The Vague Request

I want to do a race this summer, how do I train for it? Can you give me a training plan?

How do you train for a race? It depends. It depends on the type of race, race distance, your previous experience, your existing fitness levels, history of injury, time available, short and long-term goals, and much more.

So, to prepare a training plan, I would need to know all of that information I just listed. It’s very difficult to give you any sort of training plan without that data. And even if you had sent me all that data, designing a training plan is a long, detailed process.

Much like a doctor isn’t going to diagnose you through email, I’m not going to send out a training plan based on email. I simply cannot give out free, customized training plans to everyone that asks.

If you write in with a vague question, I will probably just tell you to read The Cyclist’s Training Bible by Joe Friel.

The Race-Specific Request:

I am new to road racing, Crits particularly. Can you give me a training plan for preparing for a Crit.

If you’re new to racing, just about any training is going to help you improve. You don’t need to get into anything too fancy. So go out and ride. Ride slow, ride fast, and ride moderately. Then ride fast some more, like you would in a race.

You will also benefit greatly from going out and practicing cornering!

If you are really interested in learning the principles behind a good training plan, as a new racer, it is very worthwhile to pick up of a copy of The Cyclist’s Training Bible. It will take a while to read, but the result is worth it!

The Last Minute Request:

I am new to mountain bike raceing and I have a mountain bike race in two weeks. What do you suggest I do over the next two weeks. I would like to come up with a 4 week and 2 week pre-race training plan.

Umm… it really depends on what your current training plan is, your fitness level, and the actual race you have coming up. If you’re serious about racing, I’d suggest getting more serious about your planning – a 2 week training plan isn’t going to change much and would probably leave you worn out on race day.

So, if you want to come up with a good 4 month training plan and know how to adapt it to the days right before a race, take a look at Joe Friel’s The Cyclist’s Training Bible. It’s pretty cheap and the time spent reading it is a great investment in your cycling career.

As you can see, writing in asking for a training plan won’t get you any further than if you just did a search for “training” on my website. I try to provide as much advice as I can on my website, 100% free. Please take a look at that!

For example, I have an analysis of a generalized training week: An Example Training Week.

I got my ab roller today and can do between 15-20 without stopping but my arms hurt after i’m done. I think i’ll do it with the wheel a bit closer to my head, instead of with outstretched arms. It’s not the muscles in my arms that hurt it’s the joints in my elbows. Would this still be as effective?

-Elbow Ellen

Hi Ellen,

I think that would still hit your abs and be effective. Not exactly the same since the leverage is changed, but still a workout.

However, it seems like an odd position to be in. I tried it, and it felt awkward and harder to stay balanced. Plus it didn’t seem like it would be any easier on your elbows.

I’d have to see a video of your form to be sure!

The good news is, I have a better idea.

What I’d recommend instead of the ab wheel is getting a set of Valslides or the cheaper alternative – furniture sliders. You can do the ab roll out on these, but put your forearms/elbows down on the pads.

This way your weight is on your forearms and your elbows don’t move. It really takes your arms out of the equation. I tried it and it still felt like a pretty good ab workout.

The set of furniture sliders will also allow you to do the reverse ab roll out where your arms stay still and your legs extend backward. This should also ease the stress on your elbows.

Hello Levi, Quick question: on a windy day, which gives a better workout, heading into the wind on the way out or into the wind on the way back?

Thanks, Harriet Cane Irene

Hi Irene,

Interesting question – normally people just ask about how to make a ride in windy conditions feel easiest!

Technically speaking, you can get an equivalent workout either way.

Say you are using a power meter to measure your output. You’ll still do whatever effort is prescribed in your training plan. Your output will be the same into a headwind or tailwind, but your speed will vary depending on the wind direction.

It’s the same principle as, “which is a better workout, riding a heavy bike or a light racing bike?”

Realistically speaking, though, I think it depends on you personally.

Say you start out into a headwind. You will be taking on the wind when you’re fresh, then the tailwind can help you home on the way back. That’s good if you like to go “gung ho” and basically do a hard TT type of effort into the wind. Then when you think you can’t go anymore, the tailwind saves the day to get you home.

Say you start out into a tailwind. You’ll have it easy at the beginning, then later on in the ride when the going gets tough, it gets really tough! This could be good if it normally takes you a long time to get warmed up and feeling strong. It could also be better for an interval workout, because your rest periods will feel like rest. But hitting the headwind for the way home might be demoralizing.

What I’m getting at is, pick whichever way makes you feel stronger mentally, because then you’ll probably work harder, which is what will give you the better workout.

