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
00:16tell
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
01:19be losing them through your sweat.
01:25The importance of regulating body temperature was made incredibly apparent in recent times
01:30when Philip O'Ganna and his team went to the incredible lengths to keep his core as cool
01:36as possible in the run up to his hour record attempt so that he wouldn't overheat in the final
01:4220 minutes of his ride. And that's because if you get too hot, then your body can't operate
01:48at its best. This is why ventilation is so important. If you don't have a fan, then get
01:54one. And if you do have one, then get another and ensure that your head, your chest and your
01:59legs are all getting a breeze. Now, there are plenty of high volume fans out there that do
02:05the key job of keeping you cool. And to help you find the ones that I'm a big fan of,
02:10well,
02:12I'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
02:19and you want to put more strain on your body, then you can train without a fan. Just be prepared
02:25for the fact that you may not be hitting as high numbers as you may do with a fan. Also,
02:31do be sure to stay on top of your hydration because you will be losing a lot more liquid
02:36a lot faster.
02:41We're all familiar with junk miles, those being the miles that we put in on the bike that don't
02:46really 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
02:56of benefit compared to maybe foundation building zone two work or riding at threshold or above
03:02to really 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.
03:28Now,
03:28one mistake which I used to make and I'm sure some other people may be making out there is actually
03:33not having enough food either before, during or after your training session. So I think ensuring
03:39you have something even little in your stomach when you start a session is important because it will
03:45mean that you can execute your training sessions with more conviction, which means they'll then
03:50end up being more beneficial. Now, you may be saying, Sam, what about fasted sessions? Aren't
03:56they 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
04:17nutrition and 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,
04:32we all need to stretch out and take a breath every once in a while. However, if you're undertaking the
04:37entirety of your training sessions set up, then you could be missing out on the opportunity to engage
04:43and activate your core. And as we all know, a strong core plays a massive role in being able to
04:49put out
04:49your best amount of power. Now, another reason to train in your riding position is so that when you
04:55do go back to riding outdoors again, you haven't lost any flexibility and actually you're still incredibly
05:01comfortable on the bike. As someone who used to work in a bike shop and more specifically in the
05:11workshop, I have seen my fair share of salted up stems and headsets. I cannot stress how important it is
05:18to use a towel or some sort of bike covering to protect the top of your bike. Sweat is incredibly
05:26corrosive
05:26to bikes, especially aluminium components. And these are all things which can be found in and around
05:32your handlebars, 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
05:56mistake we could be making is actually not adjusting our FTP bias in line with our current level of
06:02fitness. Now, your FTP bias is the number that your indoor training software uses to calculate your
06:08training zones. And then from there, it works out what numbers it would want you to hit during a
06:13structured workout. 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 ability
06:23for those continual gains. The key point is if you don't adjust your FTP bias in line with your
06:30current level of fitness, then you won't be training in the correct zones. And that means that you could
06:35either be doing sessions that are too easy for you, or you could just be sending yourself in a downward
06:40spiral of sessions that are just too difficult. While indoor training can be a pretty time efficient
06:50way of training, there's two things that shouldn't be forgotten, warming up and cooling down. This is
06:57obviously a bit of a no-brainer as most of us will need to warm up to get our legs
07:01into a comfortable
07:02operating zone. However, it can be very easy to neglect the cool down. Gently spinning your legs for
07:09five to 10 minutes ensures that you can flush out all that lactic acid and it gives you a chance
07:14to relax
07:15your muscles after some full gas efforts. Not to mention, it kickstarts your recovery and will help
07:22alleviate some of those aches and pains that can accrue after a pretty intense session.
07:29Much like my earlier point of not following a training plan, it's also important that you
07:34set yourself 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
07:49that you really want to achieve. Having something to work towards will give your training a brand new
07:55sense of 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.
08:05So 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,
08:16then drop them down in the comments below. If you enjoyed the video, drop it a like,
08:19subscribe to the channel for more content, and I'll see you all again very soon.
08:23I cannot stress how important it is to use a towel. Oh my God. Jesus Christ. I cannot stress how
08:30important it is to use a towel or a bit too much power.
Comments