremely heavy – the word he actually used was ‘terrible’ – and equipped with just a 40×24 single speed gear".
Also, he walked some of the climb, understandable really, 18km @ 7% :eek:

Fignon, Kelly, Indurain.

Pherekydes

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Quote from a blog:
"After a quick chat with Kelly, who revealed that the bike he rode up was extremely heavy – the word he actually used was ‘terrible’ – and equipped with just a 40×24 single speed gear".
Also, he walked some of the climb, understandable really, 18km @ 7% :eek:

Fignon, Kelly, Indurain.

Same hard face on Kelly, after all these years! Big Mig looks like he's been helping himself to the Sangria a bit too much.