I listened to it as an audiobook last week and I though I'd write a small review to share some interesting things from it.
Rather than a 'training manual' it is more of a collection of general principles. Quite a few chunks are often very mundane good common sense advice for very beginners that one can go over fast.
My take away from it:
Graeme considers two sessions to be key: the 'turbo session' and the 'glycogen ride'. The turbo session is a all out effort (say 20 or 40 minutes). It is done in almost religious isolation and requires a lot of mental energy (one rides at maximum effort for duration and pushes some more). He says it is crucial for monitoring improvement. Kinda doing the FTP test every week ... The glycogen ride is a ride with very little to no food eaten beforehand, none during, to deplete the glycogen stores. As soon as the ride is finished one eats straight away recovery food prepared beforehand.
He places serious emphasis on proper recovery and the discipline of not riding very easy if one goes on a recovery ride.
The breathing is one of the most interesting part. He makes the analogy that akin to swimming, the instinctive way of doing thing is not necessarily the most efficient : his Obree breathing technique is to normal breathing what front crawl is to doggy paddle (in his own words). First one should get used to breathing in through nose and mouth, with nostrils flared and the tongue touching up the palate. This is to moisten and warm the incoming air to make oxygen intake more efficient. My first though is : this is insane, if you think so too, hang on to your hats. The three beat Obree breathing technique he had to hide it from competitors and foreign federation for years and is revealed in the book. Rather than the normal hard breathing one is used to, which only replaces one third of the air in lungs (ok - I will need to do further research on this number - in god we trust, all other bring data), one takes a very deep breath (exhaling completely), then a half breath, then a quarter breath. I first though it was totally bonkers, maybe it is , but had a quick try during an effort makes and I find it interesting. The ideas is during a full on aerobic effort it is not possible to exhale completely every time, but over a complete cycle of three beat pattern breath, the total amount of oxygen absorbed is superior to just three standard hard breaths. I would guess he had that lab-tested and I am curious to see how the numbers stack up.
The pedaling technique I was expecting something as esoteric and exciting as the the breathing pattern. It is a lot simpler as in essence he recommends a very early 'kick' at the top of the stroke to maximize the length of the downwards force application. He says that most shoes requires a little tongue cutting to do this properly. This is far more interesting and makes more sense than the usual moronic 'pulling up on the up stroke' advice one reads on many places.
Psychology (two chapters) is also interesting as it provides a very different advice from the Steve Peters school that is now very ubiquitous due to its successes (if you are not familiar I wholeheartedly recommend you the chimp paradox). In Peters language Graeme gives control to 'the chimp' on purpose rather than the human, in the sense that one must be entirely committed to (at the extreme) die on the bike rather than let go. It is an interesting part and I'll listen to it again.
I enjoyed listening to the book and I would recommend if you like reading ideas from outside the box. Just for the novel bits of his techniques, I would rate the book seven out of ten.
Rather than a 'training manual' it is more of a collection of general principles. Quite a few chunks are often very mundane good common sense advice for very beginners that one can go over fast.
My take away from it:
Graeme considers two sessions to be key: the 'turbo session' and the 'glycogen ride'. The turbo session is a all out effort (say 20 or 40 minutes). It is done in almost religious isolation and requires a lot of mental energy (one rides at maximum effort for duration and pushes some more). He says it is crucial for monitoring improvement. Kinda doing the FTP test every week ... The glycogen ride is a ride with very little to no food eaten beforehand, none during, to deplete the glycogen stores. As soon as the ride is finished one eats straight away recovery food prepared beforehand.
He places serious emphasis on proper recovery and the discipline of not riding very easy if one goes on a recovery ride.
The breathing is one of the most interesting part. He makes the analogy that akin to swimming, the instinctive way of doing thing is not necessarily the most efficient : his Obree breathing technique is to normal breathing what front crawl is to doggy paddle (in his own words). First one should get used to breathing in through nose and mouth, with nostrils flared and the tongue touching up the palate. This is to moisten and warm the incoming air to make oxygen intake more efficient. My first though is : this is insane, if you think so too, hang on to your hats. The three beat Obree breathing technique he had to hide it from competitors and foreign federation for years and is revealed in the book. Rather than the normal hard breathing one is used to, which only replaces one third of the air in lungs (ok - I will need to do further research on this number - in god we trust, all other bring data), one takes a very deep breath (exhaling completely), then a half breath, then a quarter breath. I first though it was totally bonkers, maybe it is , but had a quick try during an effort makes and I find it interesting. The ideas is during a full on aerobic effort it is not possible to exhale completely every time, but over a complete cycle of three beat pattern breath, the total amount of oxygen absorbed is superior to just three standard hard breaths. I would guess he had that lab-tested and I am curious to see how the numbers stack up.
The pedaling technique I was expecting something as esoteric and exciting as the the breathing pattern. It is a lot simpler as in essence he recommends a very early 'kick' at the top of the stroke to maximize the length of the downwards force application. He says that most shoes requires a little tongue cutting to do this properly. This is far more interesting and makes more sense than the usual moronic 'pulling up on the up stroke' advice one reads on many places.
Psychology (two chapters) is also interesting as it provides a very different advice from the Steve Peters school that is now very ubiquitous due to its successes (if you are not familiar I wholeheartedly recommend you the chimp paradox). In Peters language Graeme gives control to 'the chimp' on purpose rather than the human, in the sense that one must be entirely committed to (at the extreme) die on the bike rather than let go. It is an interesting part and I'll listen to it again.
I enjoyed listening to the book and I would recommend if you like reading ideas from outside the box. Just for the novel bits of his techniques, I would rate the book seven out of ten.