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.
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00:00 With the emergence of a whole raft of turbo trainers, indoor training bikes,
00:03 and accessories by the bucket load, indoor cycling has all but established itself as
00:08 an entire discipline. But as the niche continues to grow, so do the list of faux pas one can make.
00:15 So I'm going to tell you everything that I wish I knew when I started training indoors.
00:20 So let's jump on the bike and get into it.
00:26 Not drinking enough can be a mistake that we make when we're outdoors as well,
00:31 but the level to which you can go wrong indoors can be amplified to the same level of not drinking
00:36 enough outdoors in summer. And this is because the strong fans that we use when we're riding indoors
00:43 obviously help blow away the sweat that's coming off of us when we're riding hard. But that means
00:48 you might not notice how much liquid you're actually losing. Also, while riding at home,
00:54 I for one know that I can get complacent about filling up enough water bottles,
00:59 and that's because I think that when I finish my session I can go and drink as much as I like. But
01:04 really I should be following the same example that I would set for myself when I ride outdoors. For
01:10 most of us that means 500 milliliters of water per hour, and if you want to mix in some electrolytes,
01:16 well that's only going to be a good thing because of course you'll be losing them through your sweat.
01:21 [Music]
01:26 The importance of regulating body temperature was made incredibly apparent in recent times
01:30 when Filippo Ganna and his team went to the incredible lengths to keep his core as cool as
01:36 possible in the run-up to his hour record attempt so that he wouldn't overheat in the final 20
01:42 minutes of his ride. And that's because if you get too hot then your body can't operate at its best.
01:49 This is why ventilation is so important. If you don't have a fan then get one, and if you do have
01:55 one then get another, and ensure that your head, your chest, and your legs are all getting a breeze.
02:02 Now there are plenty of high volume fans out there that do the key job of keeping you cool,
02:07 and to help you find the ones that I'm a big fan of, well I've left a whole bunch of links
02:13 down in the description box below. One thing that I've learned recently is that if you want to make
02:18 your training sessions harder and you want to put more strain on your body then you can train
02:23 without a fan. Just be prepared for the fact that you may not be hitting as high a number as you may
02:29 do with a fan. Also do be sure to stay on top of your hydration because you will be losing a lot
02:35 more liquid a lot faster.
02:37 [Music]
02:41 We're all familiar with junk miles, those being the miles that we put in on the bike that don't
02:46 really assist us in getting to any sort of end goal. And it can be quite easy just to roll around
02:52 the Watopia landscape in zone three that doesn't really provide you with any sort of benefit
02:57 compared to maybe foundation building zone two work, or riding at threshold or above to really
03:03 start to push the envelope. So if you're training indoors try and stick to a training plan or
03:08 structured workout to fully maximize your time on the bike, because after all riding with no sort of
03:14 end benefit would just be the biggest waste of time.
03:17 [Music]
03:21 I for one love my food. In fact my love for food is probably equal to my hatred of bonking.
03:28 Now one mistake which I used to make and I'm sure some other people may be making out there
03:32 is actually not having enough food either before, during or after your training session. So I think
03:39 ensuring you have something even little in your stomach when you start a session is important
03:44 because it will mean that you can execute your training sessions with more conviction,
03:49 which means they'll then end up being more beneficial. Now you may be saying, "Sam,
03:54 what about fasted sessions? Aren't they any good?" Well to answer that I would say yes,
03:58 they do have their place in training, but they're better suited to professional cyclists. For us
04:05 more normal cyclists I would say that it's about working on consistency and getting the basics
04:10 perfected. If you then go on to take your training really seriously then I would be looking at
04:15 everything around your training such as your nutrition and your recovery before you then
04:20 start going into fasted training.
04:23 [Music]
04:28 Sitting up whilst you're training isn't a bad thing by any means at all and actually we all
04:32 need to stretch out and take a breath every once in a while. However, if you're undertaking the
04:37 entirety of your training sessions sat up then you could be missing out on the opportunity to engage
04:43 and activate your core. And as we all know a strong core plays a massive role in being able to put out
04:50 your best amount of power. Now another reason to train in your riding position is so that when you
04:55 do go back to riding outdoors again you haven't lost any flexibility and actually you're still
05:01 incredibly comfortable on the bike.
05:03 [Music]
05:08 As someone who used to work in a bike shop and more specifically in the workshop I have seen my
05:13 fair share of salted up stems and headsets. I cannot stress how important it is to use a
05:19 towel or some sort of bike covering to protect the top of your bike. Sweat is incredibly corrosive
05:26 to bikes especially aluminium components and these are all things which can be found in and around
05:32 your handlebars, your headset and your stem. I can also speak from experience that there is nothing,
05:39 nothing more disgusting than unwrapping salty crusty bar tape that has seen the equivalent
05:45 soaking of the pacific ocean in sweat.
05:48 [Music]
05:52 Occasionally our fitness levels do slip away from us and one mistake we could be making
05:57 is actually not adjusting our FTP bias in line with our current level of fitness. Now your FTP
06:04 bias is the number that your indoor training software uses to calculate your training zones
06:09 and then from there it works out what numbers it would want you to hit during a structured workout.
06:14 On the flip side you may have been training so much that your FTP is increased but that then
06:19 means that your training sessions are no longer hard enough and will then stunt the ability for
06:24 those continual gains. The key point is if you don't adjust your FTP bias in line with your
06:30 current level of fitness then you won't be training in the correct zones and that means that you could
06:35 either be doing sessions that are too easy for you or you could just be sending yourself in a
06:40 downward spiral of sessions that are just too difficult.
06:43 [Music]
06:47 While indoor training can be a pretty time efficient way of training there's two things
06:52 that shouldn't be forgotten. Warming up and cooling down. This is obviously a bit of a
06:58 no-brainer as most of us will need to warm up to get our legs into a comfortable operating zone.
07:03 However it can be very easy to neglect the cool down. Gently spinning your legs for five to ten
07:10 minutes ensures that you can flush out all that lactic acid and it gives you a chance to relax
07:15 your muscles after some full gas efforts. Not to mention it kickstarts your recovery and will help
07:22 alleviate some of those aches and pains that can accrue after a pretty intense session.
07:26 [Music]
07:30 Much like my earlier point of not following a training plan it's also important that you
07:34 set yourself a goal that you'd absolutely love to achieve. Now riding without purpose can be
07:39 quite freeing and quite liberating which is great however when spending time on the trainer it
07:45 can be a huge source of motivation if you've got something in mind that you can hold on to
07:50 that you really want to achieve. Having something to work towards will give your training a brand
07:55 new sense of purpose. The key here is that the goal is something that you'd absolutely love to
07:59 achieve rather than it just being a kind of nice thing to do. So those are all the things that I
08:07 learned when I first started indoor training and a few tips that I've picked up along the way. If
08:13 you guys have any lessons that you've learned then drop them down in the comments below. If you enjoyed
08:18 the video drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content and I'll see you all again very
08:22 soon. I cannot stress how important it is to use a towel oh my god jesus christ I cannot stress how
08:30 important it is to use a towel oh no bit too much power