Cycling is usually thought of as cardiovascular activity and rightly so. But bike riding also works the skeletal muscles. The production of power to drive the pedals involves complex activation of several muscle groups. Of course, the muscles most used in cycling are the legs, but you use muscle groups through the trunk and upper body. Depending on your cycling discipline, the level activation of these groups will vary.
Over-under intervals improve your ability to shuttle and buffer lactate near the boundaries of your threshold power. Improving these capabilities will increase your anaerobic capabilities allowing you to output higher power values with greater efficiency and less mental fatigue.
Sweet Spot training is one of the most effective and efficient for cyclists to improve. With the right structure and training plan, you can let Sweet Spot training take your cycling performance to the next level.
No matter what your goals are—you should be doing threshold intervals. Spending time close to your functional threshold power (FTP) offers extraordinary benefits to your aerobic capacity, muscular endurance, mental stamina, and sustained power capabilities. Not to mention, doing threshold intervals will help to increase your FTP!
Jarret Oldham can regularly be seen at the front of the fastest crits and road races in the United States. How does he use TrainerRoad to succeed in elite-level racing?
Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is a crucial cycling metric. Increasing your FTP improves your ability to hold higher power for longer—making you a faster cyclist. In this guide, we’ll cover the best ways on how to increase FTP.
Sweet Spot intervals are one of the most effective ways to get faster. And while they might feel difficult now, you can quickly improve your ability to nail these types of workouts. Let’s take a look at how to execute your Sweet Spot intervals.
Cycling intensity levels are commonly organized into Power Zones, with each zone matching a percentage of your FTP. Balancing time in power zones is crucial to proper training.
The Leadville 100 is a long, hard day in the saddle. On race day, you should have complete confidence in all the hard work you put in to get there. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about a Leadville 100 training plan.
Get an inside look into why and how we updated all of our training plans with data from Adaptive Training, a question from a pro cyclist on how World Tour racing differs from amateur racing, how to best use Left/Right Balance and more in Episode 308 of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast!