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 are all
02:00getting a breeze. Now, there are plenty of high volume fans out there that do the key job of keeping
02:07you cool. And to help you find the ones that I'm a big fan of, well, I've left a whole bunch of links
02:13down in the description box below. One thing that I've learned recently is that if you want to make
02:18your training sessions harder and you want to put more strain on your body, then you can train without
02:23a fan. Just be prepared for the fact that you may not be hitting as high numbers as you may do with a
02:30fan. Also, do be sure to stay on top of your hydration because you will be losing a lot more liquid
02:36a lot faster. We're all familiar with junk miles, those being the miles that we put in on the bike
02:45that don't really assist us in getting to any sort of end goal. And it can be quite easy just to roll
02:51around the Watopian landscape in zone three that doesn't really provide you with any sort of benefit
02:57compared to maybe foundation building zone two work or riding at threshold or above to really start
03:03to push the envelope. So if you're training indoors, try and stick to a training plan or structured
03:08workout to fully maximize your time on the bike. Because after all, riding with no sort of end
03:14benefit 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
03:32is actually 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
03:44because 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 of
05:46the Pacific Ocean in sweat. Occasionally, our fitness levels do slip away from us. And one mistake we could
05:56be making is actually not adjusting our FTP bias in line with our current level of fitness. Now,
06:03your 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. On the flip side, you may have been training so much that your FTP is increased,
06:18but that then means that your training sessions are no longer hard enough and will then stunt the
06:23ability for those continual gains. The key point is if you don't adjust your FTP bias in line with
06:30your current level of fitness, then you won't be training in the correct zones. And that means
06:35that you could either be doing sessions that are too easy for you, or you could just be sending
06:39yourself in a downward spiral of sessions that are just too difficult.
06:43While 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 will
06:59need to warm up to get our legs into a comfortable operating zone. However, it can be very easy to neglect
07:06the cool down. Gently spinning your legs for five to 10 minutes ensures that you can flush out all
07:12that lactic acid and it gives you a chance to relax your muscles after some full gas efforts. Not to
07:19mention, it kickstarts your recovery and will help alleviate some of those aches and pains that can
07:24accrue after a pretty intense session. Much like my earlier point of not following a training plan,
07:32it's also important that you set yourself a goal that you'd absolutely love to achieve. Now, riding
07:38without purpose can be quite freeing and quite liberating, which is great. However, when spending
07:44time on the trainer, it can be a huge source of motivation if you've got something in mind that you
07:49can hold on to that you really want to achieve. Having something to work towards will give your
07:54training a brand new sense of purpose. The key here is that the goal is something that you'd absolutely
07:59love to achieve rather 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
08:11that I've picked up along the way. If you guys have any lessons that you've learned, then drop them
08:16down in 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. I cannot stress how important it is to use a towel.
08:26Oh my God. Jesus Christ. I cannot stress how important it is to use a towel or a bit too much power.
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