- Bad weather, short days, long, dark nights.
That's right, the winter really is the perfect time
to make some great fitness gains for you to enjoy
throughout the following year.
- Yeah! Standby, you've got three months of no events,
no distractions, and no reasons why you shouldn't
be focused on creating a better and stronger you.
- Can we, uh, start with the indoor sessions?
Because, to be really honest, I'm not enjoying this.
- Yeah, a bit grub isn't it?
Let's go inside.
(bass thumping beat)
(techno music)
- Fat burning sessions can be completed
in a variety of ways,
but if you want be incredibly time-efficient
with your training,
we recommend short, high-intensity efforts.
Thirty second sprints are proven to burn fat for longer
after exercise than traditional low-intensity
fat burning rides.
So a session to include these intervals
would be six 30 second max efforts
with two minutes rest in between.
But because these sessions are both
physically and mentally very demanding,
you shouldn't aim to complete more than two of these
at most in any given week.
The beauty of the sessions though,
is that they are very short.
With a short warmup and warm down,
you can be done within thirty minutes.
Training indoors is the perfect time to work
on short intervals that build your speed and your power,
because if you head outside, you've got traffic
you've got junctions, and a whole host
of other environmental factors to contend with,
so cut out the dead time and the distraction,
and work on your intensity indoors.
Interval sessions can be as varied as you like,
and we've got a load of videos up on the channel,
and we'll pop a link in the description down below
if you want to follow some of those.
(techno music)
Gym sessions can be a good way to work
on muscle imbalances, weaknesses, and stabilization,
but also injury prevention.
These sessions are also good for bone density
and improving the efficiency of your muscles.
Explosive workouts with help increase
your muscle accruement,
and build newer muscular strength.
Building muscle, depending on the event,
will potentially be beneficial to cyclists.
For example, if you're injury prone or frequently crash,
like myself, it could be beneficial
to have residual strength that goes beyond
the functional strength normally required
to ride or race a bicycle.
If you're using a muscle group frequently,
it can be advisable to regularly stretch as well.
Many reasons have been cited over the years.
A long muscle is a strong muscle.
Injury prevention, greater range of motion, and comfort.
The more conscience you are
of the condition your body is in,
the more chance there is
of you preventing any injury developing,
and preventing you from riding your bike.
(techno music)
- Weekend rides are the perfect opportunity
to make your cycling a little bit more social.
Not only will the time pass by faster,
with a little bit of good company,
but you'll also be working on your group riding skills,
and enhancing the technical aspect of your cycling.
These rides should be carried out at a sustainable,
conversational pace, and last for between two and six hours,
depending on the event you're working for.
- I thought you weren't going to turn up.
- Well, I considered it. You know, looking at the weather.
Come on.
- A good ride is always done with your mate. Ah-ha!
(techno music)
- Gone are the days of gently riding in the winter.
Now is the time to kickstart your fitness with
some VO2 efforts. You're looking at doing these at
around 121% of your FTP, and do around
five times five minute efforts.
Five on, five off, just like Chris is getting on there.
They're also really good to keep you nice and warm,
and it will really help your overall fitness.
Oh, I'm freezing.
Four more to go Chris!
Don't hold back, mate!
Come on!
(techno music)
One session that I'm a huge believer in
for increasing your muscular endurance is riding
at the sort of effort which means
you're only going to be able to sustain short sentences.
These efforts will last for anything
from 12 to 20 minutes or perhaps even an hour
if you're a little bit more advanced.
They're going to hurt, but these sessions
will do more than any other to increase
your all 'round cycling performance.
One strong reason for including these in the winter
is they've got short recovery periods
meaning you won't call off too much
and the work load will last for a long time.
When you'll gain body heat throughout the session
and likely have less issue with the cold climate.
(techno music)
Embracing the dirt on really bad days
is one of my favorite ways to sort of get outside.
Enjoying a training session
and having a little fun whilst doing something different.
Off road riding is especially good
for staying warm when it's cold and wet.
Windchill is less of a factor
when going a little slow whilst off road.
When it comes to perfecting on bike technique,
I genuinely believe riding different bikes,
of all varieties, will help make you a better rider.
So try something new,
you'll be come a more efficient and competent rider.
These off road rides can incorporate any
of the sessions we've mentioned
but generally, they do lend themselves
to an endurance workout or one with short intervals.
Just make sure you don't skimp
on the amount of time you actually spend peddling.
(techno music)
So there you have it.
Those are our key, go-to winter training sessions
let us know how you get on with them.
- Yeah and if you do find that you rely
on some other training sessions that we haven't mentioned
then do let us know in the comment section below.
- Give this video a big thumbs up before you go
and check out some more winter tips just down there.
We're off to finish that endurance ride
we talked about earlier.
- Four hours to go!
Yeah boy!