In my last article entitle “Make Recovery Work” we looked at how we as instructors can efficiently use recovery time to our advantage.  Two of the main points were to use recovery as a time to provide instruction to prepare our riders for what is ahead and as a way to administer the “Recovery Litmus Test”.  The biggest question that was prompted by the article was “so how long should recovery be?”.

An Excellent Question!

Not only and excellent question, but the right question.  The subject of recovery ranks high on my “ticked off” list as an area needing much education and improvement.  This is not just an indoor cycling issue, it is a dilemma I’ve seen in training as a whole.  We live in a world of the 1-hour training block.  To take it a step further, we are constantly asking (or being asked) “HOW MUCH can we jam into 60 minutes”.  Well, as usual……it depends.

You Can’t Fake Reality

Many of us have experienced those indoor cycling classes where the instructor yells “GO!” within the first 2 minutes of the start of class and continues to pour on the intensity until the hour is up.  Recovery….eh….stretching….eh…..wipe down the bike time is also reduced to barely 2 minutes.  The goal is to “maximize” our class and our workout — squeeze the hour for what it’s worth.  What an absolute waste of a class AND a bad sales practice (what?).

Instructors and riders alike often think that if you push hard through the entire class you will gain more fitness and lose more weight (the sales pitch).  Because many have bought into this misconception, insane indoor cycling classes are still the rage (pun intended).  Enter REALITY!  The (physiological) reality is that most riders are not going to be able to hold 80-90% for an entire hour. One to 3 minutes is more like it.  And then what happens?  Their intensity decreases and decreases as their muscles continue to fatigue while their mental toughness dwindles.  After 10 minutes of this insanity (being ridiculously generous), riders are reduced to 70% of their ability.  The real fake out here is that the rider “perceives” that they are still working at 90+%.  This is where having a power meter on your bike can sprinkle a does of the real world.

Top Performance Requires Adequate Recovery

Top performance is not just for the pros.  It simply means to work at the best level of intensity for the given drill or effort.  For example, if an interval requires that we maintain 80% of our ability for 5 minutes, maintaining only 70% will not provide the needed stress and will not yield the desired benefit.  The sad part is, without recovery, our riders will never know they are getting gypped out of fitness.  To them it stills feels like (is perceived as) a hard 80% effort.

Due to the time constraints (and lack of attention span of some riders), providing the same amount of recovery indoors, as we would when riding outdoors, may be unrealistic.  But that doesn’t mean we throw out the baby with the bath water.  For example, it may be ideal to provide 5 minutes of recovery after a hard 2 minute interval. In an indoor class, recovering for that long may cause riders to mentally tune out.  Remember, we are trying to adhere to the best practices of exercise science, but not everyone in our classes are elite level athletes.  So what do we provide? Considering the indoor environment and our demographic, 3 minutes to recovery can work.  Let me provide some guidelines that may allow you to make better decisions.  Keep in mind these are just “guidelines” and there are numerous variables.

I’ll break these down by using the common cycling zones 1 to 5:

ZONE 1 — ACTIVE RECOVERY (RPE 1-2 or Easy):
This IS recovery so one should not need to recover from recovery 🙂

ZONE 2 — ENDURANCE (RPE 3-4 or Fairly Light):
Endurance efforts can generally be held for longer times (1 hour +).  In many cases, providing 1-2 minutes of recovery after an 8-20 minute steady-state endurance effort may provide more “mental” recovery than physical.

ZONE 3 — AEROBIC FITNESS (RPE 5-6 or Moderate):
Although aerobic fitness efforts can be sustained for 6 — 10 minutes by some, they can be considered very challenging for beginner and intermediate level riders.  Depending on your class demographic, I would provide 1 — 2+ minutes of recovery depending on the length of the effort.  If the duration of the effort is less than 3 minutes, 1 minute of recovery may be suitable.

ZONE 4 — SUB-THRESHOLD (RPE 7-8 or Hard):
Even though some fit outdoor riders can sustain this level of intensity for much longer, indoors these efforts are generally from 4 to 6 minutes in length and could require 2 — 4+ minutes of recovery respectively.

ZONE 5 — CAPACITY (RPE 9-10 or Extremely Hard):
These efforts can range from 30-second explosive sprints to 2+ minute anaerobic endurance efforts.  If a rider is “truly” working at capacity, 3-5+ minutes of recovery should be well received.

