Trying to decide if these are super valuable and should be part of my mix, or I should skip this type and focus on others; supras, over unders, etc.
Hoping someone can shed some light on the benefits of workouts like Hilgard +1. Bursts are only 12 s long. So HR won’t have time to react, neither will O2 supply to cells, etc.
Are these specifically to force a lactate surge in the cells, and subsequent clearing at high intensity, so like a burst into VO2 max processing territory & recovery back into threshold zone? Like what metabolic processes are we able to activate with such short bursts, and are they actually valuable?
Or by spiking so hard for so short a time, are you really just creating a metabolic deficit at the cellular level that is impossible to properly recover from, and is creating massive intensity load, with very little positive adaptations?
Or are they to increase maximum muscular strength and safely / gradually strengthen tendons from the spikes in total force applied so you don’t tear something in a race when you hammer it to a stupid degree?
I’m leaning towards thinking that gradually hammering the gas, rather than OFF-SPIKE-OFF, might be both more valuable, and be better training for real-world situations. Like holding 90 - 95% FTP for 5 mins, ramp up to 150% over 10 - 20 s, hold 30 s - 2 min, spin back down and hold 95% for 5 mins, would sorta mimic climbing a short hill on a flat course.
What are these bursts trying to mimic and train for?
Secondary question is their value vs Heston, which I def do want to be part of the mix; standing burst efforts to practice surges out of turns, etc. If I’m definitely doing Heston, are these same bases all covered, and I can skip seated bursts like Hilgard +1 ? Or is there a big benefit to doing both seated and standing bursts of various intensities & lengths?
As always, super appreciate any insight & input!