When you get on your home trainer, you ask yourself What type of session should I follow and what exercises should I do? Follow the guide!
By Guillaume JUDAS – Photos: Tacx / 3bikes.fr
| WHERE CAN I FIND AN AVAILABLE HOME-TRAINER? Manufacturers or importers are struggling to cope with the huge demand for home trainers, especially during this period of confinement. Nevertheless, we were able to find you some devices still available:
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-> SEE AS WELL : How to choose a home trainer?
Virtual races on Zwift, or even simulated courses from an imported GPS track, are all the rage. But for this, you need a connected home trainer and a subscription to a dedicated application. With a simpler device, it is still possible to train properly, by following the typical sessions described here.
Some recommendations
Even if it's cold outside, prefer to ride in an airy room. Even though it is a normal phenomenon, the profuse sweating encountered when cycling on the spot is of no help to any possible weight loss. Think about it! So avoid riding too covered (summer cycling clothing is very good), and keep close at hand an energy drink if possible to limit the loss of mineral salts. Remember to protect the bike (especially the front) from drops of acidic sweat that relentlessly attack the screws (stem, brakes, etc.). To avoid boredom, you can plan on playing music or television, since you have to take into account the inevitable wear and tear that this type of training causes. Don't throw everything away in the first weeks of winter!
Goal: endurance
When ? In winter and on resumption, alternating with outings on route traditional.
How? 'Or' What ? It is impossible to replace the ability to ride for a long time acquired through outings on route longer and longer. Sweating is also so excessive on a home trainer that it would be counterproductive to do too long indoor sessions. However, improving general physical condition requires regular and frequent activity. Sessions of this type on a home trainer allow you to:maintain the pedal stroke, or even to optimize its automation between outputs on route. To do this, you need to ride at a sufficient intensity for the session to be beneficial.
Duration: from 40 minutes to an hour. Allow 5 minutes for preparation route progressive and 5 minutes of return to calm.
Intensity: from 70 to 80% of maximum capacity, continuously.
Forwardtage: interesting when resuming training, or during the season to “de-saturate” physically.
Inconvenience : very quickly boring.
Objective: pedaling technique
When ? In winter and on resumption, alternating with outings on route traditional. Ideally, after a few hundred kilometers of training, when physical condition is already advanced.
How? 'Or' What ? Driving fast and/or for a long time in high season requires a clean and economical action. Instead of accumulating outputs on route endless to force the body to integrate what becomes second nature, more targeted sessions improve muscle performance during exercise. It is therefore necessary to work on extreme gears to improve subsequent coordination and at a normal pace. You can ride either with a very high gear, or on the contrary in overspeed, or even by pedaling with one leg, alternately to the right and to the left.
Duration: 40 minutes to one hour. Plan a gradual warm-up of 10 minutes, as well as a cool-down of the same duration. Incorporate exercises of two to five minutes, with the maximum or minimum gear, alternating with rest periods of the same duration as the exercise. Monitor the heart rate during exercise so that it does not exceed 80% of maximum capacities.
Forwardtage: fun and precise work.
Inconvenience : The rendering of a home trainer is not always identical to that of real conditions.
Objective: tintermittent work
When ? After the recovery period, for the improvement of aerobic capacities. The goal is to break the monotony of continuous work, to stimulate both the body's adaptability and the interest in the session.
How? 'Or' What ? By alternating high-intensity effort fractions with moderate-intensity effort fractions. Use either the speedometer, or the heart rate monitor, or the pedaling cadence sensor or the power sensor for those who have them.
Duration: from 40 minutes to one hour. Plan a gradual warm-up and a cool-down. Vary the effort and recovery times within five-minute blocks, for example: 1 minute at high intensity with 4 minutes of recovery, then 2 and 3 minutes, then 3 and 2 minutes and finally 4 and 1 minute. All combinations are possible within the session. The important thing is to manage the intensity of the effort in relation to the time allocated to recovery.Aim for about 85% of maximum capacity during the exercise, alternating with periods at 50% for recovery.
Forwardtage: really boosts fitness.
Inconvenience : requires concentration.
Objective: anaerobic threshold
When ? From the beginning of spring and throughout the season, at a rate ofone session every ten days or so. This type of session is perfectly reproducible on route and vice versa. When competitions are close together, it is no longer useful to do this type of session. Otherwise, to maintain your level, it is necessary to use this channel at least once every ten days.
How? 'Or' What ? Ideally with a power sensor, on the bike or integrated with the home trainer if it is equipped with one. Determine the power corresponding to the threshold after a test in the laboratory, or use heart rate as an indirect indicator. But be careful, with the heat and dehydration, as the duration of the effort increases, Heart rate tends to slightly overestimate the actual intensity of the exercise. Similarly, a power meter used on the bike mounted on a home trainer slightly underestimates the power delivered compared to the same effort on route. Count on 7 to 10% less, due to less friction. It is therefore necessary toadapt to the feeling an intensity of effort felt as difficult, but reproducible.
