Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I just got a CycleOps Bike Trainer so I could exercise inside this winter. It was pretty easy to setup and you can see my review of it on the Gadgets Page:

• The Gadgets Page » First Glance: CycleOps Mag Indoor Bike Trainer

The bike trainer came with a Train Right DVD that you can exercise with. The particular DVD that came with my trainer was called Train Right: Time Trial, which I can’t find on Amazon.com, but they offer Train Right: Climbing. This video is exactly what I need in an exercise video.

Too many workout videos spend too much time talking. There is plenty of talking from the coach, Chris Carmichael, but he isn’t irritating or perky. He sounds like he’s just coaching me through a tough workout. Chris Carmichael was the US Olympic Committee Coach of the Year, so he really knows what he’s talking about.

There was an introduction at the beginning talking about finding out your Maximum Heart Rate and Maximum Power Floor. These things went right over my head. I don’t have anything that measures rpms (cadence) or the power (watts) on my bicycle. I don’t see any of the athletes working on these bikes looking at any gadgets. The coach is just able to tell that they are going fast enough. The good thing is that once you get into the workout all of that measurement doesn’t seem as important.

There are displays on the screen that say Low/Medium/High Intensity and a little rpm counter that give you an idea of how hard you should be working. You can tell how fast you should be pedaling by watching the people working out on the bikes. If you follow along and set your gears at Low/Medium/High Intensity, then you should be fine. All that technical stuff during the intro is important, I’m sure, but don’t let it scare you away from working out with this video. As long as you are working as hard as you can during the High Intensity and taking a recovery break during the Medium Intensity, then you’ll get a good workout.

Watching others exercising and working just as hard as you are is really helpful. The first two workouts I did on the bike trainer, I watched movies. They are a great distraction, but they aren’t nearly as inspiring as watching others working as hard as I am.