So happy to have found this channel. As a marathon and XCO mountain bike racer to find a cycling content creator that also mountain bikes and gives genuine informative information has been so refreshing and really helpful! Thanks for all the work you do for these videos to give us such well informed information! Hoping the channel will only continue to grow and that many more will sign up to be coached by you, as you clearly know what you are doing!
Super useful, as always. I particularly appreciated seeing the data on seated vs standing climbs. It confirms what I suspected, and reinforces the need to practice standing climbs at high effort levels. It's something I'll work on. Thank you, Dylan.
Good tips thank you! Im a mtb about 111 lbs height 5’1. This upcoming weekend it will be my first time on a roadbike going uphill. Im excited for this.
Solid and well researched advice, as always. As something of a climber type one thing I've trained at times to good effect is core exercises. I've found that being able to exert a firm grasp on the handlebars (visualize either bending bars toward or away from you) creates a rigidity in the upper body that can help with turning over the pedals. I've met a handful of others who use this technique as well. Just sharing in case it is helpful because I see sometimes people lose form toward the end of climbs as their upper body fatigues.
Hey, this is a really good channel. Dylan, you know what you are talking about. Take if from someone that has perused the "inter-webs" as a cycling enthusiast and nerd for several years. Most channels have gone corporate and manipulate you with state of the art super subliminal messaging (advertising giants) which tend toward skewed facts (GCN went from fun to massively untrustworthy and manipulative). So congrats Dylan! Lets see how long it takes CTS to corrupt the message (hopefully never).
Great Video! I really like the scientific background and your research done so this is not just an opinion of yours personally. Liked the "ok, so I ll buy a new set of wheels instead". Could be me...
Bruh, I’m so glad I stumbled upon your channel. I watched this video then immediately subscribed. Fantastic content and looking forward to binge-watching your back catalogue of videos 👍🏻🚴🏼♂️.
I learn tonnes everytime I look at these videos! (Probaly pretty ignorant start point..) Just learned why my cadence was higher than anybody else in hilly South Norway after 18 months in flat Houston. Thanks!
Thanks for taking your time for sharing such a very useful and technical content. Congrats. The difficulty I see on standing is to control the breath x heart rate x low cadence. For me, as I leave in frat regions, is way easier to have this combo. When I stand, heart rate increases faster and I need time to balance the formula.
Excellent as always . One word of caution (I work in medicine) is the overhyped and potentially dangerous “antioxidant “ effects. Some large scale medical trials on antioxidant use in people at higher risk of developing cancer actually increased the cancer rate suggesting that oxidation death of cancer cells is inhibited. These trials were so conclusive early on they were abandoned to protect those on them!
Beta carotene and vitamin A. It’s from a paper in New England journal of medicine .In medical supplement form rather than from plants but at a molecular level the cells don’t care about the source I guess.
Think many among us are looking at the 3-5min climbs that frequent many amateur road races, strava segments, and shop rides. Sadly it is where this 85kg guy gets unhitched. I have worked up to surviving on
Standing vs seating; it depends wether MTB-ROAD-CX. Often difficult to climb standing when riding MTB on slippery-technical steep climbs(especially with a hardtail...). Contrary, often better to do punchy (long&short) climbs in CX standing...the terrain will dictate.
Hi Dylan, your videos are very interesting and well documented. I think you should do a video focused on the pedalling cadence. Lower cadence like 70rpm in climbing is not automatically the best solution as we all seen the recents years with Chris Froome and other riders. As a former high level mountain biker I have a tendency to climb with much higher rpm than most riders and it help a lot my instant recovery. Thanks and continue your good work!
@@DylanJohnsonCycling 12 years of cycling experience 😮 My daughter won a Jr National Crit at 12 (possibly the last age grouper to beat Coryn Rivera at Nationals). But given how youthful you looked here, I'm thinking you must have started with BMX pump track racing 🏁 straight out of your toddler years?
@@DylanJohnsonCycling Congratulations!!! Keep up the great riding, training and video making! These training tips have put me number 2 in my local club.
Awesome job at Mohican last weekend! Any plans for a recap vid on the race, like how you fueled, what you carried or any issues during? Keep up the good work!