Duration: from 45 minutes to one hour depending on the level. After a 10-minute warm-up, perform three sets of 5 to 10 minutes at a very stable intensity, between 85 and 90% of maximum capacity. Never exceed 10 minutes on the home trainer. Recover actively for a duration equal to that of the exercise. Finish with 10 minutes of cool-down.
Forwardtage: ideal target intensity for progressing in an endurance sport.
Inconvenience : binding session.
Objective: split
When ? In the spring or from D – 2 months of an objective. This type of session is perfectly reproducible on route and vice versa. When the tests are frequent and repeated, it is possible to abandon this work.
How? 'Or' What ? To progress in PMA (Maximum Aerobic Power), it is necessary to produce a high level of power, for as long as possible during a session for this training to be productive. However, it is by splitting up very intense efforts, alternating with periods of active recovery, that it is possible, in the end, to achieve the most "useful" time for the development of these qualities. The idea is therefore to alternate periods of very intense effort with a recovery time greater than, equal to or less than the working time, depending on the level.
Duration: from 45 minutes to one hour, including 10 minutes of warm-up and cool-down. The durations of effort fractions vary and depend on the ability to maintain a high level of muscular performance. They should be cross-referenced with the recovery time. Progression is made by increasing the total time at high intensity, and decreasing the time spent on recovery.. Thus, we can consider effort fractions of 15 seconds to 1 minute, with the same amount of recovery. The intensity is maximum, but the heart rate only reaches its peak after a few effort fractions.
Forwardtage: fairly simple effort calibration on home trainer.
Inconvenience : demanding session.
Objective: PMA with counter-exercise (“Gimenez” exercise)
When ? The so-called "Gimenez" model offers a very intense 45-minute series to be carried out on a home trainer rather than on the route, especially for a question of regulating the effort. This type of training is to be carried out to get into shape, or in a period without competition. It is rather part of a rigorous and precise preparation, to be defined according to the objectives.
How? 'Or' What ? Following the ESIE scale (Subjective Effort Intensity Scale, calibrated from 1 to 7) the session is built around nine times 5 minutes which are broken down as follows: 4 minutes at I3 (just below the threshold intensity) and 1 minute at I5 (above the threshold). The main difficulty lies in the fact that it is necessary to carefully dose the power supplied during the four minutes at I3 so as not to explode before the complete series.
Duration: including a warm-up and a cool-down, the session lasts 65 to 70 minutes.
Forwardtage: very complete session.
Inconvenience : very demanding training.
| ESIE or the scale ofEestimation Sobjective of theIintensity lEexercise In order to use a common, easily understandable and reproducible language in training programs, the executives of the French Cycling Federation decided to use a tool built by Frédéric Grappe, the ESIE scale. This tool is based on field observations and makes the athlete responsible based on his perception of the intensity of the effort. It can be related to an intensity measured with a power sensor or with a heart rate monitor, knowing that in the latter case the index is not always reliable. Perception by the athlete I1 -> No muscle pain, easy pedaling, very easy conversation, fatigue over several hours. I2 -> No muscle pain, easy intensity maintenance, easy conversation, fatigue over three or four hours. I3 -> Muscle tension, sustained intensity, stable ventilation, difficult conversation, exhaustion after two hours. I4 -> Progressive increase in muscle pain, progressive but controllable increase in ventilation, difficult conversation, exhaustion after twenty minutes. I5 -> Rapid increase in muscle pain, rapid and difficult to control breathing, very difficult conversation, complete exhaustion between five and ten minutes. I6 -> Extreme suffering during exercise, maximum muscle pain, impossible conversation, very significant nervous fatigue, maximum hyperventilation at the end of exercise. I7 -> No muscle pain, feeling of holding your breath, very significant nervous fatigue, hyperventilation and muscle tingling at the end of the exercise. Source: Cycling and performance optimization, by Frédéric Grappe, de Boeck editions. |
Goal: sprint
When ? Almost all year round, except during the recovery period. This type of training can be combined with normal training on route, as a replacement for an output or as a supplement.
How? 'Or' What ? With a home trainer that holds the bike well, the idea is to let go without fear of losing your balance, at maximum speed or on the contrary in force, but always in a very short time, from 7 to 20 seconds maximum. Very gentle recovery takes 2 to 5 minutes, depending on the length of the sprint. Be careful, because between a long sprint and a short sprint, the same energy channels are not used. The impact on training and planning is of course different.
Duration: With a gradual warm-up and a 10-minute cool-down, a 30-40 minute session can be enough to work on and then maintain the speed and relaxation qualities needed for sprinting.
Forwardtage: easy and fun session.
Inconvenience : requires a very stable device.
Goal: Active recovery
When ? All year round, depending on needs and desires
How? 'Or' What ? Ride quietly with a light gear, just to get the body moving and thus actively removing waste from a previous outing. Variation 1: start gently on a small gear, and increase the gear by one tooth every 3 minutes, until you feel a slight sweat. Variation 2: after a 10-minute warm-up, do two very stable series in flexibility at 70/75% of maximum capacity.
Duration: from 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the content of the session and the feelings.
Forwardtage: pleasant session that de-saturates the body.
Inconvenience : little benefit to physical condition.
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