- Chances are, if you've ever been dropped
and then distanced on a ride or in a race,
that it's because your five minute power
wasn't quite as high as it needed to be.
- Yeah but do we need to improve it,
and how do we improve it?
So coming up are two sessions you can do to help you,
and also some technical pointers to help you out too.
- I feel like it's gonna hurt.
- Oh yeah.
(upbeat music)
Right, Chris, we better start with
the obvious one hadn't we?
If you wanna improve your five minute power
then we're going to have to train it.
There's no easy way and there is no shortcut.
Quite simply, the best way to improve your five minute power
is to get out there and do some five minute maximal efforts.
- [Chris] You could play around with your mix of
seated and standing, depending on the terrain.
Ideally aiming to stand if the terrain is steep
and your speed is slower.
If you're on a flat, then seated is going to be
the fastest style, allowing you to travel further
for the power you are producing.
- The first point to note, is that in order to
improve our power output you need to be fresh,
to enable you to push as hard as possible.
So leave a good couple of days after
any previous hard rides.
- Then we want to complete five max efforts,
and what we wanna do is work on a double rest to work ratio.
So that's five minutes hard work and 10 minutes rest.
Ooh this is gonna hurt.
- [Chris] Attack hard, we mean seriously hard,
in the first two minutes.
You want to be questioning if you've
started out too hard at this point.
Then, settle into a rhythm for the next minute,
before ramping up your final surge
over the next two minutes.
These are excrutiating intervals.
If you're not screaming to free will at any point
then you aren't trying hard enough.
Push as hard as you can, right through the final 30 seconds
and drive it right up to the five minute mark.
And then, recover.
In fact, I remember one time,
setting a new five minute power PB,
and then sitting in the gutter for a few minutes afterwards.
Although it's actually best not to do that
because peddling gently will enhance your recovery,
making the second effort much easier.
So then after 10 minutes of gentle peddling
it's time to hit it again and get into the next effort.
Remember, go as hard as you can, for as long as you can,
pace that middle minute, and then really
drive it hard to the end.
Ooh.
- Once again, recover, hydrate, and refuel.
And then it's onto the final one.
(exhales)
Let's do it.
(upbeat music)
And voila, a simple session to help maximize
and increase your five minute power.
- Yeah good work hang, quite enjoyed watching you do that.
Now the next session is a little more complicated,
but the workload is vastly shorter.
Although you won't be thanking us for it,
because it is absolutely savage.
I mean it's not the sort of session I did a huge amount,
but when I saw it in my schedule
I knew I was in for a bad day.
(James laughs)
- Wasn't that bad, mate.
- I don't think you tried hard enough if you say that.
(James laughs)
(upbeat music)
- Six times 30 second max sprint effort.
Make sure you're super motivated and rested for this one,
because they really do hurt, but they will help you
build your five minute power.
- [Chris] Sprint for 30 seconds,
recover for two and a half minutes.
Don't blame me for this, blame Steve Benton.
He isn't here to defend himself, and they were his idea.
If you can lift your arms comfortable after this session
you have not tried hard enough.
This really is another sit in the gutter session for me.
(upbeat music)
- Right, we mentioned we were gonna help you
improve your technique for these.
We are going to strip right back down to the basics.
Ensure your shoes are tight, even a little bit of slack
in your shoes is a waste of energy, power, and speed.
So pay attention to that.
Now it's two minutes attacking effort without the saddle.
Really giving it as much as you can.
Then for the middle minute you can sit back in the saddle,
but try to maintain the effort.
And then for the last two minutes it's out of the saddle,
giving it everything you've got.
And once done, you'll have a new five minute PB.
But it does come hard.
- Then you position on the bike,
are your efforts on the flat?
If so, it's your power to CVA that you want to improve,
rather than your actual peak watts.
So focus on punching a small clean hole in the wind,
not thrashing on the bike or wasting energy
by sitting up high.
Look at the guys riding the pursuits on the track,
very smooth.
But if you are riding uphill,
and depending on how steep it is,
then more of a grabbing the bull by the horns approach
might work better for you.
Whilst this may not always be the fastest,
possibly because you're not that aero,
it is likely to give you much higher power numbers.
You're able to use the leverage in your arms
and your upper body to really drive the cranks down
on each side of the bike.
And this becomes especially effective
in those final 30 seconds, when you're really
trying to go for that finish line.
Don't forget to add in a little pacing.
The sole goal of these efforts should be pacing it
to get to the final pedal stroke and reaching exhaustion.
(yawns)
- Now make sure you're fresh and super motivated
when doing these sessions.
And it's a good idea to leave around
two to three days in between them.
- That'll really help you set new PBs
and reach those peak performances you're looking for.
- If you did enjoy this video,
then remember to give it a big thumbs up.
- And to check out more training videos click down there.
- Right, shall we go mate, 'cause it's getting
a bit rainy now.
- Yeah I want my raincoat.
- And it's super slippy on this road, isn't it?
(James laughing)