Hi Dylan, now as the (road)racing season is on, could you consider doing video of how to organize training and weekly progressions when there is race almost every weekend? I feel like making normal two hard sessions a week is too much if there's a race. So what's your take on racing whole summer but still maintain or even raise fitness during the season? For example my CTL has dropped from 90 to about 80 in May as it's when the season started.
My problem is almost all weight advice for riding is geared towards losing weight or being too big. I only weigh 98lbs @5'3" and have stayed at that steady weight for 5 years. I am very light and my bike is only abt 19lbs.
Love your videos and channel Dylan. I have a question about muscle activation differences when riding on the flat vs a hill climb. Are different muscles used when doing hill climbs compared to flat? My strength doesn't seem to transfer from flat to climbs and was interested if glutes etc are more activated more when the bike is tilted up, especially steep gradients? How is pedal stroke altered? Hip rotation? And is there specific training to help. Thanks!
Exactly what I'm looking for right now. Dylan, I buy contact pedals, and now most of the time I feel like I'm only pushing the pedal upwards. It's that ok? What advice can you, please, recommend to do an adequate pedal exercise? Thank you in advance. Excellent video, as always!
Thanks. Depends on the person but usually every month in the lead up to race season and then once race season is in full swing you may not test for a while.
How does doing intervals at FTP, a power which you have already figured out that you can hold, help increase it? You can already hold this for an hour, why would you do shorter intervals at the same power and not higher than FTP?
Interesting video. As someone living in the Netherlands, the tip on low cadence cycling is helpful. What I am missing in this video is how much weight loss you should aim for. Of course you cannot weigh 0 kilos (unless you incinerate yourself). What is healthy?
Hi Dylan. Why do you think my right knee starts paining after a 1hr indoor Trainer session but not on the road or my MTB over longer rides. Cheers Mike
Hello, Dylan, after a bit of advice, myself and a friend are going to be doing 500 miles over 5 days in the Scottish highlands (the NC500), in 1 month. I have been training since October, have lost about 30kgs (down to 85kg), but won't be able to lose much more before we do it. I can do a 100 mile ride no problem, not the fastest but the idea doesn't daunt me. Doing 100x5 is a different kettle of fish. Any suggestions on the best way to minimise the fatigue we will have to fight through at the start of each ride and any other tips on how to actually complete the thing without failing?! 2 weeks ago I did a 120 mile ride on the Friday with the reverse the following Monday, I didn't feel fresh at all, even with a 2 day rest and a power meter to moderate the efforts...
Dylan, I just discovered your channel and it is outstanding! Thank you for taking opinions OUT and bringing data to the forefront. One thing I am curious about is that more than a few of the studies you cite were published before 2000 and several appear to be 2015 or earlier. Is there a lack of current studies on these topics or are the papers you cite the best that are currently available?
It really depends on the topic. I dig up as much research as I can and look at the most current studies but obviously it’s hard to include it all in one video. I usually pick the studies that represent the balance of evidence the best for the video.
Great video, as always. I live near steep hills and have a tough climb home. Recently, I went from “good” balance, where I don’t risk falling at low speed to “perfect” balance, where the bike points straight and doesn’t wander. I didn’t have to learn it. It’s more of a focused mindset thing. It feels much more efficient when keeping the bike under control. It did, however, take practice to control power when standing. It’s tempting to hammer way over threshold until you have to sit and survive. Learning to stand and hit a target number makes standing sustainable and fun. Question on another topic: Do rest weeks really need to be full weeks? After five days of rest, I feel quite recovered. It seems that I could skip the work week, but make use of the weekend. Any research on the topic? Maybe I’ll do a recovery ride tomorrow. That will respect the full recovery week but keep the cobwebs from forming. This might improve my first high-intensity ride as I often feel stale after a recovery week and don’t seem to ride as strongly as it seems I should on my first hard effort back on the bike.
Personally, I try to focus on stretching during rest week. I have trouble remembering to take my vitamins then too. And with fewer calories burned, gotta watch those calories.
Low calorie density, whole plants based diet is good but lets be clear: it is for people with low to medium energy needs. When volume of training gets higher (12-20+ hrs/wk) it might be very problematic to eat this way. For me it is simply impossible. High volume of foods and high total fiber consumption causes under eating and digestive problems. High calorie density foods has its place in some people diets after all.
No doubt, that's why I suggested eating low calorie density food if you are trying to lose weight. If you're not trying to lose weight and you are riding a lot then include some high calorie dense foods.
