As Spring draws in Technogym MyCycling Coach, Matt Rowe explains why using a smart trainer year round could be key to improving your performance for good.
The March equinox marks the beginning of spring and the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, which for many cyclists and fitness enthusiasts means more hours of daylight and the opportunity to exercise outdoors. Exercising outdoors in the lighter months is always appealing, however for many it is simply not possible more than once or twice a week. Being a racing cyclist,
"I have a training plan that demands significant hours of training per week, and has to work alongside my others jobs as part of the team of MyCycling coaches and running a coaching company called Rowe & King. This means my training is centred on ‘quality over quantity’ as I’m often short of time and therefore includes regular turbo training sessions. The same goes for my clients whether they want to get stronger, climb hills faster, or perform in a target Sportive or race – my approach is always, quality over quantity and using a smart trainer to make the difference."
As riders have more in their lives than just cycling; friends, family, work, etc. the time available to commit to training and exercise can be sparse. A super endurance sport, such as cycling – typically requires a lot of time to train out on the road, to get enough physiological stimulus and make significant improvements. Factoring in changing, pumping your tyres up and riding in and out of the city you can spend 2 hours before you are ready to ‘train’.
2 hours disposable time each day is luxury that not many of us can afford, which is why a new form of cycling is sweeping the nation – turbo training. Whilst training on the turbo trainer is not a new phenomenon, the technology that’s packed in to the new breed of smart trainer like Technogym’s MyCycling means that the Indoor cycling training experience has changed, for the better, forever. It becames smart training.
The Routine
Take a look at typical morning routine for myself or a client which within a 45 minute structured workout, allows you to make greater physiological adaptions than would be attainable on a 2.5-hour road ride. Efficiency.
06:00 – Alarm goes off.
06:10 – Cycling shorts, socks, heart rate monitor and shoes are on.
06:15 – MyCycling wheels start turning.
06:25 – Heart is pumping, sweat is forming and you are ready to train.
06:40 – Half way through the session, the lactic acid is flowing through every muscle fibre in your legs.
06:55 – Cool down time.
07:10 – Breakfast.
Through the unique TNT (Technogym Neuromuscular Training) system MyCycling enables you to use your smart phone and smart trainer to follow personalised structured workouts created by the Technogym Cycling Coaches and tailored to your individual thresholds in an hour or less. On top of this you can sign-up to a bespoke 1-1 coaching package with a coach like me, where each session you complete will be carefully tailored by an expert to your own personal goal, physical makeup and the time you have available to train. With as little as 30 minutes a day, 4 times a week, I have seen riders transform their wellbeing through cycling, becoming faster, stronger and more efficient.
Of all the features of an indoor trainer, I would argue the single most beneficial feature for a bike rider is the unique Pedal Printing feature of MyCycling. Enabling you, on your portable smart trainer, to measure each pedal stroke, left leg vs right leg, upstroke vs down stroke. Through low cadence workouts, you can train yourself in to a more efficient pedalling stroke, generating power more evenly throughout the whole pedal stroke – helping you become a faster cyclist, without producing any more power!
A shorter and more effective training periods
The workout
To help kick-start your training for 2018, using the Pedal Printing feature. The session is 45 Minutes long and aims to increase your efficiency and develop your strength – you can’t be powerful or fast on a bike unless you are inherently strong, so all training plans should start with developing your strength.
Give this a go: 8 Minute progressive warm up – working up to 110% of your threshold power.
4 Minutes 105% of threshold at 60rpm – 2 Minutes Recovery at 60% of threshold 90rpm.
Repeat the above 6 Minute block 5 times in total.
7 Minutes Cool down.
4 Minutes 105% of threshold at 60rpm – 2 Minutes Recovery at 60% of threshold 90rpm.
Repeat the above 6 Minute block 5 times in total.
7 Minutes Cool down.
