In the cycling world, the concept of base training is being turned on its head. If this is being questioned for outdoor cyclists, how on earth would it apply to indoor cyclists to spend hours at low intensities? If you’ve ever questioned whether you should be teaching your 45- or 60-minute classes in Zone 2 (65%–75% MHR), you may want to read this post.Read more…
Last week we shared an article comparing the benefits of HIIT and steady-state training. This week we follow up with a look at some of the hype surrounding HIIT, especially the concept of EPOC. As fitness professionals, it’s important for us to understand the science behind the hype, and to use that science to help our customers and clients safely and effectively reach their goals. Here are some tips for effectively incorporating interval sets into your ride profiles. Read more…
Several people have asked me how to structure a 90-minute profile, and at what intensity it should be taught. Here is the outline of my 90-minute sub-threshold endurance class this week. I also give you a modified version that allows for some high-intensity intervals above threshold. The balance of intensity is extremely important to consider as your duration exceeds one hour.Read more…
In part 2 of our discussion on teaching recovery, I define workload, recovery, and adaptation and give you examples of when you ABSOLUTELY do need to teach recovery classes. You will also learn how to teach your students about taking responsibility for their own recovery.Read more…
For today’s TBT (Throwback Thursday) we are reposting one of the articles that became the foundation for ICA’s philosophy of heart rate training. Instructors should understand why maximum heart rate is not a good anchor for training zones, and instead learn how to perform field tests and talk tests so they can more accurately guide their riders to success.Read more…
Part 2 of knowing whether your class is too hard or too easy means digging in deeper into what “hard” really means and how to convey it to your riders. I link to seven articles to help ensure you fully understand this level of effort. This includes 23 cues to empower your riders to give everything they have to reach the level of effort to actually realize the HIT benefits. Otherwise, they’re awash in mediocrity.Read more…
Tom, do you have a litmus test to tell if recoveries are too short for the efforts you are asking? For example, if you are asking for a 5-minute, 4-minute, 2-minute, and 1-minute best effort, one right after the other in that order, how much recovery would you give in between each? Thanks.
– Julie Zweck-BronnerRead more…
This is a discussion of a Joe Friel article on a common misinterpretation of a heart rate response to training. DON’T LET THIS BE YOU! Make sure you understand how your riders’ heart rates respond to training! In this post is a list of resources and articles (some free, some books, some premium articles) to help enhance your understanding of heart rate. This is important EVEN if you don’t teach with a HR monitor. It also helps your coaching using RPE and optimizes your use of power training. Read more…
Whenever I think of recovering faster, I hear my grandfather in the back of my head telling me to sleep faster when I only had four hours until the morning. By no means do I want you to start shortchanging your recovery time nor try to psychologically speed up the process. I do want you to consider how fast your heart rate recovers and learn some valuable information you can provide to educate your riders.Read more…
After I posted my most recent profile, EDM Muscle Madness, a number of instructors said their riders found it difficult to push into Zone 5 during the strength intervals, even though they were riding as hard as they could. Are these riders doing something wrong because they are not able to hit Zone 5?Read more…