Best Way for Cyclists to Stay in Shape

Winter proves to be a difficult time for cyclists to keep up with their biking routine to stay in shape. It is challenging to stay in shape over the wine because biking outdoors will numb your hands and feet from the low temperature, plus it gets your bike covered with road salt.

Serious cyclists will need a good winter training program as an alternative to their outdoor routine.

A good winter training program for cyclists will enable them to stay in shape during off-season. This will also help them to maintain a good foundation for the next season’s training and avoid burnout.

The characteristics of a good winter exercise program for cyclists should contain resistance training, aerobic exercise, spinning, biking on an air resistance bike, and cross training activities such as swimming.

Performing these benefits not only the cyclist’s health but also helps them maintain muscle strength, coordination, and balance. These things also give the avid cyclists muscles and joints the time they need to reconstruct after being so much in use during serious training.

Those who are into biking can still enjoy the benefits of biking even inside their homes and even through the use of their very own bike. They will be able to achieve this by purchasing their very own indoor bike trainer.

An indoor bike trainer allows cyclists to ride their bike indoors. Riding a regular bike indoors still feels the same as riding the bike outdoors. The difference is the user will not be moving from where they are because the bike will be attached to the bike trainer. In other words, the indoor bike trainer allows the cyclist to transform their regular bike into a stationary bike that they will be able to use to be able to continue their quest to stay in shape all year round.

There are many advantages to having an indoor bike training routine. The top reasons are: that cyclists will be able to avoid possible spills on snow-covered ground, avoiding accidents and injuries and saving themselves some money by not buying additional bulky equipment. Additional advantages include: intensity, improved pedaling, and a great time saver and an aid in muscle recovery.

When it comes to intensity of the training, the indoor cyclist will also be able to make his indoor bike training as intense as what happens outdoors and this will be achieved when he or she shifts gears. With training indoors, the cyclist will be able to improve his cadence and pedal strokes because he or she is in a controlled environment and without maintaining cadence and properly pedaling the workout routine with the bike trainer will not be as effective.

As many users of a bike trainer, or exercise bike stand as they are also referred to, will claim, using the machine takes them less time to get their muscles to recover when they are using the machine than when they are biking outdoors. On the whole, this means that the indoor bike trainer user will be able to consume less time exercising.

Here are tips on how to use the indoor bike trainer when the weather turns bad outside and you are forced indoors:

At the start of the winter season, the cyclist should work on cadence and intervals.

Start with a 15-minute warm up.

Follow that with 30 seconds of fast spins, then 60 seconds of recovery followed by 60 seconds of fast spins followed by 60 seconds of recovery and lastly 90 seconds of fast spins followed by 60 seconds of easy spins.

Do that for a full 3 minutes and cool down for 15 minutes.

In the next months of winter, to be able to stay in shape the cyclist should be concentrating on endurance with a heart rate of 75% with moderate cadence. To be able to do this, the cyclist should perform 15 minutes of warm up, then riding for 12 minutes, and then recover via easy spinning for 3 minutes. This should be done 3 times a week.

Following this routine using a bike trainer and your own personal bicycle will help you stay in shape during those long cold winter months.