English – Page 18 – BKOOL Magazine

As sports enthusiasts, we all have a gene that makes us want to surpass ourselves in each training session. When we’re in shape and see progress, we all feel the temptation to give a little more. Sometimes, we also get carried away by the feeling that harder is better, or by the competitiveness of training with others. But forgetting about slow training in cycling is a big mistake.

If you observe professional athletes, you’ll see that a large part of their training volume is done at relaxed paces (for them, of course). Always going as fast as you can and looking for personal bests is not the best strategy to improve performance. It also creates dangers, like overtraining.

Training slowly is less demanding, improves aerobic capacity, allows you to train with less fatigue and does not condition the fast sessions where you want to put the body to the test.

Why is slow training in cycling necessary to go fast?

Many athletes tend to abuse what’s known as the “sweet spot.” It’s that pace where you can go moderately hard for a long period of time, but when it’s time to go up a notch, you can’t.

When you take the wrong approach, and are always pushing the body a little bit, you condition your body for that level of effort. In other words, if you always train at a moderately demanding pace, you end up being only moderately good at moderate efforts.

This approach has a major handicap in that it does not allow the body to fully recover from demanding workouts. As a result, it isn’t able to take on hard efforts again. Another problem, as mentioned before, is that as you start to accumulate fatigue, you can become overtrained.

When to go slow

As you’ll see, taking some workouts slowly can (and will) make you a better athlete. You may have to work harder to move fewer watts, but it will pay off.

Slow training should be REALLY slow . Many cyclists tend to overdo the prescribed efforts, and that’s a big mistake. Keep power below 50-60% of your FTP, or in heart rate in zones 1-2. Get on the trainer, put on your favorite music and just enjoy the ride.

Recovery days

When we talk about recovery workouts, we talk about sessions on days after hard key training sessions: interval sessions, tempo changes, long climbs, etc.

Recovery sessions aim to maintain and increase blood flow so that your muscles get more nutrients and you reduce inflammation caused by muscle damage. Slow exercise allows nutrients to enter the cells, essential because the faster you get nutrients to the muscles, the faster they repair themselves.

Keep in mind: easy means VERY easy. It is all too common to see athletes work out on their active recovery days at much higher intensities than they should.

Endurance workouts

Endurance workouts, are those that form your base as an athlete. These will later allow you to ride long distances at elevated paces with ease, but they are also easy to overdo.

These sessions should be completed in the aerobic zone at all times. The key is to be able to hold a conversation normally. If you’re guided by heart rate, this should be zone 2. Avoid going out of it – large peaks/variations will not be helpful. In terms of power, 55-75% of your FTP is the ideal range.

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There are many reasons to undergo cycling performance tests: from keeping motivation high (either because you’ve observed progress or because you haven’t reached the numbers we want), to being able to properly plan and execute training sessions.

Having data on performance helps you enjoy the process, gives you data for future comparisons, shows you how your training is working and helps determine your zones and plan.

All of this is much easier with a coach, but don’t worry if you don’t have one. Here are some cycling performance tests that will help you measure your progress.

FTP test

Probably the most popular test in cycling, the FTP test determines your functional threshold power, which is the estimated power you can sustain in an effort for approximately 60 minutes.

The FTP is a great tool for coaches and athletes, as it provides a very clear measure of your state of fitness. And it helps quickly establish your training zones and plan your efforts. There are many who use the FTP as a guideline to mark different blocks of a training session.

Due to its duration, some athletes choose to do this test on the trainer. It can be hard to find a suitable, safe route with a constant gradient of around 5% or 6%. The procedure is quite simple: warm up for 15 to 20 minutes, then include a few short intervals of one minute and then, after three minutes of easy pedaling, ride hard for 20 minutes at the hardest pace you think you can sustain for that time. You should reach the end exhausted.

The average power in watts over the 20 minutes multiplied by 0.95 will be your estimated FTP.

