{"id":195212,"date":"2024-03-20T07:06:53","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T07:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=195212"},"modified":"2024-03-20T07:06:53","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T07:06:53","slug":"learning-a-new-skill-going-for-a-ride-can-improve-your-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/03\/20\/learning-a-new-skill-going-for-a-ride-can-improve-your-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning a New Skill? Going for a Ride Can Improve Your Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Musicians, gamers, surgeons, or anyone learning a new motor skill can benefit from doing a few interval sprints on their bike. A new study found that exercise helps better retain a newly learned skill. Should you go for a ride before your skill practice, after it, or both?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Learning a new skill with or without exercise<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen decided to test the impact of exercise on learning a new skill. They set up a study with 67 healthy men between ages 18 and 35. Interestingly, they had to exclude professional musicians and gamers. Why?<\/p>\n

The researchers used a SVAT (sequential visuomotor accuracy tracking) task for the participants to monitor how well they learn and remember a new skill. Imagine SVAT as guiding a cursor on a screen to hit moving targets that appear in a specific sequence or at random locations. Your goal is to move the cursor accurately and quickly to match these targets as they change position, using precise hand movements. You can see why pro gamers and musicians would have a big advantage that could distort the study\u2019s results.<\/p>\n

The participants were divided into 4 groups after arriving to the lab for the SVAT test based on when they would exercise. The exercise consisted of 20 minutes of cycling. They started with 5 minutes of warming up at 50W and then completed 3 intervals of 3 minutes each separated by 2 minutes of easy spinning at 50W to recover. The intervals performed before the SVAT task were done at moderate intensity 45% of max power, intervals performed after were completed at a high intensity 90% of max power.<\/p>\n