Drawbacks
Drawbacks
Sweetspot training is often seen as a magic bullet to success on the bike.
In fact, what it should be considered, just as is the case when riding at other intensities, is a piece of the puzzle that can be used to improve your fitness and form on the bike.
Sweetspot has the affect of raising your anaerobic threshold, however it won’t necessarily increase you performance over short periods. When training at sweetspot intensity you could actually be making yourself slower…
Most riders have heard of the concept of slow (type I) and fast (type II) twitch muscle fibres, however it isn’t quite as simple as that.
Fast twitch fibres can be split into two groups, type IIa and type IIb. Type IIa fibres are an intermediary between fast and slow twitch fibers. They produce a lot of power but also produce a lot of lactic acid. They can use both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism – that is to say they can push the pedals with or without sufficient oxygen. However, the period of time they can produce power without sufficient oxygen is limited. Type IIa fibres are used (alongside slow twitch fibres) when riding up to and around anaerobic threshold. In contrast, type IIb fibres are pure fast twitch fibres and are used to create short bursts of movement.
However, your muscle fibres aren’t set in stone and can be changed from one type to another over time. Training at sweetspot puts a lot of emphasis on type I and type IIa fibres. Your body responds as a result and pure fast twitch (type IIb) fibres get converted into type IIa fibres. This means that if you do too much training at sweetspot then you will loose the ability to put out short bursts of power – this explains why you never see a time trialist winning a bunch sprint in the Tour and you never see a sprinter winning a long time trial! Time trialists have a high proportion of type I and type IIa fibres, whereas sprinters will have a higher percentage of type IIb fibres.
So sweetspot training isn’t necessarily the fast track to fitness that some riders believe it is and it’s important to still have a solid base to make the most of sweetspot sessions. Here’s why…
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