Dylan, I've read some study-abstracts that indicate high fructose consumption causes mitochondrial damage in the liver of mice and rats (www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/9/4/323/pdf, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0271531707001078). This raises the question of whether eating fruit can cause mitochondrial damage in humans. It's hard to transpose these studies to humans - especially athletes - even if one assumes the same mechanisms are at work. First, the mice and rats were fed a solution of fructose and water, not whole fruit, which leaves out the antioxidants present in whole fruit that would mitigate oxidative damage. Second, the mice and rats that were fed the high-fructose diet were not put on an exercise program that could trigger increased mitochondrial genesis. Are you aware of any studies that link fruit consumption to decreased athletic performance or reduced recovery?
We have climbs that are 3 hours and a half here in taiwan. 2021 you are invited. I’ll try to ask the organization how you’ll get in free. #taiwankomchallenge
I really suffer when I try standing for any period of time. I’m now training that specifically. I have a question about FTP. It is also an area that I have trained as much as I can. My 20-30 minute power are not awesome but my 5 minute power and 10 minute power are significant. Is it possible that, due to muscle composition ( i.e. I am more of a natural sprinter) I will never have a super high FTP but I can shred people with big shorter efforts followed by short recover followed by another effort?
Dylan, i have a question about the quantity of work in an interval session, Lets says I want to do 3 series of 10 intervals of 30 sec effert , 30 sec rest and 5 min rest between series Should I do as many series as I can , like I am not able to do ? or stick to 3 or 4 series per session ?
Hi Dylan - loving the channel and all the vids, really great stuff!! Training for Leadville and the SM 100 again this year and looking to add some low cadence trainer work in to my plan earlier in the year to improve climbing times from previous years. Any general recommendations for structuring low cadence workouts for these type of events, i.e. number and length of intervals, and % of ftp (assuming a target cadence of 55-65)? Also, is it too early to add these workouts to the base phase of a training plan once a week?
Hey Dylan, I live in Pittsburgh, the land of the steep cat 4 climb, and I plan on doing our Dirty Dozen race later this year. Hills in this city are mostly short (5-8 minutes) and steep, but the gradients are all over the place on most every given climb. I don't currently have a power meter, but I do use a heart rate monitor, and a power meter is out of my budget range for the next few months. In the absence of a power meter, how can I pace short climbs with wildly varying gradients? When I do climbing rides for training, the data points toward me not pushing myself hard enough on some climbs, and way too hard on some others. Heart rate helps, but doesn't respond fast enough because the efforts are often too short. I'd like to even this out, both to make me a faster climber and for more consistent training. Any ideas?
This all sounds really complicated... can i just hire you to figure out the training rides for me? Also- i have a friend who eats chocolate babka almost every morning and before big races. He swears by it and he is super fast. What do you think?
@@michaelsmart4993 na dude- he's only fat in the winter and gets super lean in the summer. He also eats tons of holiday cookies in the winter. Just goes to show that you can live off of junk food and be fast!
Superb videos, In one of the videos I saw a TP-week with 4 or 5 workouts of about four hours length. I had many coaches for my training of centuries, double centuries and even everestings, but they never gave me a week like this. A century I do usally in 5 to 6 hours, a double in the double amount of time. 2500 to 4500m climbing included. My everesting took me 17hours TOTAL. From my understanding the longer rides should also be trained, but the coaches always meant, one 4 hour endurance ride per week is enough. What do you think?
Depends on your fitness level. If you're a seasoned endurance athlete I'd shoot for more than that. During certain points in my training my volume will be very high and multiple 4 hour plus days in one week will not be uncommon.
Hey Dylan your videos are so good just wanted to ask a question which I don't think you've specifically mentioned in a training video, It seems like more and more research is showing zone 3 aren't as effective as once thought (sweet spot training etc.) as true polarisation (zone 1 and 2 + zone 5 and 6) seems to be the most effective use of training zones. What do you think about this? Do you think I should just ditch zone 3 training and focus more on accumulating quality time in zones1+2 and then true vo2 max / zone 6?
The answer can get pretty complicated and depends on what you're training for. Certainly a lot of research pointing to ditching zone 3. Planning on making a video about this so stay tuned.
