Studies show that the workout he dubbed T-Max can, on average, increase maximum power output by 5 to 6 percent, and raise VO2 max sky-high. The T-Max Interval is effective because it tailors work and rest time, and intensity, to your genetic ability and fitness level, rather than prescribing an arbitrary set of conditions.
Here's how it works: T-Max is the length of time you can hold your peak power output before succumbing to exhaustion--or, scientific jargon aside, how long you can ride really, really hard until you feel so much like you're dying that you stop. For most of us, that's about four to six minutes.Most cyclists improved the most doing intervals at 60 percent of their T-Max with double that amount of time for recovery between efforts. For instance, someone with a T-Max of four minutes would ride hard for 2:30, followed by five minutes of recovery. In a 2006 study performed at Ithaca College in central New York, members of the collegiate cycling team performed sets of eight intervals twice a week for six weeks; they improved their performance in a 5-kilometer time trial by 7 percent.The one catch is obvious. Riding at peak power output is excruciating. As one tester put it: "They were and probably still are the hardest training I've ever completed." In the Ithaca College study, says research project advisor Tom Swensen, "The guys could do about five or six intervals max. I think a goal of eight is too many." In fact, Laursen admits that more than a third of his test subjects failed to complete the prescribed eight efforts, and that some of them gurgled puke by the end of the session. "The stress is quite significant," he deadpans.Find Your T-Max (For Heart Rate Version -- see bottom of page) 1. Determine Your Peak Power Output. Using a power-measuring device from PowerTap, Polar, SRM or CompuTrainer, begin riding at 100 watts. Increase power by 30 watts every minute until you reach exhaustion. You are deemed fully exhausted when you cannot keep your cadence above 60 rpm. You can use that benchmark, but let's be honest, you'll know when you're done. The number of watts you produce just before collapsing is your peak power output, or PPO.2. Find Your T-Max. Rest for a day or two. Again using a power meter, ride at your PPO until you can no longer sustain that level of output. The amount of time you can hold your PPO is your T-Max. For most of us, that's between four and six minutes.3. Calculate Your Ultimate Interval. Multiply your T-Max time by 0.6. This is the work phase of your interval. Double the work phase to set your recovery time between efforts.4. Try It Out. The original study prescribed eight hard efforts. But if you'd rather avoid losing your lunch, start with two or three intervals. Do two sessions a week, with at least two days of rest or other easy riding between. Add one interval to each set every week until you achieve five or six intervals per workout. Build up to eight if you can.If You Can't Measure Power-- Heart Rate Method Though the results likely won't be as dramatic as with a power-based T-Max Interval, Unplugged cyclists can reap some of the benefits by performing 2:30-minute intervals at 95 to 100 percent of max heart rate (the point at which you cannot speak), followed by recovery to 60 percent of max, or until you can speak in full sentences. Do two to six sets twice a week, with at least two days of spinning or rest between.
Here is a quick, easy, effective and do it anywhere workout from Men's Health to help you keep in shape when not on the bike:
Start by doing one body-weight squat and 10 pushups
Rest for 30 seconds, and then do 2 squats and 9 pushups
Gradually work your way up to 10 squats and down to 1 pushup
You'll complete 55 reps of each exercise by the time you're done—and reap both the cardiovascular benefit of aerobic training and the muscular pump of a strength session. (And if you like this routine, you'll love The World's Most Efficient Workout).
The Training Peaks Blog just did an excellent post on proper cycling technique. You can see it here along with a lot of other great articles.
Below is the good and quick tips they give to improve your form:
Pedal in squares. Yes, I know your feet are actually moving in circles, but when you think in squares, you’ll improve your pedaling efficiency. Push your foot forward along the top of the square, and then down against the front side of the square. Next, scrape the bottom of the square and then pull up the backside of the square.
Don’t go Gumbi. If you watch many cyclists from the front, their knees go in or out at the top of the pedal stroke. This is somewhat normal, but excessive movement that looks like Gumbi riding a bike often indicates very tight inner thigh muscles, a tight IT band (the band of tissue that runs down the outside of the leg), and a weak butt. Focus on range of motion in the legs and core and hip strengthening, and you’ll be able to have a more efficient pedal stroke with less side-to-side knee movement.
Listen to your mother. Listen to what your mother said and don’t slouch – especially not on the bike. While it's fine to be leaning forward with a curved back, you should not be letting your pelvis “slouch” in the saddle, which restricts activation of your cycling muscles. Especially if you’re riding in the aero position, you should learn to rotate the hips forward, or "push the butt back" while riding. This pelvic “tuck” is similar to what you’d feel if you were doing a front plank exercise in the gym.
No white knuckles. Unless you’re in a dead sprint, don’t hold your handlebars in a death grip. Instead, hold the handlebars (or aerobars) with a light relaxed grip, which will save energy, slightly lower blood pressure, and keep you from feeling too tight and stressed on the bike. It’s a small adjustment, but can make a big difference in your comfort during long rides and events, which will ultimately improve your performance.
Pay attention. This is probably the most important part of proper cycling form. Just as you wouldn't simply let your mind wander when swimming or running (unless you don't mind your speed and efficiency slipping), you shouldn’t lose focus while cycling either. Be sure to enjoy yourself, but don’t use it as an excuse to aimlessly push the pedals. Your race splits will thank you!
Look no further. Jesper Bondo Medhus, one of the best authors and bloggers on cycling, just put together a great list of blogs to watch for 2012 (full disclosure, my site was #2 on the list).
Check out the list below and please head over to www.training4cyclists.com to see all of Jesper's great tips and articles. Also, he just releases his second ebook entitled 12-Week Winter Training Program, which I highly recommend you get.
