Turbo workouts

JoeLiam

The wife has been given an Elite elastogel turbo to use, anyone give any pointers for begineer workouts on these things. We both have cadence and speed sensors on our bikes. I know the speed means beggar all on a turbo, but are there workouts which I can use the cadence and resistance settings.

Don't want to just bobble along as it would get boring very quickly. Looking for a bit of structure.

slowbike

Easiest one to do is intervals ... but it depends what you're trying to achieve - endurance, speed or weight loss?

but I find turbos boring anyway ...

btw - you're right in that speed doesn't mean anything, but if you set a resistance level up and don't change it you can then use the gears to change the effort level and still use speed as a relative measure.

markhewitt1978

http://www.trainerroad.com/

w00dster

I quite like sufferfest myself, actually like isn't the correct word. Sufferfest makes a turbo session just about bearable.

Chris James

If you are in British Cycling then their Insight page has a number of turbo sessions and training plans. there is loads of info on the web though.

You can use cadence as a proxy for power if you keep the same gear and resistance settings (e.g. keep cadence above a certain figure throughout the interval).

cougie

Another vote for trainerroad.

JoeLiam

slowbike wrote:

Easiest one to do is intervals ... but it depends what you're trying to achieve - endurance, speed or weight loss?

but I find turbos boring anyway ...

btw - you're right in that speed doesn't mean anything, but if you set a resistance level up and don't change it you can then use the gears to change the effort level and still use speed as a relative measure.

Mostly weight loss at the mo, but endurance for summer long rides aswell.

ForumNewbie

JoeLiam wrote:

The wife has been given an Elite elastogel turbo to use, anyone give any pointers for begineer workouts on these things. We both have cadence and speed sensors on our bikes. I know the speed means beggar all on a turbo, but are there workouts which I can use the cadence and resistance settings.

Don't want to just bobble along as it would get boring very quickly. Looking for a bit of structure.

I also have an Elite elastogel turbo, and I find the speeds are very accurate as to what I would get on a flat road with the same effort. I have also proved that by checking the speeds I get in different gears and cadences with the following chart:
http://www.bikecalc.com/speed_at_cadence
Forinstance when on the turbo I quite often spin in the 34 chainring and 14 cog at the back. In that gear at 90rpm my speed is around 17.1mph and if I increase my cadence to 100rpm my speed does register as 19mph, and you will see that is also what the chart says for that gear with these cadences.

I am not very fit but can still manage about half and hour turbo session watching a cycling related video. I usually start in a very low gear at a cadence of 90rpm and up the gears gradually till near my threshold after 10 minutes before 1 or 2 minute intervals, e.g. upping the cadence to say 100 or more for a minute, then dropping back to 90 for a minute and so on. It can be a long 30 minutes, but I'm really sweating at the end so it feels as if I've done some good. I also find it quite a good motivation to try and up my average speed over that half hour - so that also keeps me going.

hanhamreds

I bought a turbo end of last year as I wanted to maintain my cycling through the cold dark winter nights, and I've not been dissapointed in it at all.

The two most important aspects for me is my heart rate and cadence - like you said speed means nothing on a turbo.

I use a mixture of resistance and gears, depending on what I'm doing.
I.e hill work would be a higher resistance and maybe a lower cadence, general endurance stuff I would concentrate on cadence and working within a certain HR zone, HIIT I would be looking at my HR peaks and lows with cadence increases.

Have a look on youtube, there are some good videos from ctxc and gcn, there's a really good 20min HIIT session which will have you blowing for sure for example.

hanhamreds

Oh and you will need several towels!

Medders

Strangely I quite enjoy turbo training. I have only ever done it to Sufferfest videos which are excellent and, in my case, really inspire me to work damn hard. The little bit of humour they contain lightens it up a bit. Highly recommend them.

ForumNewbie

slowbike wrote:

Easiest one to do is intervals ... but it depends what you're trying to achieve - endurance, speed or weight loss?

but I find turbos boring anyway ...

btw - you're right in that speed doesn't mean anything, but if you set a resistance level up and don't change it you can then use the gears to change the effort level and still use speed as a relative measure.

