Using Perceived Exertion, a Heart Rate Monitor or Power Meter to Maximize Training Effectiveness
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If you want to maintain the fitness you’ve worked so hard to achieve, or to ride faster and have more power, you need a bigger engine, says Coach John Hughes.
How can you get a bigger human engine, a V-6 or even a V-8, instead of your fuel-efficient but relatively weak V-4? “Proper intensities are the key!” he says. The right intensity workout(s) depend on both your individual goals and the time of the year. Coach Hughes provides information so that health and fitness riders, club and endurance riders and performance riders can easily tailor the workouts to your training goals and season.
Intensity Training 2016: Using Perceived Exertion, a Heart Rate Monitor or Power Meter to Maximize Training Effectiveness explains the human power train from how your body stores fuel, how your fuel pump (your heart) works, the different cellular engines that produce energy, your transmission (muscle fibers) and how to get better engine economy.
How should you train given all this complexity?
“Proper intensities are the key!” Coach Hughes responds. “The difference between top bike racers and us mortal recreational riders is that the pros vary the intensities (plural!), while we ride at about the same level of effort most of the time. Changing the intensities of workouts is the fastest way to improve.
To make the article as useful as possible Coach Hughes provides a table with 10 different training objectives. For each objective he gives the proper training zone described in terms of perceived exertion, heart rate and power readings. Each objective is then linked to 5 to 10 specific workouts. Each category of workout includes two types of workouts:
- “Some riders like structured workouts with measured periods of intensity and recovery.”
- “Others prefer unstructured workouts that just mix intense efforts with easy cruising. I coach riders using both approaches. They all get fitter! And you don’t have to stick to just one or the other.”
The 39 pages of Intensity Training 2016 provides all the information you need to design personal workouts – workouts that you’d pay a coach hundreds of dollars to write!
This eArticle is also included in the bundle of five eArticles The Best of Coach Hughes: 5 eArticles to Make You a Better Cyclist. The bundle includes:
- How to Become a Better Cyclist: The Six Success Factors – A new eArticle totaling 36 pages.
- Your Best Season Ever, Part 1: A 32-page eArticle on how to plan and get the most out of your training. Published in 2015.
- Intensity Training 2016: A 41-page eArticle with the latest information on how to use perceived exertion, a heart rate monitor and a power meter to maximize training effectiveness.
- Optimal Recovery for Improved Performance: A 16-page eArticle with 10 different recovery techniques illustrated with 14 photos. Published in 2011.
- Eat & Drink Like the Pros: A 15-page eArticle of nutritional insights from pro cycling teams. It contains a dozen recipes for you to make your own food and sports drinks. Published in 2011.
The Best of Coach Hughes: 5 eArticles to Make You a Better Cyclist totals 140 pages and is available at the special price of $15.96 (this is a special 5-for-the-price-of-4 discount); and only $13.57 for our Premium Members.
Note: this is an eArticle. Your purchase will be stored as a PDF file in your customer account on the website for downloading and printing.