Time in the saddle vs gym interval training?

TKF
TKF Posts: 279
edited March 2012 in Training, fitness and health
I'm fairly new to biking. Bust a knee last year and bought a hardtail MTB for physio and got the cycling bug. This year I bought a road bike and I'm booked on some events.

A friend of mine has given me some excellent training exercises for the gym. A Speed session with bursts of high rpm/power and a Power one with low rpm/high power. Then at the weekend I do a ride.

As the weeks progress the weekend ride will be longer and the gym sessions will intensify in power and duration.

However when life begins to interfere which take priority? For example I've already done Speed training this week but only have enough time to do my Power or my ride.

Comments

  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    Ride a bike.
  • dru
    dru Posts: 1,341
    Whenever you can try and ride a bike outside. When you can not do that ride your bike on a turbo. When you can not do that return to the start of the sentence.

    Stay away from riding bikes in gym wherever possible. I only do this when travelling away with work and have to get saddle time. Then I will just sit on one and keep it ticking over. There are too many issues, faults etc with most gym bikes to have a benefit from them.

    If you really must ride a gym bike, then make it a spin bike and then only if the instructor knows what they are doing or are hot :)
  • t.m.h.n.e.t
    t.m.h.n.e.t Posts: 2,265
    There really isn't any better way to improve bike ability other than actually ride. Gym bikes are ok if you're really stuck but they are wholly inaccurate and not a great representation of a real ride. I did this for long enough and also used a turbo for a while,keeps legs turning but my best gains were manning TFU and actually riding.

    I was also told to not stand up on a hill sim for safety reasons....

    On the other hand,a spin instructor worth their £4 per class would be of benefit.

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