On my Elite Elastogel turbo there isn't any resistance levels so you do just need to change the gears and/or increase cadence to increase effort just like being on the road. The harder I can work translates in to higher average speed, so I think it is a fairly good measure even on the turbo.

The secret rider

I have recently got a fluid trainer and find there to be some really good workouts on here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcy5f4B ... kf2DVlslmC

Global Cycling Network. Everything from a 15 min interval to specific hill training etc. Give it a look.

mpatts

The secret rider wrote:

I have recently got a fluid trainer and find there to be some really good workouts on here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcy5f4B ... kf2DVlslmC

Global Cycling Network. Everything from a 15 min interval to specific hill training etc. Give it a look.

GCn a great.

Trisross

Find the way you want to monitor your sessions and stick to it. I use the same gear each time (use the same setting if you have those). Get warmed up gently. I use speed as a marker. Eventually you'll find a speed that's hard but you can keep to. I use a stop watch too. Every minute put a 20 second hard interval in. Or up the pace 1mph each minute until its too hard then come down 1mph each minute. Turbo training is never nice in my experience. Theres plenty of online plans you can follow.
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/fitness/ ... ning-36080

The secret rider

I just did this workout for the first time on the fluid trainer . . . . JESUS !

Get her on this mate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04-VoVzOiSg

daniel_b

I've had an Elite fluid trainer for 4 years, but this last winter is the first one I have really hammered it, and will continue to do throughout the year.

Half of my 'mileage' will be carried out on it, due to childcare commitments, and fitting it in around work and life in general.

The key to making it work for me was to have some proper structured workouts I have programmed into my garmin using training centre.
Those workouts come from the time crunched cyclist - for me the structure worked really well, and the knowledge and experience I have acquired, as well as the training zones, from them, has now enabled me to easily construct a workout to fit my time slots.
For example on Monday I have 1hr 40 available, Tuesday only 50 minutes, and Thursday 1hr 20 - I've made workouts for each of those days, and ramp them up week on week.

For the longer ones I do like to take a laptop into the garage and watch a recent or old bike race via youtube etc, for example I recently watched the tour down under, tirreno adriatico, tour of california, and the vuelta a andalucia - I find these nice and distracting to watch, and I find them inspirational - appreciate not everyone will though.

Another thing definitely required, is a fan - I use an upright fan with a remote control, which I find really good, as in the garage when you start either wearing a thin top or no top at all, I find I want to air flow at all, but then i can start it on slow and adjust it between the three settings, from the comfort of my seat.

Oh and another thing, if you decide to invest in a front wheel riser, I would recommend buying a proper Elite or similar one, I picked one up on Monday from Halfords for £11.70, as the £8 one I bought off of ebay cracked - the Elite one looks a lot more solid, and I can't see this going the same way.

The secret rider wrote:

I just did this workout for the first time on the fluid trainer . . . . JESUS !

Get her on this mate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04-VoVzOiSg

I like the look of that, might give some of them or similar a go.

bianchichris

I've been using Sufferfest with a Tacx Satori since the autumn and have been pleasantly surprised at how "enjoyable" they are. I've got Revolver (basic speed intervals), Hell Hath No Fury (endurance with some short climbs) and The Hunted (endurance with some long climbs). They work as long as you're disciplined with the cadence and exertion levels - best achieved by always keeping in mind that it's only an hour of pain and sweat!

diy

Loads on youtube - just find a good amateur race somewhere warm and sunny, with power/hr output data and pace yourself in the pack, go with the sprints and try to keep pace with the output of the camera rider.

I've done a couple myself with a few notes - nice little 35 min one here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHc_c0jitMA
first 5 mins is a bit dull, but then I got mixed in with a race - which was very good for ego, given they'd all run 10 miles first.

johnny25

I like these sessions from RCUK.

They're pretty tough, but go well with a good soundtrack on the ipod.

http://roadcyclinguk.com/how-to/make-tu ... ion.html/1