- Hello and welcome to Ask GCN Anything.
- Yes, and we've been going through all your questions
and a lot of them are relating to indoor training
because well, for most of us in the Northern Hemisphere,
we are in the deepest darkest winter,
so it's a perfect time to go through all your questions
on indoor training.
- And if you would like to be in with the chance
of winning a free three months subscription to Zwift
use the #askgcntraining,
and for all your other questions #torqueback.
- Yeah, which fits perfectly
for our indoor training special.
So without further ado,
let's crack on with the first question.
- Ah!
- From winnetou93 who asked as the indoor training
season is approaching, which a lot of us are in already,
I have a questions: I find it hard to ride out of
saddle/sprint on my indoor training,
and like that I don't feel I can put in that much power
I would normally be delivering outside.
Do you have any suggestions?
- Yep, so it's quite fairly common question
and quite a common issue actually,
lower power indoors and struggling to stand up.
- Yeah, a lot of us are in that same boat, aren't we?
- Yeah, so with your sprint training,
you wanna focus on the fact that
actually you're training your neuromuscular pathways
as much as the maximum strength of the muscle
indoors on the turbo trainer,
and then you can convert that
to outdoors training afterwards
because the more often you use those pathways,
the more clear and effective they become,
which will in turn improve your sprint power.
So keep going with it.
Don't worry about the actual discrepancy
in your power numbers,
and when you get outside you can then run them up again.
- There you have it from a proper sprinter.
- Next up, we have a question from Simon Lund.
I am returning to training
after and ankle and heel fracture.
Ooh, painful.
Sadly, my FTP has plummeted by 25%
and so my question relates to calibrating training intensity
on the road back to fitness.
Should I use my old FTP or should I use my newer, lower FTP
or somewhere between the two?
- Yeah, I personally would drop it down to your low one
and do it progressively.
I know it's really demotivating
when you're not hitting those numbers you're used to,
but go back to the start and work the way back up.
In six weeks of progressing and training,
you'll really find the benefits.
And your numbers will return to those higher numbers
that you once had.
- Yeah, 25% is a lot
so if you try and aim for those higher numbers
you'll just wildly be overreaching.
- And that's demotivating as it is,
when you just cannot hit those numbers you did before.
- For more info on the threshold training,
check out the video of Versi in the background.
- Tracking your fitness compared with prescribing training.
- Okay.
- And when you're prescribing training,
if you feel like you need endurance,
you probably need to go quite a bit lower than your FTP.
If you're working on those things,
those weapons that are gonna win you bike races,
you're probably working at quite a bit higher than FTP.
- The next question is from Ellis Kurzman.
I wanted to try a track event,
however I don't have a track in the town I live
or a cycling track.
Do you have any tips for track training
without a track track?
That's quite a lot of tracks. (laughs)
- I've lost track, anyway.
(laughter)
The first thing you wanna do
is get yourself a pair of rollers
because these will be quite specific for your track cycling.
Track cycling is all about cadence and being really smooth
and the rollers are the perfect place to learn that
because if you bounce on the rollers
you'll be all over the place,
and it'd be the same on the track.
A good set of rollers and then work on cadence bursts
because it is your cadence that defines how
fast you'll be able to go ultimately.
- Yes, and then it gets you used to being on a track bike
when you're on the rollers.
Work on cadence, get comfortable on your track bike,
and well, then get on the boards,
and you should feel a lot more comfortable and faster.
- If you don't know how to add the rollers,
check out the video. - Yeah.
- So before we get started with Matt,
a few tips for setting up your rollers.
Firstly you want to make sure they are
next to either a wall, a rail, or perhaps even a doorway
so that you got something with which to prop yourself up
before you start rolling.
- And the winner of this week's three months
free subscription from Zwift is Brendan O'Regan
for this question: as a general sportive rider
what is the best Zwift workouts/plans to do
over the winter months to keep fresh
with hills and flat riding?
What is it?
- You know what, Brendan?
The winter is a perfect time to maintain your fitness
with a little lower volume,
and also just less stress than you'd normally have
with a strict, structured program,
and this is where something like Zwift really can help.
- Yeah, and also it can personalize you sessions.
For example, if you set a program of 12 weeks long
and you only manage eight weeks,
it'll actually reorganize it
so you get the most important weeks
in that eight week period.
- Which is really good.
Then if you also want to include some of your
outdoor sessions there, you can work on your endurance.
So a longer two, three, four hour ride
with a high cadence than you might maintain indoors,
and then include a few sprints
because sprinting is always going to be easier outdoors
than indoors, so five to eight second sprints,
and than 12 minutes in between them.
