Training tips

Let's face it: finding a solid two or three hours to ride isn't always possible. Between work deadlines, family commitments and everything else life throws your way, your schedule can fill up fast. When you are staring at a tiny 30-minute window in your calendar, it is easy to think it isn't even worth putting your cycling kit on.

Workouts are one of the most efficient ways of getting fit on ROUVY. This guide explains the basics of indoor cycling workouts and shows you how to create your own custom workout using the ROUVY Workout Creator tool.

Tight hips in cycling happen when the muscles around the front, side and back of the hip lose useful range of motion, usually because riders spend long periods in a flexed riding position. For cyclists, this can show up as hip-flexor tightness, lower-back discomfort, knee irritation, poor glute engagement, poor posture on the bike or a loss of comfort later in longer rides.

The guilt and FOMO used to hit me like a brick every time I would turn down an outdoor ride in favour of my smart trainer. But sometimes, climbing aboard my trainer makes a lot more sense than meandering the rolling hills in my rural hometown.

Interval training for cyclists is a structured way of alternating harder efforts with easier recovery periods to improve specific areas of fitness, such as endurance, threshold power, VO2 max, sprinting and race repeatability. Put simply, intervals give each workout a clear job.

Cycling and weight lifting can work well together when you manage timing, volume and recovery. The goal isn't to train like two different athletes at once, but to build one joined-up programme where the gym supports the bike and the bike doesn't ruin the gym. Riders usually get into trouble for three reasons: they lift too heavy too soon, they place hard gym work too close to key rides, or they treat soreness as proof that the session worked. That's how a sensible strength plan turns into a Zone 2 ride that feels like dragging a fridge through wet grass.

Challenge Roth sits high up on the list of races long-distance triathletes talk about for years before they finally stand on the start line. The roads are lined six and seven deep in places, the Solarer Berg climb turns into a tunnel of noise and the finish stadium in Roth stays full long after dark. Even riders who have raced Kona, Nice or Hamburg still talk about Roth in a different tone.

Strength training for triathletes is functional resistance training that improves force production, posture, joint stability and fatigue resistance across the swim, bike and run without aiming to add unnecessary muscle mass. The goal isn’t to get bigger. It’s to become stronger, more durable and more efficient across all three disciplines.

Polarised training in cycling is an endurance training model where most riding is kept genuinely easy, a small amount is made properly hard, and the tiring middle ground is kept to a minimum.