Ramp test to measure Maximum Aerobic Power

This predictive test of performance consists of increasing the power range by 20 or 30 W during predetermined intervals (between 1 and 3 minutes) until you reach exhaustion. The last stretch in which you are able to sustain the indicated power corresponds to your maximum aerobic power, i.e., the maximum power that our body can develop in an aerobic state.

Don’t forget to warm up and do some short activation sets before you attempt this test.

Critical power test

Critical power tells you the highest average effort you can sustain during a given period of time. Unlike the FTP test, which gives you information about your capacity for one-hour efforts, critical power can be set for any time interval.

Critical power can also be used to determine Maximum Aerobic Power. The data obtained in a P5 or P6 are very close to this. It is simply a matter of performing a 5 or 6 minute test at the maximum power you’re capable of holding.

As with the other three, warm up for 15 to 20 minutes, perform some small, short, explosive activation sets, then ride as hard as you can for the prescribed time.

Any of these options are helpful to determine your state of fitness and establish your training zones. Ideally, you’ll take these tests at the beginning of the season to see where you’re starting from and repeat them later to monitor your progress.

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At BKOOL, we’re constantly growing into more countries, adding BKOOLers and fans throughout the globe. In support of this effort, we’ve just inked a collaboration agreement with the Hungarian Triathlon Federation to be their official virtual cycling platform.

With this partnership, all Hungarian professional triathletes and their coaches will be able to test the BKOOL cycling simulator free of charge for one year. In addition, all members of the Hungarian Triathlon Federation will get a discount voucher for an annual BKOOL Premium subscription at the discounted price of only 80 euros.

If you’re eligible to take advantage of this offer, just contact the Hungarian Triathlon Federation and they will send you a voucher to redeem on the BKOOL website. Anyone else can also try BKOOL with a 30-day free trial by going to our website.

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market, try it FREE for 7 days!

The vast majority of endurance athletes use specific skills and techniques in their workouts to improve efficiency and strength.

It’s common to find track and field athletes employing skipping, multi-skipping, lunges, progressives and more in their training routines. The vast majority of runners perform a block of these techniques before facing a tough session.

In the same way, we often see swimmers doing “technique drills” or strength work: underwater swimming, paddling, one-arm swims, swimming with closed fists, paddle or fin work, leg boarding, etc.

Shouldn’t cyclists also do specific efficiency and strength work? The answer is obvious. However, if you’re like most cyclists, you probably can’t remember the last time you did any.

If you want to get the most out of your pedaling, you need to get out of your day-to-day comfort zone and start working on becoming a more efficient cyclist.

That’s why in this article we bring you a series of indoor cycling exercises to improve efficiency and strength, including some incredibly helpful options to work on during the winter.

How to improve strength and efficiency with indoor cycling

Single leg pedaling

Known as isolated leg training, this exercise helps you balance your pedal stroke and pedal more efficiently by focusing on each leg individually.

Release one foot from the pedal. Simply hold it to the side or rest it on a chair if it feels more comfortable that way.

Now, start pedaling at a low cadence with the foot that’s still clipped in and concentrate on maintaining constant pressure throughout. In this exercise you can forget about power, which will inevitably be low.

You will probably notice a dead spot in your pedaling stroke. Your job here is to maintain your pressure throughout the pedal stroke at all times. When you progress and feel you’ve mastered the exercise, increase your cadence.

Pistons

Although a pedal stroke may look like one complete movement, it’s actually made up of two opposing muscle actions and four parts: the foot moves up, forward, down and then backward.

The way in which we manage to maintain the tension between those movements is what determines the efficiency of our pedaling.

This exercise aims to improve the efficiency of each pedal stroke by working on the position of the knees. Any lateral movement of the knees when pedaling is both inefficient and potentially damaging to your joints.

Therefore, this exercise seeks to simulate the movement of pistons, the same way an engine works. Focus on the movement of your knees, which should only be up and down. The key is to reduce any lateral movement of the knees as much as possible.

Perform this exercise in intervals of 30 to 60 seconds. To make the exercise easier and get a better workout, focus on a single knee for each repetition.

