Peloton/NordicTrack/Studio cycling for Backcountry Training

[EJDXT21]

Well, my company does not cover the membership. Oh well. Went ahead and signed up yesterday. Going to start today with the "Discover your power zones", as pattimusprime22 recommended, then likely go to the "Build your power zones". I did find Alex and Kendall so some of those classes are on my list to try out once I get comfortable.

Question: are those that have been using the bike for a while still doing any kind of weight training in addition to the bike programs? I'm curious if I need to focus on these training programs to allow for adequate recovery time.

I have been alternating doing sandbag workouts one week then the Kuiu workout the next week, https://www.kuiu.com/blogs/hunting-tips/mountain-training-6-day-workout. I'm wondering if I need to stop doing these or if I can still do them, or just keep doing weighted hikes, and or maybe some of the peloton strength training classes. What have y'all been doing?

 

[OctoberGold]

I've been doing the stronglifts 5x5 program and riding the Peloton on my off days. Performance in both aspects probably suffers a bit from the combination, but I go nuts if I don't get some exercise in most days. The bike bootcamp workouts are decent, but you won't likely see big improvements in strength from them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

HIIT rides are great, I've found that doing the powerzone program and challenges have given me structure and substantial gains in strength. Before I got my Peloton, I would use spinning classes as the core of my cardio training and it served me very well on my mountain hunts.

 

[pattimusprime22]

Well, my company does not cover the membership. Oh well. Went ahead and signed up yesterday. Going to start today with the "Discover your power zones", as pattimusprime22 recommended, then likely go to the "Build your power zones". I did find Alex and Kendall so some of those classes are on my list to try out once I get comfortable.

Question: are those that have been using the bike for a while still doing any kind of weight training in addition to the bike programs? I'm curious if I need to focus on these training programs to allow for adequate recovery time.

I have been alternating doing sandbag workouts one week then the Kuiu workout the next week, https://www.kuiu.com/blogs/hunting-tips/mountain-training-6-day-workout. I'm wondering if I need to stop doing these or if I can still do them, or just keep doing weighted hikes, and or maybe some of the peloton strength training classes. What have y'all been doing?

I try to alternate days between weight training and biking and only double up if it's an easier weight day or bike ride. Everyone is different in how much training they can recover from, but for me the two Peloton power zone programs that you mentioned allow for extra training outside of just the biking. The programs do ramp up in intensity, so you might find that by the end of the program when you're peaking that you're a little too tired and may want the rest day between rides instead of doing weights on the off days. I would recommend you take the time that you're running the power zone program as a time that you're focusing on improving on the bike and just fit in the weights if you are recovered enough for it. Once the program is over you can then decide if you want to keep that same amount of biking or lower the biking volume and increase weight training.

As another recommendation, there is also the Power Zone Pack (pzpack.com), which is a community of people who do challenges together. The challenges are essentially programs that ramp up similar to the Build Your Power Zones program. You can look at past challenges and do them in your own time if you want structure to the rides your doing in combination with weight training. I usually do that and do 3 rides a week along with 5 weight training days per week.

 

[EJDXT21]

So I hope everyone on here still has their Peloton. I was able to do the discover your power zones program then the build your power zones program. Then I started alternating doing 3 power zone workouts one week and 3 HIIT rides the next week. Now I'm starting to do my sand bag workouts again with some weight training and going to start rucking soon. I plan to try to make myself wake up early to likely start focusing more on HIIT and Hills rides with maybe a power zone ride, then doing some weight orientated workouts and rucking in the evenings. Still haven't figured out the exact workout yet.

My question to everyone on here is are ya'll part of a group or team, whatever it's called, and do ya'll ever plan certain days/times to get on and ride? I think you can do that right? If not lets do it! I need some motivation. September is almost here and I need to get serious about getting in shape. My username is RustyChains22.