Now, if you’re training to race in windy conditions, you’ll want to vary the way you tackle windy days in training, because who knows which way the wind will be blowing come race day! You don’t want to start every training ride into a headwind, only to have a race start into a tailwind.

If that happened, you might be in trouble. You’d be used to going hard at the start to counter the strong wind, so you might push too hard, expecting an easier second half, rather than saving your energy for the storm ahead! You might end up looking like a fish out of water when you hit the headwind for the second half of the race!

For me, the “specificity of training” principle takes precedence over anything else in this situation. So I say, train both ways!

Hi Levi,

Thank you for your email, I am finding your site interesting and informative. Perhaps you can give me some advice?. I am 63 and ride 30-40 miles four times a week, then swim on a couple of the other days. What I would like to do is a 60 Mile trip. How do I go about adding the additional mileage?. I eat bananas, jelly babies (do you have these in the U.S.?) and M&M’s as on the road top up fuel, are these OK?

thanks for your help.
J.B.

Hi J.B.,

Thanks for reading! It sounds like you’re in good shape and putting in some good mileage each week! Based on the email, I don’t think you’ll have too much difficulty adding the mileage.

Here’s how I would do it…

First, let’s say you ride 150 miles per week on average. I would keep that about the same. Rather than add total mileage, we’re going to allocate your current mileage a little differently.

I would take three of your rides and limit them to 20-30 miles. Then your fourth weekly ride can be longer. You might even bump your long ride up to 50 miles one week and 60 miles the next. Or you could take gradual steps and go to 45, then 50, then 55, and then 60. Depends how comfortable you feel each week.

Since your weekly training volume will stay the same, the overall impact on your training lifestyle should be minimal.

As for ride fuel, it’s sort of a personal thing. If bananas, jelly babies, and M&M’s are working for you on 40 mile rides, they could probably work for you on a 60 mile ride. The problem is that those foods are mainly simple sugars, especially if you go heavy on the candy. Your body might get sick of that over the course of 60 miles. You might feel better and have more consistent energy levels over the course of the ride if you add in some complex carbohydrate sources, which could be as simple as some sort of energy bar or a granola bar full of oats.

Good luck!

[For everyone else in the US that isn't quite sure what jelly babies are... I think of them as a cross between jelly beans and Sour Patch Kids. They are like a semi-soft jelly bean and they're shaped like babies or little kids.]

Your forearm muscles are actually quite useful for cycling, especially mountain biking and BMX racing. But you probably aren’t working them in the gym.

So here’s a simple and somewhat fun exercise you can do at home – wrist roll ups, or twist ups. To do this, you make a device called a wrist roller by following my instructions below…

What You Need

Head to your local hardware store and purchase the following items:

• Wooden dowel (about 1″ diameter, 12″ long)
• Nylon rope (about 4′ long)
• Swivel eyelet hook or carabiner
• Chain (about 12″ long)

You will also want to use a cordless drill and about a 3/8″ drill bit. However, you can get by without one.

You could also substitute an old broomstick for the dowel rod. Or if you prefer, a piece of PVC pipe.

How to Build the Wrist Roller

Now let’s build this thing.

Take the wooden dowel rod or pipe and cut it down to a 12″ long section. This is your handle.

Drill a hole through the center (6″ in from either side.)

String about 4′ of nylon rope through the hole and tie it off. You can knot one end of the rope to keep it from slipping back through the hole, or simply tie the rope to the handle.

Then tie an eye hook (like you’d use on a dog leash) or some sort of small carabiner to the other end.

Finally, take a 12″ section of small chain. Thread the chain through some weight plates and hook each end of the chain into swivel hook.

(I usually use one or two 5lb weight plates, so 12″ of chain is plenty. Use a longer chain if you use bigger plates.)

Now you can perform your twist ups! (Simply roll the handle in your hands to bind up the rope and raise the weight off the ground.)

Note: The chain is optional if you are using Olympic weight plates with the 2″ holes. In that case, you just thread the hook through the plates and hook it back to the rope. This could cause a little more friction on the rope, but it should still last quite a while.

To increase difficulty: To really work your forearms and grip strength, use a larger handle. A 2″ diameter PVC pipe would do the trick.

I have both a mountain bike and road bike. While I ride my road bike for triathlons, I know it takes more work when riding the mountain bike. My questions is would training on the mountain bike make the more efficient road bike easier when it comes to triathlon time?

Thanks,
Efficient Erin

Hi Erin,

That’s a good question. Quite a few people try this method of training for road races and triathlons – they get a heavy road bike or mountain bike to train on, then feel faster when they ride their nice bike.