I respect your channel and most advice Dylan. However, I think you haven't really nailed the 'better climber' thing. I have experience I won't go into here, as I prefer to remain anonymous. The main point to better climbing is higher watts/kg as you allude, for the duration of the climbs any rider typically does. In addition to what you have focused on, optimal bodyfat % is crucial. This can be sustained in males long term as low as 7%, and drop to 4-5% during competition. However, most amateur male riders are more comfortable around 8-12% long term, depending on their autonomic NS health and brown adipose tissue content. However, bodyfat is not the end of it. To improve climbing more, one can then start sculpting lean tissue, stripping non cycling related muscle from the upper limbs and trunk. Some cyclists can do this without planning, but others benefit from a medically supervised plan. A final point to better climbing is to turn one's average watts into higher average ascent speed. This is a big topic, highly individual, and covers bike set up for climbing, cadence, sit/stand mix and technique, respiratory technique, diaphragmatic breathing efficiency such that cardiac output is not compromised by excessive intrathoracic pressure, and optimizing arterial and venous flow to lower limbs.
I do. I eat *a lot* of food, and can't gain any weight. No need to restrict, I eat until I'm full. All the time. Restricting your calories to try to lose weight is a loser strategy: after some time, you will always fail, your body will ask for more and you will go on fat and gain the weight back, and even more weight than you lost.
Yes, it's a great way to eat if you do it right not only for your cycling but for your overall quality of life. Is it better than a mostly plant based diet that includes some animal products? I think that's debatable. I myself follow a fully vegan diet and will be making a video on it at some point.
How to become a better climber? Genetics. Choose your parents wisely. If you're not genetically gifted a healthy dose of EPO and steroids should work. Just ask Lance.
Training plans are now available! Use the code TH-cam to get 15% through the end of the month: www.trainingpeaks.com/coach/dylanjohnson#trainingplans
Link is broken??
Reduce weight
Increase power
Ok. Good.
So happy to have found this channel. As a marathon and XCO mountain bike racer to find a cycling content creator that also mountain bikes and gives genuine informative information has been so refreshing and really helpful! Thanks for all the work you do for these videos to give us such well informed information! Hoping the channel will only continue to grow and that many more will sign up to be coached by you, as you clearly know what you are doing!
I didn't know the benefit of low cadence intervals to improve climbing. This is great info. *subscribed*
Super useful, as always.
I particularly appreciated seeing the data on seated vs standing climbs. It confirms what I suspected, and reinforces the need to practice standing climbs at high effort levels. It's something I'll work on.
Thank you, Dylan.
Dude, the way you play the characters is making these videos really funny. Keep doing that! 😂
kudos for relying on science! So refreshing.
Good tips thank you! Im a mtb about 111 lbs height 5’1. This upcoming weekend it will be my first time on a roadbike going uphill. Im excited for this.
Contador used to train specifically to climb for 20 minutes standing
I had read that he would do 45 min climbs out of the saddle. That’s a crazy thing.
He was on PEDs asw tho- not trying to discredit that
Solid and well researched advice, as always. As something of a climber type one thing I've trained at times to good effect is core exercises. I've found that being able to exert a firm grasp on the handlebars (visualize either bending bars toward or away from you) creates a rigidity in the upper body that can help with turning over the pedals. I've met a handful of others who use this technique as well. Just sharing in case it is helpful because I see sometimes people lose form toward the end of climbs as their upper body fatigues.
Hey, this is a really good channel. Dylan, you know what you are talking about. Take if from someone that has perused the "inter-webs" as a cycling enthusiast and nerd for several years. Most channels have gone corporate and manipulate you with state of the art super subliminal messaging (advertising giants) which tend toward skewed facts (GCN went from fun to massively untrustworthy and manipulative). So congrats Dylan! Lets see how long it takes CTS to corrupt the message (hopefully never).
Thanks for the heads up. I have a few sponsors but the last thing I want is for my videos to turn into commercials. I'll keep this comment in mind.
Great Video!
I really like the scientific background and your research done so this is not just an opinion of yours personally.
Liked the "ok, so I ll buy a new set of wheels instead".
Could be me...
Bruh, I’m so glad I stumbled upon your channel. I watched this video then immediately subscribed. Fantastic content and looking forward to binge-watching your back catalogue of videos 👍🏻🚴🏼♂️.
