Strong Cycling Skills Indoors? You Bet!

Can stationary bike training improve your outdoor cycling performance? Of course! Whether alone on a trainer or with an indoor group cycling class, many skills can be enhanced over the winter months. What makes an efficient cyclist? Endurance, strength, speed, stroke skills, bike handling skills and mental resolve. All of those assets (most have bike handling) can be cultivated indoors.

Physical benefits are not the only thing you can cultivate. An indoor environment without the distraction of cars, potholes, rain, and wind allows you to work on the mental side of training. An athlete could be a gifted, genetic freak of nature, but not have the positive mental skills to reach optimum athletic potential. The NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB all have their own sports psychologists to maximize their athletes’ performance. Read one of the books by Jerry Lynch and Al Huang ‘Thinking Body, Dancing Mind’ or ‘Running Within’. While reading, what talks to your strengths, and what makes you aware of you weaknesses? Make indoor training the time you work on mental toughness.

While indoor cycling is often generically called “spinning,” SPINNING TM is actually a trademarked program. It was created by ultra-endurance cyclist, Johnny Goldberg, with the goal of getting the public more healthy and fit through riding a stationary bike.

When choosing a group to ride with indoors, be sure the coach/instructor bases the sessions on the principles of training: heart rate and/or power zones, and cadence parameters. If the coach/instructor is blasting Cher and asking you to do pushups on the bike, you are in the WRONG place. The pros first build a base through long, aerobic rides to improve endurance. Aerobic, then anaerobic hill work is then layered into the mix to build strength. Based upon the riders goals, the next stage is usually speed work, in the form of short fierce bursts followed by recovery. Modify the workout and select your exact training dose based upon your body’s response to previous workouts.

All certified indoor cycling instructors are taught about how to use heart rate training in conjunction with perceived exertion (RPE). When taking a session, each instructor should be prepared to talk about:

• The class structure
• Ways to modify the class
• Benefits of the class

The big benefits, which you can’t get by taking a pill, are:

• Increased O2 capacity
• Increase in the # of oxidative enzymes
• Increase in the # and size of capillaries
• Increase in the # of mitochondria
• Increased heart stroke volume ( pump more blood per beat)
• Slow-twitch muscle development
• Increased muscle fuel storage
• Increased muscular endurance
• Elevation of lactate threshold
• Strength development
• Increase in blood buffering of lactate
• Improved lactate clearance
• Speed development
• Power development
• Hypertrophy of fast-twitch muscle fibers
• Increased anaerobic capacity
• Increased VO2
• Increased neurological recruitment

Experienced instructors will provide a positive and non-intimidating environment. With an experienced instructor, Lance Armstrong could be riding next to your Grandma, and both would get the proper exercise stress they need and feel empowered to gauge the ride based upon their own body responses. It should not be” monkey see, monkey do.” Coaches coach, players play. Look for the same qualities in a cycling coach ( or any coach ) that you would look for in a personal trainer.

Whichever of the over 150 indoor studio bikes you use, it is important to find the proper set up. Set up is critical for optimal use of muscle groups, knee health, proper breathing, and protection of the low back. Remember: this bike was assembled in a factory for the general public. It does not mimic the geometry of your tri bike, nor was it hand-made according to your unique measurements at the Serrotta plant. Strive to get the best set up possible. Most classrooms have a plumb line to determine an accurate fore/aft adjustment. Use the KOPS method:

1. Dropped from the front of the knee, the plumb line should fall over the center of the pedal spindle.
2. Stand next to the saddle and lift the knee parallel to the floor to approximate saddle height. The cyclist’s hip flexor should be about even with the saddle.
3. A general recommendation for handle bar height is to keep them even with the saddle, although it is a comfort adjustment for the rider. If back problems are an issue, or if the rider is pregnant, place the handlebars on the high side.

Riding in an aero-dynamic position for extended periods on a stationary bike is not recommended. Sine the rider is in extreme forward flexion while on a bike with no frame movement, a huge amount of torque is put on the low back. Outdoors the bike, which was probably made FOR the rider, moves! Ride to promote health, not damage it!

Some facilities are now training on indoor bikes equipped with a power measuring device called a Power Tap, which has been the secret of the pros for the last ten years. Power Training principles are similar to those for heart zone training, but they’re based upon the amount of work- POWER -the rider can produce. Heart rate training in particular zones based on threshold is a good place to start, heart rate can be influenced by many external and internal factors such as, lack of sleep, improper nutrition, illness, dehydration, heat, humidity and stress. Have you ever been in a car accident or had a close call and noticed your heart beating in your ears? Have you ever been at the starting line of a race and seen your heart rate at 180 simply due to nerves? Try wearing a heart rate monitor during a heated argument, and watch your heart rate rise: you’re not on the bike or the treadmill, and there’s no work involved - just stress. Think about it…..

Power is power; it is the work one is doing, measured in watts. Unlike heart rate, it is not affected by other factors, which makes it a great way to quantify a workout. Let’s say an athlete is at the squat rack and can see 50 lbs. stamped on the side of each plate. He/she KNOWS how much work he/she is doing. The same principle applies when training on a bike that measures power. Not only do riders see the work they are doing, but they also gauge the correlating heart rate and how they feel at that power output. It’s a whole package. Over time, all cyclists want to be able to go a little faster for a little longer. On a bike with MEASURED, not estimated power, they can see that eventually they’re pushing MORE watts at a LOWER heart rate. Now THAT is progression!

Rather than growing roots into the cracks of your couch this winter, find a local class or indoor trainer session. Get your WHOLE TEAM–cardiovascular system, pulmonary system, muscular system, and MIND– ready to race come April.

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