Neuromuscular Adaptation

I have noticed my flying 200 meter times are faster after about 5 or 6 - 100% efforts in warm up gears and then at least one effort in the race gear, providing I get full recovery between efforts. There is no doubt the time spent warming up will improve performance, but I found it important to also do a 100% effort in my race gear, especially since I use a big gear (52x13). This allows the brain, nervous system and muscles to get synchronized to the action and line needed to do my best flying 200 meter. So don't expect to do your best time on your first effort in race gear.


Below is an excerpt from a Leg Speed article:
Another suggestion is to teach the body to do what you want it to do. This is what exercise physiologists call "motor programming." The body tends to remember its last effort and looks back to that "map" for instructions on what it should do the next time you call on it. So let's take advantage of this phenomenon, by tricking it and training it.


That is why we recommend five minutes of high-cadence pedaling in the small ring before and after big-gear/low-cadence stuff. This primes the neuromuscular system before the effort and reprograms it afterwards, helping it to remember "fast." It also serves to help clear the legs of any metabolic waste.


To really take this to the next level, let's do the same thing in the gym, where it may have an even greater impact. Try working in three to five minutes of 100 to 110+ rpm pedaling on the stationary bike before your weight-training sessions to wake up the neuromuscular system, and especially after your workout to retrain it after you lift.

leg speed