Muscle Tension Intervals

Cyclists can pair Muscle Tension Intervals with weight training for cycling, for an even better physiological adaptation. Prior to weight training, muscle tension intervals prepare the legs for the forces they will encounter in the gym and therefore are a large part of our Fall Foundation Training and 30 Week Off Season Plan.

As athletes transition from Summer to Fall and start to review their seasons, many feel their biggest weakness was not having enough 'strength'. This is something I often hear from athletes. Many think: “I need to spend more time in the gym”, however that’s not always the answer, as this challenge can be targeted on and off the bike. 

The key is being able to apply any built strength directly to the pedals, and the solution is to pair a gym program with an exercise on the bike that builds sustainable strength, all while keeping the movement specific to cycling biomechanics. This exercise is commonly referred to as Muscle Tension work.

MTI’s or Muscle Tension Intervals are high torque intervals that are best performed either up a steady 2 - 4% grade hill or an indoor trainer. This is to keep the interval controlled and uninterrupted while maintaining a low cadence with high torque. "Big gear mashers" as we like to describe.

Start with a short duration, let’s say five minutes; shift into a large gear that requires decent work to turn over and gets your cadence in a range of 40-60 RPM’s. Don’t worry about power, but don’t push this effort too hard as the idea here is to keep the body aerobic and focused in on the very targeted muscular action especially your glutes. During the effort, stay seated while focusing on pushing with your quads and pulling with your hamstrings, engaging the glutes with a goal of applying torque to 360 degrees of the pedal stroke. You will find that the dramatized effort forces you to focus on all parts of the stroke and will make weaknesses (or dead spots) pretty obvious.

After you have mastered a few five minute efforts (2x5) you want to slowly bump up the duration of the intervals. A good multi week progression would look like this:

Week 1: 3 x 7 minutes ON 3.5 minutes OFF

Week 2: 3 x 10 minutes ON 5 minutes OFF

Week 3: 4 x 8 minutes ON 4 minutes OFF

Week 4: 5 x 9 minutes ON 4.5 minutes OFF

Week 5: 4 x 10 minutes ON 5 minutes OFF

Continue to build until you are holding 20 minutes steady and strong. During the off season you should be able to do this twice a week without putting too much stress on the body or need too much recovery time.
Textbook Example of a Muscle Tension Interval Performed Correctly!

Another study that also implemented EMG’s to test the use of particular muscles, was “Muscular Activity during uphill cycling: effect of slope, posture, hand grip position and constrained bicycle lateral sways” Bertucci (2006). This study found that on an incline and when comparing seated vs standing muscle activity, that a wide array of muscles (both upper and lower body) are much more active when standing. This backs why we recommend doing MTI's seated rather than standing so you are better able to control activation of the gluteus maximus.

Finally to to best engage the and recruit the glutes, strive to perform your MTi's up a 2 - 4 % steady grade hill. Research has shown (Sarabon et. al) a reduction in EMG activity (firing of the glutes) for MTi's performed up too steep grades.

Paired with weight training, Muscle Tension Intervals help the body stabilize strength into pure power transfer to the bike, which ultimately allows you to capitalize on strength gains you make in the gym. While shown to work through use of EMG’s and other such technology, MTI’s should be used carefully especially if you have a past history with knee injuries.

Ericson, M.O., Bratt, å., Nisell, R. et al. Europ. J. Appl. Physiol. (1986) 55: 229.

Duc S, Bertucci W, Pernin JN, Grappe F. "Muscular activity during uphill cycling: effect of slope, posture, hand grip position and constrained bicycle lateral sways." J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2008 Feb;18(1):116-27.

Sarabon N, Fonda B, Markovic G. "Change of muscle activation patterns in uphill cycling of varying slope." Eur J Appl Physiol. 2012 Jul;112(7):2615-23.

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