- Welcome to this week's Ask GCN Anything.
- Coming up this week,we talk electric cars.
- Yes, and VO2 max.
- And, how to become a pro.
- If you'd like to getin on next week's show,
then use the hashtag #Torqueback,
and what was the other one Chris?
- #AskGCNtraining to be inwith a chance of winning
that free 3-month subscription to Zwift.
- Yeah, I reckon we should getanswering some questions, eh?
- Yep, let's go!
(dramatic sounds)
- Right Chris, who's first up?
- First up is SaturnioOwens who writes in with:
Hey guys, I'm lookingto go from casual riding
to slightly more serious andget my first bike computer.
How exactly can I use thatto improve my training?
A lot of workouts seemto rely on power meters.
- Right, if you do have a power meter now,
and you've got a head unit to go with it,
then it's ultimatelya great training tool.
You can set your zones andyou'll be able to really set
your training so you'll begetting more out of yourself,
which will actually reallybring you on from, you know,
amateur to trying to get to a pro.
If you don't yet have apower meter then you can use
that head unit to follow yourcadence or your heart rate,
or even your speed andthis will also help you
to really push to another level,
and push you a little bit further.
And you'll also be ableto use all that data
to analyze your trainingonce you've done it.
- But fear not, if you arejust gonna be riding on feel
and using your head unitto track the distance
that you've covered or thehours that you've made,
it's alright because we'vegot a brilliant video
- We do
- On the channel on how to train on feel,
and it really does work,really well, actually.
- Yep.
(dramatic whooshing sounds)
- The winner of this week's3-months free subscription
from Zwift is:
- Dreamer!
- Yes, it is.
- Who writes in, with, Ido roughly 40 miles a day,
4 days a week, but reallystruggle with losing weight,
and I also love sprintingwhich seems to turn my fat
into muscle.
What Zwift training sessiondo you recommend I do
to help lose weight?
- Right, first off, greatquestion, and as always
we send this question offto Zwift, and they come back
with the answer.
So they've come up with this:
Firstly, you're actuallyachieving a really good level
and a really good base,doing the 40 miles per day
for 4 days, and there's only afew things you need to change
to help you get your weight loss target.
- Yep, but first off,you should consider all
of your nutritional choices.
I mean, all of us could most of the time,
make better choices whenit comes to nutrition.
But, if you are going tobe making any changes,
you need to make sure that they're going
to be sustainable overa long period of time,
because everything inmoderation works best.
- Yep. And with this in mind, maybe think
about honing in on one piece of your diet
to take out, so for example,I'm a big fan of chocolate.
- Oh yeah.
- Don't know if you are, yeah,so I would look at taking
the chocolate out of my diet,but then make sure you're
only doing one part ofyour diet, because you want
to make it sustainable.
If you end up taking outall your treats this is
just not gonna besustainable and you'll end up
wanting to gorge on loads offood and that's not gonna help.
- Yep, and then the nextthing you wanna look at is
actually trying to maximizethe amount of calories
that you burn whilstyou're out on the bike,
and a great way to do this would be to do
um, carb cycling, effectively.
So, if you're gonna go outand do an easy 40 miles,
you probably don'tactually need to eat a load
of carbohydrate, and in fact, why not try
and do it with no carbohydrate beforehand,
maybe just a few eggs,avocado, that sort of thing.
If you really needsomething when you're out
on the bike, after anhour then you can start
to top up your energy stores,but try and keep it low carb.
- Yeah, so for example, thatstrategy we're implementing
is that low-carb strategy forthe longer endurance rides,
- The easy rides.
- And then for thosehigh-intensity rides we wanna look
at maybe a high-carbstrategy, so maybe have
some carbs 60 minutes beforea really hard Zwift session.
And that way, you'll be fueling up for
those high intensitysessions and underfueling
for those low, easy rides.
- Yep, definitely, that'llmake a big difference.
And then finally, researchhas actually shown
that by breaking yourefforts down into a total
workload around 5 to 7 minutes is one of
the most effective waysto boost your metabolism
and actually burn of fat, so it's a load
of small, short, sharp intervals.
- Yeah, Zwift actuallyhave some really good
sessions for you to get stuck into.
And it's on the ZwiftAcademy 2018 programs,
and over there you'll seethe Under Ones program,
as the name suggestseverything's under 1 minute.
