Indoor Cyclists: Turn the fans off!

1 Like

Turn off the fans? What could go wrong? :rofl:

image

13 Likes

Obligatory mention that anyone leaving buckets of sweat on their bike and trainer better add some serious maintenance to their calendar :stuck_out_tongue:

Galvanic corrosion is no joke and it can happen right under your nose with no sign of an issue until you hear and feel ‘SNAP!’.

15 Likes

This is not correct.

ETA: For example, an untrained individual can close the gap in muscle respiratory capacity to that of an elite athlete by ~1/3rd in just 7-10 d:

My suggestion is that you do a bit more reading before posting any more misleading statements.

The fact is that the body adapts quite rapidly to changes in demand, something that John Holloszy, arguably the father of exercise biochemistry, believed was an evolutionary necessity.

Did you know that it takes less than 2 wk to increase your muscle capillarization? (That’s the earliest anyone seems to have looked in humans, based on the research I did last night.)

1 Like

First I will state upfront, I am no expert in any of these areas. Setting aside any specific efforts for heat adaptations (in which case I would recommend listening to the Performance Process Podcast) the base premise of this thread seems to fly in the face of everything I have heard or read over my 20 years of endurance training. Which I will simply state in my words that positive stimulus is better than negative stimulus.

Given an equal RPE - which do you think would be better for you? Doing your 2 x 20 at 300W or 340W? Kolile Moore often uses the phrase on his podcast that “your muscles know the difference.” And that seems logical to me.

However, if you really want a challenge, please share your experiences on my other threads: Indoor Cyclists: Quit Hydrating! And if you really want to boost your performance: Carbs are cheating and make cycling too Eazy!

6 Likes

We can all read, but apparently you didn’t. The increase in CD31 demonstrates that angiogenesis has taken place.

Note that there are other studies of humans showing an increase in C:F ratio after 2 wk, as well as others showing an increase in the capillary filtration coefficient (a functional measure of total capillary surface area) just as early. You would know this if you had bothered to do a little bit of research, as I did.

As for your conclusions re. heat stress, as someone who is a co-I on an NIH grant investigating thermotherapy, I will just say this:

You are not correct.

Wouldn’t increased plasma volume from heat adaptations increase cardiac preload and therefore elicite more cardiac remodelling? (The other way is of course true, a decrease in circulating volume decreases preload and pump efficiency)

Phone broke yesterday so I couldn’t use the roku private listening mode this morning didn’t want TV blasting while everyone else was still asleep, figured good excuse to do a little test with no fans.

Yesterday I did Pioneer-1 turning fans on about 5 min into ride like normal, lasko about 4ft in front of me at standing chest height with vertical nozzle and 2 vornados on the floor under bars aimed up. Felt great even though I was already doing an alternate I think .2 up from the recommended workout.

Todays workout was not planned actually, so I am fully aware that some of what I Was feeling was fatigue and also once again I pushed the WL a little jumping up .4 from yesterday so it was still productive. The workout, old black, was very similar profile just bumped up a little. As you can see avg watts over the ~45min was only up a little, HR was up quite a bit though and I felt it. HR was actually about what it was during the KM FTP/TTE test sunday (which i felt wasn’t getting high enough).

This felt WAY harder than yesterday. I added 15 minutes to the cool down and now still 20 minute later sitting here at my desk in just tri shorts trying to cool down. Maybe the suffering has some benefits but man my immediate feedback is F that.

Off to amazon to buy another accurite temp/humidity gauge for the gym.

My only response to turn the fan off is f&*@ you

8 Likes

For me at least training with less fan is much more convenient than going to the sauna or training in real heat. Although I need to figure out how deal with the sweating as things get real slippery and during rest/z2 intervals I get really cold due to the sweat

Anyway increasing stroke volume takes a very long time so I could see a benefit of staying heat adapted

If anyone would like to test the “no fan” theory. I would invite you to try it out in FL during the summer. Outside is a balmy 86, humidity is in 98%. Indoor you are blasting the AC and while running it cant cool the house to lower than 73. IF you try to do a wo on that conditions, indoor room tem will get in the 80s without a fan circulating air… i can guarantee it will not end up well for you, maybe a short easy ride… but a tempo/ss/vo2 ride? nope… you will stop no matter how much liquid you try to take… it will be too much… and even if you finish, you will feel like trash for days…

4 Likes

Save the heat training for the Z2 rides… and leading up to A events.

Work Intervals need to be at the optimal temperature imo, not too hot or cold.

It was 38F for my session today so no fan except the last 26 minute interval of three at 91% ish (actually I turned the fan on half way through the second interval but off before the recovery interval, for the reason you mention, freezing during the rest)

2 Likes

As heat adaptation is fast you only really miss out on 2 weeks of proper training but having a high circulating volume can make your heart more efficient thus training better and the volume can eventually make your heart bigger leading to an even better performance

So, is the scientific consensus then that heat adaptation is good but you only need to do it within about two weeks of when you think you need it? Can any good come from extended heat adaptation or is that a waste of sweat?

1 Like

Like I said above more preload will eventually lead to higher stroke volume

Additional follow up.

~45 min after getting off the bike I finally hopped in the shower, face was still beet red and warm to the touch, wasn’t sure were thermometer was and was running late already so didn’t go find it. (66 degrees in our house)

~2 hours later now after getting off the bike and getting to work. I felt like crap on the drive (~45min), and probably only about 10% of that was being in an automatic. Head kind of achy, still slightly warm to the touch now being at my desk.

Unfair comparison factor between yesterday and today, about 20 minutes before my phone died our vitamix pitcher blade bearing bit the dust as well (dog had surgery monday… man this is an expensive week), so I did not have my normal smoothie today, but also didn’t have it tuesday. Not feeling hungry but I’m sure missing some of that hydration from the smoothie is playing into how I feel.

I can’t really see a need for this during this part of my season based on how I feel 5 months out from my A event.

1 day of travel + 1 day of light excercise AND

Booooom :boom::boom::boom::boom:

New FTP
Diamond Legs + Threshold watts with Tempo HR

People should not take the title of the thread literally, as all the time. But insert a hard week here and there and watch those watts go up!

2 Likes

FYTFY:

  • Indoor Cyclists: Turn the fans off, sometimes.
2 Likes

“Serum biomarkers”? CD31 is expressed in endothelial cells and so is a marker of capillarization in muscle.

I would say that the jury is still out on the question of whether imposing additional heat stress results in adaptations that are beneficial during exercise under cooler conditions (something not true re. the effects of training at elevation/in hypoxia). FWIW, though, this study by the late Ethan Nadel appears to be the earliest such suggestion:

Practically speaking, though, I wouldn’t recommend turning off the fan unless you were specifically preparing for competition under thermally-stressful conditions. I say that because unless you have something industrial-strength, the air flow is already going to be significantly less than when cycling at 5-15 m/s outdoors - IOW, even with a fan most people are already practicing “heat training”.

3 Likes