I learn tonnes everytime I look at these videos! (Probaly pretty ignorant start point..) Just learned why my cadence was higher than anybody else in hilly South Norway after 18 months in flat Houston. Thanks!
Thanks for taking your time for sharing such a very useful and technical content. Congrats.
The difficulty I see on standing is to control the breath x heart rate x low cadence. For me, as I leave in frat regions, is way easier to have this combo. When I stand, heart rate increases faster and I need time to balance the formula.
Just discovered this channel. What a set of great videos. Esp. this one. Great work.
Dude, this channel is way underrated!! Good job! I dig it.
Great video. You put together exactly what I've been researching in the past week and confirmed all my conclusions.
Screw it I’ll just buy some lighter wheels LOL !!!
Low fat high carb & 100 miles a week minimum. You will be lean!
I’m chasing an FTP of 300 by Christmas. At 10 stone 63kg I’d be 5w/kg !! Not bad for a casual middle aged guy.
I am also aiming for 300w by Christmas Goodluck mate👍
RU a brother of Les?
Don't hurt your arm patting yourself on the back
I've found cadence drills to be helpful, both fast and slow. It's good to be comfortable at a variety of cadence
Great videos, audio quality on this one is much better than some others you have done.
Happy 100k subs 🎉
I love the music intro 🥺❤️
Great video and evidence - thank you
Thanks for sharing your expertise with us!
Excellent as always . One word of caution (I work in medicine) is the overhyped and potentially dangerous “antioxidant “ effects. Some large scale medical trials on antioxidant use in people at higher risk of developing cancer actually increased the cancer rate suggesting that oxidation death of cancer cells is inhibited. These trials were so conclusive early on they were abandoned to protect those on them!
Was this antioxidant drugs or au natural straight from plants?
Beta carotene and vitamin A. It’s from a paper in New England journal of medicine .In medical supplement form rather than from plants but at a molecular level the cells don’t care about the source I guess.
Thanks for throwing up the papers you cited.
Solid and useful advice. Thanks for sharing.
These vids are invaluable. Thanks a ton man
Think many among us are looking at the 3-5min climbs that frequent many amateur road races, strava segments, and shop rides. Sadly it is where this 85kg guy gets unhitched. I have worked up to surviving on
Hi Dylan, you are great! Thanks! regards from Berlin, Germany
Think you should include the aero concerns in the debate. Standing significantly changes your drag coefficient numbers.
Good video mate. Thankyou.
Just watching this now, and holy cow
Very true
Standing vs seating; it depends wether MTB-ROAD-CX. Often difficult to climb standing when riding MTB on slippery-technical steep climbs(especially with a hardtail...). Contrary, often better to do punchy (long&short) climbs in CX standing...the terrain will dictate.
Truly enjoy your depth of knowledge and is so hilarious with the injections of your humor. What is your opinion on Hill Repeats.
Hi Dylan, your videos are very interesting and well documented. I think you should do a video focused on the pedalling cadence. Lower cadence like 70rpm in climbing is not automatically the best solution as we all seen the recents years with Chris Froome and other riders. As a former high level mountain biker I have a tendency to climb with much higher rpm than most riders and it help a lot my instant recovery. Thanks and continue your good work!
I’m working on a cadence video right now! Should be out this week.
@@DylanJohnsonCycling 12 years of cycling experience 😮 My daughter won a Jr National Crit at 12 (possibly the last age grouper to beat Coryn Rivera at Nationals). But given how youthful you looked here, I'm thinking you must have started with BMX pump track racing 🏁 straight out of your toddler years?
Good luck on the DK 200 (If you are riding it this year)
No DK for me this year. Did the mohican 100 instead.
@@DylanJohnsonCycling How did you do?
@@ridercanada1 1st place!
@@DylanJohnsonCycling Congratulations!!! Keep up the great riding, training and video making! These training tips have put me number 2 in my local club.
@@ridercanada1 Thanks! Glad to hear.
Awesome job at Mohican last weekend! Any plans for a recap vid on the race, like how you fueled, what you carried or any issues during? Keep up the good work!
Yeah, thinking about it! There were some people out there getting footage and I'm trying to see if I can get that from them.
Hi Dylan, now as the (road)racing season is on, could you consider doing video of how to organize training and weekly progressions when there is race almost every weekend? I feel like making normal two hard sessions a week is too much if there's a race. So what's your take on racing whole summer but still maintain or even raise fitness during the season? For example my CTL has dropped from 90 to about 80 in May as it's when the season started.