About six in one session.
- Yeah, and also Zwift has actually specifically designed
a program called Active Training Season,
or Active Off Season, sorry,
which is specifically designed for cyclists
to keep fit through that off season period.
- Quite fancy doing that myself.
- Yeah, I think I need it.
- It's been a long off season since May.
- Yeah, so try that and make sure you get involved
on the group rides, the Gran Fondos, and the racing,
and yeah, good luck with your off season.
- An Irish Destiny writes in with hi team GCN,
I am wondering is is there a way
to increase my sprint speed during indoor training?
- You love sprint questions, don't you?
- I do, yeah.
- Yeah, you love it.
But anyway, there are plenty of indoor training sessions
that you can get ahold of
and actually one that works really well for me,
and I'm sure you've done it as well,
is 20 second effort but you do the first 15 seconds seated
so an all out seated sprint,
and then the last five seconds
when you're trying to get that extra bit of power out,
you get out of the saddle.
And this works on your seated power
and your all out peak power.
Ultimately, there's four aspects to a fast sprint
and that's work on your arrow position,
your cadence because ultimately the faster you peddle
the faster you're going to go,
your peak power, and your sustainable power.
- Yeah, well done, you did well there.
- I know, I just ran with them all.
- And you can train them all at the same time
so the effort that James described then,
five seconds standing at saddle even whilst indoors
will really focus on your peak power,
the next 10 seconds will really focus on being aerodynamic
and your cadence because you'll be building all the way,
and then the final five seconds, that's the final surge
to the line and that's again, your sustainability.
- Yeah, so really work on those.
They're not easy sessions because well,
no hard sessions are easy,
but you really well find it effective
and your sprint will benefit from it.
- Yep, and you'll really notice that
when you get back out on the roads.
So again, six sprints in one session
is the maximum number you really want to aim for.
- Yeah. - Enjoy.
- I don't envy you.
The next question, bare with me on this one,
is from Piotr Sadzinski.
- Nice pronunciation.
- Yeah, thanks mate, I've been working on it.
I recently slammed my stem and find my wrists hurt
while riding on the hoods.
I prefer to retain that slammed look, like Blidys,
is there anyway I could be mucking up
the way I ride on the hoods?
For instance, if I really focus on
keeping my elbows more bent, the wrist pain lets up,
but I need to counter the lower position
by using my triceps and lower back muscles,
which seems inefficient.
Are there any tips?
- Yeah, there are.
Without seeing you on the bike,
it really sounds like you've gone all in
for fashion over function.
- Yeah, 100%.
- Which, whilst it's cool, it's only cool
if you're still going fast whilst doing it,
so what I would suggest otherwise is to put your stem back
to where it was and then slowly, five millimeters at a time,
bring it down to the position that you really want to have
and then spend a good week or so in that position,
and then work toward your end goal.
And also, whilst you're doing this,
some upper body strength work, like triceps,
and a little bit of stretching as well.
- Yeah, stretching your back and all your core muscles
will really help get into that low position
that you really desperately want,
but I personally would recommend you go for a middle ground.
Maybe not go right down to a slammed look
but maybe a couple millimeters.
- Exactly.
Function is better than fashion when you're going fast.
- We wanna go fast at the end of the day.
- Exactly.
Next up is a question from--
- Nice hands, mate.
- Jazz hands, went to drama school.
James Baynton, I've recently bought a new bike
that's come with a tubeless disc setup.
I want to use it on the turbo trainer
and I already have a turbo training tire.
Would I be able to use a spare non-disc wheel
and use that purely for turbo or do I need to buy
another disc brake ready wheel?
- Well, you can, 100% use that spare
but as long as the through axel, or the axel,
fits in your bike basically.
I can't use one that probably doesn't fit
because it won't fit in your bike,
so yeah, finding a wheel that fits
and then use that indoor training tire will really work.
You don't have to have a disc specific one at all, really.
- The only thing we would advice though
is if that spare wheel is only marginally more expensive
to get a disc one, then it's probably worth doing that
because you never know when a spare wheel comes in handy.
- Yeah.
Now it's time for the quick fire round.
We're gonna do our best to make it quick.
This starts from Niels Munk.
I'm training to be a sprinter, more so than a climber.
I think I have the acceleration training dialed in,
but I am at loss as to how to train for top speed.
Have you got any inputs on how to increase top speed?
- Yeah, we do!
- Motor pace it.
- That's a really good one.
