Host: These days, it is easy to get advice on your training. The internet is abound with tips,
techniques, and also training plans. You can even get one-on-one coach tuition from across the globe
to help you improve your cycling, but with all these different techniques on how to train,
well, how do you decide what's best for you? In this video, we are going to take a look at some of
the differences between a coach and an off-the-peg training plan so that you can decide for yourself.
Firstly, what is a training plan? Very simply it is when you get told what riding to do on
a given day to make you improve as a rider. By sticking to the prescribed schedule day by day
and week by week, you'll hopefully get the perfect mix of riding and recovery
to make you much fitter than if you just went out riding. To help to explain the difference between
a ready-made plan is one size fits all and a coach who can tailor training to your personal needs,
we're going to use TrainingPeaks to illustrate. It is a training app but also offers both ready-made
training plans and a matching service to put you in touch with a real-life coach.
We're going to hear from Pav Bryan who's an accredited coach and performance director
at Spokes Coaching to discover his own opinion on the matter.
Okay, to begin with, a coach is a valuable tool in helping you to perform better.
They are able to look at your performances from the outside in a much subjective way,
and they aren't biased by personal emotion. For example, you may be training really hard and
feeling like you're getting stronger, and you just want to train harder and harder, but your
coach is able to look at that and say maybe, "No. It's time to rest, recover, and down the line,
you'll be much stronger as a result instead of training yourself into a big hole of fatigue."
That personal relationship with a coach is a major bonus. They'll be able to keep you
motivated towards beating goals, and then also pick you up from any setbacks. They'd
also build a relationship with you over time so you'll both learn together what works for
you and what potentially doesn't work. That is a powerful strength in any sport, let alone cycling.
On the other hand, with off-the-peg training plans, you can try them before you buy them.
You can see previews of what the plan will entail and you can read up on the specificities
of that plan before you embark on it. You can even find really specific plans for
certain goals like L'Etape du Tour, for example. Off-the-pay training plans are limitless and
customizable in this respect. You can find plans based on how many hours you have available each
week, how hard you want to train, and your own specific goals. Training plans are aimed at a wide
variety of different riders. For instance, you can find a plan on TrainingPeaks which just aims
at beginner riders. We've actually designed one ourselves which is called "The Zero to Hero Plan"
and it's based on training for riders who have had no experience of structured training in the past.
You can also find plans for much more experienced riders. For instance, this plan is aimed at those
who are looking to increase their FTP over a 12-week period so riders who may have experience
of structure training in the past but are now looking to take their training that bit more
seriously. One thing to bear in mind with coaches is that they do have their own sets
of principles and ideas which they tend to stick to quite regimentally. If you don't get on with a
coach while you're undergoing this training, if that relationship just doesn't work out
for whatever reason, then it can be quite hard to get them to change
their ideas and your own method of training. This is quite hard to figure out in advance when
you are embarking on your training journey with a coach. Saying that, coaches provide motivation
and specific experience, be that in terms of race awareness or tactics, they'd also be able
to look at your performances and your training. If something isn't working, an experienced coach
will be able to look at that, say why that is the case, and help you move around it.
With a training plan, you won't have someone motivating you. At the same time, this can
a good thing. For instance, if you're a beginner and you're wanting to try a training plan for the
first time, maybe try structured training for the first time, this means you can give it a go, try
the training and you won't have someone barking orders down at you. You won't feel that pressure
to try and complete the training in a set of ways. You can try things on your own terms. A coach can
be expensive so if you aren't ready to fork out the money, an off the pay training plan can be
a great cost-effective way to structure your training and have a training plan that's still
been written and designed by a professional coach. For instance, on TraningPeaks, you can pick up a
three-week plan for around $10, and this is a training plan that has been reviewed and rated
by other riders. You can know in advance how other people found that specific plan.
Off-the-peg training plans are also compatible with third-party apps such as Zwift
or TrainingPeaks. Your workout will automatically appear in your calendar or workout library.
If you aren't familiar with following different intervals, and you're not sure
on how the different structures of those intervals go when you're out training,
then that workout will appear in the platform of your choice, so that you can read it in a way
that's comprehensible and understandable and where you're already familiar with. That was my opinion,
but I am now joined by a true professional on the matter, Pav Bryan from Spokes Coaching. Actually,
the performance director of Spokes Coaching. Pav, I'd really like to ask your opinion. What
do you think is best for riders out there when looking for some training? Is it a training plan
off-the-peg or maybe working with a coach? Pav Bryan: Both are fantastic options.
I think that if you can afford to work with a coach, and you're there, you're ready,
then definitely work with a coach. If you're just getting new, if you're new to cycling,
maybe you've not done any structured training before, and you want to dip your toe in that,
a training plan is a really affordable way of getting in there. Typically, a one-off payment,
whereas a coach will obviously want a monthly fee. I think there's some really good well-designed
training plans out there. You just might have to do a bit of searching to find them.
Interviewer: For sure. What would your advice be for people who are looking to buy a training plan?
What should they look out for, because there are a lot of training plans out there for different
goals, different races, motives, or all kind of that, and it's your aim really. What should you
really bear in mind when you're picking one out? Pav: Yes, absolutely. There's two main things.
Obviously, you want one that's reflective of your goals, to find one out there that
has an end result similar to what you want to achieve. Also, really look at what the
person the plan is built for. You'll have a load of different ones from whether you're training at
a load which we would suggest as a beginner, like a light load, not doing a great deal of training.
Then obviously, it progresses through to advance, which is obviously, a considerably
larger load and time. The time you have to commit to that training is also going to be in there.
Really, look at how well the training plan is described.
If you've got any questions, hopefully there's an email address which you can
do. I think that that's really important for me, is that you should be able to send some
questions to either a coach or be invited to be part of a support group just to make sure
that you get the best benefits from that plan. Interviewer: What sort of benefits do you see
in riders who've never even used a coach or a training plan before, and they're trying
structured training the first time? How does that differ to a rider who can just ride in their bike
in a really unstructured way, which is obviously great fun, really enjoyable. In terms of
performance benefits, what are the differences? Pav: Huge. When you go from just riding
like how you described a no-structure at all to actually introducing structured training is
you're going to see some people will double power outputs just by adding that over certain
times. The shorter power times probably depends on how many years you've been cycling. As I say,
this is like people that haven't been training in structured. Realistically, you've got
some really, really impressive gains that you can get out of using a training plan or a coach.
Interviewer: That's obviously great to hear. I think I've seen the reverse of that in the fact
that [chuckles] I've gone from structured training to unstructured. I can see the
disadvantages, [chuckles] but it's all part of the fun, isn't it? Pav, really grateful for you
to join us today. Thanks for the different bits of advice. Coaching is just a great way, I think,
to advance your performance in your training and definitely benefited me when I was racing.
You are looking to try out either coaching, or training plan, or different training methods, then
there's a few different ways to go. Pav, thanks for giving your opinion.
I hope this video has helped you understand some of the differences between a coach
and an off-the-peg training plan. Both options are great but may be suited to different riders
and different aims. How do you manage your training? What is your preferred method for
structuring your riding? Please let me know in the comments section below. Thanks all for watching,
and see you soon. [00:09:22] [END OF AUDIO]