(low rumbling) (air whooshing)
- Currently here in the northern hemisphere
it's the middle of winter,
which frankly makes it pretty difficult to get out of bed
to go riding in the dark before work.
- Well you could go out after work in the dark.
- Yeah, but most of us have an hour free at lunch time
and that's plenty of time to get a good, hard session.
But what kinda training session
will make the most out of an hour?
- Well I think for me it's got to be some intervals.
A quick warm up, smash out a few efforts
(hands clapping) job done.
- Beneficial yes, but
actually mentally, it's quite hard work isn't it?
Like I'm not afraid of the physical exertion,
but I kinda want my lunch time
to be a little bit of a break.
So I reckon, I can get fit and put a smile on my face
if I go off-road.
- Yeah, but you're never gonna get cleaned up in time
to be back in the office after an hour are you?
Whereas I'm going to be doing the ultimate
bang for your buck training
which is on the indoor trainer,
where I'll get a very good quality session done
inside 45 minutes and I don't even need the office.
So I'll also have time for lunch as well.
- Fair enough. - Yeah.
What about you Hank?
- Mate, I'll be staying indoors as well.
I reckon I can get a good, solid gym session in an hour.
And to be honest mate,
these muscles ain't gonna build themselves are they?
- Sounds like we got a challenge on our hands.
12 o' clock, leave the office,
back within the hour.
Anyone misses a time cut, they're buying lunch
although they probably won't have time to eat it.
- Alright, game on.
Three. (beeps)
Two. (beeps)
One. (beeps)
Get back.
(beeps)
(lock clicking)
(mellow rock music)
(men exclaiming)
- Come on. - Sorry.
(heavy footfalls)
We are super lucky with where we're based here at GCN
and that in just a few minutes of riding
I can be out of the city and onto,
well proper, good trails really.
Now, I always tend to find that I ride
an awful lot harder
when off-road compared to on
without actually needing to try.
The effort just comes very naturally.
And for me that's an underrated part of a lunch time ride
and that although I'm physically working hard,
mentally, I can totally switch off
and recharge my batteries a bit.
Although, that said,
I have got a quad parameter on this bike
so I am gonna be able to hit you up
with a little bit of data.
(mellow rock music)
- So you might be wondering why I'm not dressed in lycra
even though I'm a cyclist.
Well I've decided to do a strength session in the gym
for my lunch time work out.
And this is not only good for maintenance of body,
but it's also good for performance on the bike.
(mellow hiphop music)
So I'm here joined with Chris at Strength for Endurance
and he's gonna be running me through a 45 minute session.
You ready? - Hell yeah, let's go for it.
- (blows out air) Let's do it.
- So nice and easy.
Let's just get ourselves going
for just three or four minutes,
get the blood moving.
Probably been sat behind a desk,
so just get the blood moving
and then we're gonna get you up
and sorta get you doing a couple of key warm up exercises
before we get into the main bulk of the session.
- So this feels pretty natural to me.
I'm on the bike
raising the heart rate,
getting ready for a good, solid session.
(keys clicking rapidly)
- Lunch time.
(upbeat hiphop music)
(clothes rustling)
Let's go.
(lock clicks)
(dial clicking)
I've gone for the indoor trainer
because quite simply, it's the most efficient way
to train at lunch time.
Now I'm really lucky here at GCN
in that I don't even have to leave the office
to jump on the turbo.
So I'm going to do a very tough indoor session
and I reckon I'm gonna hit some great power numbers,
if I'm completely honest, I'm feeling good.
(lock cranks) (bag rustles)
(door rattles)
(strap smacks) (dial clicking)
(zipping)
(dial clicking) (button clicks)
(groovy dance music)
- Right so it took me a little under seven minutes
to get changed, it's taken me a further five minutes
to get out of town.
And I've warmed up aggressively through out that time.
