Seven minutes of climbing is just what your class needs this week and LCD Soundsystem's newest track will help you and your riders make the most of it. After getting back together, the band has come out with two new releases. Many of their songs are on the longer side, so they work well for steady climbs or flat roads. I'll be using this one as a seated climb:
If you are a data-geek, you’ve stumbled onto the right blog. If you love learning about the science behind your training, you should find these posts pretty interesting. If you’re the type who likes to not only know what, but has to know WHY training is prescribed in one way rather than another, your “show me” approach to training should be appeased in our Evidence Based Cycling.
However, if you just like to ride, and not worry about heart rate, not care about your power to weight ratios, could care less about threshold & VO2, then you might not get much out of Evidence Based Cycling.
Being patterned after the practice of evidence-based medicine, we (Cycling Fusionâ„¢) are defining Evidence Based Cycling in the following way:
The practice of Evidence Based Cycling is a process of life-long, self-directed learning in which caring for our own riders creates the need for cycling relevant information about diagnosis, prognosis, training methodologies, and other cycling and health issues that we can measure and improve.
Training protocols and methods used by Indoor Cycling Instructors and Outdoor Cycling Coaches that ascribe to Evidence Based Cycling are based on the following:
Integrating individual expertise with the best available external evidence from systematic research, but neither expertise nor external evidence alone is enough.
By individual expertise we mean the proficiency and judgment that we individual instructors and/or coaches acquire through relevant experience and practice.
This expertise is also reflected in thoughtful identification and compassionate use of individual rider life situations, rights, and preferences in making decisions about their training.
By best available external evidence we mean cycling relevant research, often from the basic sciences of training, but especially from rider centered research into the accuracy and precision of diagnostic tests.
External evidence can confirm previous theories or studies, but sometimes it can invalidate previously accepted methods and understanding. In these instances, it replaces them with new ones that are more powerful, more accurate, more efficacious, and safer.
Without cycling expertise, students risk becoming tyrannized by external evidence, for even excellent external evidence may be inapplicable to or inappropriate for an individual rider.
Without current best external evidence, training methods may become rapidly out of date, sometimes to the detriment of riders.
Evidence Based Cycling converts information needs into answerable questions:
Track down, with maximum efficiency, the best evidence with which to answer them.
From the first hand accounts of coaches, instructors and riders the diagnostic laboratory from research evidence, or other sources.
Critically appraise that evidence for its validity (closeness to the truth) and usefulness (cycling specific applicability).
Integrate this appraisal with our personal cycling expertise and apply it in practice.
Evaluate our performance.
Report back and record the results for others to benefit from.
No doubt, this definition and outline will be refined and/or expanded over time, as we continue to build a practice of Evidence Based Cycling. With the last 3 posts amounting to essentially a foundation or background for why we believe this is something worth writing about and implementing, the next post will be an example of how anyone can implement their own Evidence Based Cycling program.
PRO member Kay asked a very good question about ANT+
… I'm also wondering about Heart Rate. If the bikes are ANT+, will they only pick up ANT+ Heart Rate Monitors? I noticed that the new Schwinn did not pick up my Polar HRM
Thank you for your comments!
Kay
The short answer is; No. Indoor Cycles with or without ANT+ consoles will detect and display most Heart Rate straps.
It all comes down to the type of HR strap you are using, but it can get confusing. I'll try to explain.
First let's identify the three players:
Analog (Low Frequency) HR Monitor straps
Digital/ANT+ (High Frequency) HR Monitor straps
Hybrid HR Straps that offer both High and Low Frequencies
Analog HR straps & monitors have been around for years. I guess you could say they are the generic version and any inexpensive HR monitor is Analog. For many people they work just fine but they have two problems:
They will “Cross Talk” with other monitors as they are indiscriminate in which signal they will choose to display.
Battery life of the strap can be relatively short (measured in months of use) due to the amount of power they consume broadcasting their low frequency (5000Hz) signal. It takes comparably more energy to generate low frequencies vs. high frequencies – think how much work a Tuba Player expends vs. the Piccolo Player in a marching band and I'm not referring to the weight of the instrument.
To solve these two problems HR manufactures introduced Digital HR straps and monitors using a very high frequency 2.4gHz or 2,400,000,000Hz which is what is referred to as ANT+ or some like Polar describe it as “Coded”.
ANT+ receivers will lock onto the source – commonly known as “Pairing”, they will reject other competing signals once they have been successfully paired.
Battery life is measured in years – Garmin says their strap's battery will last over 5 years, operating one hour a day.