Kick and pull

There are two points where tension is most easily lost in the pedal stroke: the top and the bottom. This kick and jerk exercise is all about improving your ability to maintain tension at these weak points.

Basically, it’s about making a little more exaggerated forward kick when the knee approaches the top of the pedal stroke and you get ready to bring it down again. Once you move forward and down with the pedal stroke and the foot approaches the bottom of the circle, pull the heel back slightly, towards the back of your shoe.

Start with intervals between 30 and 60 seconds, focusing first on the kicking motion and then on the pulling motion. When you master both exercises comfortably, incorporate them into the same repetition.

Pull-ups

The pull-up is a great exercise that quickly works as many muscle fibers as possible. This exercise is very good for working on strength. It also simulates racing situations, such as attacks and sprints when you need to suddenly get into a gear and pedal as hard as possible.

Start from an almost stationary position, in a very large gear. The objective is to pedal hard from that position of being almost stopped, until you reach a comfortable cadence.

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A few days ago, we talked in this Magazine about when to make the decision to skip a training session. Sometimes, day-to-day obligations or simply fatigue can force you to opt out of a planned training session.

But as we explained, there’s nothing wrong with taking a break and recharging. In fact, overtaxing your body in a situation of fatigue or stress can end up taking its toll later on.

While proper planning is key to improving as an athlete, this can become a double-edged sword for those who feel the pressure to stick to the plan no matter what. But life doesn’t always go according to plan, and you need to be flexible and able to adapt to change.

When faced with a break in your training, whether for one day, several days or even a week, the question is always the same: do I continue where I left off or stick to my calendar?

In these cases, it’s best to count on the help of a coach if you can. There’s no subsitute for expertise. But if that’s not possible, here are some guidelines for adjusting your training plan when you’ve missed a workout.

Learning to adjust your training plan

Here are some guidelines for adjusting your plan after missing a workout, (remember: these are guidelines, not commandments). The most important thing is to listen to your body and try to figure out how the break has affected your fitness.

To do that, it helps to be able to measure resting heart rate and look at any other data to guide you in making the best decision about your status.

Only one day

If you’ve missed a single day of training, you probably just needed to rest or maybe day-to-day obligations prevented you from meeting your schedule. Resting was most likely the best decision. In principle, you don’t need to worry and you can continue with the planning as prescribed as long as your body and circumstances allow you to. Ride without fear!

Two or three days

If you’ve missed several days of training, let’s hope it’s not for lack of desire. If it is, there are many ways to combat demotivation.

If the reason was due to injury or illness, the first thing to do is to make sure you’re fully recovered. Otherwise, you can prolong your recovery and jeopardize your entire season.

If you’re well enough to return to training, start by adjusting the first few sessions to be a little easier than planned. In two or three days, get back to your previous pace and workload. Forget about making up any sessions you’ve missed: the only thing that will do is make you overtrained.

One week

If you’ve missed a week of training because of something like a planned vacation, that’s okay. When you come back, resume your workout as planned. On the other hand, if you missed all those days because of injury or some other unplanned interruption, that’s more serious.

Missing a week of training can have a real negative effect on progression and performance, so it may be best to pick up where you left off and not overlook all that missed training.

If you’re close to a targeted race and you’re not going to be able to accomplish everything you planned in training, our advice is to make up key workouts.

More than one week

If this happens, you’ll have no choice but to make major (and probably unwanted) changes to your training plan. You may need to set different short term goals. Either reduce your aspirations or opt for other competitions later in the season.

Losing more than a week of training can be a huge setback for progression and performance. But if you’re an experienced athlete with a decent fitness base, you should have no problems regaining fitness. It will take a few days, however. So be patient.

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market, try it FREE for 7 days!

Historically, riding the trainer has been the enemy of virtually every competitive cyclist. Riding indoors was the last resort to get through a harsh winter or stretch of bad weather. But advances in technology, along with (let’s face it) the pandemic, have brought the many benefits of indoor cycling to the forefront.

Training attitudes and approaches have changed. Athletes are starting to replace their outdoor road sessions with indoor trainer sessions to help maintain consistency in training or facilitate certain workouts.