They range from 10 to 30 seconds and all
that really hard workoutis done under 5 minutes.
So that way you'll reallyget that VO2 session going
and those are reallygood sessions to do with
your high carb strategy.
So try and implement allthose things and hopefully
you'll see a big drop in your weight loss
but you know, a good drop.
- Yep, it's not gonnahappen over night, give it
a good 6-10 weeks and then let us know
how you're getting on.
- And next question,we have from Zak Swan.
I'm 13 years old, I want tobe a pro when I am older.
How do I get there?
Right, what would you say to start with?
- Lots and lots of bike racing basically.
So you wanna join yourlocal club and then see
what they advise fromthere, and then if they say,
yeah there's a race comingup on such and such a day,
you definitely want toget involved with that.
Closed-circuit racing isa brilliant way to start,
some track racing maybe,or some Cyclocross.
Basically, try and cover asmany different disciplines
as you can, because this will make you
a more rounded bike rider.
- Yeah I would just add,really important, to you know,
get involved in the localclubs and maybe a quick
Google search just to findwhich one's closest to you.
That way you can find peoplethat are close to your area
that you can train with,meet like-minded people,
and also be able totalk to them to find out
where's the local closedcircuit road race,
or where is the local Cyclocross race,
and this really helps youget into the community,
and it will really bring you on, yeah.
- Yep.
- And just keep working at itbecause you will get there.
- Yeah, race and learn, race and learn.
But the most importantthing to do is to enjoy
your bike riding.
- Yep.
- If you wanna be a pro,you're gonna be spending
so many hours on a bike,if you don't enjoy it,
it's just not worth it.
- Hundred percent.
So good luck with it,and please let us know
how you get on in thecomment section below.
And also, what club youchoose, that'll be interesting.
- Yep.
- Right, next question wehave, from Fireblade2681.
- Ooh, with asthma and hayfever seemingly ubiquitous
in the Peloton, why is thereno discussion about making
all the vehicles in a race electrical?
Cyclists must be gulpingin airfuls of pollution
which is a leading contributorto asthma, hay fever,
and other diseases like cancer.
Also, why do pro cyclistsmotor pace behind petrol bikes?
I don't understand why you'd want to stick
their respiratory nozzle up an exhaust.
Are pro cyclists' health andwellbeing being neglected?
Pollution is an invisible killer.
Is it a case of out of sight, out of mind?
Would it be logisticallypossible to mandate
that all vehicles followingthe pro Peloton be electric?
- Right, really interestingquestion, and I did do
a lot of research butI don't have asthma so,
have you got any insight into the asthma?
- Well, one thing I wouldsay is that over the years,
with the introductionof catalytic converters
and cleaner engines, thatactually the fumes coming
out the back of vehiclesis much less severe
than they were years ago.
When I started I used totreat my asthma all the time.
- Mhm.
- But, actually the mostimportant factor when in a bunch
is that you're not actuallyanywhere near vehicles at all.
And the um, the pollutionthat you're breathing in
from the center of abunch in a bike race is
so minimal that in fact,it's negligible as to
what effects it's actually having on you.
- Yeah, and it, cyclingis very, a traditional,
you know, historic sport.
We've always had petrols,petrol cars since the start
of you know, the history of cycling.
And it hasn't reallybecome the electric new era
of road racing.
- No, it's like an oil tanker,isn't it, it's slow moving.
- It is, it's very slowmoving, and I don't think
there's electric cars that, you know,
have enough miles in the car,without charging them up,
- No, exactly.
- to be able to wait for two hours.
I mean you can't go and do a 240K race
and then wait for a couple of hours
while you're charging beforeyou've got the transfer.
- Yeah, exactly.
That's the trouble, it's the transfer.
So you might travel an hourand a half before the start,
you might then travel forfive hours during the stage,
and you've got anothercouple of hours afterwards,
- But the--
- but at the moment, therange isn't that great.
- Yeah, but I would say,as the electric cars
get better and more efficient,then I think we will see
electric cars in the proPeloton in the future.
But I just don't think yet.
But then again, saying that,
EF, Education First, didhave a Tesla at the uh,
RideLondon-Surrey classic last year.
- Ooh.
- Yeah.
- Maybe it's a sign of things to come.
- Yeah, keep your eyespeeled cause it's gonna be
an interesting one.
- We got a question inhere from Will Budge:
I'm going off a winterof FTP improvement with
a lot of work done on Zwift.
