Words by Benoit Capostagno The purpose of all the hours we spend training for a specific event is to improve our performance. Depending on your current level of fitness and experience, improvements could mean finishing in the middle of the pack rather than at the back, winning your age category […]
Coaching
Benoit Capostagno currently works for Science to Sport in Cape Town. He is currently completing his PhD at the University of Cape Town and is investigating training adaptation and fatigue in cyclists.
COACH: STRENGTH TRAINING FOR ENDURANCE
Words: Benoit Capostagno We are constantly looking for new ways to make our bikes go faster and to that end we often spend hours and hours each week training to try and get that little bit extra out of our legs. What if the secret to increasing our speed didn’t […]
COACH: GETTING BACK OUT THERE
At the time of writing this article, mass-participation cycling events have resumed and the second half of 2021 is starting to look quite crowded with events like the Attakwas, Cape Pioneer and the Cape Epic all scheduled to happen in the latter months of 2021. The prospect of some races […]
Coach November 2020: The Spice of Life
Words by: Benoit Capostagno AS CYCLISTS, WE CAN GET EASILY BORED FROM REPEATING THE SAME ROUTINE. HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING MIGHT NOT BE EVERYONE’S CUP OF TEA, BUT THE BENEFITS ARE ENDLESS. Cyclists will incorporate a variety of training sessions into their training plans to assist them in achieving peak […]
Coach: Women are not small men
FEMALE ATHLETES REQUIRE GENDER-SPECIFIC TRAINING AND EATING PLANS. IN THIS ARTICLE OUR RESIDENT COACH BENOIT CAPOSTAGNO EXPLAINS THE IMPORTANCE THEREOF. The last 30 years has seen a sharp rise in the number of women participating in both recreational and professional sport. For example, the percentage of women competing at the […]
Coach: Overcoming extraordinary times by sticking to the basics
Words by Ben Capostagno The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a new challenge to both professional and recreational cyclists alike. Countries introduced restrictions on outdoor activities, and many have only recently removed or adjusted these policies to allow us to spend time outdoors. The restrictions highlighted a very important aspect of […]
Coach Apr / May 2020: The evolution of coaching
Full Sus’s regular coach, Ben Capostagno discusses some of the more modern tools available to coaches these days and provides some insight in to how he and his colleagues use them to assist athletes in improving their performance. Coaching has certainly evolved over the last decade or two, mostly due […]
Coach Feb / March 2020: Coach on Caffeine
We all enjoy a good cup of coffee before, during and after our rides. Coffee and cycling seem to be inextricably linked, and a casual roll past the local coffee spots in the early hours of the morning will demonstrate this point. The bikes are parked outside while the cyclists […]
Coach Dec / Jan 2020: The secret to Improved Performance
Cycling is one of the few sports where we can purchase speed. Lighter bikes, dual suspension, carbon fibre wheelsets and correct nutrition practices can all result in faster speeds. However, the biggest change to your performance will come from your preparatory training. The 2020 South African mountain bike season is […]
Coach Oct / Nov 2019: Training with a heart rate monitor
Monitoring your training load is a great way to keep track of what you have been doing and identify what has worked for you and what hasn’t. Previously, weekly distance (kilometres covered in training) and hours spent training have been used to quantify training. However, both of these training load […]