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Improving endurance offers numerous benefits that will help you transform your performance and feel on the bike. Apart from making you a faster and more efficient cyclist, it also brings significant benefits to your health and general well-being. That’s why in this article we want to give you the keys to learn how to improve endurance and what exercises you can practice with your indoor cycling bike or cycling trainer. Let’s get to it!
Improving cycling endurance: main benefits
One of the main objectives when designing a training plan is to improve endurance on the bike. No wonder considering all the benefits it will provide you as a cyclist. Here are some of the most important ones:
- Improved performance: Having better endurance on the bike will allow you to maintain higher speeds for longer periods of time, optimizing your performance in training and racing.
- Reduced fatigue: Increasing aerobic capacity reduces the feeling of tiredness, allowing you to enjoy longer rides or sessions without exhausting yourself prematurely.
- Improved cardiovascular health: In addition, endurance training strengthens the heart and lungs, as well as circulation and respiratory capacity.
- Burns calories: Exercises to improve endurance are very useful to increase metabolism and help burn more calories, promoting weight loss and muscle toning.
- Faster recoveries: With a more efficient cardiovascular system, muscles recover faster after intense efforts.
- Reduced risk of injury: A more resilient body is less prone to injury, this is because the muscles and joints are better prepared to withstand the strain.
How to improve cycling endurance: What can I do?
In cycling it is possible to work on endurance in many different ways. Improving on the bike, becoming more efficient and gaining muscle mass in the legs can be achieved with specific training and exercises to improve cycling endurance, and the key – in any case – is consistency. The more endurance a cyclist has, the greater the ability to ride at a good pace for long days, the better he or she will be able to resist muscle exhaustion. Base work is necessary, and this means that it is fundamental to have a good base of kilometers in the legs to resist. This base is worked on at the beginning of the season or when you get back on the bike after a long period of time without touching it. In addition, the first few weeks of base (and general conditioning) are essential to work on endurance.
Use an indoor bike or cycling trainer
When you use an indoor bike or a cycling trainer it is much easier to control the effort and limit the training zones. This is very useful for endurance training because we can perfectly limit the type of session we want to do, in addition to improving other aspects such as cadence and pedaling efficiency, which are key factors for working on endurance. At ZYCLE we have the advanced indoor cycling bike Smart ZBike 2.0. This bike for cyclists and fitness enthusiasts has a host of advantages, including automatic resistance and a quiet transmission system thanks to its Poly-V belt. We also offer you four models of state-of-the-art bike rollers that will help you improve endurance, as well as pedaling technique and coordination. These are ZDrive, ZPro, ZRoller and RooDol by ZYCLE.
When answering how to improve endurance, in this case, you can choose to do several sessions per week of up to one hour in duration. You will quickly notice the benefits and improve your fitness.
Exercises to improve aerobic endurance with interval training
Interval training is the perfect option to perform once or twice a week, due to the effort required. The workout, in this case, consists of interspersing fast and short pedaling in order to achieve maximum speed in that period and then follow with a longer recovery period. In other words, you push your body to the limit in a short period of time and then return to a calm state. This will allow you to progress and not get stuck in a single rhythm.
How to improve cycling endurance by working in zone 2
Training zones help improve performance in sport by alternating the intensity at which you work, as you can read in this article. Specifically, in zone 2 you work from 65% to 80% HR (Heart Rate) and from 3 to 4 EP (Perception of Exertion). To improve endurance, it is ideal to work in this zone, and it is also advisable to do sets below the aerobic threshold (starting point from which the muscle resorts to the lactic acid system to supplement the aerobic system with more energy).
Exercises to improve aerobic endurance when cycling on an empty stomach
Although it should not be the general rule, as long as you have rested properly and have followed a proper recovery after the last workout you can opt for a fasted training session. This will improve endurance by making the energy consumption system more effective. This is because you will speed up your metabolism and therefore caloric expenditure, and this will get your body used to using fat as fuel -saving glycogen for longer rides or moments of high intensity-.
Improving endurance on the bike by increasing the level gradually
Of course, it’s all about process. So, as your body improves and gets used to the exercises, you will have to work at a higher intensity. Consistency and progression in training should go in parallel with your fitness or physical condition.