Sorry, just noted that you pretty much covered that on your tapering video. Good stuff!
Congratulations on your win at Mohican
Dang bro, you got some good vids. Definitely glad your my coach
Good info on seated versus standing and when to do which
Great video!
If a long ride causes plantar fasciitis, how does that change the training plans, if at all?
My problem is almost all weight advice for riding is geared towards losing weight or being too big. I only weigh 98lbs @5'3" and have stayed at that steady weight for 5 years. I am very light and my bike is only abt 19lbs.
Love your videos and channel Dylan. I have a question about muscle activation differences when riding on the flat vs a hill climb. Are different muscles used when doing hill climbs compared to flat? My strength doesn't seem to transfer from flat to climbs and was interested if glutes etc are more activated more when the bike is tilted up, especially steep gradients? How is pedal stroke altered? Hip rotation? And is there specific training to help. Thanks!
Exactly what I'm looking for right now. Dylan, I buy contact pedals, and now most of the time I feel like I'm only pushing the pedal upwards. It's that ok? What advice can you, please, recommend to do an adequate pedal exercise?
Thank you in advance.
Excellent video, as always!
I have my athletes do 1 legged pedal drills but there isn't any research to support it. I'd ride how you are most comfortable.
@@DylanJohnsonCycling I will follow your advice! Thanks for your time and expertise!
Great video as always, how often do recommend retesting your FTP?
Thanks. Depends on the person but usually every month in the lead up to race season and then once race season is in full swing you may not test for a while.
Weekly
How does doing intervals at FTP, a power which you have already figured out that you can hold, help increase it? You can already hold this for an hour, why would you do shorter intervals at the same power and not higher than FTP?
How do you keep easy days easy when you live in a very hilly area?
Interesting video. As someone living in the Netherlands, the tip on low cadence cycling is helpful.
What I am missing in this video is how much weight loss you should aim for. Of course you cannot weigh 0 kilos (unless you incinerate yourself). What is healthy?
I only watch these videos for the sweet whip in the beginning!!
Hi Dylan.
Why do you think my right knee starts paining after a 1hr indoor Trainer session but not on the road or my MTB over longer rides.
Cheers
Mike
Hello, Dylan, after a bit of advice, myself and a friend are going to be doing 500 miles over 5 days in the Scottish highlands (the NC500), in 1 month. I have been training since October, have lost about 30kgs (down to 85kg), but won't be able to lose much more before we do it. I can do a 100 mile ride no problem, not the fastest but the idea doesn't daunt me. Doing 100x5 is a different kettle of fish. Any suggestions on the best way to minimise the fatigue we will have to fight through at the start of each ride and any other tips on how to actually complete the thing without failing?! 2 weeks ago I did a 120 mile ride on the Friday with the reverse the following Monday, I didn't feel fresh at all, even with a 2 day rest and a power meter to moderate the efforts...
how do you know how much power you produce?
Dylan, I just discovered your channel and it is outstanding! Thank you for taking opinions OUT and bringing data to the forefront. One thing I am curious about is that more than a few of the studies you cite were published before 2000 and several appear to be 2015 or earlier. Is there a lack of current studies on these topics or are the papers you cite the best that are currently available?
It really depends on the topic. I dig up as much research as I can and look at the most current studies but obviously it’s hard to include it all in one video. I usually pick the studies that represent the balance of evidence the best for the video.
Does this apply to long alpine climbs? I ride hills that take me 3 hours to climb so I can’t ride at FTP the whole time.
Great video, as always.
I live near steep hills and have a tough climb home. Recently, I went from “good” balance, where I don’t risk falling at low speed to “perfect” balance, where the bike points straight and doesn’t wander. I didn’t have to learn it. It’s more of a focused mindset thing. It feels much more efficient when keeping the bike under control.
It did, however, take practice to control power when standing. It’s tempting to hammer way over threshold until you have to sit and survive. Learning to stand and hit a target number makes standing sustainable and fun.
