Indoor Cycling Tips

With the emergence of a whole raft of turbo trainers, indoor training bikes and accessories

by the bucket load, indoor cycling has all but established itself as an entire discipline. But

as the niche continues to grow, so do the list of faux pas one can make. So I'm going to tell

you everything that I wish I knew when I started training indoors. So let's jump on the bike and

get into it. Not drinking enough can be a mistake that we make when we're outdoors

as well. But the level to which you can go wrong indoors can be amplified to the same level of not

drinking enough outdoors in summer. And this is because the strong fans that we use when we're

riding indoors obviously help blow away the sweat that's coming off of us when we're riding hard

But that means you might not notice how much liquid you're actually losing. Also, while riding

at home, I for one know that I can get complacent about filling up enough water bottles. And that's

because I think that when I finish my session, I can go and drink as much as I like. But really

I should be following the same example that I would set for myself when I ride outdoors. For

most of us, that means 500 millilitres of water per hour. And if you want to mix in some electrolytes

well, that's only going to be a good thing because, of course, you'll be losing them through your

sweat. The importance of regulating body temperature was made incredibly apparent in

recent times when Filippo Ganna and his team went to the incredible lengths to keep his core

as cool as possible in the run-up to his hour record attempt so that he wouldn't overheat in

the final 20 minutes of his ride. And that's because if you get too hot, then your body can't

operate at its best. This is why ventilation is so important. If you don't have a fan, then get one

And if you do have one, then get another and ensure that your head, your chest and your legs

are all getting a breeze Now there are plenty of high volume fans out there that do the key job of keeping you cool And to help you find the ones that I a big fan of well I left a whole bunch of links down in the description box below

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

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

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

also do be sure to stay on top of your hydration because you will be losing a lot more liquid

a lot faster we're all familiar with junk miles those being the miles that we put in on the bike

that don't really assist us in getting to any sort of end goal and it can be quite easy just

to roll around the Watopian landscape in zone three that doesn't really provide you with any

sort of benefit compared to maybe foundation building zone 2 work or riding at threshold or

above to really start to push the envelope. So if you're training indoors try and stick to a training

plan or structured workout to fully maximize your time on the bike because after all riding with no

sort of end benefit would just be the biggest waste of time. I for one love my food in fact

my love for food is probably equal to my hatred of bonking. Now, one mistake which I used to make

and I'm sure some other people may be making out there, is actually not having enough food either

before, during, or after your training session. So I think ensuring you have something even little

in your stomach when you start a session is important because it will mean that you can

execute your training sessions with more conviction, which means they'll then end up being more

beneficial. Now you may be saying, Sam, what about fasted sessions? Aren't they any good? Well, to

answer that, I would say yes, they do have their place in training, but they're better suited to

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

and getting the basics perfected If you then go on to take your training really seriously then I would be looking at everything around your training such as your nutrition and your recovery before you then start going into fasted training

Sitting up whilst you're training isn't a bad thing by any means at all and actually we all

need to stretch out and take a breath every once in a while. However, if you're undertaking the

entirety of your training sessions sat up then you could be missing out on the opportunity to

engage and activate your core and as we all know a strong core plays a massive role in being able to

put out your best amount of power. Now another reason to train in your riding position is so

that when you do go back to riding outdoors again you haven't lost any flexibility and actually

you're still incredibly comfortable on the bike. as someone who used to work in a bike shop and more specifically in the workshop

i have seen my fair share of salted up stems and headsets i cannot stress how important it is to

use a towel or some sort of bike covering to protect the top of your bike sweat is incredibly

corrosive to bikes especially aluminium components and these are all things which can be found in and

around, your handlebars, your headset and your stem. I can also speak from experience that there

is nothing, nothing more disgusting than unwrapping salty, crusty bar tape that has seen the equivalent

soaking of the Pacific Ocean in sweat. Occasionally our fitness levels do slip away from us and one

mistake we could be making is actually not adjusting our FTP bias in line with our current

level of fitness. Now your FTP bias is the number that your indoor training software uses to

calculate your training zones and then from there it works out what numbers it would want you to hit

during a structured workout. On the flip side you may have been training so much that your FTP is

increased but that then means that your training sessions are no longer hard enough and will then

stunt the ability for those continual gains The key point is if you don adjust your FTP bias in line with your current level of fitness then you won be training in the correct zones and that means that

you could either be doing sessions that are too easy for you or you could just be sending yourself

in a downward spiral of sessions that are just too difficult. While indoor training can be a pretty

time efficient way of training there's two things that shouldn't be forgotten warming up and cooling

down this is obviously a bit of a no-brainer as most of us will need to warm up to get our legs

into a comfortable operating zone however it can be very easy to neglect the cool down gently

spinning your legs for five to ten minutes ensures that you can flush out all that lactic acid

and it gives you a chance to relax your muscles after some full gas efforts

Not to mention, it kickstarts your recovery and will help alleviate some of those aches and pains that can accrue after a pretty intense session

Much like my earlier point of not following a training plan, it's also important that you set yourself a goal that you'd absolutely love to achieve

Now, riding without purpose can be quite freeing and quite liberating, which is great

However, when spending time on the trainer, it can be a huge source of motivation

if you've got something in mind that you can hold on to that you really want to achieve

Having something to work towards will give your training a brand new sense of purpose

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

rather than it just being a kind of nice thing to do

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

and a few tips that I've picked up along the way. If you guys have any lessons that you've learned

then drop them down in the comments below. If you enjoyed the video, drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content

and I'll see you all again very soon. I cannot stress how important it is to use a towel

Oh my God, Jesus Christ. I cannot stress how important it is to use a towel

Oh, no, a bit too much power