Still raining? Try some Bike circuit training!

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Enduring road and MTB training in sub zero conditions day in day out is enough to make you either take up lawn bowls or start thinking of effective alternatives.

If you are going to ’sacrifice’ hard miles in the saddle for an indoor regime (other than pure ergo work) you must ensure the routine trains bike specific neuro-muscular pathways and makes a contribution to strength, power and calorie consumption.

A popular alternate training regime in Europe and North America is the lamely labeled ‘bike circuit training’; lame by name but if done correctly powerful by nature.

Like any traditional circuit training format the bike circuit provides a variety of exercise activities wrapped around a core of ergo-based interval routines. These activities tend to be a mix of free weights, isometrics, plyometrics and machines. An ounce of common sense would also see the inclusion of bike-specific yoga stretches at the end of the session.

Not only is a bike circuit portion of your programme fantastic for coping with poor weather it’s also a great tool for adding some variety so it is not all 24/7 dull.

Really , the exercise focus is on developing strength, balance and stability in between your bike intervals bursts which tend to cluster around your specific goals; threshold work; steady state aerobic; tempo and cadence.

Remember,cycling-specific exercises adjacent to full-on pedaling intervals reinforces cycling-specific neuromuscular pathways which is why it is important to select exercise regimes that are relevant.

There is of course, a range of off-bike exercises for you to consider foremost of which should be dynamic squats, inclined bench step-ups, particular plyometrics, the lunge, and possibly the leg press and curls.

It is always best to consult your trainer or coach to modify generic examples such as this to suit your ability, experience, fitness levels and position on your programme curve.

  • 8 minutes warm-up at a Perceived Exertion of 3 equating to an endurance level of 2 or around 56-75% of threshold
  • Get off the bike 2 sets of 10-12 single legged medicine ball tosses ( 10-12 kg ball)

    1-leg-ball-toss-start-pos-small.jpg

  • Back on the bike 1 minute moderate gear tempo lead up to 4 minutes at perceived exertion level of 4 equating to an endurance level of 3 or around 76% to 90% of threshold with 1 minute ease down at moderate gear tempo
  • Get off the bike and do 3 x 10m medicine ball lunges

    med-ball-lunge.jpg

  • Back on the bike 2 minutes spinning at an easy temp on the big ring (easy gear) 5 sets of 30 second bursts at level 4 perceived exertion at endurance level 3 with 30 second spin recovery then 5 sets of 15 second big gear grinds with 45 second recovery between each effort; 1 minute ease down at a moderate gear and tempo
  • Get off the bike and do 2 sets of 10 ‘hapkido-modified plyo jumps’. What are these? Grab a 5 kg medicine ball assume the squat position and do a squat (’frog’) jump forward and as soon as your feet plant ( on their balls ) stay in the same position and jump back a quarter stride.
  • Back on the bike 2 minutes spinning at an easy temp on the big ring (easy gear) then 8 minutes solid fartlek with around 5 minutes at level 3 and 3 minutes at level 4 then 1 minute spinning at an easy temp on the big ring (easy gear) to ease down.
  • Get off the bike and do 2 sets of 10-15 inclined step or bench step ups; here you do a conventional step up only using an inclined surface and making sure you get up on the balls of your leading foot and hold for 5 seconds.
  • Back on the bike and do a 5 minute cool down at level 2
 

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Property One is happy to support the riders at this years Husky 100 with the following offers:
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