Do You Really Need A Fan For Indoor Training?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ต.ค. 2024
- A fan blowing cold air will stop you from ending up a sweaty mess during indoor training sessions, but can they improve your performance too? We put Alex on a turbo both with and without a fan to see if the difference is measurable or simply psychological!
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Leave us a comment below!
330W for 10 minutes with such a low heart rate, wow Alex is a machine. I would have died after 2 minutes with HR somewhere above 190. I am using a normal floor standing fan from the hardware store I bought for 40€. It has a little remote so I can adjust it from the bike.
HR is genetic, means nothing.
Would have been worth repeating on a second day in the reverse order. All good scientists need replicate data sets!
Much easier to focus on the workout with a fan, when you don't have to wipe your face with a towel every few minutes from sweat trying to run into your eyes.
Appears that you had an 11w difference no? 339 vs 329
I use two pedestal fans in front of me at 45 degree angles and would probably pass out during a workout without them! I also have the window open here in the Canadian winter and if it freezes shut I suffer even with the fans. I have seen a suggestion to add a fan behind as well.
Fan type: I use a 18" Honeywell Commercial Grade 3 speed fan HV-180. It will part your hair at 20 ft. It is seldomly run at High. It can move 6100 m³/h
Wahoo Headwind set to max @ Z5 HR definitely helps with cooling & perceived effort.
Have been running 3 cheap Honeywell HT-900E fans attached to a remotely switchable plug. One fan at 45 degrees for the legs, another at 45 for the upper body and a front center one for the head. Used to only run 2 fans, but 3 is noticeably more comfortable.
339 watts to 328 watts is actually quite a substantial difference.
Suspect its a typo
Would like to see if it really was a 1° difference or an 11° difference. If it’s the latter, those heart rate results are huge. Even if it’s only 1°, the HR difference may still be huge.
A well intentioned vid, but the answer was always going to be a rather obvious 'Yes' ! .. Still.... serves as a good ad for the Wahoo Kickr fan! :)
Kudos to all the GCN presenters that routinely subject themselves to conditions that push their limits to keep us informed and educated. This is another example of how we need to keep our health and safety to the fore-front of our training and everyday rides. Well done Alex!!! I use a Lasco Pro high output fan for my indoor rides. Though it is not a smart fan, it does the job on level 1. Never had to use level 3 only for the fact that I need my stuff on my desk to stay where they are. LOL. Great job guys.👏👍👍
another major factor to be tested: the CO2 concentration in the room
I didn't even think of that!.
Probably a good idea to crack a window.
16ºC room temperature is basically impossible to achieve here in the southwestern USA. Maybe 21ºC with all the air conditioners going max plus an extra room air conditioner. Usually ride at 21-23ºC ambient indoors.
Used to have 3 fans going on me. Bought a wahoo headwind…wish I had 2! I use the headwind plus a nice ceiling fan and still sweat like mad.
Good job Si did not do this experiment he might of caused a local flood 😂
I ride my trainer in my garage during the winter. The temp in the garage on a cold day will be in the low 40sF. I still use a Dyson Tower fan. I start with it set at 7 and normally bump it up to 9 after 45 minutes or so.
Data at end is a bit crap. Power is 11w different and during filming max temp was 37.4° but at end max is claimed to have been 37.3°
I don’t know how you are going to look Ollie in the eye after this
Wait a second, fan for €229.99?! Lol, it is more ridiculous than accessories for gamers :D
Thankfully any pedestal fan, preferably with the remote control, will do.
It connects to the trainer and regulates airflow based on your speed, but yeah, a completely normal fan will do just fine.
339W- 228W= 11 Watts, not 1? ;)
GCN does Maths
I use a 15" Pedestal fan with a remote, so I can start it when I am warm enough, then set it to max as I get into a ride. No way I could Zwift as hard or for as long without it. Hoping Santa brings me a Wahoo Headwind for Xmas (not sure if I have been naughty or nice though)!
Anyone else notice they said only 1W difference? It should be 11W difference. 339 to 328 😂 typo! Great video though 👍
Propper fans made a massive difference for me! Before I got propper fans I dreaded doing indoor cycling. I bought 2 130W(260W total one on each side) floor fans and now I dont even need a mat some times. Also racing on zwift every week.