Question on another topic: Do rest weeks really need to be full weeks? After five days of rest, I feel quite recovered. It seems that I could skip the work week, but make use of the weekend. Any research on the topic? Maybe I’ll do a recovery ride tomorrow. That will respect the full recovery week but keep the cobwebs from forming. This might improve my first high-intensity ride as I often feel stale after a recovery week and don’t seem to ride as strongly as it seems I should on my first hard effort back on the bike.
I often have athletes do 5 days of recovery instead of 7 and in those 5 days they are still riding just not as long or as hard.
I see a future video coming: “What is a Rest Week?’
@@JonFairhurst exactly
Personally, I try to focus on stretching during rest week. I have trouble remembering to take my vitamins then too. And with fewer calories burned, gotta watch those calories.
Low calorie density, whole plants based diet is good but lets be clear: it is for people with low to medium energy needs. When volume of training gets higher (12-20+ hrs/wk) it might be very problematic to eat this way. For me it is simply impossible. High volume of foods and high total fiber consumption causes under eating and digestive problems. High calorie density foods has its place in some people diets after all.
No doubt, that's why I suggested eating low calorie density food if you are trying to lose weight. If you're not trying to lose weight and you are riding a lot then include some high calorie dense foods.
Dylan, I've read some study-abstracts that indicate high fructose consumption causes mitochondrial damage in the liver of mice and rats (www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/9/4/323/pdf, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0271531707001078). This raises the question of whether eating fruit can cause mitochondrial damage in humans. It's hard to transpose these studies to humans - especially athletes - even if one assumes the same mechanisms are at work. First, the mice and rats were fed a solution of fructose and water, not whole fruit, which leaves out the antioxidants present in whole fruit that would mitigate oxidative damage. Second, the mice and rats that were fed the high-fructose diet were not put on an exercise program that could trigger increased mitochondrial genesis. Are you aware of any studies that link fruit consumption to decreased athletic performance or reduced recovery?
So then how do you train for punchy climbs?
We have climbs that are 3 hours and a half here in taiwan. 2021 you are invited. I’ll try to ask the organization how you’ll get in free.
#taiwankomchallenge
What if you don’t have a power meter to determine your FTP?
I really suffer when I try standing for any period of time. I’m now training that specifically. I have a question about FTP. It is also an area that I have trained as much as I can. My 20-30 minute power are not awesome but my 5 minute power and 10 minute power are significant. Is it possible that, due to muscle composition ( i.e. I am more of a natural sprinter) I will never have a super high FTP but I can shred people with big shorter efforts followed by short recover followed by another effort?
Dylan, i have a question about the quantity of work in an interval session,
Lets says I want to do 3 series of 10 intervals of 30 sec effert , 30 sec rest and 5 min rest between series
Should I do as many series as I can , like I am not able to do ? or stick to 3 or 4 series per session ?
I would keep going until power drops significantly like 20 or 30%.
@@DylanJohnsonCycling I don't have a power meter. Do you have a way to evaluate 30% drop ?
@@curvenut Ok disregard that then. I'd probably just do 3 sets at most.
Tks
Hi Dylan - loving the channel and all the vids, really great stuff!! Training for Leadville and the SM 100 again this year and looking to add some low cadence trainer work in to my plan earlier in the year to improve climbing times from previous years. Any general recommendations for structuring low cadence workouts for these type of events, i.e. number and length of intervals, and % of ftp (assuming a target cadence of 55-65)? Also, is it too early to add these workouts to the base phase of a training plan once a week?
Weigh 115lbs at 5'3". I smoke people on the climbs with a shitty bike. I don't do well on the flats tho 😭
you can also cut your steerer to improve watts per kg :D
#protip
Hey Dylan,
I live in Pittsburgh, the land of the steep cat 4 climb, and I plan on doing our Dirty Dozen race later this year. Hills in this city are mostly short (5-8 minutes) and steep, but the gradients are all over the place on most every given climb.
I don't currently have a power meter, but I do use a heart rate monitor, and a power meter is out of my budget range for the next few months. In the absence of a power meter, how can I pace short climbs with wildly varying gradients? When I do climbing rides for training, the data points toward me not pushing myself hard enough on some climbs, and way too hard on some others. Heart rate helps, but doesn't respond fast enough because the efforts are often too short. I'd like to even this out, both to make me a faster climber and for more consistent training. Any ideas?
If you know how long it takes you to get up a climb you can have checkpoints a long the way so you know whether or not you are on pace or not.
