Strong that can mean different things to different cyclists it might just mean good it might mean
Mentally tough or it might literally mean having massive quads and carve so chiseled look like you've been hewn from [granite]
Now there are no shortcuts to getting ripped on the [fraid] but here are three things that will make you stronger
Sweetspot efforts now those of you regular to GcM will no doubt [I've] heard this term before we have all
Advocated it at some time [or] another and we can reason because we all did it
And what is it [well] sweet spot refers to a level of intensity one that you can sustain for about?
An hour and a half if really pushed or to put it in terms of power
It's about 85 to 90% of your lactate threshold, and there's a percentage [of] your max heart rate. It's about [80%]
So how do you do sweet spot training there?
there's a couple of different ways you can do efforts of about 20 to [40] minutes long as part of longer rides or
[mile] get [fit] quick technique. Which is an in solid blocks of an hour and a half
dodging Tarmac solid blocks of an hour and a half
As an added bonus for those of us using power meters, we try and beat or average power
By not much just a couple of watts every time it can be a really effective tool for actually making sure you progress
But if you don't have a power meter, then you don't need to worry it can still be super effective
You just need to pair a couple of things in mind
So firstly you [want] to avoid any spikes in effort so no sprinting up short climbs
and you want a predominantly flat route, so
No traffic [is] what we're looking for is. It's sustained effort and not loads of jumping around
Mashing it when you feel like it
Okay, so now we're working on our never miss a turn ability
What about literal strength being able to roll a big [gear] up short steep climbs and away from stop sighs?
Well, no
Bit depends on your natural attributes of course those where the amazing insurance may not be blessed with the fast twitch fibers of a pure
Sprinter
But no matter who you are improvements can still be made you can almost always make more of what you've got and [that] is by
Neuromuscular training so helping to develop nerve pathways that ultimately will help you recruit more muscle fibers
It's why you might find that if you were for some reason starting a [push-up] [raising] that you make big gains
For the first Few weeks, but then reach a plateau
and that's because you've developed your a muscular pathways to make more of what you've got and
Then you just have to work a lot longer to actually start making more muscle fibers. [oh]
Good
So the more of that is that even if you ride your bike all the time [you] may still not be
Recruiting all of your muscle fibers, and so you need to train them and a great way of doing that is standing start efforts
so you roll to stop in a really big gear like your big ring and long way down the cassette and then
Simply Sprint up to speed as hard as you can
Then just recover well and repeat [ten] times then that's it that is your session done
You can just roll home
Because it's such a short session you can actually do it on the way home from work or even as an early morning
Or an evening right to supplement another ride that day although be careful. It is really demanding
So you may end up feeling like total rubbish when you go out [again]?
To certain extent cycling strength depends on [our] mental fortitude
It's what allows some riders to shrug off wind and rain and win six our epic bike races whilst others cower in their team cars
It's what allows some riders to push on for hours [even] days on end to cover incredible distances
So how do they do it but to a certain extent it depends on you as an individual
Compartmentalizing pain can be really effective so simply trying to remove yourself from it and block it out that can be surprisingly effective
Certainly you'll be familiar with how focusing on pain to make it all seem [so] much worse
framing your pain or your discomfort in a positive way and
Also be really [powerful] so with a positive frame of mind you'll find that you can sustain speeds
That have been possible if you're feeling negative it's why you probably find that dropping riders at the climb will help you go faster
But if you yourself were hanging on, and then got dropped now this does take practice, so how do you do it?
Well certainly focusing on your goals can be really effective as it is focusing on a positive outcome
And then there's this which is kind of weird
But you may find that when going really hard actually gaining control of your breathing will help put you in a better frame of [line]
to become a strong rider then you need to develop your aerobic engine you need to improve your peak power whether you consider yourself a
Skinny climber or not but then you just need to convince yourself that you are strong
That is actually probably the most powerful tool that we have
But you don't want to neglect your training either
so why not click just up there and you'll get through to video about how to improve your peak power or
Down there and you get [three] to one about how to train for fast flat rides
Before going to either those they do make sure you subscribe to gcN to do that. Just click on the globe