00:00 We all know that the winter training period is very important for building your foundation
00:04 for the upcoming season, but might you be doing things that are actually compromising
00:09 your fitness gains?
00:10 Well, I've put together a list of five things that you're probably doing wrong in your winter
00:16 training.
00:22 It's commonplace in many people's winter training routine to neglect intensity when cycling.
00:28 It's often seen as always being about the base miles.
00:30 Now, although this follows a traditional periodization training plan, there are several issues with
00:36 periodization when trying to emulate the pros.
00:39 Although professionals spend a limited amount of their training time at higher intensities
00:44 when it's winter training and out of season, they are spending a small percentage of a
00:48 much larger overall training volume there.
00:51 If you aren't training 30 hours a week and you're doing, say, just seven, then periodization
00:56 would suggest that you spend maybe an hour and 24 minutes above zone one or two.
01:02 If you are training that total volume, then doing mostly zone two with such a limited
01:07 time at higher intensities, you're likely not going to be making the most of your training
01:11 time, and over the course of a winter, we'll end up losing fitness.
01:22 Indoor training is fantastic.
01:23 There's no doubt about it.
01:25 However, limiting your training solely to indoors could be impacting negatively on your
01:30 overall fitness, as well as other important elements of cycling.
01:35 Riding purely indoors does nothing for bike handling or bunch riding skills.
01:39 These are skills that many people could seek to improve and see their results in races
01:43 improve alongside.
01:45 Training purely indoors not only limits the opportunity to work on these skills, but can
01:49 also lead to loss of some of them.
01:52 Another area where only riding indoors can impact your fitness negatively is that you
01:56 may be neglecting the easier rides or the longer endurance rides.
02:00 Some people are diehard indoor training fans and are happy to spend five hours or even
02:05 longer on the trainer, but for most people, this isn't their idea of fun, which is something
02:11 that a good training plan should be.
02:14 Intensity is required to improve and maintain fitness, but the best plans balance a mix
02:19 of intensity with volume, or else your fitness will suffer.
02:23 Finally, purely training indoors can lead to a greater chance of burnout longer term.
02:29 Not only is spending time outdoors good for physical health, but it also benefits your
02:33 mental health.
02:34 Add to that the lack of in-person social interaction and the fact that there's no let-up in pedalling
02:39 while indoors, and mental burnout is a very serious consideration if training purely indoors.
02:45 [music] Getting your kit choices right on winter
02:53 rides can be difficult, and if done incorrectly, you can really impair your training sessions
02:58 and have a negative impact on your fitness.
03:01 Firstly, not wearing enough kit.
03:05 It can be quite easy when you've been used to wearing shorts and jersey to get your kit
03:09 wrong and not wear enough when the temperature starts to drop.
03:13 If you're not wearing enough kit, then it can be difficult to raise your temperature
03:17 sufficiently enough to enable you to perform well and perform any efforts that you have
03:22 to do.
03:23 Not being warm enough can also increase the time it takes to recover from training sessions,
03:27 even if they're at a lower intensity.
03:30 Secondly, another big mistake is actually wearing too much and overheating.
03:34 When it gets to winter, it can be tempting to layer on lots of kit to stay warm and reduce
03:39 the chance of getting a cold.
03:41 However, I would say it's always better to have too much kit on and then strip or unzip
03:46 it later if you do start to heat up too much.
03:49 However, if you can get your kit right in the first instance, then that will reduce
03:53 the need for you to carry more kit and then end up stuffing your pockets.
03:58 However, if you're leaving the house at 8.30 AM, it's likely that it's going to be a lot
04:03 colder than it will be midway through the ride.
04:07 Wearing too much and overheating has two potential issues.
04:10 Firstly, fluid loss increases and dehydration can become more likely.
04:15 The easy fix is drinking enough fluid as well as consuming salts, but in the winter, it
04:19 can sometimes be difficult to want to drink that much more.
04:23 If you become dehydrated, this will not only impair your training sessions, but also your
04:27 recovery from training and therefore your overall fitness.
04:32 The other downside of overdressing is that unzipping to cool down can lead to quite a
04:36 rapid chill.
04:38 If you do an effort over the top of a climb, you will then become sweaty.
04:42 We all know that the purpose of sweat is to dissipate heat.
04:46 When you combine that with unzipping and a rush of cold air, you can get cold very, very
04:50 quickly.
04:57 This is an area which a lot of cyclists neglect throughout the whole year.
05:01 Dedicated strength work can be a huge benefit, both for increasing power while also reducing
05:07 the likelihood of injuries.
05:09 During winter, many people try and increase their volume of cycling to get those base
05:13 miles in.
05:14 However, doing just volume work and neglecting strength work really does put you at a comparable
05:19 disadvantage.
05:21 Strength work has been shown to increase time to exhaustion, increase maximal power production,
05:27 and decrease time trial time.
05:29 For those worried that they'll put on loads of muscle and get heavy, well, unless you're
05:33 very genetically gifted, you won't put on kilos of muscle.
05:37 You may gain some, but with power increasing.
05:41 Your watts per kilo will increase, with your watts per CDA increasing by more.
05:46 In other words, you'll be faster everywhere.
05:49 So if you're just training volume, or you just train on the turbo and neglect strength
05:54 work altogether, you could be damaging your fitness and the potential to be faster.
06:05 A common mistake made by those moving from their end of season break to their winter
06:09 training is actually just overdoing it.
06:12 Doing too much too soon is a surefire way to get ill, burn out later, or give yourself
06:18 an injury.
06:19 Any of these obviously will impact significantly and negatively on your fitness.
06:25 When starting to ride again after a break, it's very important to build up that training
06:29 load, be that intensity or duration, very progressively and sustainably.
06:35 It's also worth bearing in mind that, well, there's a lot of illness in the winter season.
06:40 So if you've got kids or you work in an office, it is very likely that you're going to pick
06:43 up a cold virus at least once or twice during winter.
06:48 If you do catch a cold, then this may mean you have to take time off from training to
06:52 recover properly.
06:53 But if you do train through it, you may be unwell for longer and training will be negatively
06:59 impacted along with the fitness.
07:02 If you do take a break to get well again, then you've got to be careful that you don't
07:06 overdo it when you start back up.
07:09 Training locks can weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to illnesses.
07:15 So there's five things which I think you're doing wrong in your winter training.
07:19 If you have any tips of your own, then do share them down below.
07:22 If you enjoyed the video, drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content,
07:26 and I'll see you again very soon.
07:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:30 (upbeat music)
07:33 (whooshing)