If you are looking for a workout that workout that builds your core, endurance and overall fitness while helping you drop weight fast, this is it. I have used this for 2 years (mostly during the winter) and it is a great total body workout that hits the areas cyclists need.
Dave Zabriskie, 6-Time U.S. National Time-Trial Champion and 2-Time Tour de France Stage Winner "Frank McCormack showed me how to dry my clothes. He laid out a dry towel, then he laid the wet clothes on the towel after he washed them. He rolled the towel up, then stepped on it, and finally wrung it as hard as he could. After that, you have to hang your clothes for only a little bit before they're dry."
Yes, it’s that time of year again where we start to layer up while wondering how much longer until it’s spring again!
Are you scratching your head on what is the right amount of clothing to wear while cycling? These tips from Bicycling Magazine may help you make that decision:
65-70 degrees – START WITH Base layer; short sleeve jersey; shorts; short-finger gloves; socks
60-65 degrees – ADD arm warmers and full-finger gloves
55-60 degrees – SWAP in knickers or knee warmers; thicker socks
50-55 degrees – SWAP in leg warmers; add a vest
45-50 degrees – SWAP in thicker gloves; long-sleeve jersey; add toe covers, sock layer, ear warmers
40-45 degrees – SWAP in tights, long-sleeve base layer, a thin head cover/hat
BRING rain gear – 40 degrees and drizzle will chill you faster than 15 degrees and snow
35-40 degrees – SWAP in shoe covers or winter shoes, thick hat or balaclava
30-35 degrees – SWAP in heavier tights, lobster gloves or mittens
25-30 degrees – ADD a second long-sleeve jersey
Below 25 degrees – ADD base layer and/or knee warmers under tights
Still cold? Shift into a harder gear to crank up your body temp.
Too warm? Unzip or remove a layer or adjust your effort so you don’t get sweaty.
A smooth, fluid pedal stroke combined with a good cadence is an integral part of riding fast and efficiently and therefore winning races.
Cadence varies between riders and even the same rider will vary their cadence in a given situation, but most elite riders use a fast cadence. There is no “one size fits all” perfect cadence, but we’ll look at the differences between the high and low cadences.
In general, you can consider anything under 90 RPM to be a lower cadence, and 90+ RPM would be a higher cadence.
Finding Your Most Efficient Cadence
Despite the edge in favor of high cadences, the best thing to do is perform some tests to determine your optimal cadence.
Time Trial Cadence Test
The easiest way to determine your optimal cadence is by performing a time trial multiple times, using a different cadence each time.
First, determine a course on local roads that takes about 10 minutes to complete. This route will be the same for each time trial.
Next, perform a time trial on the course at a cadence of 80rpm. When finished, record your time and rating of perceived exertion (RPE).
Ride easy for 15-20 minutes, then perform another time trial, this time using a cadence around 95-100rpm. When finished, record your time and RPE.
A couple days later, perform the same test again, but do the first time trial at a high cadence and the second time trial at a low cadence.
Now you can compare the data. Whichever cadence produced faster times and lower RPE values is probably your ideal cadence.
For example, if the slow cadence has your legs burning and your average speed slowing down, while you feel great at a high cadence and cut a minute off your slow cadence trials, it’s a safe bet that you should be riding at a high cadence.
You could perform this test multiple times for a better sample size, but in general, you’re just comparing how fast you could ride a course at different cadences. If you want to get specific, you could try doing time trials at 80rpm, 85rpm, 90rpm, 95rpm, 100rpm, 110rpm, etc.
If you ride comfortably somewhere in the range of 85-110rpm, that’s probably good.
Hill Climb Cadence Test
Find a hill climb that takes about 3 minutes to complete. (You’ll be doing more time trials, but you won’t need to record data.)
On trial one, ride the first 2/3 of the hill in a low gear and a cadence around 95rpm. For the last 1/3, use whatever gear and cadence you want.
On trial two, ride the first 2/3 of the hill in a big gear and a cadence around 80rpm. For the last 1/3, use whatever gear and cadence you want.
To get the results, just remember what you did on the last 1/3 of the hill in each test.
For the last 1/3 of the hill, you probably wanted to recover, and you would have switched to whatever cadence is more comfortable for you. If you were staying in and switching to a lower gear and high cadence, then high cadence riding is for you. If you couldn’t wait to shift to a harder gear and slow your cadence down so you could catch your breath, then you may be best suited for big gear and low cadence riding.
The ‘right’ cadence is different for everyone, and you’ll probably vary your cadence depending on the terrain, so you don’t have to freak out about getting the exact cadence. All I can say is that your ideal cadence will fall somewhere between “holy sh*t my legs are on fire!” and “I… can’t… breathe!”
If you can’t seem to pick a favorite RPM within that range, err on the high cadence side, just below the point where you can’t breathe steadily.
In the video above, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin breakdown how pros on the tour use propoer aerodynamic tuck position to reach speeds of 100km/h (62 MPH).
It’s a simple way of helping you gain extra speed without doing very much at all. The secret is to get low and place your knees against the top tube for extra stability and tuck your arms into your body.
Generally you’ll use the drops position for roads with a lot of hard corners where you need to use the brakes to slow down to go around them. Make sure that when you start practicing these techniques you are on a safe road away from other riders and cars in calm non-windy conditions.
Another tip is to ensure that your arms are relaxed. That way you can absorb the shock coming through the bike from the road. If you tense up you are guaranteed to get your bike into a speed wobble or worst still, totally lose control and crash.
