Bakala Academy bikefitting: improved cycling comfort and performance!

Many enthusiastic riders gather up to over a thousand kilometers each year, but often have complaints about pain or discomfort on their bike.

VIDEO: a 'peak' inside our Altitude Center

Professor Peter Hespel shows you around our Altitude Center, where we simulate heights up to 4000 meters.

Sign up now: International bike fit education program

This state-of-the-art bike fit education program is developed by Bakala Academy and KU Leuven. The purpose of this program is to share their knowledge and experience on the biomechanical principles of bike fitting. The content of this program is based on the scientific research in the field of bike fitting and the extensive experience with a variety of cyclists from Pro-Level riders to many recreational riders.

Sessions permanent education for general practitioners

Starting as of 2016 the Bakala Academy will organize sessions for permanent education for general practitioners. This education is driven by the mission of Bakala Academy to directly translate state-of-the-art research in the field of exercise training and health-promoting physical activity to the public.

OPQS Launches Season with Testing & Upcoming Training Camp!

Starting next Monday, December 8th, the riders of Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team will be busy with the traditional training camp in Oliva (Spain) until the 18th of December. Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team began preparations for the 2015 road season with testing at the state-of-the-art Bakala Academy on Thursday afternoon. All Belgian riders, and others such as Czech rider Zdenek Stybar, were tested. Other riders will be tested at training camp with the same equipment to save travel time and energy.

Grunting, the hidden 'muscle power'

Grunting is a recent and growing phenomenon in tennis. Spectators often complain about the fact that "the so called 'decibelchampions' ruin the experience", while opponents quote distraction and unfairness as major complaints. Maria Sharapova – who is in run for the decibel title – reaches 101 decibels during competition, which is louder than a drill and even corresponds to a subway passing by! But, does this complaint make sense, do we have to put limits or even eliminate decibels? Is grunting helping you in achieving a competitive advantage to hit the ball even harder or is it just a strategy to distract your opponent?

Kwiatkowski Visits Bakala Academy!

OPQS rider and UCI World Road Champion Michal Kwiatkowski visited Bakala Academy on Wednesday, a facility where "science meets sports." Established in 2013 thanks to the commitment of OPQS team owner Mr. Zdenek Bakala, Bakala Academy aims to create a center of excellence to promote innovation and education in cycling and sports in general, as well as contributing to the development of sports within an international, cultural, and economic context. Bakala Academy utilizes research and innovation to provide high quality services to both professional and recreational athletes

Training in the heat to boost performance in the cold?

Muscle building by endurance exercise?

Can we get bigger muscles from endurance cycling? And is there any difference between high-intensity and low-intensity cycling? In an attempt to provide an answer on this question, Canadian researchers recently performed a study in 8 moderately trained cyclists (Di Donato et al. 2014). The two trials were ?energy-matched?: the subjects expended an identical amount of energy during the two sessions (~88 kcal) because exercise duration in LOW was twofold longer than in HIGH Muscle myofibrillar and mitochondrial protein synthesis rates were measured.

Exercise in the heat: too hot or not too hot?

The recent events at the Australian Open tennis championships, as well as the ongoing discussion about the organization of the World Cup football 2018 in Qatar, has rebooted the discussion as to whether it is justified to organize sports competitions in extremely hot environmental conditions.

Stronger muscles for better golf?

Is Tiger Woods a sprinter, a rower or does he play golf? This is a genuine question someone who doesn?t know the man could ask. The top 20 players of the Official Golf World Ranking (hyperlink: www.owgr.com) all are fit and strong athletes, much different from ~25 years ago. Where does this interest in ?fitness for golf? come from? Why are top-players getting stronger and better athletes? And why are core-stability and sprint training important ingredients of the daily training schedule of elite players? The answer is easy: more strength allows to hit the ball further with more consistency.

Cottage cheese: a good pre-bed protein snack?

Eating cottage cheese before bed rest has become a popular custom in strength and power athletes. Cottage cheese is a milk product rich in casein protein, which is slowly digested. It provides a gradual release of amino acids into the bloodstream. That is why these so called “meat heads” use it to bridge the 7-8 hour fasting period during sleep. They claim that eating cottage cheese before sleep reduces overnight muscle breakdown and helps to maintain and build muscle mass. Is there some scientific evidence in support for late evening protein intake in the form of cottage cheese?

Resistance training: muscle mass or just more strength wanted?

In conclusion, athletes who are targeting muscle strength should manage a rest interval of 2-4 min, while athletes primarily aiming at increasing muscle mass should rest for only 30-45 sec between sets.

Boost the benefits from your altitude camp and be a responder!

Endurance athletes often participate in altitude training camps and live up to it with great expectations. Indeed, scientific findings reveal that participation in a training camp performed at terrestrial or simulated altitude can enhance exercise performance up to 10 %. This gain in performance is largely due to an increase in red blood cell production (erythropoiesis) resulting from a higher rate of erythropoietin -(EPO) secretion in a low-oxygen environment.

The Bone Collector: extreme cycling drains your bones

Three week stage races in cycling induce a metabolic condition that may result in regression of bone health. Therefore, it is recommended that cyclists involved in extreme cycling combined with severe dietary energy restriction to reduce body weight, take adequate measures in training and diet to counteract the potential drain of bone mass induced by stage races.

Beetroot juice and athletic performance

More and more evidence exists that beetroot juice boost your endurance performance. But how exactly does it help? Beets are a vegetable rich in inorganic nitrates. In the body nitrate is converted to nitric oxide which improves muscle oxygen efficiency during exercise, meaning that the oxygen cost of exercise at a particular intensity is reduced, i.e. more power can be produced for the same effort.

Concurrent Training

Does strength training make me a better cyclist? Running a marathon is a different stimulus to the body than lifting heavy weights in your local gym. Therefore, it is often said that when you combine both, one stressor will inhibit the adaptation to the other one. So is this true? Will I run or cycle slower if I include strength training in my training regimen? Or is it just the other way around? Will the strength training be beneficial for endurance performance?

Opening Bakala Academy

Opening of the Bakala Academy