- Hello, and welcome back everybody.
Now this may not seem like the normal setting
that we film in, but this is my back garden.
Obviously times are quite tough out there
and a lot of us are not able to get out on our bicycles.
And the poor old mountain bike here has been sitting dormant
for a little while now, but don't worry, I'm here to help.
Today we're going to be looking at
how to make a training program.
Now in this I'm going to be showing you guys
sort of, how to structure it, how to plan it,
where you can make it,
basics, all sorts of bits and pieces
that are really going to help you
get through even the winter
or these tough times at the moment
with just a little bit more structure.
(upbeat music)
Okay, we're going to have to leave
the bike there a minute, I think,
and head into what I call the paynecave.
Yeah, I know you're all having a chuckle,
but this is where most of my training goes down.
I've got everything set up in it that I could possibly need,
and let's take quick look, right.
(door bangs)
We're in.
So I've got the turbo set up behind me here.
Some sweat has been dropped there, I tell you that for sure.
And, what's this?
Let's have a closer look
at what I've prepared earlier for you guys
to help get you through organizing a bit more training.
So what have I prepared earlier?
Well, this is it, the masterpiece.
I know, I know.
It's pretty special.
What this is,
is basically a fairly simple breakdown of my week.
Now, obviously, everyone's week is different
and everyone has different things
that they need to do and different priorities.
So this isn't set in stone.
You don't need a big ol' whiteboard to do this on.
You could do this on a spreadsheet on your computer,
plain old piece of A4 if you want to keep things simple.
But it's just a really good way
of looking at the entire week
and breaking it down into time sections as well.
So first up, let's take a look
at how I've divided this week up.
Well, we've got a.m., lunchtime and p.m.
Three parts of the day,
which I think most of us can do a workout
in one of those parts of the time.
Be it quick gym session, lunchtime on your work break
or on your break if you're working from home,
before work and obviously when most of us can after work.
And obviously across the top
I've got Monday through to Sunday as well.
So I'm pretty sure unless you are some full time athlete
or have a lot of spare time on your hands,
we've covered most of the times
that people are going to be able to train.
So let's take a look at Monday first.
Now obviously following on from the weekend
when a lot of people will do a lot of their riding
but we'll get to that.
I've got it for me penciled in as a rest day
basically all the way through the day.
No exercise, morning, afternoon,
in the evening I might do some stretching
just if I'm feeling a bit tired from the weekend,
sort of thing but just to keep me limbered up.
But yeah, just to recover, take it easy,
eat well, sleep well,
like just mentally sort of wind down as well
and prepare for the week ahead,
I'll take Monday as a rest day.
Moving on to Tuesday,
now in the morning I'll still chill
but like if you're at home, or if I'm at work,
I'll go to the gym at lunchtime,
obviously, if you've got more time on your hands now,
then you might be able to do a midday session.
You know, something worth doing.
And then in the evening,
so about 5:30 later on, whatever works best for you.
I'll get a proper training session in.
Now I'm not going to really touch on
what training you should do,
'cause that's for a whole another video,
you'll have to keep your eyes peeled for.
But yeah, definitely sort of some form of like,
turbo or structured training session in there,
outside when you can, but at the moment, yeah (knocks)
on that turbo, like I said.
Wednesday, for myself,
I structure this
so that Wednesday is a fairly low intensity day.
What I've got in here is a mountain bike ride.
Again, when you can or if you can,
or if you're spinning on that turbo
or exercise bike or whatever, you know,
if you don't want to ride you do a gym session.
Keep it at fairly low intensity
because you should be
exercising pretty hard on that Tuesday.
Again, this is for me,
but, you know, whatever works for you.
But yeah, in here I pencil in
a low intensity mountain bike ride
and that will normally be a minimum of an hour,
hour and a half to two if I can
in those summer months, especially.
Well the week is flying through, already up to Thursday.
Thursday again, we get to a high intensity day.
Now I know I may look like a weatherman
pointing to my board here.
But it's really helping me
sort of keep track of what's going on.
So it's a good way I recommend doing but yeah,
Thursday for me, I'll have a gym session and a ride.
The ride is going to be another high intensity
structured training ride
and the gym is going to be a pretty tough session in itself.
A little tip here is
if you are doing both of these sessions in one day,
then try not to make the gym session too leg intensive
is it's going to ruin you for your bike ride.
