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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00:00With the emergence of a whole raft of turbo trainers, indoor training bikes and accessories
00:04by the bucket load, indoor cycling has all but established itself as an entire discipline. But
00:10as the niche continues to grow, so do the list of faux pas one can make. So I'm going to tell
00:16you everything that I wish I knew when I started training indoors. So let's jump on the bike and
00:22get into it. Not drinking enough can be a mistake that we make when we're outdoors as well. But
00:31the level to which you can go wrong indoors can be amplified to the same level of not drinking
00:36enough outdoors in summer. And this is because the strong fans that we use when we're riding
00:42indoors obviously help blow away the sweat that's coming off of us when we're riding hard. But that
00:48means you might not notice how much liquid you're actually losing. Also, while riding
00:53at home, I for one know that I can get complacent about filling up enough water bottles. And
00:59that's because I think that when I finish my session, I can go and drink as much as I like.
01:04But really, I should be following the same example that I would set for myself when I ride outdoors.
01:10For most of us, that means 500 milliliters of water per hour. And if you want to mix in
01:15some electrolytes, well, that's only going to be a good thing because of course you'll be losing
01:20them through your sweat. The importance of regulating body temperature was made incredibly
01:29apparent in recent times when Philip O'Ganna and his team went to the incredible lengths to keep his
01:35core as cool as possible in the run up to his hour record attempt so that he wouldn't overheat in
01:41the final 20 minutes of his ride. And that's because if you get too hot, then your body can't
01:48operate at its best. This is why ventilation is so important. If you don't have a fan, then get one.
01:54And if you do have one, then get another and ensure that your head, your chest and your legs
02:00are all getting a breeze. Now, there are plenty of high volume fans out there that do the key job
02:06of keeping you cool. And to help you find the ones that I'm a big fan of, well, I've left a whole bunch
02:13of links down in the description box below. One thing that I've learned recently is that if you
02:18want to make your training sessions harder and you want to put more strain on your body, then you can
02:23train without a fan. Just be prepared for the fact that you may not be hitting as high numbers as you
02:29may do with a fan. Also, do be sure to stay on top of your hydration because you will be losing a lot
02:35more liquid a lot faster. We're all familiar with junk miles, those being the miles that we put in
02:45on the bike that don't really assist us in getting to any sort of end goal. And it can be quite easy
02:51just to roll around the Watopian landscape in zone three that doesn't really provide you with any sort
02:56of benefit compared to maybe foundation building zone two work or riding at threshold or above to
03:03really start to push the envelope. So if you're training indoors, try and stick to a training plan
03:07or structured workout to fully maximize your time on the bike. Because after all,
03:12riding with no sort of end benefit would just be the biggest waste of time.
03:21I for one love my food. In fact, my love for food is probably equal to my hatred of bonking.
03:27Now, one mistake which I used to make and I'm sure some other people may be making out there is
03:33actually not having enough food either before, during or after your training session. So I think
03:39ensuring you have something even little in your stomach when you start a session is important
03:45because it will mean that you can execute your training sessions with more conviction, which means
03:49they'll then end up being more beneficial. Now, you may be saying, Sam, what about fasted sessions?
03:55Aren't they any good? Well, to answer that, I would say yes, they do have their place in training,
04:01but they're better suited to professional cyclists. For us more normal cyclists, I would say that it's
04:07about working on consistency and getting the basics perfected. If you then go on to take your training
04:13really seriously, then I would be looking at everything around your training, such as your nutrition
04:18and your recovery before you then start going into fasted training.
04:28Sitting up whilst you're training isn't a bad thing by any means at all. And actually, we all need to
04:32stretch out and take a breath every once in a while. However, if you're undertaking the entirety of your
04:38training sessions sat up, then you could be missing out on the opportunity to engage and activate your
04:44core. And as we all know, a strong core plays a massive role in being able to put out your best
04:50amount of power. Now, another reason to train in your riding position is so that when you do go back
04:56to riding outdoors again, you haven't lost any flexibility and actually you're still incredibly
05:01comfortable on the bike.
05:03As someone who used to work in a bike shop and more specifically in the workshop, I have seen my
05:13fair share of salted up stems and headsets. I cannot stress how important it is to use a towel or some
05:21sort of bike covering to protect the top of your bike. Sweat is incredibly corrosive to bikes,
05:27especially aluminium components. And these are all things which can be found in and around your
05:33handlebars, your headset and your stem. I can also speak from experience that there is nothing,
05:39nothing more disgusting than unwrapping salty, crusty bar tape that has seen the equivalent soaking
05:45of the Pacific Ocean in sweat. Occasionally, our fitness levels do slip away from us. And one mistake
05:56we could be making is actually not adjusting our FTP bias in line with our current level of fitness.
06:03Now, your FTP bias is the number that your indoor training software uses to calculate your training
06:08zones. And then from there, it works out what numbers it would want you to hit during a structured
06:13workout.
06:14On the flip side, you may have been training so much that your FTP is increased, but that then means that
06:20your training sessions are no longer hard enough and will then stunt the ability for those continual gains.
06:25The key point is if you don't adjust your FTP bias in line with your current level of fitness,
06:31then you won't be training in the correct zones. And that means that you could either be doing sessions
06:36that are too easy for you, or you could just be sending yourself in a downward spiral of sessions
06:41that are just too difficult.
06:47While indoor training can be a pretty time efficient way of training, there's two things that shouldn't
06:52be forgotten. Warming up and cooling down. This is obviously a bit of a no-brainer as most of us
06:59will need to warm up to get our legs into a comfortable operating zone. However, it can be very
07:05easy to neglect the cool down. Gently spinning your legs for five to 10 minutes ensures that you can
07:11flush out all that lactic acid and it gives you a chance to relax your muscles after some full gas
07:17efforts. Not to mention, it kickstarts your recovery and will help alleviate some of those aches and
07:23pains that can accrue after a pretty intense session.
07:30Much like my earlier point of not following a training plan, it's also important that you set
07:34yourself a goal that you'd absolutely love to achieve. Now, riding without purpose can be quite
07:40freeing and quite liberating, which is great. However, when spending time on the trainer,
07:45it can be a huge source of motivation if you've got something in mind that you can hold on to that
07:50you really want to achieve. Having something to work towards will give your training a brand new sense
07:55of purpose. The 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 and a few tips that
08:11I've picked up along the way. If you guys have any lessons that you've learned, then drop them down
08:16in the comments below. If you enjoyed the video, drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more
08:20content, and I'll see you all again very soon.