1 day Ago By Fadhli Ishak
KUALA LUMPUR: National track cycling squad head coach Harnizam Basri is hoping to further strengthen rider Izzah Izzati Asri ahead of the World Championships in Santiago, Chile on Oct 22-26.Harnizam said Izzah's physique has vastly improved since she joined the national elite squad in early 2022 but made it clear there is still room for improvement.Maximising power-to-weight ratio is key for any track rider and is especially important for smaller riders such as Izzah, who stands at a diminutive 1.
52 metres tall."Izzah has gained a lot of muscle mass since she joined us a few years ago," said Harnizam recently."When she started she was about 48 kilogrammes but now she has gone up to 52kg.
"The goal is to get her to about 55kg by the World Championships, which I believe is an achievable goal."We will, however, have to be careful when doing hypertrophy work with Izzah as her programme has been packed since last year and we do not want to risk any injuries."Izzah has been Malaysia's most outstanding female track rider in recent seasons.
She won two gold, one silver and one bronze at the Asian Championships in February.Harnizam stressed that building muscle takes time and strength building programmes must be done in a way which develops the whole body."I think in the past we focused too much on strengthening the lower body and rarely touched the upper body," said Harnizam.
"This is because we did not want the upper body to become too bulky which would cause increased frontal (aerodynamic) drag."But I believe the body needs to be balanced because we use the whole body when racing. So we will be doing upper body strength training as well to a certain extent.
"Anyway, doing some strength work on the upper body will not cause you to become bulky up top overnight. It takes a long time to build mass."Harnizam added that the National Sports Institute provides the team with a strength and conditioning coach to oversee their gym programme.
Izzah is expected to leave for a training-cum-competition stint in Germany at the end of June.© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd.
