How will you get fast, smash the hills, and lose weight?

It’s difficult isn’t it? You want to go fast, you want to crush people on the hills, you want to break away and win solo, or outpace everyone with a blistering sprint. You want to be lean. You know you need to ride your bike. But you're confused. The options are endless.

Do you ride your bike, and just go further than last week, and the week before? Do you use the 'tempo' method of training, where everything is moderately hard? Do you try the polarized option and crack out some blistering efforts for 20% and easy the rest? Do you use 'standardised' periodisation - 3 weeks hard, 1 week easy? Or, because it's winter (at least in the northern hemisphere) do you crack on with reverse periodisation - blistering out very structured sessions now, and as the weather improves riding longer and being more race specific?

What about supplemental training? Weights? Do we need them? PIlates? Yoga? And, psychology? Should we toughen the hell up and ride outdoors no matter the weather, or use Zwift and Trainerroad and stay warm? What about mental imagery training? Goal setting? 

And, for heaven's sake, please don't start with nutrition? HIgh fat-low carb? HIgh carb-low fat? High protein and fat? Veganism? Non-dairy? Gluten free if you're not a coeliac? Paleo? Atkins? Mediterranean diet? Periodised nutrition?

Then, power meter and heart rate? Power meter only? Heart rate only? Perceived exertion? Lactate testing? MAP testing?

There's so many ways of training, and it all seems confusing and overwhelming. So, what should you do? Keep doing what you've always done and stay where you are (or improve a very small amount), or do you shake things up? Try something new. How long do you give the new option before you decide whether it works or not? What's the answer?

Coaching isn't for everybody? Some people like the opportunity to keep exploring and trying to understand what's happening on their own (and that's cool, that's like science in action), and some people just aren't coachable -- they don't want to learn and discuss, they know they're always right, and again that's fine. 

But some people do want to improve. And, not only do they want to improve they want it now and are prepared to work for it (because coaching, isn't an easy option that makes you a winner by tomorrow afternoon. You'll need to work with your coach and put some damn hard graft in -- if you've got the guts for it. It's much easier to just go and potter around and look at the birds/mountains/sea/flowers). A good coach will work for you, they'll listen to what you want to achieve, and help come up with a programme that encompasses a variety of things to help you achieve those goals. It may even be that your goals aren't quite correct (I want to go faster isn't a good goal. Just ride down hill). 

Some, or perhaps all of these training and nutrition options are correct. But the RST Sport coaching method takes things one step further. We listen to you, the athlete --- you're the most important thing to us. We hear what you're saying with a listening ear, and a gentle chat, and we look at the options that you have available to you (such as your family and work issues, the training time you have available, the type of cycling you like to do) and weave that into our science based approach along with our experience, and we make you the best you (at least at cycling or triathlon, seriously, we're not trying for anything else. But if you want to chat about other things, then we're here to at least listen for that as well).

So, with that in mind, click here, and book a free call with either Coach Ric, Coach Neil or Coach Alex. We'll go through what you're currently doing, and see how that fits with your goals, and we'll review what options you have, and make some suggestions for your training. If you'd then like to work with us, because you feel we'd be a great fit then that's excellent - we'll help you smash your goals. And, if you don't want to work us at the moment, you'll have had a coaching chat about your training and will have some new ideas to implement and work on, and hopefully you'll have a great season. What have you got to lose, other than 30-mins in a call. Click here if you want to improve.