Heck, I’ve even done hill repeats with cement-filled water bottles in my cages to make my bike heavier and harder to ride!

Unfortunately, it doesn’t make any difference!

Let me address this specifically: “I know it takes more work when riding the mountain bike.”

Yes, it takes more work to ride the mountain bike at 17mph than it does to ride the road bike at 17mph. But if you put that same amount of effort into riding your road bike, you’d be riding at ~ 20mph.

You have to think of it in terms of power output. Your body is going to use the same amount of power when riding either bike. The difference is, you’ll go slower on the mountain bike for a given power output. You’ll just feel faster on the road bike if you’ve been on the mountain bike lately.

Also, aside from not improving your fitness, you miss out on a very important training concept: specificity.

If you switch between bikes, your body won’t be as efficient at pedaling the road bike as it could be if you spent the majority of your time riding the road bike. So while mountain biking is great training for road racing, it doesn’t do much for triathlon training, and time on the mountain bike would simply take away from time better spent on the road bike.

Hope that clears things up!

Have you ever considered training with a kettlebell, but were turned off at their extremely high price?

Then you might want to make yourself a “T-handle,” which is a kettlebell replacement you can build at home! It should only cost $13 or less!

And it’s versatile! Since you use your existing collection of weight plates, the T-handle can grow with you, from 5 lb to 50 lb or more!

Here is how to make a T-Handle…

What to Buy

The first thing you need to do is get your supplies. Just head to your local hardware store like Lowe’s or Home Depot (I suggest Home Depot for the best selection and prices,) head to the plumbing aisle, and get the following supplies:

• (1) 3/4″ x 10″ pipe nipple
• (2) 3/4″ x 4″ pipe nipple
• (1) 3/4″ T-fitting
• (1) 3/4″ floor flange
• (1) 1″ spring clamp

*Note that the spring clamp will be found in the hand tools aisle, next to other clamps and vices.

Pipe nipple sizing recommendation: The 10″ pipe nipple I listed is for the main shaft of the T-handle. You could get an 8″ or 12″ pipe nipple if your prefer. I think 10″ is good, but if you’re short (5’4″,) maybe go for 8″. If you’re tall (6′,) try 12″. But let’s say you’re average height but with long arms – then 8″ might be best.

I have long arms for my height, so I ended up bumping my 12″ T-Handle on the floor. I later switched to a 10″ pipe nipple.

It can be a little trial and error. Basically you want the bar long enough so the weight plates clear your pelvis, but short enough they don’t drag on the floor.

All those parts should cost about $10-13. Be sure to choose the black iron pipes – there’s no need to pay extra for galvanized. (My T-Handle pictured below cost me $17 since my local Lowe’s only stocked galvanized floor flanges which cost $7 instead of $2.)

Also, if you happen to be a road cyclist, look through your parts bin for some spare handlebar tape. It will come in handy during this project.

Now let’s build this thing…

How to Put It Together

There are just four easy steps to putting this thing together.

Step 1: The Handle

Take the two 4″ pipe nipples and screw them into the T fitting.

Step 2: The Shaft

Screw the 10″ pipe nipple into the floor flange.

Step 3: Finishing Touches

Before use, I recommend making the handle a little softer. I took some used handlebar tape and wrapped it all around the handle, then used electrical tape to secure the ends.

At the very least, wrap it in duct tape and wear some mountain biking gloves during use. You don’t want to cut your hands on those exposed threads!

Step 4: Add Weights and Use

Take your weight plates and place them on the shaft. They should sit against the floor flange.

Then take the spring clamp and clamp the shaft just above the weights. This will keep the plates from sliding around.

Finally, screw the handle onto the shaft. Make sure it’s tight!

Now you’re ready to exercise…

How to Use the T-Handle

Unfortunately, you can’t use the T-handle just like a true kettlebell. However, you can still use it for arguably the best kettlebell exercise – the kettlebell swing!

This is a great exercise for your posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, etc.,) which means it’s great for runners and cyclists. It is also recommended in The 4-Hour Body as a great weight loss exercise.

So, for just $12 (which is roughly $100 less than a good size kettlebell!,) I think building a T-handle is a great investment in your fitness!

And chances are, no matter what your racing level, you are doing some sort of strength training to improve your performance. (If not, then you should be!)

So you’re probably lifting weights, and as far as physical appearance goes, you’re looking for results that equate to a “toned” physique, rather than getting big and bulky. (You need to maintain that power to weight ratio!)

I’m going to explain how to tone your muscles, rather than get big and bulky, but first, we have to look at what toning even is…

What is Toning?

