Gone are the days that indoor training was mind numbing. With smart trainers and interactive screens and life-like gaming Apps, it has come a long way. The new “era” in virtual apps has certainly boosted indoor training from a quick 45-minute session to an easier 90-minute indoor session on a virtual riding or running app.
Saying that riding the same virtual routes over and over again and not getting the “feel” or exposure of an outdoor ride is a definite weekly negative. But when time is an issue and driving somewhere to get a ride in is impossible, making a quick indoor session a huge tick.
The single biggest benefit of using indoor trainers is time efficiency. We all struggle to find the time to train. An indoor trainer session allows you to fit more quality work into a shorter time. Quality sessions that are structured 100% to suit your training. No pedal stopping. You do not waste time at intersections, traffic lights, or freewheeling downhill. With indoors, every second of your training session is spent placing the exact desired force and workload through your pedals. If one were to break down a standard outdoor ride, as much as 35% of the time would be spent not producing any power.
Pros for working outside: promotes muscle confusion, which helps target different muscle activations. This, in turn makes you get a “stronger feel” for when you need it in the sport you training for.
With muscular confusion and more muscles being activated, this will help the body burn more calories. And besides the calorie expenditure, there is no doubt that fresh air is far superior to the recycled air inside of a room.
A known fact of indoor training is boredom. These Virtual Apps have made indoors a lot more social and interactive. But definitely a pro of outdoors is that you lose track of time and the enjoyment factor or riding out in an open environment. Outdoors does allow exposure to sunlight, which boosts your Vitamin D, and getting in longer rides, which boosts your training volume.
Both indoor and outdoor riding have their benefits. Definitely indoors to keep the structure and consistency flowing when time constraints to get out are an issue. But most importantly, we must not lose the reason why we started endurance training: to be outside in nature enjoying the sunlight and trails outdoors.
Conclusion…Both have their benefits, My theory uses the indoor to make you faster when you need it outdoors.
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