Sweet spot training is one of the biggest “bang for your buck” workouts available to an athlete, especially early in the season. \u00a0WEven when you're late into a season, sweet spot training can give your regular interval work a significant boost. \u00a0Even\u00a0once your season has been shut down and you're cruising through the off-season, some weekly sweet spot training can help to keep your fitness from degrading too much as you wind down and rest.<\/p>\n

Unlike high-intensity interval work, sweet spot training takes longer and leads to slightly different adaptations. \u00a0It takes up a little more time than typical high-intensity interval training, but it is easy to recover from and the value per minute of training is huge.<\/p>\n

In this podcast, I'll go through the definition of sweet spot training, some of the benefits and some ways to get more sweet spot training into your workouts. \u00a0As a bonus, you can pick up a free copy of my power testing and fatigue resistance tool (which I'll explain how to use during the podcast) at the end of the show notes!<\/p>\n

Don't forget to share with your friends and click through for the show notes:<\/p>\n

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$\"Sweet$ <\/a>Sweet Spot Training Definition and Benefits<\/h2>\n
Sweet spot training is defined as an area around 91% FTP. \u00a0The range is between 88%-94% FTP range.<\/p>\n
SST is “balanced intensity and volume, allows for increased amount of training” while still allowing for sufficient recovery.<\/p>\n
The body can recover efficiently between efforts: by not depleting significant amounts of energy substrates, ATP etc.<\/p>\n
SST causes aerobic physiological gains such as increased plasma volume, increased mitochondrial enzyme density, increased muscle glycogen density, increased stroke volume (a result of increased plasma volume), increased threshold and increased VO2 max.<\/p>\n
SST causes interconversion of type 2B fibers into 2A fibers (see strength training for cyclists part 1<\/a> and part 2:<\/a>\u00a0build strength then turn strength training to cycling power)<\/p>\n
SST is an easy way to add valuable TSS to your training without burning you out (too much HIIT can lead to burnout.)<\/p>\n

Getting More Sweet Spot Training In Your Workouts<\/h2>\n
Adding SST is easy to do:<\/p>\n
You can use a power meter or HRM or even RPE (power meter is ideal)<\/p>\n
Base period 30-60 minutes\/week of SST. Build period 30-45 min\/week. \u00a0Peak 10-30 min.<\/p>\n
If your longest ride is a multi-hour event, you'll need more SST: somewhere near the length of your event in a single week.<\/p>\n
Workouts:<\/p>\n
1: Simple blocks of SST (2×20 min @91% FTP)<\/p>\n
2: Combine SST with other work: do SST with ME work, single leg drills, standing drills, high cadence superspin work.<\/p>\n
3: During HIIT intervals, do recovery intervals around SST to get extra SST training stress (and force recovery at higher intensities to challenge your body more.) \u00a0vo2 max training in 30s<\/p>\n
4: Singlespeed workout at SST gearing (averages out to SST over the ride)<\/p>\n\n\t\t
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Don't forget to\u00a0 sign up for the Tailwind Coaching Newsletter<\/a> to get my best coaching tips delivered to your inbox, along with a free bonus training plan, updates, and exclusive discounts.<\/p>\n
If you enjoyed this episode, please do me a favor and head over to the\u00a0 Tailwind Coaching Podcast on iTunes<\/a>\u00a0and rate it 5 stars.\u00a0A\u00a0positive review helps the podcast\u00a0move up the ratings, reach more listeners, and help more people get stronger, faster and fitter.\u00a0\u00a0Don't forget to post any questions to the\u00a0 Tailwind Coaching Facebook page<\/a>, on the\u00a0 Tailwind Coaching forums<\/a>,\u00a0 contact me via email<\/a>\u00a0or leave a comment below. \u00a0Don't forget to support our sponsors and help to keep this podcast free, help me to get this information to more people and help grow the cycling\u00a0community.<\/p>\n
With the northern hemisphere's cycling season winding down, you can think about riding cyclocross or settle in and start building strength<\/a> for the upcoming season. \u00a0If you're in the market for a complete training solution, you can pick up your training plans by checking out my\u00a0 modular training plans in my online store<\/a>. Let me help you\u00a0build towards your best ever season with my season long training solutions and modular plans!<\/p>\n
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Sweet spot training is one of the biggest “bang for your buck” workouts available to an athlete, especially early in the season. \u00a0WEven when you’re late into a season, sweet spot training can give your regular interval work a significant boost. \u00a0Even\u00a0once your season has been shut down and you’re cruising through the off-season, some weekly sweet spot training can help to keep your fitness from degrading too much as you wind down and rest. Unlike high-intensity interval work, sweet spot training takes longer and leads to slightly different adaptations. \u00a0It takes up a little more time than typical high-intensity interval training, but it is easy to recover from and the value per minute of training is huge. In this podcast, I’ll go through the definition of sweet spot training, some of the benefits and some ways to get more sweet spot training into your workouts. \u00a0As a bonus, you can pick up a free copy of my power testing and fatigue resistance tool (which I’ll explain how to use during the podcast) at the end of the show notes! Don’t forget to share with your friends and click through for the show notes:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,85,106,38],"tags":[175,178,183,68],"yst_prominent_words":[1245,1243,1244,1239,1235,618,1246,1238,1242,1236,1188,1189,279,694,437,1109,1240,268,1241,1237],"wppr_data":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/sweetspotzone.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10393,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6999\/revisions\/10393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6999"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}