I've done a couple of sort efforts
between the traffic lights lungs are ready, legs are ready,
it's pretty much time to start my first effort
of which I'm gonna do five two minute efforts.
So a short segment of a hill just outside of Bath.
And I've chosen two minutes because
it's a bit of a strength of mine and I quite enjoy it,
and I can definitely cram that into the lunch hour.
(groovy dance music)
Alright that's route number one
and I got my target watts at 500 watts.
But there are four more to go.
So a four minute recovery,
reset the button,
go again.
(breathing heavily)
(mellow saxophone music)
- While the others are stressfully running off
trying to cram in as much exercise as they can
into their lunch breaks,
well, I like to use lunch breaks
for what they're actually for,
which is chilling out and having some lunch.
(chuckles)
(mellow saxophone music)
(mellow hiphop music)
(breathing audibly)
- So here I'm working on strength
(weights thud loudly)
and power.
Strength being this weight
(weights thud loudly)
and power being the box jump.
Now this is really good for cyclists
willing to build power through the pedals.
(exhales audibly)
So I'm doing three sets of this
(exhales audibly)
and I'll tell you what,
it's definitely getting the heart going
and the muscles burning,
which is always a good sign.
(exhales audibly)
(beeping)
(mellow rock music)
- Now as I said I am very fortunate
in that I can quickly leave the city limits behind
and find some trails,
but if you don't think that you have that luxury
I would just say, bear in mind,
you don't need pristine wilderness
to be able to ride your bike on dirt,
particularly if cyclo-cross is your bag.
You can pretty much find places to practice
those essential skills,
well just about anywhere in the city.
(mellow rock music)
(liquid squirting)
(breathing heavily)
- Are you rolling?
- [Cameraman] Yeah.
- I've got a right sweat on now,
I'm deep into the session.
Sweat's just dripping on to the mat,
two more minutes to go.
(breathing heavily)
(upbeat hiphop music)
I am at the start of my get fit in 10 weeks campaign
where I'm doing four hours on Sufferfest
per week on the bike.
Today, I'm doing quite aptly,
the G.O.A.T. session, greatest of all time.
Focused on increasing my FTP.
There's a warm up then there's some opening up intervals
and then it's into eight lots of two minutes
at FTP, which for me is about 245 watts, but a low cadence.
So looking at my strength.
The great thing is,
I'll be done in just under 42 minutes.
So it's very efficient indeed.
Still in my warm up now.
(groovy dance music)
- Here we go.
(breathing heavily)
What was I thinking?
(mellow saxophone music)
- Incidentally, fun fact of the day,
you burn 80 calories an hour reading.
(object banging)
(mellow hiphop music)
- 501,
502,
503,
no I'm joking I'm just on eight.
So this is really helping me
stabilize
for the back
and it'll help you stabilize when your on your bike as well.
Especially if you're doing a time trial,
or you're keeping in that low
prologue or
TT position.
(exhales audibly)
Looks easy,
but let me tell you it's not.
(beeping)
(groovy dance music)
- Alright, final one
and I'm suffering so I've taken my gloves off.
It makes me feel like it's summer.
My legs are like jelly.
(breathing heavily)
Oh,
that is it.
I'm pretty toasted.
Yeah, not a lot left in my legs now,
so I gotta press on that one
head back to the office and get straight
to the front of the queue for a shower.
(breathing audibly)
Woo.
(mellow rock music)
- Okay, I've got 20 minutes left,
bear in mind, miraculously,
I don't actually think I need to clean my bike today.
But I am gonna have to have time for a shower.
Yes, even I be, I'm a sweaty one.
Question is, can I tear myself away from the woods?
No, is the answer to that.
(mellow rock music)
(beeps)
- Alright don't shoot this bit.
I'm just gonna whiz it on to the last interval.
Alright.
Almost at the end now.
Right, start rolling again now.
(upbeat hiphop music)
Six minutes to go.
(exhales audibly)
(upbeat hiphop music)
Five,
four,
three,
two,
one.