This change in attitude is partly thanks to the development of ERG mode, which makes indoor training more reliable and efficient.

What is ERG mode?

ERG mode lets the cyclist control the desired load (power) at all times. The trainer’s resistance adjusts automatically in ERG mode, regardless of speed, cadence or momentum so that the rider is always generating a preset wattage.

This allows training to be much more controlled since the trainer will adapt to our output. If your cadence changes, the trainer will automatically adjust. It will simply apply more or less resistance to keep your power output constant.

Imagine, for example, that you want to ride a long interval session around your functional power threshold. If you try to do this session outdoors, you’ll undoubtedly find it difficult to maintain constant power due to all the variables you encounter: traffic, speed changes, wind, hills, etc. It’s really difficult.

That’s why ERG mode is such a great innovation: it allows you to stick precisely to your training plan. All you need is a smart trainer and a compatible app.

Tips to get the most out of ERG mode

Now that you know how ERG mode works and its benefits, here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your workouts:

Once ERG mode is set, the only factor you have total control over is cadence, so forget about power. Focus on keeping your cadence on target.
When your cadence drops, it takes a lot of power to bring it back up. Also, a lower cadence requires more force per pedal stroke. If you don’t want to overload your muscles early, try not to let your cadence drop.
When there’s a variation in your cadence, the trainer sets a new resistance, but it takes a few seconds to execute that change. If there are rapid cadence changes, it may be impossible for the trainer’s resistance to adapt quickly enough to maintain the target power output. Try to maintain a constant cadence without large or frequent spikes.
Keep the gear in the mid-range of the cassette most of the time. This is the easiest way to achieve a stable cadence.
If you want to do high cadence work, use the largest gear you can. It will help build momentum in the flywheel!
ERG mode has its advantages and disadvantages. If you only train in ERG mode, you can lose the feel for using your gears effectively, an essential racing skill. Use ERG mode only in very specific sessions.
ERG mode is a stress relief tool. With it, you don’t have to worry about controlling your pace, so take advantage of it to relax on mentally challenging days.

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market, try it FREE for 7 days!

I’m sure it’s happened to you at some point. You wake up, have breakfast, get your clothes ready for a cycling training session and get on the trainer. Suddenly, you feel that your body is not performing as well as it should and a question pops into your head: should I skip the workout?

Or maybe you can’t even find the time to get on the bike. Schedules, commitments or work often make it difficult. And the question comes up again: should I skip training?

When these circumstances arise, the most sensible thing to do is to take a step back and try to evaluate the possible reasons that have led us to feel this way. This is the only way to find answers to our question.

Internal factors and external factors

There are two types of stress that can affect our body: physical stress and mental stress. Both are responsible for our overall stress and, more often than not, to blame for our inability to cope with cycling training.

The stress that leads to these circumstances can be produced by various factors that can be classified into two groups: external and internal.

External factors

We are talking about all those extra-sporting situations that influence the sport: family, work and life emergencies that occur beyond our control.

We can’t torment ourselves with these factors, they are part of our life and should come before something that is just a hobby. Instead of getting annoyed and wasting energy on something that has no solution, spend it on trying to sort things out so that you can focus on the next session.

Stressing about missing a workout won’t do you any good. What’s more, it can affect your sleep, increase tension and hurt your next workout.

Just accept reality and try to switch off and rest so that you are at 100% for the next session.

External factors

Now we are facing situations with direct implications in sports. When you are sick, tired, feel fatigue or do not find the motivation to pedal, for example.

Sometimes, we blame these situations simply on a lack of desire or motivation, but the human body is very intelligent and is probably warning us of something. Perhaps it is telling us that it needs rest to recover. Listening to your body is important, especially when faced with symptoms of overtraining.

Giving up cycling training: what is the right decision?

The right decision will always be the one we make ourselves. We must be capable enough to make a decision and for this it is important to learn to know and listen to our body and be realistic with the circumstances and signals that surround us.

