Fitness Improvements – Power to Weight Ratio
My recent lab tests with Jon at the Sports and Exercise Science Department are finally over. The tests themselves were hard, but nothing compared to the disgusting potions I had to drink beforehand – For that reason alone I’m glad that they are over!
I met Jon yesterday for a quick synopsis of what he thinks the test have shown, and some finally tests to calibrate my work rates with my heart rates so that I can devise some effective training routines. It also gave us a chance to compare my performance with the similar tests done in a previous experiment I did for Jon about a year ago.
I won’t go into the results that Jon noticed as I’m sure he wants to keep those to himself until he’s published his thesis, but it was reassuring that my performance had improved.
The first thing of note was that I’d lost about 3kg in weight. That’s good and as long as my power outputs had remained the same that should mean that I’d be a little bit faster. Last year, my Critical Power (CP) was 251 Watts, this year it had increased by about 10% to 275 Watts.
Now, Critical Power doesn’t really mean that much as it is defined as the the maximum sustainable power output you can maintain for a given amount of time. So, your CP for 1 min will be very much higher than it is for 30 minutes. The CP measurements above are based on a ramp test that I did prior to the lab tests and should be a CP figure for around 30 minutes. Whilst doing the tests yesterday, the 275 Watt setting wasn’t uncomfortable and it did feel as though i;d be able to sustain it for a good 20-30 minutes. Maybe a little longer if needed.
So, it was good news all round – A decrease in weight and an increase in power means that my power-to-weight ratio is a fair bit higher than it was. This should in theory equate to me being faster on the bike, especially up the hills. I certainly felt OK on last nights ride.
I guess really I should aim for a similar amount of improvement by this time next year. If I could lose another 3-4kg and increase my CP to 300 Watts I’d be pretty happy.
3 Responses
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Good job 🙂 I often wonder whether weight is relevant at all, primarily because as exercise you gain muscle and muscle is significantly heavier than fat. So it’s possible to lose fat yet weigh the same or more. I can’t remember the last time I weighed myself because of this. So in actual fact you’ve probably lost more weight than you think, it’s just your heavier muscle is masking that.
That’s true, although as far as your power to weight ratio goes then it makes no difference wether the weight is made up of muscle or fat, you still have to move the same amount of weight – 3kg of fat always weighs the same as 3kg of muscle. It’s true that muscle is more dense so maybe you should have said I’ve probably lost more ‘volume’ than I think rather than weight.
The important thing is to maintain the power output and reduce my weight. That way for a given amount of energy expenditure I should go further as I have less weight to carry that distance. If I can lose weight and increase my power output at the same time then its a win win situation.
Now I just have to transfer those gains to the real world and start flying up the leg-burner! 🙂
Do you fancy a ride this weekend if it isn’t windy enough for me to windsurf?
Al.
We’ve got Thomas this weekend so I’ll have to give it a miss. One day we’ll get out on a ride!