I could always try adding another one though🤔😅
Anyone who Zwifts with a top on is a dangerous lunatic 😳. I use a cheap 20" Black and Decker fan I bought from Amazon by the way.
I don't use any fan but get a good draft through my garage doors. Yesterday did a Zn 2 ride without doors open and the room temp rose by 1.5 Celcius over 1 hour and all the windows steamed up! For me, a better question would be: Does not having a fan (and therefore more perceived exertion) improve training effect?
It would be interesting to see the test repeated with fan/no fan reversed. And see if the performance differences track or are influenced by fatigue from the first ride. Also, the watts shown on the first ride was 339 and second was 328 - which is not a 1-watt delta. Not sure of one of the numbers was a typo ornot.
I used a 16" pedestal fan in an unheated detached garage outside temperature 0C GCN 60 minute endurance workout last year still flooded the garage floor. Not done it this year yet because I prefer the road and it hasn't been icy yet.
The main thing you didn't measure was the body's core temperature, that has a massive bearing on performance. It does mean getting a thermometer inside you though, I'll leave that to your imagination...
I had mine serviced last week, not sure the repair man put it back in quite properly however 😳
For me I enjoy riding in Fall vs the Summer since it cooler and I can ride longer at a faster pace. In the Summer when it is hotter, the heat drains my energy. So it makes sense to use a fan while riding indoors. I use Wahoo fan as my primary fan.
The rise in room temp roughly equal to the rise in body temp is interesting. Is it a confounding variable, or a result of no fan? Was a door open or does the room have a return air vent? That could mean part of the fan effect is simple air circulation of newer cooler air from outside the room. If the fan is just circulating air within the room, the. On or off the room will get warmer and the delta to your body temp will decrease over time, confounding the result.
I use a Stanley blower fan ST-310A-240-E. Very happy with it!
Been using the biggest fan in the house for decades, even back when during a VO2max test I could just crack 350W at 195 BPM. Even then my trainer was rusting from the sweat. Now I keep the workouts to 30 min of intervals, and use a towel and the trainer stays dry.
I still use a fan on low when training in winter. My set up is in a cellar which is about 8 degrees, so I switch it on low after the warm up otherwise I am too cold.
I like gadgets, but that Wahoo Kickr Headwind is a bit pricey. Better value than the Kickr Desk though.
In my experience, a fan is worth 10-15% more power and extends my time by 20-30%. Wouldn't ride indoors without one. So 200W for 45 minutes v. 220W for 55/60 minutes. And as Alex found - a whole lot less to clean up!
A fan or fans are obvious but not the most important environmental controls for indoor training. First is temperature. I train at 60-63 degrees Fahrenheit. (15-17 C) Second is humidity, best measured by dew point. I keep my room dew point at 30 degrees or less, which at 60 degrees equates to 50% relative humidity. Then I use three fans, a 2’ diameter fan head-on and two Lasko high output blower fans at 45 degrees in front blowing at my head and trunk. I train all the energy systems and although I sweat, I almost never drip sweat at all. I use nothing to catch sweat because I’m not dripping. Temp, low humidity, air movement. The first two I control with a mini-split in the pain cave. The third with fans. It gets humid here in Virginia but I prep the room every day for my workout and it makes a huge difference in workout quality. YMMV as with all training advice.
Being that I am trying to get back into cycling after a year off. Stolen bike and hard to find a bike for my weight. I can only offer my opinion based on my own riding. With no indoor training. I have riden on both multi geared and single geared bikes. The main difference I found was in weather conditions. In absolute dry heat with no breeze or humidity. I found that it made me sweat more. Add humidity and it got worse. I felt more sluggish. However in the same conditions but with a breeze. I felt a bit cooler and better. Now I have never been racing. So terms like efforts and watts ment nothing to then. I rode either for fun or to get to work. So I do agree that a fan for indoor training helps out. Especially after watching the Zwift Academy Finals this week and seeing how they sweated on the indoor training and evaluations vs their outdoor rides.
Its not a natural condition to exercise on the spot without movement through the air. Sweat does not evaporate at the same rate so not cooling the body. We overheat quickly in these conditions thus having an effect on our performance.
