Winter cycling fitness in gym

What does everyone do in the winter months to keep their cycling fitness up midweek? I don't fancy unlit hilly routes this time of year.

I've joined a gym with a view to doing spinning classes once or twice a week and well as getting out at the weekends for a longer spins weather permitting.

Is this a good plan? Should I be doing anything else in the gym?

What do people do for the winter months?

lennymc

get good lights.

maesrichard1

ronoc wrote: »

What does everyone do in the winter months to keep their cycling fitness up midweek? I don't fancy unlit hilly routes this time of year.

I've joined a gym with a view to doing spinning classes once or twice a week and well as getting out at the weekends for a longer spins weather permitting.

Is this a good plan? Should I be doing anything else in the gym?

What do people do for the winter months?

Hello,

It depends if your a sportive or a racer! If your a racer then its best to take a few weeks off the bike this time of year and focus in on weights to build your Anatomical Adaptation this time of year. After that Muscular Endurance for 4 weeks and then muscular power. All of these are done in the weight room. Apply cardio 2/3days a week in the form of swimming, row machine, indoor bike or running( the latter is not too good for muscles joints). There is plenty of time for cycling within the year.

For AA (Anatomical Adaptation)Adapt general body muscles and tendons to the stresses of strength training in preparation for the greater loading of the Maximum Strength (MS)
phase to follow.2-3 times per week.Sets: 3-5 Reps: 20-30 Recovery between sets: 60-90 seconds.Speed: Slow to moderate emphasizing perfect form
Exercises: In order of completion (this is the most exercises of the year)...
1. Hip extension (squat, step-up, or leg press)
2. Seated row
3. Hip extension (different one from #1)
4. Chest press, OR push-ups.
5. Dead lift
6. Seated lat pull to chest
7. Personal weakness (hamstring curl or knee extension)

For ME(Muscular Endurance) Develop a muscular endurance reserve in order to cope with fatigue by increasing capillary density and the number and size of mitochondria.1-2 times per week.Load/Resistance: 30-50% of 1RM or the greatest load possible for 40-60 reps per
set. It's OK to initially estimate loads and then adjust them as you progress, but
start conservatively. Should be able to increase loads by about 5% every 4-5
workouts. Sets: 1-2 Reps: 40-60 Recovery between sets: 1-2 minutes. Same exercises as above.

For PE(PE Power endurance.)Frequency: 2 times per week.
Load/Resistance: 40-60% of 1RM (note the exceptions below under “Exercises”).
It's OK to initially estimate loads and then adjust them as you progress, but start conservatively. Sets: 2-4 Reps: 8-15 Recovery between sets: 3-5 minutes.

Also CORE workouts are very important.

Cee-Jay-Cee

My regime is fairly simple. Go to gym Monday and Thursday evening. Half hour on the spin bike (10min warm up and 20 min high intensity) followed by 30 min on the rowing machine (20 min high intensity 10 min warm down)

I'll try and get out for spin at weekends (weather permitting)

quozl

Turbo or spin classes but to avoid all that I've got a good set of dynamo lights and I'm heading up the hills tonight

lennymc

lennymc wrote: »

get good lights.

quozl wrote: »

Turbo or spin classes but to avoid all that I've got a good set of dynamo lights and I'm heading up the hills tonight

I salute your determination but on cold wet nights I can definitely see myself wussing out.

Inquitus

I alternate between the Turbo and the bad weather, often finding it difficult to figure out which is the least bad option!

maesrichard1

High intensity training is not needed this time of year. Endurance miles are a must. Training will start on for me on the 2nd weekend of november then its alot of cold, dark, wet, windy lights on the bike after work. "not looking forward to it"

lennymc

ronoc wrote: »

I salute your determination but on cold wet nights I can definitely see myself wussing out.

I find going out on the bike is a lot less soul destroying than the turbo! Lots and lots of winter base miles to build endurance.

Seweryn

lennymc wrote: »

Lots and lots of winter base miles to build endurance.

Same here. Commute to work, twice a day, i.e. 2h+ per day is enough to keep the heart and soul going.

Cee-Jay-Cee

maesrichard1 wrote: »

High intensity training is not needed this time of year. Endurance miles are a must. Training will start on for me on the 2nd weekend of november then its alot of cold, dark, wet, windy lights on the bike after work. "not looking forward to it"

Can I ask why you do it if it's something that's not particularly enjoyable or to look forward to?

maesrichard1

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Can I ask why you do it if it's something that's not particularly enjoyable or to look forward to?

Getting cold and wet for hours on end over the winter is a small price to pay for the rewards. No competitive enjoys the dreary months of winter, hence those who have the time/money escape to warmer climates.

Fian

I think there is a masochistic element to cycling anyway, it is an endurance sport so part of the joy of it is pushing your body harder/further than it really wants to go. No-one "enjoys" climbing up a steep hill, and yet you kind of do. Certainly you enjoy having done it when it is over.

