in this video we're going to show you
three great ways to improve your
strength on the bike we all want to be
stronger right but what does that
actually mean well the technical
definition of strength is your ability
to carry out work against resistance
strength is the maximal force we can
apply it against a load which in our
case is provided by the pedals we can
train to improve our strength by
increasing the resistance against which
we work but how does that help us in the
bike well it's all about increasing your
ability to cope with situations where
you need extra strength like for example
short sharp crimes or Sprint's or even
and its most basic accelerating out of
corners with this in mind we need to
focus primarily on exerting force
against the pedals more force than would
normally be required over the duration
of a ride but for shorter periods so
interval as it is then that's right this
is gonna hurt but luckily for us the
terrain here in a man is ideal for these
intervals boasting a combination of
short steep climbs and miles and miles
of rolling roads
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there are a few different types of
strength that we can train on the bike
but for now I think we should get going
my favorite the short sharp agonizing
explosive hecklers that sounds horrible
Chris why don't you show us how it's
done these efforts will specifically
help focus on the maximum force you can
produce in small bursts a good sprinter
for example like Chris can produce more
force than your typical family car now
they're not necessarily about building
more muscle tissue but about optimizing
the way you use what you already have
neuromuscular training basically you'll
need 10 to 15 minutes of warm-up and
some big gears flat road or not pill
drag but definitely not go downhill and
you will need at least 30 seconds of
clear road ahead of you then it's time
to start your efforts seated or standing
it doesn't really matter all the matters
is that you start slow and give it
absolutely everything ain't a start just
a little faster than walking pace and a
really big gear now this really is 10
out of 10 on the perceived exertion
scale so you're really gonna have to go
for it the sprint effort should never
feel comfortable and after 20 to 30
seconds you're gonna find the qualities
dropping off to at that point you should
stop yeah and you need a really good
recovery period around 10 minutes for a
close to full recovery but if you are
pushed for time somewhere between 4 and
6 minutes could work well for you 6 of
these efforts is really enough after all
is the quality and not the quantity that
we're aiming for yeah now make sure you
recover well and you'll really have a
very beneficial session under your belt
another advantage of course is that you
can include this as part of the longer
ride if you've got time and you can do
these efforts seated or standing the
choice really is yours
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Oh No
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say then moving on to the slightly
longer efforts and I'm often torn
between the durations to use for these
but today we're going to do two minutes
you could of course make them three if
you like
now again you want to go uphill as
possible around a 10 percent gradient
would be ideal but you could do they
want to snap into a headwind or even
over geared with the brakes on and these
efforts are ideal for replicating the
short sharp climbs different in some
races like for example Asheville on yep
put on the pans line butter out yeah
brutal start at a cadence of around 50
reps per minute so you will really need
a big gear for that one that you're not
likely to accelerate too quickly from
there you will really need to force the
pedals around the feeling you're looking
for in your legs isn't the similar to if
you were doing really quite heavy squats
only that feeling is to be maintained
for two minutes or on a scale of
perceived exertion around nine and a
half to ten because after all we now
know that anything under a three-minute
effort is pretty much maximal anyway
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by this point you'll no doubt be feeling
that deep muscle burn and looking
forward to your recovery yep definitely
six minutes is about the kind of
recovery you want this kind of effort
and once again you can't put them into a
longer shorter ride if you want yeah and
the golden number of efforts to do is
six slightly lower intensity than the
previous efforts we've discussed but
because of that you can do this longer
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they've been move on to the longer
efforts and these are my least favorite
if I'm honest but hey they are
beneficial to bees we'll be targeting
your strength endurance so think long
times or long expose crosswind sections
yeah I don't like these kinds of efforts
either but I do like them slightly more
than the short efforts which I really
really don't like so the time and effort
ideally done on the climb or if you're
on the flat into a headwind assume a
good racing position tighten your shoes
and away you go
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now ten minutes is an uncomfortably long
time to spend in such a low-key but do
stick with it because it will really
help with your pedaling efficiency and
muscle recruitment which in turn will
help to build your muscular endurance as
with the other effort a recovery period
afterwards is essential and ideally you
would do this at around 100 to 110 rpm
for a good 1 to 3 minutes followed by a
further few minutes at a camp that is
more natural to you that way your
straight back is using your muscles in
the correct way to pedal quickly on the
bike if you are a beginner you want to
aim for two times ten minutes of these
efforts if a more advanced rider was
doing them 3 times 15 or even 4 times 15
followed by 15 4 by 15 and your name for
around seven and a half to eight on the
perceived exertion scale or if you use a
parameter a good high end of century
after these sessions I would almost
always recommend an easy day as that
will enable your muscles to recover
stronger and it's when we recovering but
well the good work is done something
like a light 30 to 60 minutes with the
ideal yes indeed now don't forget to
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