ANT+ has another ability that Analog doesn't, the ability to transmit and receive multiple data sets over multiple channels. Where your Analog monitor can only understand; Beat…Beat…Beat, ANT+ can transmit an incredible amount of information that's really limited to the engineer's imagination. I'll bet that that CycleOps PowerCal Power Meter that uses only heart rate data from the users chest strap to estimate Power Output is transmitting a lot more than just Beat…Beat…Beat
The Spinning Fitness Tracker uses a Garmin ANT+ strap and ANT+ iPhone Dongle
So ANT+ looks like the perfect solution, except for one little problem… every piece of fitness equipment on the planet is designed to receive and display Analog signals. But this is changing and Garmin as an article here that lists the change with more and more pieces of equipment adding ANT+ technology.
Enter Hybrid HR straps that transmit in both the high ANT+ and Low Analog frequencies. This give the user the option to display their HR on a club's treadmill, while at the same time only pairing with a compatible ANT+ device.
So back to your question about not being able to see your HR on the Schwinn AC, Kay. Either the Schwinn AC MPower Console or FreeMotion's should display your HR, regardless of what strap you were wearing. I have a Hybrid Polar strap which works just fine on the Schwinn, but not an exclusively ANT+ strap – so I don't have first hand experience.
I've asked the question to both companies and will update this post when I know more.
UPDATE: Schwinn Master Instructor Julz Arney got back to me with:
Yes, the wireless technology used by the MPower console is ANT+ (owned by Garmin.) Any HR strap using ANT+ should connect. There are a few hints to make it easier:
-Have HR strap on and functioning before turning on console
-Be on the bike saddle (i.e. in close range of the console)
The console looks for a HR signal for approximately 30 seconds from when it's turned on. If it doesn't find a signal it will stop looking. The rider will then need to turn off the console and turn it back on.)
I hope this helps!
Both the Schwinn AC and FreeMotion have a limited time for the rider to pair to the console. The S1.9 will only connect during when the console shows Warm Up.
This is the last of our re-publishing of of past articles from Team ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanas.
Pyramid training is a method typically used by strength athletes and body builders. A session starts with high reps and low weight and incrementally adds weight while reducing reps per set.
Pyramids are typically described as ascending or descending. Descending pyramids are also called reverse pyramids: you warm up, then start with your heaviest weight. From there, you decrease the total load, while trying to do a few more repetitions. Triangle (or up-down) pyramids include both ascending and descending pyramids.
Pyramids are less commonly used by cardiovascular athletes, although they’re strongly recommended by many pros. Ascending pyramids are the only type discussed, and the format involves decreasing time with increasing intensity. An example is a 4-3-2-1 ascending pyramid: 4 minutes easy, 3 minutes moderate, 2 minutes hard, 1 minute very hard. Descending and triangle pyramids are seldom referenced.
In previous posts, I’ve referred to ascending and descending pyramids as ladders and referred to a triangle pyramid as a pyramid. I change the nomenclature here simply to align with how other trainers refer to these training patterns.
The infrequent use of pyramids in indoor cycling always amazed me. Rowing introduced me to structured cardiovascular workouts. I rowed competitively on the water in the ‘70s and competitively indoors in the ‘90s. Rowing ergometer workouts investigate every possible variation of pyramid training and provide a useful template for indoor cycling instructors. With that, you can create an almost endless variety of trainings.
Whether or not you have a computer on your bike, you have four primary variables: cadence, resistance, intensity, and time. In cycling, most ascending pyramids use only time and intensity. The interval gets shorter and the intensity (RPE, HR or power) goes up. This overlooks many potential training opportunities. What about time and cadence? Interval gets shorter and cadence goes up.
What if you involved more variables? How about time, cadence and intensity? Interval gets shorter, cadence goes up, but RPE, HR or power output has to stay the same. This requires a subtle adjustment in the resistance as well as a greater integration of breathing to facilitate relaxation. The result is greater efficiency at high cadences.
How about an ascending pyramid to build strength at higher RPM and improve the ability to spin a harder gear? Time and resistance stay constant but cadence increases. Perform three 1-minute intervals with a fixed resistance and ascending cadence (80-100-120 or moderate, fast, faster). You can also put three of those pyramids together and add in ascending resistance. After each pyramid, you increase the fixed resistance level for the next pyramid.
How about a reverse pyramid to facilitate strength development? The intervals get longer as the cadence decreases, but intensity must increase. This requires massive addition of resistance, as the slower RPM will tend to drop the HR or reduce power. Increasing intensity while cadence is slowing requires a very hard gear. Increasing duration as this happens is quite challenging.
Up-Down (triangle) pyramids are by far my favorite. An 11-minute triangle consists of intervals that are formatted 3-2-1-2-3. How about cadence going up and down (80-100-120-100-80) while intensity goes up and down? I rarely see people coach the down side of this kind of pyramid effectively.