Cycling in winter is much the same I guess, may be a bit unpleasant while you are doing it but you get to feel good after you are done and you get a perfect excuse to leave a hot shower and go directly to sit in front of a cosy fire with a beer or a hot drink to recover when you get home

I often enjoy cycling in the lashing rain, normally can't keep a grin off my face when I am wet enough that it really doesn't matter any more. Of course there have been times when it just gets too cold and when you actually worry you are going to make it home without frostbite etc., then it can be horrible. I can think of one time in particular when I should have turned back and really regretted going on. I didn't have overshoes with me and my hands and feet got wet, cold and went numb. I intended to phone to be collected but after a hot chocolate + soup in laragh I decided to endure the cycle home. Can't say that by the time I got home I was glad I had gone out.

Last winter cycling in the mountains, when there was snow on the fields either side of the road and none at all down in the city was magical. Roads were well treated and it was safe to cycle along. I came down on a high each time, loved it, bored my wife to bits telling her how great it was and how she should come up with me. Smiling now just remembering how great it was.

outfox

lennymc wrote: »

I find going out on the bike is a lot less soul destroying than the turbo! Lots and lots of winter base miles to build endurance.

Turbo is not that bad if you've a big f**k off stereo blaring in the room. Can't hear yourself think, or gasping.

dragratchet

a turbo session without a plan is boring beyond belief. i usually throw a suffer-fest video on the tv, the soundtrack is always brutal but it passes an hour fairly fast when you're having a heart attack

Beasty

I built my own gym, with various bits of equipment (Wattbike, turbo, rollers etc), fridge, fan, TV, surround sound. If the weather is going to be bad I'll head into it for an hour. If not I'll cycle into work, making it a 2+ hour round trip, perhaps 3-4 days a week

Kaisr Sose

Beasty wrote: »

I built my own gym, with various bits of equipment (Wattbike, turbo, rollers etc), fridge, fan, TV, surround sound. If the weather is going to be bad I'll head into it for an hour. If not I'll cycle into work, making it a 2+ hour round trip, perhaps 3-4 days a week

That's an awesome set up. Only the second person I have come across with their own Wattbike. What makes you choose WB over Rollers or Turbo and vice versa? The road bike feel?

Beasty

Had the WB for 3 years or so. That's been set up in the garage and I've been using it for all my indoor training since I got it.

Now I have the gym set-up I've been trying to use the rollers. Problem is my wrist remains a little unstable following the break earlier this year, and I am lacking in confidence on them. I am though starting to use them for a 5-10 minute warm-up for the WB. After those 5-10 minutes though my wrist gets very painful. Over this winter I'm hoping to build up my time on the rollers, probably mainly on the track bike.

After the warm-up I switch to a 30-40 minute session on the WB. Again I expect that to build up over the winter, but I am still very much recovering from the crash earlier this year. I will be doing less commuting and more in the gym over the winter as I really can no longer take risks if there is much chance of ice about or if the winds are particularly strong.

The turbo is there more as back-up. I can jump on if I need, but it's really to take to TT and track races for warm-ups as it's very portable and easy to set up. I also have a Tacx VR set up if I really do want to do a 3 hour session while minimising the boredom

Then there's the rowing machine - I'm currently using that for perhaps 10 minutes at a time, both to get a bit more of a cardiovascular work-out, but also to try and help build up the strength in both arms following the breaks.

I did post a picture of the set-up in the training log

Seweryn

Beasty wrote: »

If not I'll cycle into work, making it a 2+ hour round trip, perhaps 3-4 days a week

Just as a matter of interest, do you take one or two of the 5 working days off the bike for a specific reason, i.e. as a rest day?

Beasty

Seweryn wrote: »

Just as a matter of interest, do you take one or two of the 5 working days off the bike for a specific reason, i.e. as a rest day?

Yes, although I do travel with work which means some weeks I may do a couple of days commuting on the bike, and some maybe 4. Weather is also a factor over the winter. A couple of weeks a year I tend to be confined to hotel gyms.

I am still building back up. In recent years I've been doing 10,000km (including time spent on indoor trainers), which would be averaging just short of 200km a week - that would be achieved through an average of 3 commutes and 1 or 2 WB sessions with 2 or 3 rest days a week.

It's taken a long time to get back to something approaching normal after the crash. On a good week now I'm doing 3 commutes, plus maybe a WB session. On a "bad" week it may be limited to 1 or 2 WB sessions - fortunately the bad weeks are becoming few and far between. In the 7 months since the crash I've done maybe 1,500km which even when taking into account time on the WB is over 4,000km down on what I would normally have done over that period. However rest is absolutely critical to the recovery and I will be trying to avoid overdoing things for a while, and the gym gives me the ideal opportunity to tick things over on occasions

Well I did my first spinning session in many years. It was a hell of a work out. Really encourages you to push yourself. Gave too much at the start and my fatigued legs weren't used to the lack of freewheel, nearly came a cropper. Can really see it helping my fitness.

outfox

Hey Beasty, how much does it cost to join your gym?:pac:

Beasty

Was going to say an arm and a leg, but actually I need a couple of arms and a new skull if you can afford it ......