Improving doesn’t have to be complicated! This blog post provides you with five simple tips that will help you improve your cycling performance. Follow these tips and you'll be on your way to reaching your cycling goals!
Consistency
Adaptability
Progressive Overload
Recover
Fuel your body
Move your body regularly every day or at least every other day.
Consistency in training to me as a coach and athlete is exercising at least 3-6 times per week, which should be sport specific most of the time. In terms of cycling, sometimes consistency is –
Riding for fun and other times focused training and following a structured training plan.
Training for 60 minutes or 3+ hours and other times it is hard or easy.
No matter what you do, consistency is training 3-6 times per week.
Do not be rigid.
The ability to adapt is always a good thing - adaptability enables consistency when there is a change in schedule, energy levels are not ideal, you had bad night's sleep, bad weather, etc. Life happens, adjust session duration or intensity or both based on how you feel, do the session later in the day or move the session to a later day in the week.
A shortened session or session at lower intensity or even a walk, swim, hike or easy jog is better than nothing.
When in doubt, leave it out. It is okay to skip a session, but not too often.
Progressively overload your body.
Progressive overload can be as simple as riding more. If you have averaged 6 hours this week, bump it to 6.5 hours next week and 7 hours the week after.
Progression in training load doesn’t always have to come from increased intensity - it can and should come from the increased time at given training intensities.
Feet up.
Recovery, off days, easy days and rest weeks allow your body and mind to recover from the accumulated fatigue and rebuild - your body adapts to the training and makes you faster when you rest! A well-thought-out plan should include at least 1 to 2 off days, easy days per week, and a rest week every 3rd or 4th week.
The best form of recovery is sleep. Sleep must not be compromised.
Maintain day-to-day health nutrition and hydration intake.
Exercise, nutrition and hydration are all connected to achieving sports performance at any level. A simple approach is to eat and drink appropriate amounts of food and fluid to supply nutrition and energy to support normal growth and maintain your body’s cells, tissues and organs.
Eat healthy most of the time, and do not deprive yourself of foods you love. Limited amounts of caffeine and alcohol.
Fuel your training before and during, and regardless of session intensity and duration, have a post-session snack.
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That is it. Thank you for reading. I hope you found it to be a useful resource. Questions, comments and high fives! Drop them here.
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