How can I improve my VO2 max ready for
the coming race season?
- Great work this winterWill, and those FTP hours
will certainly improve yourperformance out on the road.
But your VO2's going to be theicing on the cake, isn't it?
- Yes, it is.
- It's gonna be thoserace-winning intervals.
And we've got a brilliantvideo on the channel
with Si and Dan actuallywhich will help talk
you through what you need to do to try
and really raise your VO2 max.
- Yeah, keep working atit because ultimately
those are your race winning efforts.
So yeah, go hard or go home.
- The reason why your VO2max is so important is
that oxygen is vital inhelping your body turn
fuel into energy.
So therefore, the more oxygen that you can
actually get in, themore efficiently you can
turn fuel into energy,so therefore the longer
and harder you can exercise for.
And that's probably thereason why some people try
and artificially boosttheir VO2 max by using
ill-gotten methods.
- I've got some good news, Si.
- Yeah?
- You don't need to dopeto increase your VO2 max.
- Oh, that's a relief.
- I've also got some bad news.
- What's that?
- To increase it naturally isreally gonna hurt quite a lot.
- That's not bad newsmate, no pain no gain.
- Next question comesin from Corey Ireland.
- I see what you did there.
- Wait, wait, wait for ityou'll understand in a sec.
When is the appropriatetime in a week to be
incorporating off-the-bikeworkouts like core,
- Ooh.
- exercises?
Easy days, hard days, recovery days,
or does it even matter?
- Well Corey, we think thatactually any day's alright,
but we recommend doingcore exercises on your
slightly shorter oreasier days on the bike
because you'll have more energyleft over to put into them.
And if you were to takeon any strength training
at all then we recommenddoing these before
an easy day or a rest day as you're likely
to feel a little bit stiff anda little bit dead after them.
- Bang on, Chris, andI would say check out
this video, because Emma runsyou through some actually
really tough core exercisesthat I've tried but failed.
- Number one, this is whatI call a Swiss ball burpee.
- [Female Speaker] Thestarting position is a plank
with your feet flexed on theball, body in one straight
line from heels to shoulders.
Don't arch your back or sag in the middle.
The burpee is three separate movements.
First, a leg tuck, rollingthe ball slowly towards you,
keeping your backside nice and low.
Then, roll it back to plank position.
Second, hinge at the hips,keeping your legs straight,
to roll the ball towardsyou and slowly return
to the plank.
Finally, a press-up, returningto plank to start again.
Complete the wholesequence ten times through,
then rest for 2 minutes and try again.
- Next question comes in from who, Chris?
- Next up is Nathan Bilham.
Hey GCN, I've started getting into cycling
as I'm training for atriathlon and cycling always
interested me.
I'm quite fit in generalfrom all my running.
What would be the bestway to get into cycling,
because I don't even know where to start.
Intermediate, or slow?
Do you have any videos to watch in order
to get better, basically,because fixing a puncture
for the fist time theother day blew my mind.
- Wow, well, we do havea whole host of videos
on the channel, so justgo through the how-tos.
We've got ones from fixingpunctures to riding descents,
to cornering, to pretty much anything.
So yeah, go and have arumble through those.
- Yep, enjoy, you'll be there for a while.
- Next question comes infrom Tim Bla, like that.
When should I stop winter base training
and transition to the speed HIIT workouts?
HIIT stands for HighIntensity Interval Training.
- Training, good work James.
Um, we recommend actuallya good four to eight weeks
before your first race, but,actually, there's no reason
not to do that sort of training throughout
the entire winter, aslong as it's periodized
and well structured, you shouldnever neglect the intensity.
- Exactly.
- Next question comes infrom Laurence Deverson.
- Who intends to participatein Hill Climb event
which is 24 kilometers long.
Ooh, that sounds pretty tough.
With a six percent average gradient
with pitches up to 11% gradient.
I have a full time jobwith occasional overtime.
How can I squeeze in the training
and what type of training should I do for
the hill climb?
- Intervals, intervals, intervals.
- Yep.
- Jump on the Turbo, 45minutes, it makes the most
of that short period oftime so maybe after work
or even at a lunch time,or even before work.
And then you can get somereally hard sessions in
that will really bring youon in leaps and bounds.
- Yep focus on youraerobic capacity by redoing
those long 10, 12, 20 minute efforts
and that will really boost your ability.
