What is your favorite trainer exercise?
There was no opportunity to take advantage of the sun that appeared yesterday, so it was back on the trainer last night. I had read earlier in the day about Kirk Flinte “bustin’ out the trainer” and a interval plan he was doing. Got the trainer set up, turned on the TV to the UNC / CofC game, and climbed on board.
I couldn’t remember exactly what Kirk’s plan was and I was too lazy to get off the bike and look it up on the computer, so I just came up with my own that was as close to what I could remember. I know I can sustain 200 to 250 watts for awhile. Once I start going over that I wear down.
So, my plan was to spin easy for ten minutes – just to loosen up – then I would bring my power up to between 200 and 250 for five minutes. At five minutes I would do an all out sprint for ten seconds. After that I would ease off back to the earlier pace for another five minutes. Another five minutes of easy spinning (between 80 and 150 watts) and then I would repeat the whole thing.
I was able to get three of these in during an hour with the final ten minutes being a cool down. I didn’t push as hard on the sprints as I did last night. My back is still a little stiff from that one! My max wattage for the night was 834 watts with my five second peak at 813. I held the 200 watts pretty well during the five minute sections. My five minute peak was 239 watts.
Next time I’m going to try Kirk’s plan which comparing the two plans shows I missed it by a mile! However, I felt like I got a pretty good workout but at the same time I’m ready to go again today. If I were to do my made up plan again, I would probably up the 5 minute steady wattage a little bit.
What is your favorite trainer exercise? I’m up to giving it a try. Just make sure it is a real one and not just something you have designed to kill me!
Tags: Kirk Flinte, Trainer
See “Bust A Gut: Yours” from Bicycling. Chris Carmichael writes, “[t]his one-hour workout delivers the double whammy of torching calories and building high-end aerobic power you can put to good use the rest of the season.” Naturally, sessions tailored to your weaknesses will always get the best results, but I made great progress with this workout in the 2007-2008 offseason before eventually hiring coaching services.
If you are looking for some excellent trainer workouts, check out the book Smart Cycling by Arnie Baker. He’s got a whole series of workouts in there just for on the trainer.
http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Cycling-Successful-Training-Racing/dp/0684822431/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231436340&sr=8-2