Like most things that involve both the human body and science, there are many variables and options.  One of them is Tabata training.  In general, Tabata training provides a shortening (starving) of recovery between high intensity efforts to increase aerobic fitness and stamina.  This type of training is best maximized by those with a higher level of fitness and should be “seasoned” into our training and not BE our training.  And DON”T use Tabata training as an excuse to provide inadequate recovery in all of your classes.  I WILL find you.

So as you can tell by my emotional state while writing this article, I’ve got issues surrounding this topic.  Over the last 15+ years of coaching, I’ve seen numerous riders put at risk from over-reaching and over-training, as well as, a general loss of fitness.  The biggest shame is that people don’t get to the fitness level they could achieve because they are working to hard to much of the time.

Give your riders Quality Training!  Give your class the Real Thing!

Originally posted 2011-10-27 11:35:42.

ICI/PRO member question from ICI/PRO Podcast #203 Cycle Strong Audio PROfile

What exactly should the “openers” in the warm-up consist of? In Tom's “Getting Started with Intervals” audio profile, he described them as 30 seconds of maximum effort followed by 30 seconds of recovery, which to me sounds the same as the first Muscular Strength interval in this audio profile (30s effort/30s recovery). I would appreciate help understanding the difference.

As always, I greatly appreciate the audio profiles!!! And Marc, thank you for the playlist suggestions!

Kristi

Kristi,

Thanks for you question. It is a good one. Many people don't understand the purpose of openers and thus never do them or benefit from them. Simply, they are all-out, maximum efforts for the prescribed period of time (openers can be different lengths depending on their purpose and what one is preparing for). How do we define the “all-out” maximum effort? Think of it as the most resistance you can use at the highest cadence. I would recommend a cadence of 85 RPM or greater (I personally prefer 100+ RPM). You should find yourself through into the high-end of Zone 5!

So what's the difference between the openers and muscular strength efforts? The muscular strength efforts are limited by the cadence. In order to more effectively develop strength in the legs, the cadence needs to be slower (60-70 RPM) in order to provide the necessary stress (I.e. Force) on the muscle. This in many cases will not produce the highest heart rates (but pretty high). Simply put, what is the most resistance/stress/force I can place on my legs at for example, 60 RPM.

Openers push every limit for a short period of time in an attempt to activate systems such as your anaerobic energy pathway and lactate buffering. If you prepare and active these systems BEFORE the structured part of the workout, the body will not be behind the 8-ball and will respond more consistently and repeatedly.

Does this answer your question?

Cheers, Tom.

Originally posted 2017-03-28 09:04:06.

Last week I was asked to sub a couple of classes for another instructor and friend.  It was at a club that I used to teach at and where I still knew a number of the members.  I always like teaching at this particular club because the riders throw out some good energy and appreciate a structured workout — my specialty.  Since I was going to be covering both the 9:30am and 12:30pm timeslots, I decided to bring my laptop and camp out in the lounge area between classes to get some work done.

The energy of the 9:30am class was great and the room was full.  I taught on and off the bike walking around the room to encourage riders I hadn’t seen in a while and meet some new faces.  After class, a few people hung out.  I also took the time to make a few adjustments to the bike setup of a couple of riders.  It was definitely one of those classes that often gives you (the instructor) more back than one feels was given.  I left energized and refreshed and was now looking forward to the 12:30pm class.

I settled down in the lounge area and fetched myself a cup of complimentary coffee.  As I was checking emails and eating a Pop-Tart (yes, I got grief for that – “What, Coach Tom Scotto is eating junk food”) one of the riders approached my table and asked if she could interrupt me.  Sure, I love talking with people at the club and particularly about cycling. These were her exact words: “Your class and workout was great, but your music sucks”.  She said it in such a genuine, yet straight-forward way, that I could do nothing but smile.  “Wow, that is quite a range of feedback.  Would you mind bridging the gap for me?  What did you like and why such a strong response to the music?”

She sat down and told me how the workout was perfect and how she felt the exact challenge I had presented during the intro.  She remembered each of the drills and told me her heart rate ranges for each.  I was quite impressed with her detail and assessment of how she felt during each effort.  “So what’s up with the music?” I said.  She said it was just awful.  “I hate all of that electronic stuff”.  Now I was quite certain the instructor I subbed for played very similar music, so I asked what she thought of the music the regular instructor plays.  “Oh, his music is terrible too.  I can’t stand that electronic junk”.  She told me she liked popular music with vocals.  I asked her how she was able to make it through the entire class with that brutal noise.  She said that, although she hated the music, it somehow fit the flow of the class and matched the workout. “I just focused on what we were supposed to be doing and blocked out the music”.