What is toning anyway? How do you describe it?

The common perception of a toned body is one where you can see dense, defined muscles. In other words, a lean, muscular body.

Think Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden in Fight Club. He is lean and muscular and looks great, but definitely wouldn’t get confused for a bodybuilder with his shirt on.

Muscle Tone: The Basics

So let’s look at how to get toned. In reality, toning is nothing more than losing body fat. As you lose body fat, your muscles stand out much more, which gives you that toned look. It’s as simple as that.

You could also go one step further. By both increasing the size of your muscles and decreasing the amount of fat hiding them, you really get the toned look.

So you don’t actually “tone” the muscle. You just change your muscle to fat ratio, which allows you to see your muscles more easily.

I like to sum it up with this quote from Nate Green in his book, Built for Show: “You can make a muscle bigger or smaller, but you can’t ‘tone’ it.”

There is a more advanced definition of muscle tone (best described in Visual Impact by Rusty Moore, or in Pavel Tsatsouline’s books,) but that doesn’t really matter unless you need extreme toning for a physique contest, so we can skip that today.

Understanding Muscle Growth

What we should discuss though, is muscle growth. There are two main types of muscle growth to become familiar with before trying to tone your muscles. They are:

• Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy – The growth of the fluid in the muscle cells.
• Myofibrillar hypertrophy – The growth of muscle fibers themselves.

The best way to look at it is this – muscle fiber growth (myofibrillar hypertrophy) creates smaller, dense muscles and increases sports performance with minimal, if any, weight gain.

Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy just makes your muscles look bigger. They might be a bit soft, and there is really no benefit when it comes to sports performance.

Obviously we are going to concern ourselves with the actual muscle fiber growth.

How to Tone Your Muscles

Now it’s time to talk about how to actually tone your muscles. There will be two components here: fat loss as discussed at the beginning of this article, and muscle fiber growth, just discussed in the previous section.

Fat Loss

There are two main sub-components to fat loss: diet and conditioning.

Changing your diet is the fastest way to fat loss. For beginners, look at this fat loss article for the basics. For more advanced techniques, you might want to consider some of the Paleo Diet principles as well as carb cycling and nutrient timing.

Basically, changing up your diet can easily lead to a 500-700 calorie deficit each day, plus allow your body to operate properly.

Your conditioning will come from your running and/or cycling training, which should consist of various sprints and interval workouts.

Muscle fiber growth

Muscle fiber growth is a slow process, so it’s not your #1 priority when toning your muscles, but it should be in your long term strategy.

It’s not that complicated to train for, but the mainstream media get it completely wrong, so pay attention!

Your weight lifting workouts in the gym should use moderately heavy weights and a fairly low number of reps. Each exercise might only be 3-5 sets of 2-5 reps each.

That simple strength training strategy will help you tone your muscles without leaving you too sore to do your sport-specific (i.e. on the bike) workouts!

If you follow the advice in mainstream fitness magazines about doing light weights and high reps, you’re either going to get no results (at best) or make negative progress since those workouts will fatigue you, leaving you too tired for your other important training!

Toning Summary

When it comes to getting a toned physique, remember these key points:

• Losing body fat by eating a clean, healthy diet will help you look more toned.
• Losing body fat by doing interval training on your bike will help you look more toned.
• Strengthening muscle fibers by lifting heavy weights for low reps will help you look more toned.

I want to add chin ups & pull ups to my workout. I am a young 50 and can’t do one. What exercises can I do to help with adding chin/pull ups?

Thanks,
Pull Up Paul

Hi Paul,

Pull ups are my favorite exercise so I think it’s great you want to add them to your routine. You can build up a lot of strength just by using a pull up and push up routine at home.

There are two main ways I suggest you get from 0 to 1 pull up: lat pull downs and assisted pull ups.

Lat pull down.

Lat pull downs are easily done on a lat pulldown machine at most gyms. This is the one where you sit down on a small chair with your knees under a padded bar, grab a handle over your head, and pull it down to your chest.

This will work your pulling muscles similarly to doing pull ups, but it allows you to use loads less than your body weight. It is a good way to start out, but I suggest moving to assisted pull ups as soon as possible.

Assisted pull ups.

Assisted pull ups require a pull up bar and a resistance band. You are basically doing real pull ups, but you have a resistance band to help you along the way.

You loop the band around the middle of the bar and then either stand or kneel into the band. As you pull yourself up like a normal pull up, the band provides some assistance. The heavier the band, the more help it will provide you.

As you progress, you can go from a heavy band to a medium band to a light band, and then you should be strong enough to do unassisted pull ups!