I’m a Big Fan (😉) of the Wahoo Headwind. I like how you can Bluetooth your HRM to it and it raises with your heart rate. BTW. When did we start to use Ave instead of Avg. here in the UK? #askgcntech
@gcn pls correct 7:15 is it 339W for run 1 and 328W in run 2 because Alex clearly said it was only 1 watt difference straights after which is clearly not the case
Avg Watt difference was 11W at least in the graphics 🤔
I once did a spin class, in a small windowless room with about 20 other people, and the air conditioning was off. To compound the hellish experience, it was lit by coloured disco lights and accompanied by loud music... My turbo trainer was an exceptionally good investment!
What's the name of the MC on the screen? Handsome.👍👍🙋♀🙋♀
His name is Alex 😎😁
th-cam.com/video/VGbAD0vcyiU/w-d-xo.html
@@gercch03 Alex, that's a nice name. WOW.😆
@@gercch03 I saw the video on the link a long time ago. I'm a fan of this channel.😁
@@mindy_cycling Hahaha, I am a fan of both yours and GCN's videos 😁👍 love to see what's cycling like around the world!
You can watch
Dr. Craig Heller: Using Temperature for Performance, Brain & Body Health | Huberman Lab Podcast #40
BTW I use two fans, one is a blade one, high over monitor and second tower-like which stands on my side, or lies vertically on a desk. Plus I open window, so room temperature drops. Not a single drop on a bike, I don't even use bike cover because of that.
I've had to cut workouts short when forgetting to turn my fan on. No doubt it makes a huge difference.
Thank you. Shopping for a fan now :)
"Can replicate 330 watts" - can only do that for a few seconds at a time
Hyperthermic conditioning is a thing though. You can train to become better at it and intentionally going too hot will speed up some adaptations which transfer to cooler conditions.
Exactly. I live in Brazil and since moving from the UK a year ago I have become more accustomed to the heat. I used to run the AC in my indoor trainer room but it’s better to just use a fan and let the body adapt. It’s still brutal outside in 35 degrees and full sun so early rides are the only way in summer.
I use two 150W Fans (Air Mover Utility Fans) pointing from left and right into my forehead / chest at headhight. I only ride in aero position (TT) and this is like on the road.
Hey Alex, the studio I practice yoga at has a couple of fans on during class, they have space heaters in the room because the overhead heaters can only get the room to 100F.
Nice idea. But not sure it tells us what we really want to know - how body temperature affects power.
HR is a useful measure but HR is an input, not an output. Power is the output. So how much power would we gain with a fan (lower body temperature)?
The book "Bicycling Science" has more comprehensive data on this from a study done decades ago. It's well worth a buy if you like the deeper details, but it's from the 80s so some of its findings have been incorporated into bike tech and training since.
I wonder if it's more about having a flowing air or just keeping cold in general then. All indoor rides I've been doing so far were in the winter just with window(s) open and it was okay for me, but I've never done any FTP or above kind of intensity in the winter.
It's about keeping cool in general - which is what the fan is doing as well. Moving air just helps your sweat evaporate faster which in turn keeps you cooler. So as long as your body is cooled in any kind of way you're golden.
The open window in winter does the trick for me too (even though, heating-cost-wise it may not be the smartest move..)
I'd like to see a video of Si doing this on a steel bike. I'm just wondering. When Si does without a fan. Would he be sitting in a pile of rust with some alloy bike parts?
The difference in wattage was 11 watts not -1. 339 vs 328.
But which - fan or no fan - results in the better training? More pain = more gain?
Either Ollie has been using green nail varnish or you have a new glamorous assistant.
I love my Wahoo Headwind
I've seen this by comparing the power I can hold indoors with outdoors during wintertime, and heart rate is also substantially lower when riding outdoors. My question is, would the higher heart rate associated with indoor riding lead to better training impact?
What about heat acclimatisation to ambient temps? With a fan you don't get that. The idea of heat acclimatising is to get your body to run more efficiently in its use of energy and fluids. Is it really a good thing then to use a fan if it affects this type of fitness?
I have one pedestal fan behind me and floor fan in front of me. One in front is quite loud and blows like a jet. Even with a fan my mat is full of sweat puddles.
