Zwift has revolutionized the way we train indoors with a trainer. \u00a0The emergence of smart trainers has turned Zwift<\/a> into an immersive virtual riding experience. \u00a0Muscular endurance (ME) is one of the basic fundamental skills that create a well-rounded cyclist, but it can be boring to accomplish on a trainer. \u00a0Combining the two together provides you the opportunity to get tons of high-quality training and keep things from getting stale. \u00a0But before you can go about building a ton of muscular endurance and making your body bulletproof, you have to understand what the goal of a ME interval is.<\/p>\n

So, first of all, what is muscular endurance and why is it important?<\/p>\n

Muscular endurance is your body's ability to resist muscular fatigue under pedaling tension. \u00a0That pedaling tension is where the magic happens in your pedal stroke. \u00a0The more tension in the pedals, the more power gets to the rear wheel\u00a0and the faster you go. \u00a0I'm sure you've experienced a time when you have to really dig in and push hard to catch your riding buddy. \u00a0After a short time, your legs start to get heavy and tired and you have to rest. \u00a0The more times you have to repeat this kind of move, the harder it becomes because your legs are just tired out. \u00a0Maybe your legs cramp up or maybe you just can't make the move. \u00a0No matter what the outcome, you just need more ME training in your program.<\/p>\n

In this article I'm going to give you tips to improve your muscular endurance training with Zwift. \u00a0Click through the jump to find out how:<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Muscular endurance with the Zwift workout builder<\/h3>\n

The Zwift workout builder<\/a> makes building muscular endurance simple. \u00a0The workout builder has the ability to design any workout you want, especially when you use the cadence option. \u00a0Muscular endurance relies on a couple of conditions to be effective: the first of which is a specific cadence range. \u00a0You should be aiming for a variety of cadences between 70 and 80 RPM. \u00a0The second portion of a ME workout is the amount of pedal tension. \u00a0You want your legs to be under near-constant tension throughout the interval.<\/p>\n

You should aim for around 30-40 minutes of ME work as you start out. \u00a0That can be broken up in pretty much any way you like, but intervals should be no shorter than 10 minutes or so. \u00a0The harder the interval, the shorter it can be, and in many cases, people find that a sweetspot intensity is the perfect intensity level to get the most out of their muscular endurance intervals.<\/p>\n

So go ahead and hit the workout builder. \u00a0Just keep these tips in mind:<\/p>\n

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• Intervals should be a minimum of 10 minutes in length.<\/li>\n
• Rest periods between intervals should be around 50% of the interval length.<\/li>\n
• Do most of your intervals somewhere between 90% and 100% of your functional threshold power.<\/li>\n
• Keep your cadences in the 70 to 80 RPM range.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  If you're not sure about building your own workout in the Zwift workout builder, you can click this link to grab one that I've built<\/a>. \u00a0It's about an hour long and will give you a good muscular endurance challenge.<\/p>\n

  Muscular endurance in Zwift free ride mode<\/h3>\n

  Zwift allows you to “just ride” without doing a structured workout. \u00a0You should take advantage of these “free rides” to get some additional muscular endurance work built into your training time. \u00a0You just need to know where to go about getting it.<\/p>\n

  Zwift has a number of courses available to ride, but perhaps the best one to get muscular endurance work done is the Watopia island course. \u00a0The Watopia course has a long climb, on the order of around 25-30 minutes in length. \u00a0That climb is the perfect way to get some muscular endurance work in (especially if you're using a smart trainer). \u00a0Think about it for a minute: when you climb a hill outside, your cadence typically drops and the tension on the pedals increases. \u00a0Sounds a lot like a muscular endurance interval, doesn't it?<\/p>\n

  How do you train muscular endurance on the mountain? \u00a0When you're climbing up the Watopia mountain, gear up to a big gear and let your cadence drop. \u00a0The high tension on the pedals and low cadence will simulate the incline on the mountain. \u00a0You can vary your\u00a0cadence and gearing to help create a wider variety of adaptations. \u00a0Standing up out of the saddle while shifting to even harder gears will help you mimic changes in gradient and give you some additional pedal stroke technique work. \u00a0This is especially true on a smart trainer, which will create varying amounts of resistance depending on the gradient on screen.<\/p>\n

  You can check out an example of muscular endurance work during Zwift free ride mode\u00a0in this video<\/a>:<\/p>\n