If there is one thing we must learn, it is that there is no magic formula and that sometimes taking a step back and taking a rest day instead of accumulating another cycling workout that doesn’t add up is the best decision we can make.

Are you exhausted and haven’t rested well lately? It’s not the time to tackle a demanding workout. But a quick, easy session probably won’t be the solution either. Trading your planned training time for extra sleep is the best decision.

Are you stressed and can’t find the peace of mind you need? Stress is stress, whether it’s physical or mental. Treat them equally. Take a day off to regain a positive mental space. If you are one of those people who disconnect with sport, an easy session or a recovery workout can be a good option.

Is your body still aching from a demanding last session? Have you heard of delayed onset muscle soreness? It exists and shows signs of life after 72 hours. When it appears it is simply a matter of not forcing and allowing our body to recover with easy sessions.

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market, try it FREE for 7 days!

Winter cycling training is a real challenge. Turbo trainers are the perfect tool, not only to stay in shape in winter, but to come out stronger.

Depending on the area you live in, there may be very few days when the weather is inviting to get on your bike. Having a good set at home to keep you pedaling will make winter an ideal season for training.
Let’s see how indoor cycling will make the hills seem less steep in the spring.

Set goals

The first thing to do is to set goals. We need to know where we are starting from and where we are going. These don’t have to be about competing in a specific event. You can set goals related to your fitness, focus on improving your functional threshold power (FTP) or VO2 max level.

Plan

Having organised workouts will leave no room for improvisation and feel more committed to the plan you are going to follow. Once we have clear goals it is easier to make a plan to focus on them. Prepare a training calendar and keep it in sight.

Do a test

This is one of the best tools to improve. When you start it is necessary to know where you are starting from. From the metrics of the first day we can see where we are in our evolution and the distance to the goal.

Knowing certain metrics will also be useful to know how to focus your training to improve.

Rest

Having the bike and many miles of safe roads to ride on at home, you may forget to rest. As in all other areas, rest is vitally important for the body to assimilate the training.

Cross-training

Cross-training can also mean that not all sessions are the same. Take the opportunity to try new things. Practicing other disciplines, interspersed with your main sport, will strengthen other muscle groups that will also help your sport.

Take care of your training space

It is necessary to have the right work area to motivate us to train. Cleanliness and order, or creating a sporty atmosphere, will make you want to ride your bike more.

Try to always have everything you need at hand and set up your pain cave so that you have the best possible comfort and facilities to train at home.

Get the most out of Bkool

If you focus too much on getting better, you might get saturated or frustrated and lose the desire to train. That’s why having fun also has to be part of the plan:

Try a Bkool competition. You can break the monotony and have a good time measuring your strength against other cyclists. You can also take advantage of the more relaxed sessions to listen to a podcast or watch a series you like.
Also take the opportunity to ride with your online group, Bkool gives you the possibility to meet up with your friends. This option can also be very useful to have fun on easy days.

As you have seen, the trainer is not just a tool to keep you on track. With clear objectives and a good plan it can become the perfect ally for winter cycling training.

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market, try it FREE for 7 days!

It has always been said that practice is the best teacher. To reach our goals we need to be disciplined. Motivation wears out, discipline does not. When it comes to improving at sport there is no magic formula, it takes time and patience: training consistency is the key to improvement.

To see how the effort pays off you need to have a plan and execute it consistently. Here are some tricks to make your sessions more bearable and not fall into monotony and boredom:

Set goals

Having a goal is key to making progress and achieving consistency in your training. Without a fixed goal, you may ask yourself, “Why am I training? Your goal doesn’t have to be to win the Tour de France, set goals that are in line with your level and where you want to go.

It is useful to set long term goals, but it is also useful to set short and medium term goals. These closer goals will help you stay focused – as they will seem more like a to-do list to cross off – to get to your big goal.

Schedule appropriately

As with goal setting, you need to plan in a way that is not overly demanding. When you first start out, it’s easy to feel motivated and believe you can do it all. But it’s not every day that you’re going to feel that motivation, and even less so when you’ve been training for a long time.