Here is a short Youtube video showing how to do an assisted pull up:

Good luck and have fun!

Never seen a Bosu ball? Imagine taking a Swiss ball, cutting it in half, and mounting a platform on the cut side. It’s an interesting device, sort of like a wobble board.

But as neat looking as it is, nine out of ten strength training or fitness websites you go to, if the Bosu ball is mentioned, it’s only to make fun of the thing! It just seems most strength training coaches and bodybuilders hate the Bosu ball, not to mention their feelings toward personal trainers who include Bosu ball exercises in their so-called “functional training” fitness plans in the big commercial gyms.

But why do they hate it so much?

I think the problem lies not with the Bosu ball itself, but with the way in which people use it.

Background on Training Methods

To illustrate my point, let’s first review a few different training methods:

• Weight lifting
• Bodyweight exercises
• Balance training

Weight lifting involves lifting heavy weights in order to gain muscle and/or strength. The object is to move as much weight as possible, which requires a very stable base – feet flat on floor, body tight, etc.

Bodyweight exercises involve moving your body through space. There are no extra weights for resistance; instead, you move your body in ways that are progressively more difficult. The object of this style training is typically to increase full-body strength without gaining extra muscle.

Balance training is typically used by athletes such as skiiers, snowboarders, gymnasts, martial artists, freestyle BMX riders, mountain bikers, etc. If you need to balance on something in weird positions to excel in your sport, you should be training to improve your balance. This type of training can be done without equipment, but it commonly includes the use of the Swiss ball, wobble boards, balance boards, and yes, the Bosu ball.

Why Diss The Bosu Ball?

I think most can agree with those statements on training methods. So why diss the Bosu ball?

Because some trainers are combining weight lifting and balance training together.

I’m not sure why they do this. My best guesses are 1) they can say it’s time efficient for your busy schedule, and 2) it sounds new and exciting, which probably appeals to many gym-goers.

But if you step back and think, weight lifting and balance training have completely different goals. Weight lifting is all about heavy weights. But, you simply can’t use heavy weights when standing precariously on a Bosu ball. So you can’t realistically make the gains you want. And worrying about adding weights during balance training seems useless. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a snowboarder or gymnast holding weights during an event.

Sure, doing squats with 300lb on your back while balancing on a Bosu ball could be a neat circus trick, but it’s not the most practical exercise. Spend your time doing something productive. It doesn’t need to be fancy to get results.

When it comes down to it, I agree that mixing weight lifting and balance training is pretty stupid. But that doesn’t mean I hate the Bosu ball!

How the Bosu Ball Can Be Useful

When it comes to improving balance, especially if you’re still working your way up to standing on a stability ball, the Bosu ball can be a useful tool. You can think of it like training wheels for riding a bike, or as another tool in your toolbox.

To see examples of Bosu ball exercises, take a look at this Bosu ball exercise page at AskTheTrainer.com. It shows some common uses of the Bosu ball. Note that I don’t recommend all those exercises, but in general, that is more in line with what the Bosu ball should be used for.

As long as you stick with using it for balance training, rehab, and as a Swiss ball replacement for some core exercises – such as, a plank with your elbows up on the Bosu ball – you’ll be fine.

Lance Armstrong Used a Bosu Ball!

Just wanted to point this out for fun – Lance Armstrong was spotted using a Bosu ball. It was in the February 2009 issue of Men’s Health magazine.

In one photo, it appears as though Lance is just using the ball and doing lateral jumps over it. But in the other, he is doing push-ups with one hand on the ball. That’s a good exercise, although it can be done with a medicine ball or soccer ball.

Why I Wouldn’t Buy a Bosu Ball

Even though I just said the Bosu ball can be useful, I have no plans to buy one, nor do I recommend you go out and purchase one.

First, the things cost $80-120. That is a lot! A stability ball will cost you less than $20.

Second, most of the time you could use a Bosu ball, you might as well just use a stability ball anyway.

Note: If the stability ball seems too intimidating to work with, just don’t inflate it so much. I think most people would be fine just getting a cheap, small Swiss ball and using it half-inflated when necessary. That’s a decent Bosu ball replacement while you improve your balance enough to use the stability ball as intended.

Final Word on the Bosu Ball

You know the saying, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” ?

I adopt a similar stance in favor of the Bosu ball: “Bosu balls don’t make people do stupid exercises. Stupid personal trainers make people do stupid exercises.”

It is less eloquent and takes many more words, but it gets the point across. You can’t blame the Bosu ball for how people use it. While I don’t recommend the Bosu ball for everyone, it doesn’t need to be shunned and laughed at.