Indoor Cycling Tips

Cycling Weekly

The world of indoor cycling is only getting bigger but so too is the list of faux pas one can make. With so many things to get wrong, Sam Gupta shares everything he wished he knew when he started indoor training.

Transcript

00:00With the emergence of a whole raft of turbo trainers, indoor training bikes,

00:03and accessories by the bucket load, indoor cycling has all but established itself as

00:08an entire discipline. But as the niche continues to grow, so do the list of faux pas one can make.

00:15So I'm going to tell you everything that I wish I knew when I started training indoors.

00:20So let's jump on the bike and get into it.

00:23Not drinking enough can be a mistake that we make when we're outdoors as well,

00:28but the level to which you can go wrong indoors can be amplified

00:32to the same level of not drinking enough outdoors in summer.

00:36And this is because the strong fans that we use when we're riding indoors

00:40obviously help blow away the sweat that's coming off of us when we're riding hard.

00:44But that means you might not notice how much liquid you're actually losing.

00:50Also, while riding at home, I for one know that I can get complacent

00:54about filling up enough water bottles, and that's because I think that when I finish my session,

00:59I can go and drink as much as I like. But really, I should be following the same example

01:04that I would set for myself when I ride outdoors.

01:08For most of us, that means 500 millilitres of water per hour.

01:12And if you want to mix in some electrolytes, well, that's only going to be a good thing,

01:16because of course, you'll be losing them through your sweat.

01:26The importance of regulating body temperature was made incredibly apparent in recent times

01:30when Filippo Ganna and his team went to the incredible lengths to keep his core

01:35as cool as possible in the run-up to his hour record attempt

01:39so that he wouldn't overheat in the final 20 minutes of his ride.

01:43And that's because if you get too hot, then your body can't operate at its best.

01:49This is why ventilation is so important.

01:52If you don't have a fan, then get one. And if you do have one, then get another

01:57and ensure that your head, your chest and your legs are all getting a breeze.

02:02Now, there are plenty of high volume fans out there that do the key job of keeping you cool.

02:07And to help you find the ones that I'm a big fan of,

02:11well, I've left a whole bunch of links down in the description box below.

02:15One thing that I've learned recently is that if you want to make your training sessions harder

02:20and you want to put more strain on your body, then you can train without a fan.

02:24Just be prepared for the fact that you may not be hitting as high numbers as you may do with a fan.

02:31Also, do be sure to stay on top of your hydration,

02:34because you will be losing a lot more liquid a lot faster.

02:41We're all familiar with junk miles,

02:43those being the miles that we put in on the bike that don't really assist us

02:47in getting to any sort of end goal.

02:49And it can be quite easy just to roll around the Watopia landscape in Zone 3

02:54that doesn't really provide you with any sort of benefit compared to

02:58maybe foundation building Zone 2 work or riding it threshold or above

03:02to really start to push the envelope.

03:04So if you're training indoors, try and stick to a training plan

03:07or structured workout to fully maximize your time on the bike,

03:11because after all, riding with no sort of end benefit would just be the biggest waste of time.

03:21I, for one, love my food.

03:23In fact, my love for food is probably equal to my hatred of bonking.

03:28Now, one mistake which I used to make, and I'm sure some other people may be making out there,

03:32is actually not having enough food either before, during or after your training session.

03:38So I think ensuring you have something, even little, in your stomach

03:42when you start a session is important,

03:44because it will mean that you can execute your training sessions with more conviction,

03:49which means they'll then end up being more beneficial.

03:52Now, you may be saying, Sam, what about fasted sessions?

03:55Aren't they any good?

03:57Well, to answer that, I would say, yes, they do have their place in training,

04:01but they're better suited to professional cyclists.

04:04For us more normal cyclists, I would say that it's about working on consistency

04:09and getting the basics perfected.

04:11If you then go on to take your training really seriously,

04:14then I would be looking at everything around your training,

04:17such as your nutrition and your recovery, before you then start going into fasted training.

04:23Sitting up whilst you're training isn't a bad thing by any means at all.

04:27And actually, we all need to stretch out and take a breath every once in a while.

04:31However, if you're undertaking the entirety of your training sessions sat up,

04:36then you could be missing out on the opportunity to engage and activate your core.

04:40And as we all know, a strong core plays a massive role

04:44in being able to put out your best amount of power.

04:47Now, another reason why you should be sitting up

04:50your best amount of power.

04:51Now, another reason to train in your riding position

04:55is so that when you do go back to riding outdoors again,

04:58you haven't lost any flexibility and actually,

05:00you're still incredibly comfortable on the bike.

05:08As someone who used to work in a bike shop and more specifically in the workshop,

05:12I have seen my fair share of salted up stems and headsets.

05:16I cannot stress how important it is to use a towel

05:20or some sort of bike covering to protect the top of your bike.

05:24Sweat is incredibly corrosive to bikes, especially aluminium components.

05:30And these are all things which can be found in and around your handlebars,

05:33your headset and your stem.

05:35I can also speak from experience that there is nothing,

05:39nothing more disgusting than unwrapping salty,

05:43crusty bar tape that has seen the equivalent soaking of the Pacific Ocean in sweat.

05:52Occasionally, our fitness levels do slip away from us.

05:55And one mistake we could be making is actually

05:58not adjusting our FTP bias in line with our current level of fitness.

06:02Now, your FTP bias is the number that your indoor training software uses

06:07to calculate your training zones.

06:09And then from there, it works out what numbers it would want you to hit

06:12during a structured workout.

06:14On the flip side, you may have been training so much that your FTP is increased,

06:19but that then means that your training sessions are no longer hard enough

06:22and will then stunt the ability for those continual gains.

06:26The key point is if you don't adjust your FTP bias

06:29in line with your current level of fitness,

06:31then you won't be training in the correct zones.

06:34And that means that you could either be doing sessions that are too easy for you

06:38or you could just be sending yourself in a downward spiral of sessions

06:42that are just too difficult.

06:47While indoor training can be a pretty time-efficient way of training,

06:51there's two things that shouldn't be forgotten.

06:54Warming up and cooling down.

06:56This is obviously a bit of a no-brainer,

06:58as most of us will need to warm up to get our legs into a comfortable operating zone.

07:03However, it can be very easy to neglect the cool down.

07:08Gently spinning your legs for 5 to 10 minutes

07:10ensures that you can flush out all that lactic acid

07:13and it gives you a chance to relax your muscles after some full gas efforts.

07:18Not to mention, it kickstarts your recovery

07:21and will help alleviate some of those aches and pains

07:23that can accrue after a pretty intense session.

07:30Much like my earlier point of not following a training plan,

07:32it's also important that you set yourself a goal

07:35that you'd absolutely love to achieve.

07:37Now, riding without purpose can be quite freeing and quite liberating, which is great.

07:42However, when spending time on the trainer,

07:45it can be a huge source of motivation

07:47if you've got something in mind that you can hold on to

07:50that you really want to achieve.

07:52Having something to work towards will give your training a brand new sense of purpose.

07:56The key here is that the goal is something that you'd absolutely love to achieve

08:00rather than it just being a kind of nice thing to do.

08:03So those are all the things that I learned when I first started indoor training

08:08and a few tips that I've picked up along the way.

08:11If you guys have any lessons that you've learned,

08:13then drop them down in the comments below.

08:15If you enjoyed the video, drop it a like,

08:17subscribe to the channel for more content

08:19and I'll see you all again very soon.

08:33Bit too much power.

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