Even if you have to travel or there are some weeks when you’re not going to be able to do your workouts on a regular basis try to stay active so that when you come back it won’t be hard to get back to your level.

Use coaches

Coaches will help you in your preparation making your evolution faster and safer. They are an essential tool when you want to take it seriously.

Also, when we train on our own and, for whatever reason, we fail a training session, we fail ourselves. If you have a coach who takes you there, you will feel a higher level of involvement, this will make you feel like you are failing your coach when you skip workouts too.

Be aware that it is not linear

Progress is not linear, there are many factors involved that can make your evolution one way or another. Being aware of this prepares you mentally to face the adversities of your evolution. Suffering an injury or feeling that you are not improving can make you throw it all away if you don’t take it into account, but training consistency should not only be physical, but also mental.

Have fun

Training can become a hard and monotonous task when we have been doing it for a long time. It is necessary to get out of what we are used to, give it another perspective and have fun while training. A cycling simulator like Bkool can be a great tool for this.

I’m not saying that every day training should be pure fun. But it is necessary that on certain days you have a more enjoyable training or that training is done in the form of a game, so your head can rest and get out of the cycle of discipline and doing everything perfect.

Being disciplined and consistent will make you reach your goals. These tips or tricks will help you not to lose focus and make your workouts more bearable. Now that you know what to do, put on your cleats and hit the trainer!

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market, try it FREE for 7 days!

On the web we have already talked about the benefits of indoor cycling. This time we are going to see what are the main differences between indoor and outdoor cycling.

If you have never trained on a trainer before and you start using it, you will notice two things: it is harder and you sweat a lot. Training on a trainer has become an indispensable tool for cyclists and triathletes, but it has several differences with outdoor cycling.

You sweat a lot more

Undoubtedly, one of the big differences between indoor and outdoor cycling. As a general rule, inside a room the temperature is higher than outdoors, this is one of the factors that cause you to sweat more.

Sweating is the main method of cooling the body, through sweat lowers the temperature. The problem is that when training outdoors the body regulates temperature much more easily due to the contact of sweat with the air. At home there is no air that can help cooling.

In addition, it is important to keep an eye on your hydration because we can lose a lot of fluid through sweating and cause the blood to lose fluidity, which causes the heart rate to increase.

More demanding

Training on a Smart trainer is widely considered to be harder than trainer outdoors. When you train within four walls, there are no downhills or moments of relaxation. You always have to pedal, unlike when you train on the road.

Another point that makes it more demanding is the inertia. When you go at 35 kilometers per hour on the road and you stop pedaling the bike doesn’t stop, but on a trainer if you stop pedaling the bike stops and it’s hard to get back up to speed. Currently, there are increasing attempts to alleviate this with inertia disks.

Body posture

When you don’t train within the four walls you constantly modify your posture. The different conditions of the environment make you constantly have to rectify your posture to make a climb or pass a bump.

On the trainer, your posture is always the same. If you have a bad posture, it is possible that you will not change it for a long time, so it is necessary to have good biomechanics.

Balance is not involved, since you are static you don’t need to condition your body in case there is a curve. You also don’t need to have as good proprioception of the body as in road cycling.

Attention

While training, paying attention to your thoughts about the exercise you are performing causes you to have a higher sense of effort. By not being distracted on the trainer we think much more about the workout itself.

Being distracted while training reduces the feeling of effort, which is why apps to compete and distract yourself while training on the trainer are becoming so important.

Points in favor of indoor training

Although you may think that being more demanding is a negative point for the trainer, in fact, the opposite is true. Training on the trainer will make it seem easier when you get out on the bike.

It allows you to have thorough control of metrics without interference that you can have on the road. You’ll be able to better control your watts when training.

You are not dependent on the weather. By training within four walls it doesn’t matter what the weather is like outside, you can train, even if it’s raining outside. You don’t take risks. Dangers are minimized, there is no traffic and there is no chance of falling while training due to a sudden movement, so it is safer.

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market, try it FREE for 7 days!