- Yeah, good luck withthose, do let us know
how you get on in that hillclimb in the comments below.
- You gonna pronounce that next name?
- Uh, mm, no.
Uh, how can I overcome fearof falling at zero speed?
- Ooh, well, spending time on the bike
and getting more confident and comfortable
on the bike is the most important thing
that you can do to becomeconfident and comfortable
on, well, at any speed, basically.
- Yeah, just spend time.
It just takes time.
- Make up a little obstaclecourse for yourself
and have a little bit of fun with it.
Because cycling should be fun.
So find a car park andpractice a few skills,
try and turn around in aparking bay for example,
that sort of thing.
- Yep, next question Chris?
- Right, Markus Unneberg, Hi GCN crew.
I'm 20 years old and thecoming summer I'm riding
the Giro delle Dolomiti with my father.
I completed, I competedin cycling until I was 16
but pursued other endurancesports until I was 19.
After having time off thesaddle for these years,
what is the best way oftraining for this event?
And, so I can beat my dad?
Can't wait to hear from you.
- Right, great event, andthis event is 6 days long
so maybe stringing somedays together will really
help you get thatperiodization of you know,
using, being able toride, you know, one day
after the other.
- Yep, back-to-back sessionsis really important for this.
And also try and buildup your endurance so aim
for the three to four to fivehour rides over a weekend,
and then throw in someefforts in the week.
You want to be able to get, you want
to get comfortable,basically, at riding really,
really hard for 40 to 60 minutesat a time, in the climbs.
- Yes, for sure.
And, next question comesin from Ondra Stehlik II.
After finishing a ride,what should I do first,
stretching or eating?
- Ooh, that's a good one.
And one that I used to combine, actually,
and do them both at the same time.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- So you used to do like,maybe, go to the splits
to eat your food?
- Well, look, imagine I hadlike, a bit of coffee here.
- Yeah.
- Well, not coffee but a bowl of porridge
or a bowl of protein or whatever.
Protein powder, porridge,you can stand there,
you get your little spoon.
- Oh, that's quite clever,see, I used to just
well, stretch and then eat.
- But, it's like--
- I guess that makes me quite boring.
- Mm, yeah, but if you camehome from training wet and cold,
the first thing you shoulddo is get warm and dry.
- Good point, have a shower as well.
- Ooh, Unknownoriginboc.
- Right, I just finishedthe VO2 max interval
that I led actually.
The ending was a fiveminute sweet spot interval
that was quite horrid,yeah, I'm sorry about that.
I found that quite horrid, too.
You talked about how it was more mental.
Do you have any tips toimprove your mental fortitude?
Do you have any tips Chris?
- Get really motivated, really focused
on what goal you're trying to achieve.
Music really worked well forme so if I have music on,
when I was training I always found
that was more motivatingto really hit the target
that I was trying to set myself.
And then where do youwanna go with that fitness?
When I was training itwas because I was trying
to win bike races so thatreally really spurred me on
and made me dig that little bit deeper.
- Yeah, really good point.
So either put on some TV orsome music videos or whatever,
just to kind of make you not think
about the pain you're suffering,
and then yeah, just thinkabout that eventual goal
like Chris said.
- Goals, all about goals, right.
Bisley Bob, hi GCN.
I recently got a bargainon a sweet new jersey.
Fits great and looks the part.
However, there is one problem:
it doesn't have the rubbergripper along the hem,
so it rides up my backa bit as I'm cycling.
Do you have any hacks on howto get that hem gripping?
I've considered blobs from a hot glue gun-
(laughing)
- Um, seems like a recipe for disaster.
- Yes!- What do you think?
- That is going to bea recipe for disaster.
Just don't do that.
Ah, maybe um, I mean,as I was reading that,
as you were reading thatquestion I was thinking,
maybe some electrical tape?
- Yeah, I've got a better idea.
How about stitching alittle piece of Velcro
into the top of your shorts,
and then the other pieceof Velcro that hooks
into the bottom of your jersey,
and just attach them to each other.
- That's quite a good idea.
- Be really easy to do as well.
- Yeah, try that, there's a hack for you.
- And the last questioncomes in from Helicase21.
What are some good workouts to do the day
after I do a hard leg session at the gym?
Weighted lunges, weightedsquats, box jumps,
and a core workout, ouch,sounds really painful.