You can motor pace if you've got that available to you,
like two minutes at a real high pace, like 60 Ks an hour,
and then into a big long sprint, say, 20 to 30 seconds
because to reach your top speed is as much about
sustaining a long sprint as it is about having the power.
Focus on your position on the bike as ever and get cycling.
- Yeah, good luck with that top speed training.
- Joecuan, is there any benefit for a cyclist to train
on a rowing machine in the off season?
- Yes, 100%.
It's really good for your cardiovascular fitness
and also your muscular strength too.
I've actually been doing it this morning.
- Is that where these massive arms come from?
- Yeah.
- 'Cause they won't know when you're a bike, right?
- No. (laughs)
- Cpflashclass, do spin classes,
I'd like to read the question. - Sorry.
- Do spin classes have any application in cycle training?
- Yes, they are perfect.
I actually really enjoy doing them
because I find I push myself more
when someone's shooting at me,
but yeah, 100% they work a dream.
- Next question!
- Good 45 minutes session.
He scared the dodos out of me, yeah.
- You said you like to be shouted at.
(laughter)
- Will Halicki, will I get the same workout benefit
if I do the same ride in the warm or the cold?
- The same benefit?
Well, that kind of depends on
how you cope with the temperatures,
but on the whole it's healthier and more beneficial
to train in the warm because certainly if you're training
for fat loss and things like that,
you're burning more calories when you're warm,
but also it's easier on your lungs and your muscles
'cause your muscles are up to temperature.
- I used to hate training in the cold
'cause my lungs started to hurt.
- Yeah, me too.
Everything just kind of feels a little bit dead, doesn't it.
You definitely have more benefit in the warm
but, to a certain extent, it's not gonna harm you
to train the cold either.
- Well, there you have it.
Next question is from Ho il.
Hi, if somebody has a massage once in a while,
when is the best time to have it?
Maybe on a rest day or after a hard session?
- I would always recommend on the same day as a hard session
and the day before a rest day or an easy day
because sometimes it can leave your legs feeling
a little bit heavy and dead, can't it?
- Yeah, and it gets that lactic acid out,
so it's really working on flushing the legs through
so it's really good for recovery and it feels amazing.
- Here's a popular question we get on the channel.
- From Matthew Wong, where's Lasty nowadays?
- Well, good question,
and if we listen really carefully,
we might be able to hear him working upstairs.
- Yep, he's still around, don't worry.
Lasty is still in the building.
- Yeah, The Brick is still here.
The next question is from Marko Pielic.
- Mega, you've done a good job there.
- Yeah, no, I think I mucked that one up.
Anyway, we'll move on.
When doing indoor cycling sessions
with footage of actual climbs,
why are you always setting your resistance level
to around 3%, which is two times or more lower
than the actual average gradients of those climbs?
Why not setting it to 7 or 8%?
- Well, we looked into this and we think actually
we're going for the level of intensity
and not the gradients.
- Yeah, we're focusing on the workout,
not trying to make it as realistic as possible.
To be honest, if we did put it at 7, 8%,
I doubt a lot of us will get up it.
- Not anymore.
- And the last question we have is from D.
How do I balance indoor training
with limited outdoor training in the winter?
- Some lights and some good, warm clothing I would imagine,
depending on where you are in the world.
- Yeah, you can actually get out in the road
in the dark after work or after other commitments,
and that will get your road riding in,
but I would personally stick to the maybe indoor trainer
during the midweek or Monday to Friday,
and then get out on the road on Saturday, Sundays
to get your endurance rides in.
- Yeah, you don't need to go crazy though.
Just do enough to maintain your fitness,
and then when the weather gets better
and the light is longer.
- Yeah, so there you have it.
The end to this week's Ask GCN Anything.
- It's not quite though, is it?
Because look, we've got brand new shirts!
- Yeah, we have and you can get your hands on these
and these! - Whoa!
- For the Black Friday metallic edition shirts
which are on sale now and you can get your hands on them
but only until the 28th of November,
and also get your hands on this:
the gold Black Friday edition cycling kit.
- It's all the same quality as before but
at a special buy price,
or are these?
(laughter)
- Oh man, I love black socks.
You into black socks or white socks?
- Black socks look brand new all the time.
- Yeah, so make sure you head over to the shop
to get your hands on these,
and if you wanna get your questions answered
on next week's then remember to use the #askgcntraining
and also #torqueback,
and if you wanna get in on the chance of winning
three months free subscription from Zwift,
then make sure you use the #askgcntraining.
- Ah, my thumbs don't work anymore.
- So without further ado, make sure you give this video
a thumbs up if you've enjoyed it
and we'll see you next week.