Today's Sally

[Marco]

I have just seen some photos of Poels - no upper body muscle development whatsoever. I can see that this would make him lighter and therefore faster, particularly on hills, but in any other context I would be worried about his health.

I presume you mean Woet Poels, who won yesterday's stage of the Tour de France?

Yes, the immediate change in cycling after there was really good epo testing, and blood transfusion testing, was that top cyclists got thinner - a lot thinner.

The Sky team were probably the first to see it, and if you see photos of Wiggins from 2011 (when he was tipped to win but fell off) and 2012 you will see he looks anorexic - very much different to how he looks now and the period beforehand. That's what all that 'jiffy bag' stuff was about, and the increase in use of inhalers, as there was talk about them being useful in weight loss. Not that I think we'll get to the bottom of all that. Likewise, Froom and Poels looked the same in this era.

Back to Wout Poels, he's too tall to be a natural top climber (1.83m is his quoted height) so he appears to have chosen to stay ridiculously thin to be able to ride as well as he does. He must be close to the end of his career now, so it will be interesting to see what he looks like in 5-10 years time.

[Mike T]

Alternating sets of 2 chin-ups and 6 press-ups, EMOM for 28 minutes. So totals: 28 chin-ups and 84 press-ups. Almost could not do that last chin-up.

[Mossdog]

EMOM - sets of 11 press-ups, floor to lock to floor. Time in secs remaining for each min.

44 - 45 - 44 - 44 - 46 - 46 - 38 - 31 - 25 - 11

This morning I fiddled with the positioning of my chin-up bar, so that I could attempt pull-ups instead. Needn't have bothered. I managed the grand score of 1, and it wasn't pretty at all.

[Mike T]

This morning I fiddled with the positioning of my chin-up bar, so that I could attempt pull-ups instead. Needn't have bothered. I managed the grand score of 1, and it wasn't pretty at all.

They are rather harder - I rarely do them as I can do so few I get no sense of accomplishment. Having said that, I should try them more often.

[Mike T]

Back to Wout Poels, he's too tall to be a natural top climber (1.83m is his quoted height) so he appears to have chosen to stay ridiculously thin to be able to ride as well as he does. He must be close to the end of his career now, so it will be interesting to see what he looks like in 5-10 years time.

And whilst we are talking about cyclists' upper body shapes, it would be remiss not to mention how narrow Cavendish is across the shoulders - does this cut down his wind resistance, and enable him to squeeze through narrower gaps?

[Marco]

And whilst we are talking about cyclists' upper body shapes, it would be remiss not to mention how narrow Cavendish is across the shoulders - does this cut down his wind resistance, and enable him to squeeze through narrower gaps?

Potentially, yes.

Whilst most top sprinters of the current era have been built like the proverbial brick out-house, there is no perfect size and Caleb Ewan is tiny. Cavendish is not as powerful as some of the top sprinters, but he sprints with a low head, flat-back style which is very aerodynamic. He's also fairly narrow across the shoulders (for a sprinter)

[Mossdog]

Dumbbell bicep curls. 2 X 12.5 kg. Simultaneous lifting with both arms. Eccentric lowering. 1 min break between sets. Curl Reps were to failure, per set.

25 - 16 - 12 - 9 - 9 - 8 - 8 -8 - 8

[Mike T]

Alternating sets of 1 pull-up and 6 press-ups, EMOM for 24 minutes. So totals: 12 pull-ups and 72 press-ups. The last few inches of the last pull-up were not pretty.

[Mossdog]

Boring 'office-type' work today kept me glued to the keyboard, so during breaks I managed:

This morning: EMOM 20 sets, alternating 10 sets of 3 chin-ups, with 10 sets of 1 pull-up.

This afternoon: EMOM press-ups (floor to lock to floor) of x10 reps x 15 sets.

secs remaining of the min, ie; per set:

43 - 43 - 44 - 42 - 44
44 - 42 - 43 - 42 - 42
40 - 37 - 37 - 36 - 21

[Mossdog]

The last few inches of the last pull-up were not pretty.

I always try to convince myself that it's the ugly ones (we're talking resistance exercise here - to avoid confusion!!) where the most performance benefit is gained from, and all the pretty ones just got you there.