Onelifept Coaching

14/02/2024

Confirmed rider list....and I'm on it. Let the adventure begin!
Riding in to the 24/7 sunlight of the Arctic circle.

🟢 Start - Rovereto (Italy), 20th July 2024
🔴 Finish - North Cape (Norway), ?? ?? ????

30/01/2024

An update in to the absurd...

An update in to the daft world of endurance cycling.

21/01/2024

I'm back online with my cycling exploits, but I'm doing things a little differently this time.

Social media is a place where everyone has access to the daft, the amazing, and the utterly pointless parts of the online community. I promise I will not be posting random photos purely for attention, nor will I pay any attention to manipulating algorithms to get more followers. This page will be an insight to myself as an athlete.

2024 events so far....

🚲 Liège Bastogne Liège - April 🇧🇪
🚲 Bartje200 - June 🇳🇱
🚲 Northcape4000 - July 🇮🇹🇦🇹🇩🇪🇩🇰🇸🇪🇳🇴
🚲 Further, East of England (TBC) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
🚲 A slattering of crit races, Zwifting, and maybe a bit of r*nning!

26/10/2023

I have to accept, social media isn't for me, and I'm fine with that.

The endless metrics to make a video work, the adverts, the algorithms...it's just not my bag.

Good information is less important than a catchy title. Popular is favoured over useful. FB and Instagram are designed to increase screen time, and it rewards people who make videos that keep you watching for longer. This means videos are designed to keep you hanging around and scroll.....for hours! So I'm opting out of socials, and focusing on direct contact coaching.

I'll still be coaching, so please feel free to get in touch directly if needed.

David

david@performancecycling.cc

19/10/2023

SHOULD GOUVERNMENT RUN GYMS BE FREE, AND AVAILABLE TO ALL?

The 2022/23 (post pandemic) NHS budget was an eye-watering £188.5 BILLION! (data from the British medical association). That's £2,800 for every single person, for just one year 🤯 On top of that, in 2022/23 the average number of sick days per employed person was 7.8 days, totalling over 250,000,000 days off work. Imagine what a quarter of a billion extra days at work could do to the economy.

What if we could reduce the pressure on the NHS by making people healthier and happier?

BENEFITS OF APPROPRIATE DIET AND EXERCISE
✅️ Improved mental health
✅️ Reduction of illness
✅️ Improved physical ability
✅️ Delayed effect of ageing
✅️ Greater productivity (at work and at home).
In addition to this, a well run gym/fitness centre can provide a social hub for people who might otherwise be isolated.

If a local gym was linked to other mental and physical heath services, prescribed and supported exercise can help prevent many health issues BEFORE they reach a critical state. I'm not saying a gym will solve all health problems, but it'll definitely help.

I haven't even started on the ethical reasons for improving quality of life....

Thoughts?

15/10/2023

WHAT IS "WINTER TRAINING", AND SHOULD YOU BE DOING IT?

Winter training (also known as "off season" training) is arguably the most important phase of an athlete's training calendar.
For the vast majority of people, the answer is YES, you should do it, but what to do will vary significantly from person to person.

To decide if you should do some winter training, let's first flip the subject to Summer.
What does summer (the "on season") look like to you? Racing, long social rides, summer days on the beach? Generally speaking, the summer is filled with fun and interesting activities, that aren't actually that productive for optimal improvement.

To simplify winter training as much as possible, it's the stage where you do all the important training that develops you, without the disruption of summer activities.

While the variations and impacts are multifaceted, there are a few key considerations -

Strength training is the obvious example here (one of many aspects). In race season, a cyclist (example) can't prioritise enough time to strength and recovery sessions, this is due to the knock-on effect it has on a race calendar and race specific training sessions.
Nutrition changes significantly as the training phase varies too. An optimal diet for strength training is, VERY different to a race season diet. Off season strength will require less carbohydrates, more protein in most cases, supplements such as creatine might be utilised. Race season will benefit from removing creatine (due to the weight gain it causes), adding suppliments such as beta alanine and bicarbonate of soda which improve sporting performance.

