6 Weeks to Fitness: Big Gains for All
Last week we concluded our first ever 6 Weeks to Fitness program at the Source Endurance Training Center of the Rockies. This program consisted of six consecutive weeks with 2 75-min Kickr workouts a week, 1 take-home workout, and assumed 2 rest days, and either long rides or races on the other days. In our minds, we thought of it as the perfect semi-coached program for the time-crunched athlete with an inconsistent schedule.
Each participant had different cycling goals for the year whether it was bettering their bike leg for their next tri, being prepared for some gravel adventures, being able to hang on the fastest group rides in town, or getting fit for big multi-day bike adventures with friends.
The program kicked off with a Kickr threshold test to establish a baseline for everyone and to be sure they were getting an appropriate workout on the trainers. The Kickr workouts designed by Source Endurance coach Zack Allison then progressed each workout to work on raising everyone’s threshold and also give everyone a solid anaerobic capacity. Always challenging, but always within their limits.
Every week, we’d review the week ahead and go into the training physiology behind different aspects of the program whether it was all about anaerobic training or what actually happens when you do a proper recovery ride. This crew was focused and motivated. Beyond just getting a good workout, the crew became training partners- encouraging each other during the workouts and comparing results from the take-home workouts.
The program then concluded with a final Kickr test to measure what gains were made. How much you can gain is influenced by where you were at going into the program, but that’s a conversation for another day. The class as a whole had an average of 11.2% FTP gain over the course of 6 weeks. That’s a lot of gain and a lot of watts everyone will get to use for their summer events!
Our goal with these types of program is to help facilitate your goals and give you the tools to accomplish them. We’ll be launching a few other similar programs over the next few months, so stay tuned and be sure to sign up! Thanks to all who gave it a shot the first time around!
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