Turbo Trainer - what to do

knedlicky

Following on from what to wear on a turbo trainer, what does everyone do while on a turbo trainer? I find this a greater problem than what to wear or how much I sweat, the activity being so monotonous.

Radio is pretty unpredictable, i.e. whether you’ll find something interesting to listen to; music cassettes/CDs are the same you listen to other times; reading a book I always find hard because of the angles I end up sitting to best read – too flat or too vertical.
Last Winter I found audio book cassettes or CDs best – that way I listened to Perfume unabridged.

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knedlicky wrote:

Following on from what to wear on a turbo trainer, what does everyone do while on a turbo trainer? I find this a greater problem than what to wear or how much I sweat, the activity being so monotonous.

Radio is pretty unpredictable, i.e. whether you’ll find something interesting to listen to; music cassettes/CDs are the same you listen to other times; reading a book I always find hard because of the angles I end up sitting to best read – too flat or too vertical.
Last Winter I found audio book cassettes or CDs best – that way I listened to Perfume unabridged.

you're thinking about this far too much!

anyway, for me it's a mix of the following:

spinverval dvd's
good films
ipod
talking to my other half
tv
football matches (if they're on)

i find if i read i'm not really concentrating on pedal stoke, tempo, h.r. etc so i don't do this.

baudman

iPod. Recently Added (inc some PodCasts) or some exercise oriented playlists. You can even do some intervals training by picking the tempos of the tracks if it's likely yr gonna get on the trainer regularly.

McBain_v1

Guess it depends on how long you are spending on the turbo.
Me, I'm normally only on for a hour so I don't need much, I just kind of zone out and concentrate on my pedalling action, on my heart rate, and trying to beat my previous time for a set distance etc. Get a puter for the bike that is on the turbo trainer, it helps.

jibi

Watch the news or a film. and Sweat a lot

http://www.cptips.com/stacyc.htm , has some good tips on training and the full page is at

http://www.cptips.com/toc.htm#table

george

eh

Seriously how hard are you trying if you can read a book or listening to an audio cassette? Put some loud fast-ish music on that you like and go for it, bet when you are really trying hard you don't even hear the music.

www.tacx.nl used to have training sessions on it, but there are plenty of other sites if you google. Alternatively try posting in the training section of this site.

purplemad

Depends if I bring it in from the hall way or leave it there, last time I had a re-shuffle and watched a dvd while on the turbo, normally I leave it in the hall and have some music on.

woody-som

fast paced music on the mp3, and follow a routine from the tacx site or one from the book 'Heart Rate Monitor Book for Cyclists' . You have to have an idea of what you are going to do each session, otherwise you are just riding for nothing with no goal after all that effort.

nmcgann

I have an ipod with some turbo music playlists I put together (just fast rocky/dancy stuff). I only get a bit bored on the lower intensity efforts where I'm not suffering - the music helps pass the time a bit quicker even though I'm not really listening to it most of the time.

Neil

pedalrog

No entertainment whatsoever, concentrate on your turbo exercises. If you follow a strict regime and have programs to ride (eg warm-up, intervals and warm down) that should be entertaining enough. Concentrate on this and watching your hrm.
There was an excellent book written by coach Pete Read a few years ago with a load of exercises to do.

volvine

i stick my trainer in the front room right in front of the telly and watch the football including half time this is nearly a 2 hour workout without getting bored (unless Liverpool are playing haha).