Home Cycling Tips: train to the best of your ability with Technogym

Training indoors is sometimes regarded as a tedious effort: a few would prefer riding exposed to the rigours of winter in order not to give up the feeling of the road. The pleasure of cycling outdoors is certainly something irreplaceable, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way to achieve results: scientific works  the effectiveness of a methodical use of rollers and indoor trainers.

Most of us find the pleasure of the changing landscapes and fresh air to be a luxury. We are left with just one or two rides a week: utterly insufficient to reach a consistent performance, which leads racing cyclists to integrating their routine with the indoor trainer.

New solutions for indoor training

Preparing at home is no easy task. It requires technical equipment to deliver the feeling and fun you get on the road, without forgetting the training methods and insight that’s needed to upscale performance. When we started devising an indoor trainer, we figured out we needed to bring into consideration both aspects, and that’s what we accomplished with MYCYCLING.

Advanced technologies, safe training methods, immersive outdoor routes for you to relive in the comfort of your own home. The smart trainer sets a new pace when it comes to delivering results, with the Technogym Neuromuscular Training method and Coaches just a tap away on the MYCYCLING App. Its training routines can be adjusted to your skill level, experience and tastes. Have we forgotten stability? How could we. Strong core muscles and good posture are key factors when it comes to pedalling efficiency. No worries, we’ve got that covered too: the  MYCYCLING core and stability kit  includes all you need to reinforce it and enhance flexibility, with countless exercises explained in detail on the MYCYCLING App.

SKILLBIKE is the stationary bike developed by Technogym together with the champion cyclists that allows professionals and enthusiasts to live the excitement and challenge of outdoor experiences in an indoor environment.

If you are passionate about cycling, you couldn’t possibly have missed Strava. This powerful app uses your smartphone GPS to track and analyse your workouts, and also enables you to share it with the community. We designed the MYCYCLING App to be compatible with Strava, which means you can:

• share your indoor rides with your followers on Strava and make them count on the leaderboard
• download any route and ride it on your smart trainer,

But it doesn’t just end here: like-minded cycling enthusiasts await you on our Strava group. The Technogym Cycling Club embraces anyone who is looking to improve performance integrating outdoor and indoor workouts. Share your stats with the group and join the challenges, ask the community for advice and climb the leaderboard. Enough with technology and innovation now, let’s make room also for medical and scientific skills on the road to making the most of its life experiences.

Training with SKILLBIKE

Built with the end user's comfort in mind and the need for a perfect feeling of pedalling in mind, SKILLBIKE is the first indoor bike with a real gearbox dedicated to cyclists, triathletes and enthusiasts. By changing gears, users can respond to changes in resistance and maintain the correct power and cadence to ensure maximum efficiency. The console always displays the selected gear and ratio.

Some features of Skillbike:

• The heart of SKILLBIKE is the Road Effect, able to reproduce the sensation that you feel in a real outdoor situation, reading the position of the body and the riding parameters.
• On SKILLBIKE every turn of the pedal is analysed in real time thanks to Pedal Printing, the optical sensors control the torque symmetry between the right and left legs and it is much easier to read because you have a specific and different vision for each leg. Pedal Printing provides continuous visual feedback on the roundness and symmetry of the pedal stroke for each different ratio, thereby increasing efficiency.
• With Multidrive Technology you can perform training routines at intervals at constant power levels to increase strength and endurance. At the same time, you can improve your endurance when climbing thanks to the real gear shift.

Technogym's home cycling tips

Safe and quality exercise on a smart trainer requires a little knowledge and a couple of tricks. Luckily, our Scientific Department supports your indoor cycling activities with the Home Cycling Tips column in our Newsroom. If you’re struggling to increase your performance, we warmly suggest to bookmark it right away: you can expect technical and scientific research, practical tips, training methods and useful suggestions on how to get the best of your indoor training experience. Some of the topics covered:

• Finding the perfect cadence
• Power meters
• Mistakes to avoid on the cycle simulator
• Agility exercises to raise pedalling efficiency
• Vo2 Max and plan training according to the anaerobic threshold
• Metabolic factors of bike performance and neuromuscular coordination
• Heart rate and the importance of the power sensor
• How to evaluate your power correctly

Popularity and effectiveness of indoor cycling

Indoor cycling on smart trainers or stationary bikes never lost traction, particularly for the promise of slimming down. While pedalling, the lower limbs are responsible for the production of kinetic energy and can get quite stressed, experiencing high loads that can adversely affect the tissues and contribute to injury.

However, what makes indoor sessions even more productive is the chance to deal much more with the feeling of fatigue. Many athletes perform great part of their training indoors, even with good weather conditions, with the precise intention of 'stressing' more the ability to withstand fatigue, seek better concentration and carry out the programme with greater precision.

When two hours every day on the rollers is a luxury not many can afford, the technology integrated in the new generation of smart trainers such as Technogym's MYCYCLING can significantly improve results.

4 practical tips for overcoming the boredom of indoor cycling's training

Despite all the benefits of indoor workouts, motivation may sometimes drop. Repetitive sessions may grow us weary, and boredom starts creeping in. How do we get rid of it?

1. The obvious answer here would be watching television or listening to music. Generally, trainers advise against such, as it almost invariably leads to losing mental focus. However, we still have some tricks that will certainly be useful to max out your performance and overcome boredom.
2. One would be to establish a shared training space. Try making appointments with training companions or friends and ride together. You’ll see how fast time runs when you’re in good company rather than on your own.
3. A change of perspective can also prove useful. Prepare yourself mentally by not comparing indoor and outdoor training. We all love the wonderful rides in those bright, sunny days that make us feel in complete harmony with the world, but truth is: the smart trainer is nothing like that. It's important to focus on the benefits of training at home and concentrate on the task at hand.
4. It’s a good idea to try and shorten the workouts by reducing the overall time and adding workload at more intense (but still safe) intervals. Breaking the daily routine with specific intervals is excellent for both athletic development as well as being a convenient trick to make time go by faster.

Finally, we suggest you to create a dedicated space for your training and any other equipment you may need. Avoiding distractions that would interrupt your workout is just smart thinking. Take your time in organize the perfect habitat so you don't have any more excuses keeping you off your bike.