Cycling does a lot of great things for your body, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t sometimes a pain in the neck… or shoulders… or back. Back pain is one of the most common complaints we hear from cyclists, whether new or experienced, young or old. Strength training and stretching can significantly reduce lower back …
People use cycling to achieve various goals, including health, fitness, competition, fun and adventure. Weight loss often occurs naturally as a consequence of increased hours and miles on the bike. CTS typically approaches weight management from the perspective of improving endurance sport performance, like increasing power-to-weight ratio. However, we recognize weight loss is a primary …
Some workouts just don’t go like you planned. Maybe you visualized pushing the pace at the front of the group ride, or crushing that set of intervals, or spinning along smoothly for hours on end. Instead, you felt sluggish, like you were pedaling squares, or like you couldn’t get out of your own way. Crappy …
Strength training protocols for cyclists have evolved through the years, and the current consensus at CTS is that heavy strength training is recommended for most amateur, Masters, and especially Grand Masters (60+ years old) cyclists. There are exceptions for some highly competitive cyclists and elite riders who may need to sacrifice balanced, well-rounded fitness in …
There is an entire generation of cyclists that views VO2 max as a genetically pre-determined performance ceiling. A more modern and nuanced take shows it to be quite responsive to training. With different types of workouts we can increase VO2 max itself, as well as peak power, fractional utilization, and power duration at VO2 max. That’s …
By Chris Carmichael, CTS Founder and Chief Endurance Officer At the beginning of a new phase of training it is important to get a snapshot of an athlete’s current fitness so you can scale training intensities appropriately. Assessing an athlete’s Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is the most utilized method because FTP testing can be …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS In exercise science and coaching there are long and passionate debates about the structure of interval workouts, the intensities that should be used, the duration of efforts and recoveries, and the total amount of work performed during a training session or a block of training. …
By Alison Tetrick, Pro cyclist, Entrepreneur, CTS Contributing Editor Don’t start me on the jokes that 2022 sounds like 2020 “too”. Wait. It does. Ah, I remember when I started 2020, excited about my goals. I dusted off the boots and was ready. Now, here we are. 2022. Ready for something fresh and new? Maybe. …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS There is no shortage of endurance challenges spanning the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Although the “Festive 500” – 500 kilometers between December 25-31 – remains one of the most popular, you can also find other distance-, duration-, and elevation-based challenges for the coming …
By Scott Mercier, CTS Contributing Editor, US Olympian, Retired pro cyclist Winter was always my favorite season as a kid. Powder days and ski racing were what I craved. It helped having skiing as P.E. class school and a lift just 4 blocks from our house in Telluride. When I discovered the bike, however, my …