- Ooh, I'd probably spend the whole day
in bed if I was you.
But if you've got energy toburn, then why not start off
by doing our 15-20 minuteprogressive workout
that we've got on the channel.
And if you're stillfeeling good after that,
move into some high cadence work,
so 100 to 110 RPM for 3to 5 minutes at a time,
with a similar uh, rest period in between.
And the intensity you wanna aim for is
around 80-85% of yoursustainable threshold power,
so what you would maintainfor about an hour.
- That sounds like a good session.
- Yeah, good luck with that.
- And on that note, Ithink we should finish
this week's Ask GCN Anything,cause that's inspired me
to go and get training myself.
- Nice.
- If you have enjoyedthe show then make sure
you give it a big thumbs up.
And if you want to getinvolved in next week's show,
then use the hashtag #Torqueback and
- To be in with a chanceof winning that free
three-month subscription to Zwift,
use the hashtag #AskGCNtraining!
- Yeah, and if you're inspiredto watch another video,
then why don't you check out this cracker
just over there?
- Yeah, but before you dothat, check out the shop
where you can get your handson some of these jumpers.
- Yeah, I forgot about the jumper, Chris.
- Well, finally we'renot wearing the same one.
- Yeah, finally.
What is the best training method for weight loss? How can you improve your training with a bike computer? When is the best day to complete off the bike training? Chris and James answer all of your questions in this week's Ask GCN! GCN Winter Sale - Up To 50% Off: https://gcn.eu/1gr Subscribe to GCN: http://gcn.eu/SubscribeToGCN Register your interest in the GCN Club: https://gcn.eu/1gq Submit your content with our new uploader: http://gcn.eu/upload Join our Facebook community: http://gcn.eu/FBCommunity Remember to keep your questions coming in using #torqueback or for training-related questions and your chance to win a 3-month free Zwift subscription then use #AskGCNTraining. đ If you enjoyed this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up and share it with your friends. đ If you'd like to contribute captions and video info in your language, here's the link - https://gcn.eu/1gp Watch more on GCN... đč Why Are Road Bike Gears Getting Smaller? | SRAM RED eTAP AXS Ratios Explained - https://gcn.eu/smallergears Photos: © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Bettiniphoto / http://www.bettiniphoto.net/ About GCN: The Global Cycling Network puts you in the centre of the action: from the iconic climbs of Alpe DâHuez and Mont Ventoux to the cobbles of Flanders, everywhere there is road or pavĂ©, world-class racing and pro riders, we will be there bringing you action, analysis and unparalleled access every week, every month, and every year. We show you how to be a better cyclist with our bike maintenance videos, tips for improving your cycling, cycling top tens, and not forgetting the weekly GCN Show. Join us on YouTubeâs biggest and best cycling channel to get closer to the action and improve your riding! Welcome to the Global Cycling Network | Inside cycling Thanks to our sponsors: Assos of Switzerland: http://gcn.eu/Assos fiâzi:k Shoes & Saddles: http://gcn.eu/fizikshoes and http://gcn.eu/fiziksaddles Wiggle: http://gcn.eu/wiggle Topeak Tools: http://gcn.eu/Topeak Canyon Bikes: http://gcn.eu/-Canyon Bell Helmets: https://gcn.eu/bell Roka Sunglasses: https://gcn.eu/roka Quarq: http://gcn.eu/Quarq Orbea Bikes: http://gcn.eu/Orbea Trek Bicycles: http://gcn.eu/-Trek Vision Wheels: http://gcn.eu/Vision Zipp Wheels: http://gcn.eu/Zipp Wahoo Fitness: http://gcn.eu/Wahoo-Fitness Park Tool: http://gcn.eu/-parktool Continental Tyres: http://gcn.eu/continental- Camelbak: http://gcn.eu/camelbak- Komoot Route Planning: https://gcn.eu/-komoot Suscribirse a GCN en Español: http://gcn.eu/Suscribirse The GCN Club - http://gcn.eu/club YouTube Channel - http://gcn.eu/gcnYT Facebook - http://gcn.eu/gcnFb Instagram - http://gcn.eu/GCNInsta Google+ - http://gcn.eu/gcnGPlus Twitter - http://gcn.eu/gcnTW GMBN Tech - http://gmbn.tech/subscribe GCN Tech - http://gcntech.co/subscribe EMBN - http://embn.me/subscribe Leave us a comment below!