And we're done.
(chain cranking)
Probably don't actually need to have a shower.
(clothes rustling)
Shower in a can.
(deodorant spraying)
Do my fly.
(lock clicks)
- Right, that's a 40 minute session done.
Thanks so much mate, I'll see you tomorrow.
- Have a good one. - I reckon I got 15 minutes
to grab a coffee.
That's not bad is it?
(exhales audibly)
(mellow hiphop music)
(mellow saxophone music)
- Oh that was a nice relaxing lunch time,
I feel energized ready to start the afternoon.
And I'm gonna do my training after work,
where I don't have the stress of having to,
well, cram it all in.
- It started out really well, 510 watts.
To be honest, I thought I'd do that
throughout the entire session,
but I'm not quite as fit as I used to be.
In fact the last one was just under 400
which is,
ah, it is what it is.
Anyway I think I'll get back in time now
for a good long hot shower, get back to the desk
with a little bit of time to eat as well.
Oh and finally 700 kiloJoules
320 normalized so
it's pretty good.
(groovy dance music)
(beeping)
(door creaks)
- [Hank] Oh right on time.
- Hello, finally have arrived,
I've been here ages.
- Oh I bet you have.
- Almost, lunch hour's over actually.
- Still sit down before you. - How are you feeling?
How was it boys?
Hank? - Yeah no really good,
it's actually a session
I love doing at lunch time and I--
- Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
- Dink a coffee. - No one else did.
- Well, I didn't quite make it in time for a coffee,
but I did get outside on the road
had a really good hard ride in my lunch hour
In the beautiful weather that's outside
But five two minute max efforts,
no I'm not doing that again.
- No, still quite a lot of training though.
If I'm honest I probably wouldn't have ever done
an off-road ride in lunch hour,
but I'm actually pretty glad that I did.
I mean, I got a really good session in.
267 average, 309 normalized,
23 minutes riding above threshold.
And I do really, really like riding off-road,
so I have got a big grin on my face
even if I'm a little on the late side.
So, yeah, I'll do that again.
- Well, you're lucky it's dry at the moment,
otherwise you'd still be cleaning your bike and kit--
- That is a very good point,
I would not tackle it if it was muddy.
- Something that I don't have to worry about
with my indoor session, which was brilliant,
I have to say.
Yeah, I thin kif you got space in your office at work
to do an indoor training session,
it's hard to argue against how effective it is.
It's the most efficient use
you can possibly make of your time on the bike,
especially when you're confined to an hour.
There's no faffing about in traffic,
you don't have to put loads of winter kit on
and there's no freewheeling.
- No, fair enough.
You are looking remarkably fresh.
Given that you've been sweating though.
- I had a quick shower afterwards.
- Fair enough, well, a neat conclusion then.
So for maximum training, riding indoors clearly
if your work allows it.
For a bit of fresh air,
of course you have to venture outdoors.
And I'd say if you fancy riding off-road,
then give that a shout
because that is a nice way to get a bit of mental space.
- Yeah, if you're stuck for everything else,
then hit the gym.
- If you are stuck. - Where's Ollie?
That's a good point actually.
- [Ollie] Thanks for starting without me lads.
- Oh, it looks like you're buying the lunch.
- [Ollie] Looks like a complicated graph.
- Yeah.
(chuckling)
- Where have you been?
- Well, you know, I've just been chilling out.
- [Simon] What did you actually do?
- Bit too chilled out.
- Had some lunch, didn't I.
- In your lunch hour, you had lunch?
- Yeah. - Where'd you train?
- How weird. - Yeah,
well I hope you've enjoyed this video.
And if you have, well, why not tell us what you get up to
in your lunch hour and what you think the best training is.
And for another video,
I think you should check out our
contador climbing challenge.
- Nice.
- Which involves a banana.
- And lots of standing.
- Yeah.
- And don't forget to give this video a thumbs up
if you enjoyed it.