A Cycle Trainer or (Turbo Trainer, Bike Trainer, Indoor Bike Trainer) is a piece of equipment that makes it possible to ride a bicycle indoors without moving forward.

They are commonly used by cyclists and triathletes to improve cycling and fitness perfomrance for race preparation.  A great piece of equipment during the colder months when riding conditions outside are not favourable.

They also allow training in settings like the gym or at home, where the user often has the advantage of being able to listen to music or watch TV and to focus on a specific session e.g. Sprint Session.

Turbo training lets you maintain high intensity without the start stop of road riding and negates any loss of quality training by coasting along (You can't) As with all training a good warm -up through the gears is essential as is a period of cool down. The cool down will help flush the lactate from the muscles and promote recovery and boost the endurance effect.

Ensure you have a supply of water or sports drink to hand as you will sweat buckets, for longer endurance riding maybe an energy gel or bar.

A good quality fan to keep you cool is great if available.

Ever been on the turbo without a session in mind?

Ever been on the turbo with a session mind but forgot what you are supposed to be doing?

turbotraining.co.uk brings together a whole host of turbotraining plans and allows you to play them in an online player with audio and visual signal. check it out here Example

Put simply, its a cyclists turbo training resource which takes away the hassle of deciding what to do whilst on the turbo

In order to turbo train you will need a few pieces of equipment.

Firstly, you will need a turbo trainer or a set of rollers.  You will need a bike to attach to the turbo trainer

If you want to measure speed, heart rate or power then you will need these devices. For the best value feedback, use a combination of a heart rate monitor, perceived effort and speed. A guide to using speed on the turbo can be found here (article coming soon)

Turbo training can be hot work! Without the natural cooling effect of the air when riding outside, your going to sweat alot. Some people find that the heat build up is a contributing factor to why they cant put as much power out as when on the road. A great way to combat this is to use a big fan. This really helps to keep you cool!

A turbo training tyre is also not essential but recommended.  It will help keep the noise levels down, and it will not wear down as quickly as a regular tyre.

To get started you will need to create a free account. Its a quick process and only takes a minute or so.

Once registered you will be able to:

• Play any turbotraining plan
• Add new turbotraining plans
• Join groups
• View others profiles
• And much more...

You can play 2 plans a month and create one plan a month for free. If you wish to play more plans or create more workouts then there is a small upgrade cost of £12.

This will give you a years membership of the following benefits

• Play an unlimited amount of plans
• Upload an unlimited amount of plans

More details can be found here found here

A passionate cyclist and triathlete (in no particular order) with a keen interest for IT. Currently working as a business analyst in the telco industry.

Turbotraining.co.uk came around as part of an idea I had a few winters ago after finding it hard to keep track of what I was supposed to be doing on the turbo whilst going hard

I am very open to new ideas and opportunities and would love to hear from you

You can follow me (Aaron), on twitter here: @turbotraining

My linked In: Aaron Bird

turbotraining.co.uk has teamed up with a number of professional coaches to provide an array of plans that can really help you maximise your training

Weather you are looking to compete in your first sportive, a regular time triallist looking to shave another few minutes off your time or are simply looking to shed some weight, its more than likley one of the coaches has created a plan to help you acheive those goal

Take the guess work out of training and make every session count. Its not just turbo sessions either. Some of the plans give you optional road sessions

All coaches have a full biography page and allow you to preview the plan before purchasing it. If you have any further questions, they can be contacted directly and will provide further details

A link to all the currently hosted plans can be found here.

If you have any suggestions, issues or simply want to say hello your feedback is always welcome. Simply send an email to the address below and I will endvour to get back to you as soon as possible

Email Address: info@turbotraining.co.uk

I look forward to hearing from you