 

[WPT]

The best exercise is the exercise you'll do consistently. If riding the Peloton is your best mode of cardio exercise due to work and life schedule, giver hell! You'll want to stay in a lower heart rate zone roughly 55-75% of your HR-Max for the first 4 weeks, then add in times of working in that zone, along with 75-80% of your HR-Max. You're ceiling for improvement is much greater in this zone than getting your HR way up and sweating profusely during your workout. It may seem simple and like you can't go too hard at first, but give it the 4-6 weeks and you'll see huge improvements. If you're new to it, 3 days for 30 min is the minimum, if you've been working out previously, then 4-5 days for 30-60 min is what you'll want to aim for.

Hope that helps you all!

 

[Yoder]

I think $2k is crazy. I would just buy a stationary bike and watch spin class videos on youtube. Think of what you could do with the extra $1800.

 

[EJDXT21]

The best exercise is the exercise you'll do consistently. If riding the Peloton is your best mode of cardio exercise due to work and life schedule, giver hell! You'll want to stay in a lower heart rate zone roughly 55-75% of your HR-Max for the first 4 weeks, then add in times of working in that zone, along with 75-80% of your HR-Max. You're ceiling for improvement is much greater in this zone than getting your HR way up and sweating profusely during your workout. It may seem simple and like you can't go too hard at first, but give it the 4-6 weeks and you'll see huge improvements. If you're new to it, 3 days for 30 min is the minimum, if you've been working out previously, then 4-5 days for 30-60 min is what you'll want to aim for.

Hope that helps you all!

Thanks WPT. That sounds similar to the discover your power zones workouts. A lot of long distance working on mostly mid zones increasing to the higher zones, then working on building those. I think it was 10 weeks total for both programs. I do need to build up some strength so will be doing weighted pack, rucking and likely sandbag workouts as well.

I think $2k is crazy. I would just buy a stationary bike and watch spin class videos on youtube. Think of what you could do with the extra $1800.

Yoder, we got ours half price from some friends, it was only a year old, with shoes and weights, so hard to pass up that deal. Even so, it is a lot of money, and you still have to pay a monthly membership to access the classes and programs if you want, but it includes more than I could ever use. Strength training, yoga, cycling, and all forms of all those, not to mention challenges and programs that really do work. I justify it because I actually use it and have been seeing results, including my health, and I can do it at home. Also, my wife uses it and the kids likely will too.

 

[Yoder]

Thanks WPT. That sounds similar to the discover your power zones workouts. A lot of long distance working on mostly mid zones increasing to the higher zones, then working on building those. I think it was 10 weeks total for both programs. I do need to build up some strength so will be doing weighted pack, rucking and likely sandbag workouts as well.

Yoder, we got ours half price from some friends, it was only a year old, with shoes and weights, so hard to pass up that deal. Even so, it is a lot of money, and you still have to pay a monthly membership to access the classes and programs if you want, but it includes more than I could ever use. Strength training, yoga, cycling, and all forms of all those, not to mention challenges and programs that really do work. I justify it because I actually use it and have been seeing results, including my health, and I can do it at home. Also, my wife uses it and the kids likely will too.

That's cool. Everyone's situation is different. I have a gym membership some people would think is a waste. There's nothing more important than your health so whatever it takes.

 

[pattimusprime22]

I didn't initially want the Peloton, and wanted to go a cheaper bike and use youtube for classes. However, my wife got her way and we ended up with the Peloton. Now that we have it I'm very happy with the decision. Was it expensive? Yes. But the way they gamify riding streaks and consistency led to more time exercising for me and I think that pays for itself. Also, I have a hard time explaining to my wife how I don't want to spend money on the bike when I've spent thousands on other gym equipment.

Also, to @EJDXT21 I've done the Discover Your Power Zones and Build Your Power Zones programs. I think they have a new one called Peak your Power Zones. If you want some extra motivation you can join pzpack.com and do one of their challenges with a team. I would be doing that now except that I'm training for a swim event and can't ride as much.

 

[hunt1up]

I think $2k is crazy. I would just buy a stationary bike and watch spin class videos on youtube. Think of what you could do with the extra $1800.