I thought this was very interesting.  How could someone who had such a violent reaction to the music actually enjoy a class — to the point where her overall assessment of the class was “great”.  Being a musician, I’m particularly sensitive to music and would find it hard to enjoy a class if I “hated” the music.  Her feedback demonstrated the importance of delivering sound training. It is so important that a 50% Great plus a 50% Sucks stills equals “great”.

Now I don’t think she was speaking to the soundness of the “physiological training concepts”, but what I took away from her comments was that she appreciated the thought and structure that went into designing the class.  I thought this was great news.  As a coach, I have all kinds of workouts just waiting to pour out of my head.  The challenge is always the music.  It can take me hours to pull together just the right songs.  So, as I said, this is good news.  It doesn’t mean we don’t have to focus on the music, but if we take the time to put together a sound workout, it can overshadow our music choices.

So what does this really mean for us?  It is a call for each of us to take the time to design a solid ride profile.  How much time and effort do we take to construct our workouts or rides or whatever we call them?  Could your profile stand on its own WITHOUT music?  Wow, that’s a challenge!  I’m sure there is quite a bit more that we can pull out of this experience, but I’m more interested in hearing your feedback and thoughts?

I’m off to download some new music.  Apparently, my tunes suck.

Originally posted 2011-04-15 15:03:17.

By Team ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanas

We’re not wired to seek out pain.  Human evolution developed and adapted a neurological system and sensory perception for reducing pain and seeking pleasure.

Easy-to-moderate cardio conditioning is of a manageable intensity that feels good.  Once someone gets past the initial discomfort of moving the body and sitting on a saddle, riding a bike is pleasurable.

So why do we take our students past that point and encourage them to hurt?  And why do we do it ourselves?

There are plenty of good reasons.  But the focus of this post is how to encourage new students to recognize the benefits of training at high heart rates and willingly ride into hurt.

Spiritual teachers speak of consciousness, that transcendental thing with the mind that goes beyond the physical universe.  What’s interesting is that more and more studies show that the mind relies upon the physical processes of the brain, yet no one knows exactly how.

In Buddha's Brain, Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius describe how human survival strategies have led to human suffering.  That’s not the topic of this article either, although it’s a fascinating read.  One of these strategies has a direct impact on training intensity — the fact that humans are wired to “hold onto fleeting pleasures and escape inevitable pains.”

Haven't you ever noticed how counterintuitive it feels when you contemplate a training or event that will hurt?  The guiding principle in the human body is homeostasis.  Exercise in general takes us out of homeostasis, and high intensity will take us far out of it — or, in the case of an ultra-endurance event, for a very long time.  You might overlook pain for a while if you see enough ads with models and athletes, or read what celebrities do to stay fit.  After a time, though, it all sounds somewhat ridiculous.  Yet this is what we tell our students to do.

Understand that this is not wrong.  There are many reasons to exercise hard and experience hurt.  But hard training becomes exhausting unless there’s a reason for it that goes beyond the usual stuff the industry throws at us — caloric burn, muscle confusion, muscle shock, looking great naked — and the gadgets to make those things happen.

Working with your mind to encourage your body is central to every path of psychological and spiritual development.  “Shocking” the body grossly misrepresents the process.  There’s no surprise.  We willfully take the body into discomfort for reasons that have little to do with how our physiology reacts to the stress.

The physical benefits of hard training are well documented:  increased aerobic capacity, improved ability to burn fat, enhanced metabolic boost, reduced risk of diabetes, reversal of Metabolic Syndrome, greater longevity, increased lean body mass, greater insulin sensitivity, and more.

So, physically, it’s good for us to go hard.  As an instructor, you can recite the above list of benefits every time you take heart rates up in class.  It might start out convincing, but the impact of the list will diminish over time, even though the benefits still apply to your students’ physiology.

Hurt requires a better reason than the benefits list for our students to keep embracing it during training.  Again, neurologically, we’re wired to avoid it.  That’s why we feel apprehension and anxiety before every hard effort that produces serious discomfort.

You’re on a ride and turn into a stiff, 25-mph headwind that reduces your speed on a flat road to a soul-destroying 6 mph in your easiest climbing gear.  You must ride in that direction for another 50 miles.  Endurance will not get you through that ride.  Strength will not get you through that ride.  None of the physical attributes you may have developed through your classes and training will get you through that ride.  Only resilience will.