This is why as I have a heart condition I use a heart rate monitor rather than a power meter. If he had done this for an hour rather than 10min it def would be a bigger difference.
Repeating without the fan in the same session *after* an interval with the fan, which would be raising his core temperature, etc., sadly invalidates the whole test. Next time, I humbly suggest you run a number of shorter intervals (e.g. 4 min at a time), alternating (or randomising) with/without fan.
You should have used a sweat measurement device as well, would have been interesting to see how much extra sweat you had without the fan
using a 18 inch industrial fan. Room temperature will be around 28 to 30 degree Celsius. wondering if a wahoo fan would be a better options
I sweat like that outside when the temps are in the 60s (which sucks because I end up getting cold). I can't imagine riding inside with or without a fan.
It would be interesting to run a similar test but with a variety of different room temperatures and see how that affects performance.
339w - 328w = 1w ?
1 second answer: Yes.
I notice how they didn't let Si do this experiment, imagine the flood! Poor Si 🙂
Since when is the difference between 339 and 328 only 1? It's is 11
Something that Alex didn't point out is at 330W the average rider is generating 1KW of heat...a fan becomes necessary to dissipate that or your core temp will go up to a point where you can't tolerate it.
328 watts to 339 watts is elevan watts difference not one watt.
A clear case of a bike needing a good shower and the moderator needing a hose down with a jet wash outside. 😉🤪
Riding without a fan indoor is a really bad idea. Better get two, even. I use a small 30 cm fan on my desk for chest and face, and a 50 cm on the floor blowing against legs and lower body.
330W and "a few beads of sweat?!!?" Even with the fan going, I'm afraid I'd have had to wipe sweat off my glasses at least three or four times in ten minutes at that power. After an hour ride at 280, my bibs are soaked to the point it feels like pulling the skin off a wet seal when I take them off.
So happy smello-vison was not enabled.
So does having a fan equal to a more quality training ride or should I turn the fan off for some of that heat training?
Huge difference for me. Cardio in the gym was torture, no fans for the ergo trainers in there.
What when I want to do Heat acclimatisation training?
1:10 "...and I've got my hi-intensity plant bulb gro-lamps plugged in and aimed at my face."
Now put two fans aimed at either crank to simulate double crosswinds! uhhh ...for science!
Next in GCN Tech - Drinking water while training indoors? Is it really necessary?
You could repeat this every season.
An unheated room in winter is a lot different to a rainy day In summer.
You only had to look at Alex's face to know the effort was harder. Much more flushed after the no-fan effort.
Short answer absolutely yes.
339 and 328 is 11W, not 1.
I would definitely second the idea that this test should be repeated in reverse order. For a lighter note, I do indoor training with only a ceiling fan in Indian hot summer of 43-44c and within an hour my room will be easily flooded.
It's all about palm cooling.
I use a big dyson fan
I find training without a fan renders me incapable of maths.
what about without a fan but with an air conditioner in the room?
7:02 to 7:15 you can see Alex's hand change colour
#gcntech How about having Jenny Graham provide a rundown on the best wet weather gear/tech?
Ok now I need a fan lol... However I bet you I won't be able to find any real quality training fan anywhere in Canada -_-
I don’t understand why people say is gross to sweat, when you are training..it is what it is!
Why would guess that our body would be way warmer, I guess that’s why you sweat 😉 nice experiment!
Can we assume you burn more calories without indoor refrigeration, or is it wrong because you can’t generate so much power?
i do use 3 60cm 120watt fans
How hot was the room during the test?
I suspect the results would be greater difference as the room warms up (it's 29 degrees c in my room)
did you miss the stats ?? 16 degrees C
What if your in a cold garage though?
Course to accurately measure body temp (not just surface temp) you’d need a rectal probe……..😳
rectal probe's are soo last year .. bluetooth capsule you can swallow nowadays ( much more pleasant )
This is going to be a yes. If not by science by psychology. I use a door which I fear doesn’t cool me down quick enough. I ride 20-23c still room thus. And sweat loss is real. Fan never got to date as a lazy male
A fan is useful if racing indoors, but the benefit of no fan are great on increasing you overall performance due to greater blood plasma viscosity, so the takeaway is both with or without a fan are beneficial
depends, if your hot then yes, if your cold then no :)
I usually open the window with cold weather