11 WAYS TO POG-UP YOUR PLAN

Tadej Pocačar's performance is out of reach but you can adapt his training to raise your game. Chris Marshall-Bell consults the experts to find out how

- Chris Marshall-Bell

Of course we can't match his power, but can we amateur cyclists learn from the training routines and methods of Tadej Pogačar? “If an amateur emulated what Tadej does, they would quickly be overtrained,” says Jeroen Swart, head of performance at UAE Team Emirates, “but yes, an amateur could do similar types of training to Tadej, and most would see improvements in their performance.” Over recent months, Pogačar has shared details of his training, including to CW (see page 100) – and he went in-depth to Peter Attia for his The Drive podcast.

We asked Swart, and Tim Podlogar, an exercise physiologist at the University of Exeter and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's outgoing nutritionist, to describe how amateurs can best draw on his methods.

1 CRANK UP THE HEAT

What Pogačar said: “Heat training has become a big thing in cycling, especially this year. We try to overheat the body in training sessions or on the home trainer because it is a big factor, especially for me because I always struggle when it is super-hot. If you train this, you can be better.”

Pog-up your plan

Swart: “Research papers have consistently shown that an athlete who trains at an altitude of 2,100m for three weeks has an increase of approximately 4% in haemoglobin mass. Doing three sessions per week of heat training over a period of six weeks achieves the same increase in haemoglobin mass and increases the blood plasma volume by 20-25%, so heat training has a massive effect on cardiovascular function.

“The way to do it is quite simple: ride on the indoor trainer in a small room with no cooling devices such as a fan, wear winter clothing – a long-sleeve jersey and an undervest – and train for 45 minutes to 1hr 15min. When your body temperature reaches 38.5 degrees – use a device like Core’s to monitor your temperature – lower the power output to hold that core temperature for 30-40 minutes.”