One other aspect worth considering is that many people change their training, not due to performance benefits, but due to seasonal weather changes. Who wants to be out cycling in the dark rainy Yorkshire nights, when they can change the objective get results in a warm, dry gym.

Confused? It's taken me 14 years of coaching to get where I am, so I don't expect everyone to understand your training phases overnight.

23/09/2023

14/09/2023

Do you ever have a workout and feel like it wasn't tough enough? Well, RELAX! The goal of exercise should never be exhaustion.

When you start a training plan, the desired outcome is normally a specific goal. When you start an individual training session, the desired outcome SHOULD also be a specific goal.

What is the purpose of your workout?

🟢Muscular strength increase
🟢5 minute power development
🟢Aerobic base development
🟢Technique practice
🟢VO2 max development
🟢Calorie burn for weight management

While some of these MIGHT make you feel tired, that is not the primary purpose. Feeling exhausted may even be an indicator that you've missed your primary goal and ruined your training plan! If your training session is going to be a tough one then crack on, but if it is designed in a way that needs you to keep a lid on it, conserve your energy for another day.

Be smart, train with purpose!

10/09/2023

News just in....I have a YouTube account that I'll be using to show some utterly ridiculous cycling goals, and the path I take to achieve them.

If you want updates, Subscribe!

Going big in 2024, with a LEJoG speed run and TCR10!

01/09/2023

OFF SEASON TRAINING

PROS -
🔥 Better performance when you return
🔥 Mental/physical down time
🔥 Stress reduction
🔥 Variation of training

CONS -
❎ Year round alternatives now available
❎ Not everyone enjoys off season
❎ Requires adaptation

Lots of athletes will talk about having an "off season". This isn't specific for cyclists, far from it. In football (apologies for using the "F" word) they have a summer break/preseason, track sprinters will have a dedicated training phase before the competitive season, and even bodybuilders have a very defined period of growth over winter.

LET'S TACKLE THE "WHEN" AND "WHY".

Optimal training is often phased, this is because of the peaks and flows of a season. The exact timescale for when this may be can depend on numerous elements. In competitive sports there may be a dictated window of time with some variation. A football team (sorry, I said it again!), will have a set competitive season, but some flexibility around when they decide to do preseason prep. A cyclist may enter various events over a season, with multiple periods of prep, and their first/last event can vary from rider to rider.
If the pro's are training this way, do you need to consider doing the same? Not necessarily, that depends on what you ride for, what you plan to achieve, and if your activity can be maintained over different times of the year.

WEATHER DICTATED SEASONS
Some sports can be affected by the weather. Cycling races are a prime example of this as the low light levels and wet surfaces can create dangerous conditions, which is why it's often left for the summer. Other sports (such as skiing will swing the other way.

PERSONAL INTEREST DICTATED SEASONS
You may choose to prioritise a specific event in a year, therefore your off season will become any period of preparation outside of this event.

WHAT DIFFERENCIATES "ON" AND "OFF" SEASON TRAINING?
In a very basic analogy, we can use the term "jack of all trades, master of none" as a good reason for different points of training. It is impossible to optimise your physical capacity across the board at the same time.
Some training disciplines can have a phenomenal impact on long term development, but will dramatically limit your ability to perform in other. Gym based strength training sustained over a winter will create much more power at the top end, but trying to perform sprint in a race on tired, heavy legs will not end well!

SO SHOULD YOU CHANGE YOUR TRAINING ON/OFF SEASON?
Ultimately, it's up to you. If you do, I'd strongly suggest you do it well, or do it for a positive reason that moves you in the direction. Seeking advice is always advised.

🚴

07/08/2023

Who said all cyclists have to be skinny??

This is me. 85kg, riding at the Gran Fondo World Championships. 3 days later, I was deadlifting over twice my bodyweight in the gym. Why?....because there are other aspects of life (more important than cycling) that benefit from strength training.

If you train smart, you can ride hard🚲, lift heavy🏋‍♂️, and have a great life🔥