What is resilience?  A dictionary definition centers on the ability to recover quickly, to bounce back.  In this context, it could be seen as an attitude:  ‘It's not that it doesn't hurt.  It's just that it doesn't matter.’  More precisely, it’s a non-attitude — a non-reaction to the hurt that then leads to acceptance.  Bouncing back would be the result.

The road is the road.  Being a cyclist means accepting it without judgment.  Facing a headwind for 50 miles might be the toughest thing you’ve ever done, but it's not really good or bad.  It's what is.

All the cardio conditioning in the world will not teach you this.  You must willingly go into the hurt and discomfort to train yourself to accept what is.  The conflict the pain causes you also provides you with the opportunity to overcome it.

The Zen behind it is ‘no attachments, no aversions’.  That way, you’re always present in the moment, working with what is, and whatever happens is OK.  It’s as applicable in a cycling class as it is on the road.  It’s as applicable in life as it is in training.

The question is whether your students would be willing to hurt to develop these things — focus, presence, acceptance, resilience — and whether you’re willing as an instructor to develop them enough to teach them.

That’s why we ride hard enough to hurt.

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Originally posted 2012-06-18 08:23:31.

As I hit the streets after teaching at one of my downtown clubs, I bumped into a friend of mine who appear to have been run over by a car.  She had a large gym bag clawing at her shoulder with cycling shoes peeking out of the end pocket.  The bag apparently weighs over 50 pounds, because she appears to be struggling just to lug it to the corner.

“Hey, how are you?” I said in apparently too chipper a tone.  She turns only her head and glares at me with one eye bigger than the other.  Assuming that were her response, I prodded some more in order to jump start an under-powered conversation. “Did you just get out of a cycling class?  How was it?”  She released the gym bag as if tossing a heavy sack of potatoes off her shoulder. “You can say that.  The instructor was a maniac”.

Being a coach for 10 years, one realizes that everyone has their own perception of what is hard, what is easy or when they are tired.  Often times it is different that my interpretation, so it is usually best to get things defined.  Plus, I was particularly interested in her definition of a “maniac” instructor.  “Wow, sounds pretty extreme, what happened?”

Her stare became intense and her tone aggravated: “Our regular instructor was away this week, so we had a sub.  I think he was either new, insecure or just terrible.  Our usual instructor’s class is quite popular.  People really respect her workouts because she has a reputation of giving a hard class, that provides just the right amount of work and recovery.  So maybe this guy felt he had some big shoes to fill and decided to show us how hard he can make us work.  We barely had a warm-up and we were led into a hard climb followed by 10-minutes of jumps.  Then some long sprints where he only provided 15-seconds of recovery followed by another climb and more jumps.  He ran us ragged with no rhythm or reason until 2 minutes before the end of class and then told us to cool down and stretch on our own.”  With the exception of those 15-second recovery periods, I don’t think he gave us any other break.  I don’t know why I tried to keep up.  I think I was just aggravated and just kept hammering away.  Oh well, I’m late for work so I’ve gotta run.  I just hope he never subs our class again.”

She heaved her bag back on her shoulder like it was a limp body and headed in the opposite direction.  This is not the first time I’ve heard this unfortunate tale, but my mind started connecting a few of the stories.  Many of them involved a sub which people deemed “horrible”.  Now I don’t think all subs are horrible, I’m sure we’ve subbed many classes ourselves (I hope).  I know I have.  However, I do think there can be a greater tendency to put on our “A” game when walking into a cycling studio with new or unfamiliar stares.  Let’s face it, it can be intimidating to enter a room when you’re NOT the person everyone is expecting.  I’ve even had a person walk out of a class I was subbing seconds after I walked through the door.  I hadn’t even make it to the stereo yet or said a word.  So I understand the pressure of feeling you have to overcompensate for not being THE instructor.  It doesn’t even matter whether the instructor you are covering for is good or not.  It is their class.  Their riders.  Their style.

So what’s my advice? you can’t be THEM, so be yourself.  When you sub for another instructor, teach, instruct and coach with that same style that has won your riders over year after year.  Sure, bring your “A” game, why not?  But teach a sound workout.  Take that extra energy (albeit, nervous energy) and excitement and direct it toward getting to know some of the riders in class.  Connect.  Be real.  Don’t be a Maniac!

PS. No one who has every subbed one of my classes has been accused of this.  Just incase “you” were wondering.

Originally posted 2011-03-03 13:56:51.