Focus on maybe upper body or core
or if you are doing legs then have a real think about
sort of low weight, high reps sort of stuff.
Nothing that's just going to smash your legs to pieces
and then when you hop on the bike,
you're just going to struggle.
And yeah, you're not going to get no gains from it.
Another thing worth noting is that
this isn't set in stone, like I said.
This isn't like the be-all and end-all.
You don't have to stick to this.
Given the timing at the moment,
you might want to switch stuff around
whatever works best for you.
You might find yourself doing a ride in the morning
if that's when you prefer to do it.
And a gym session in the evening.
Like I said, it's not set in stone.
This is just a really good way of laying things out
and really keeping on top on a sort of a structure
that plan that you can stick to.
Friday then, weeks gone by.
The working week is done.
Hallelujah, I hear you say.
Well, you'll be welcome to know
that I here pencil in another rest day.
You know we lead pretty busy, hectic lives these days.
So resting the body and the mind
I think is really important.
Again, I might just put a stretch in at the end,
like after the day.
But you know, this is really optional.
I try to keep it pretty, you know,
low key on that day and get ready for a big weekend ahead.
The weekend is upon us.
And I know for most of us,
this is going to be the time when we have to cycle the most.
So personally for myself,
I'm going to look at getting solid rides on both days,
two to three hours.
Road bike, maybe on the Saturday,
so I do like a bit of road in this.
Mountain bike on the Sunday
'cause after all, I am a mountain biker.
I'll do a good long session in the woods
trying to get those miles in,
but I'll also have a good play as well hitting some turns.
'Cause I've not really touched on skills in this.
Like I said, you can adapt it for what you want in there.
So you could put, you know, skills in.
I've put in here like I do a road ride in the morning,
I might go back, chill, have some lunch
and then if I'm allowed out again,
I might get a little cheeky mountain bike ride
in the afternoon.
But, you know, like I said,
it depends on what commitments you've got.
Sunday, long mountain bike ride,
afternoon rest, stick the telly on,
get a cup of tea, watch some GMBN, take it easy.
So this is obviously a general overview of my week.
But there are other great ways of planning your training
and tools to help with that.
So let's go take a look at some, I think.
So there are, like I said, a ton of apps,
online programs and websites
that you can use to help structure your plan.
Things like Strava, Zwift, TrainingPeaks,
or what I use is Garmin,
and you know, all of these synced to your phone,
they'll sync to your devices,
and tell you that data and put it all in a great place.
Once you've got all that data in a great place,
that's where the organization comes into play.
Because there's no point having all of these numbers
but no way of knowing what you're doing
or sort of collating them in a good,
you know, organized fashion.
Now, remember all these gadgets and gizmos,
they're not essential.
You don't need them, I promise.
But as long as you've got a trusty piece of paper and a pen
on here you can write down
everything you could online or on your phone.
Some people actually prefer that
because they've got something sort of hard and tangible
that they can reference back to
if you don't have your phone to hand.
And it kind of keeps you off your phone as well sometimes.
So it's nice just to go back to basics.
So earlier on when talking about my own plan,
I touched on the fact that
I will do some strength work and some stretching.
This is not only a great idea
to obviously build up your power,
but also it's going to help you stay limber
and avoid injury, hopefully.
Now, I think it is time we got out of here
and went to another area of the paynecave,
where I like to do a little bit of my other workouts
and go have a look and see what I do there.
Now diving headfirst into weights and strength work,
can cause injury.
So I've set up a little room here as well,
I'm lucky enough to have.
I've got my yoga mat down,
I've got a little kettlebell in there.
I just go in there,
hide away, when I sit on my program
I don't get distracted
and it just helps me focus on the task in hand.
I guess another actual really important point there,
that if you can set aside somewhere where you can train,
this will really help you stick to it.
It's worth noting also
that it doesn't always have to be gym work or yoga work,
you can really mix it up with other types of training.
So things like climbing, getting out running,
swimming, low impact, stuff like that.
All of these things are really going to help your cardio system
and, you know, contribute towards your cycling.
So don't be too...
I know it's very difficult at the moment.
We can't get out easily
but whatever you can do to mix it up
in your garden, garage, house.
Keep it varied and that'll keep it interesting on that plan.
Again, thanks for watching, and see you guys soon.
Cheers.