The Pelotons are sweet and come turn key for people, hence the appeal I think. Everything is well laid out and integrated. If a person wants to save money they surely can. I bought my wife a lightly used Lemond Revmaster Pro commerical bike for $300, they're new around $1,600. She pairs it with various cycling apps which are cheaper than Peloton. A guy can lock an I-pad to any decent bike and use the Peloton app(or any other) which is something like $13 a month.

 

[Macchia182]

Mountain Biking Single Track is one of my go to's for cardio

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[MidwestElkHutner]

There are so many more things than just spin classes that are available on peleton. As someone previously mentioned, the power zone training is well developed and presented. The power zone work also translates directly to outdoor riding if that is part of your training. I just hit 2100 miles on the peleton for 2022 and have 600 road miles...hoping to double that by the end of the year!

 

[EJDXT21]

So here's a question for the peloton riders who travel. Have you noticed any difference in the feel of the bikes where you travel? There have been multiple occasions, most recently this last week, where I use a Peloton bike and I feel as though the resistance I have set feels significantly less than it should be. (somewhere between 10-25 points difference) At first I thought it was because I took about a week and a half off, and maybe the rest helped me recover better. But after riding my Peloton today at home, that is not the case. Here are some stats from the exact same ride, first at the Hotel and then todays ride. (this is a really good ride so I'll put the info below in case anyone wants to try it). I was not wearing a heartrate monitor for either ride. I feel like that is a big difference and I really felt like I worked harder on the ride at home.
Most notable difference was the Hotel bike had the slip in pedals and at home I have the peloton clip on shoes, but I can't see that making that big of a difference, but if it does, please let me know. I'm just curious if anyone else has experienced this. I wonder if the bikes they use for hotels are somehow different or maybe there is something wrong with mine at home. Is there a way to somehow calibrate the resistance? I do plan to talk to Peloton about this but wanted to get some real world feedback here as well.

Hotel ride: 20 min climb ride: Ben Alldis, Tuesday 12/06/22@01:25

Total Output: 292kj
Calories: 401 kcal
Avg Output: 243 watts
Avg Cadence: 78 rpm
Avg Resistance 56%
Avg Speed 22.5 mph

Same climb ride at home

Total Output: 185kj
Calories: 255 kcal
Avg Output: 149 watts
Avg Cadence: 74 rpm
Avg Resistance 48%
Avg Speed 18.7 mph

 

[pattimusprime22]

So here's a question for the peloton riders who travel. Have you noticed any difference in the feel of the bikes where you travel? There have been multiple occasions, most recently this last week, where I use a Peloton bike and I feel as though the resistance I have set feels significantly less than it should be. (somewhere between 10-25 points difference) At first I thought it was because I took about a week and a half off, and maybe the rest helped me recover better. But after riding my Peloton today at home, that is not the case. Here are some stats from the exact same ride, first at the Hotel and then todays ride. (this is a really good ride so I'll put the info below in case anyone wants to try it). I was not wearing a heartrate monitor for either ride. I feel like that is a big difference and I really felt like I worked harder on the ride at home.
Most notable difference was the Hotel bike had the slip in pedals and at home I have the peloton clip on shoes, but I can't see that making that big of a difference, but if it does, please let me know. I'm just curious if anyone else has experienced this. I wonder if the bikes they use for hotels are somehow different or maybe there is something wrong with mine at home. Is there a way to somehow calibrate the resistance? I do plan to talk to Peloton about this but wanted to get some real world feedback here as well.

Hotel ride: 20 min climb ride: Ben Alldis, Tuesday 12/06/22@01:25

Total Output: 292kj
Calories: 401 kcal
Avg Output: 243 watts
Avg Cadence: 78 rpm
Avg Resistance 56%
Avg Speed 22.5 mph

Same climb ride at home

Total Output: 185kj
Calories: 255 kcal
Avg Output: 149 watts
Avg Cadence: 74 rpm
Avg Resistance 48%
Avg Speed 18.7 mph

Peloton bikes can vary pretty significantly. It probably isn't worthwhile to compare output from two different bikes due to how much variance in calibration there is. They do have a process for calibration, but it simply is moving the resistance magnets a set distance from the wheel.