One of my favorite ways to coach this pyramid is to extend a super-threshold effort. First, these 11 minutes are done after extensive warm-up. The ascending and descending portions of the pyramid are performed at different intensities. I’ll use HR percentages of max just for an example: 75%, 85%, 90%, 88%, 86%. As the super-threshold effort begins to induce muscle failure, you drop the HR just enough to squeeze out the next interval.
You can vary this. How about using the same ascending pyramid for HR but with a fixed cadence at 100 RPM? On the descending portion, you maintain the 90% HR but drop the cadence (90 and then 80 RPM). The slower cadences will very likely make 90% impossible for most people when sitting, so you move everyone to the standing position. 90% is possible when jogging at 90, as well as 80 RPM, but you’ll have to increase the resistance as you drop the cadence to 80. Brutal.
The variations are endless. For those who haven’t had the benefit of training on an indoor rowing ergometer, I’d strongly suggest reviewing the rowing workouts available on the Concept 2 website (www.concept2.com). You’ll find many workouts that are easily adaptable to indoor cycling.
When I'm asked to review a product or service that includes new technology, I'm always a bit hesitant. You see I like simple and I tend to see many new products trying to solve a problem that really doesn't need to be solved or will add another (needless) layer of complexity/frustration/distraction to the lives of Instructors and/or their students.
Power indication in our classes is a perfect example. Seeing our watts is a huge step for many of us and equally so for our students. We see the value of all this information (metrics) about the amount of work we're doing in class. Many of us are excited to use that data as the basis for improving our fitness.
But what do we do with all this new information?
Collecting your data is a good place to begin. Both the FreeMotion and Schwinn Power Meter consoles offer the option to plug in a USB flash drive. After your training session you can download the ride to your computer to see what you've done. Which is interesting, about two times. Then you realize that looking at a snapshot of a single day isn't really telling you anything of value. If you're an Excel expert you can build a fancy spreadsheet to show graphs where you can see trends. Or you can subscribe to an online service like Training Peaks ($20 a month if you want the graphing features), upload your results and track your fitness. I see online services as an excellent choice for a committed athlete, but a bit over-the-top for the Club Athletes that make up the majority of our classes.
When Cameron Chinatti from Stages Indoor Cycling explained their new iPhone App, which is designed for use with the FreeMotion console, I saw it as a potentially useful tool that could benefit both you and your students.
So I agreed to give it a try to see if it was in fact useful and not needlessly complex or distracting.
I have a “Is it intuitive and easy to use?” test, which is simply; “do you turn it on and it works… Yes or No?
The App passed – and as long as I followed the proper procedure, every time I turned it on it worked.
The console is designed to “Pair” fancy word for connecting to both a Heart Rate strap and/or your iPhone during “Warm Up” mode. Once you advance to Stage 1 Pairing is no longer available. With the Stages App turned on, pedaling the bike and the console in Warm Up you will see:
Pressing the Stage button brings you to the main screen.
My second test is; “what value does this product provide, beyond some fancy graphics?”
Something we all need to know.
The Stages App will calculate your FTP (Functional Threshold Power) and your Heart Rate at FTP over a series of rides. Understanding your FTP is as important as knowing your Threshold Heart Rate. With both these metabolic markers you can create specific training zones. Once your student's know their Power Zones your class will be a whole lot easier to teach for you and more understandable (and beneficial) for them 🙂
Here's the setup screen where you can select to App to calculate your FTP or you can manually add it if known.
Auto-Calculate FTP is HUGE
I talked to Cameron about the auto-calculate feature because after three rides it was showing my FTP as 186 Watts vs. ~240 watts which I'm normally seeing during a long hard effort. Her response was; “how hard did you ride during those classes?” I admitted that I hadn't worked as hard as I could have. Cameron explained that App is looking for your best 20 minute average wattage and if I don't provide a hard/long effort the App doesn't have the necessary data to work from. It didn't have any trouble calculating my FTHR 🙂
There's much more to this App and I am planning a Podcast with Cameron to explore all it's functionality in more detail. For more now please check out this Quick Start video and if you are teaching or training on a FreeMotion S11 series Indoor Cycle I highly recommend that you start using this App – ASAP. Order your Freemotion S11.0 Indoor Cycle – with Power Sensor Console
Cycling Fusion Master Instructor Tom Scotto is back! Tom conducts a Cycle Strong Instructor workshop and here is an abbreviated version for you to enjoy and learn from.
As this is an actual workshop I asked Tom to provide a PDF of Cycle Strong that includes the Power Point slides that you can reference while you listen.