Fasting is the only thing that worked for me. Early dinner and only coffee until lunch. I know this should really be water but I've lost a stone.
90lbs...LOL Awesome!!
This all sounds really complicated... can i just hire you to figure out the training rides for me? Also- i have a friend who eats chocolate babka almost every morning and before big races. He swears by it and he is super fast. What do you think?
Your friend sounds overweight.
@@michaelsmart4993 na dude- he's only fat in the winter and gets super lean in the summer. He also eats tons of holiday cookies in the winter. Just goes to show that you can live off of junk food and be fast!
I've seen your friend eat home made muffins on the way to races and buy lighter wheels.
Most of my diet is made up of veggies like potato chips and beer. 👍😊
Jees dylan that hair
Creatinine?
Superb videos,
In one of the videos I saw a TP-week with 4 or 5 workouts of about four hours length. I had many coaches for my training of centuries, double centuries and even everestings, but they never gave me a week like this.
A century I do usally in 5 to 6 hours, a double in the double amount of time. 2500 to 4500m climbing included. My everesting took me 17hours TOTAL.
From my understanding the longer rides should also be trained, but the coaches always meant, one 4 hour endurance ride per week is enough.
What do you think?
Depends on your fitness level. If you're a seasoned endurance athlete I'd shoot for more than that. During certain points in my training my volume will be very high and multiple 4 hour plus days in one week will not be uncommon.
I just eat meat and drink beer ....mericaaa...great video by the way.
Hey Dylan your videos are so good just wanted to ask a question which I don't think you've specifically mentioned in a training video,
It seems like more and more research is showing zone 3 aren't as effective as once thought (sweet spot training etc.) as true polarisation (zone 1 and 2 + zone 5 and 6) seems to be the most effective use of training zones. What do you think about this? Do you think I should just ditch zone 3 training and focus more on accumulating quality time in zones1+2 and then true vo2 max / zone 6?
ride more = faster
Eddy Merx just says "ride lots"
The answer can get pretty complicated and depends on what you're training for. Certainly a lot of research pointing to ditching zone 3. Planning on making a video about this so stay tuned.
I respect your channel and most advice Dylan.
However, I think you haven't really nailed the 'better climber' thing.
I have experience I won't go into here, as I prefer to remain anonymous.
The main point to better climbing is higher watts/kg as you allude, for the duration of the climbs any rider typically does.
In addition to what you have focused on, optimal bodyfat % is crucial. This can be sustained in males long term as low as 7%, and drop to 4-5% during competition. However, most amateur male riders are more comfortable around 8-12% long term, depending on their autonomic NS health and brown adipose tissue content.
However, bodyfat is not the end of it. To improve climbing more, one can then start sculpting lean tissue, stripping non cycling related muscle from the upper limbs and trunk. Some cyclists can do this without planning, but others benefit from a medically supervised plan.
A final point to better climbing is to turn one's average watts into higher average ascent speed. This is a big topic, highly individual, and covers bike set up for climbing, cadence, sit/stand mix and technique, respiratory technique, diaphragmatic breathing efficiency such that cardiac output is not compromised by excessive intrathoracic pressure, and optimizing arterial and venous flow to lower limbs.
Do you recommend a VEGAN pattern of fueling?
I do. I eat *a lot* of food, and can't gain any weight. No need to restrict, I eat until I'm full. All the time. Restricting your calories to try to lose weight is a loser strategy: after some time, you will always fail, your body will ask for more and you will go on fat and gain the weight back, and even more weight than you lost.
Yes, it's a great way to eat if you do it right not only for your cycling but for your overall quality of life. Is it better than a mostly plant based diet that includes some animal products? I think that's debatable. I myself follow a fully vegan diet and will be making a video on it at some point.
Here again, it's all about 80-20 polarized training.
Now for mtb 1to 3 min climb
👏
Video idea: weight weenie tips
👍🏿
after this tlak about ftp, dylan chopped off his hair to increase his ftp
Impressive to see you citing scientific articles. There’s almost too much information in your videos.
lose weight #1 no substitute, you can increase your FTP all day long but you are not lean.. see ya!
Haha, a piece of cake or carbon wheels? #priorities
Ride more, eat less.
How to become a better climber? Genetics. Choose your parents wisely. If you're not genetically gifted a healthy dose of EPO and steroids should work. Just ask Lance.