Alfster 

Does anyone watch a movie with headphones while using their trainer? That's what I've been doing to kill the boredom of the trainer. Just started using it again after many, many years.

Litespud

bobwysiwyg

Yes, I do, have been for a couple of years. Though my trainer/bike are fairly quiet, they're not silent. The wireless head phones allow muting the TV itself to keep the volume down so as not to bother others.

srode1

I ride 6 days a week on the trainer this time of year, 3 sets of Intervals, 2 recovery days and 1 endurance ride of 2 hours. The interval rides are about and hour and 45 minutes generally, recovery is 30 minutes to an hour. Netflix helps the time pass.

blacknbluebikes 

surprised no one mentioned this: don't pay too much attention to "miles" on a trainer. friction/load effects don't match the real world - you're not actually cutting thru the air with resistance, nor do you have any forward momentum. not better/worse, just different. I can easily tweak the outcome of miles based on resistance and gearing. and my rollers versus my magne-trainer also have different characteristics. speed and distance are relative only to the specific device and bike.

instead, simply figure out how much time you want to budget for this and dedicate yourself to meeting that as a daily or weekly goal.

focus on your effort for a particular workout, or even better, use a heart-rate monitor. load your days differently - sometimes a steady-state, sometimes a tempo, sometimes a recovery, sometimes high intensity intervals (HIIT). this variety is important, and you'll learn to "know" what your workout should be for any given day. I tend to take the fifth or sixth day off as full rest.

and it pays to cross-train with other exercises that build both core and other muscle sets. swimming and rowing form the "triumvirate" IMO. This really does improve your capabilities on the bike. I have a rower set up next to the bike trainer. the too-damn-early alarm goes off every day and I've trained myself to say "don't think." put on the right shorts and go to the basement. bike one day, rower the next. my constraint is about spare time, so that's what I budget.

Bob Ross

Never.

I ride outdoors 52 weeks/year. If the weather is so crappy that it truly precludes riding a bicycle outdoors, that's the universe telling me "don't ride a bicycle today!"
And I always listen to the universe.

The trainer -- and the rollers -- are really my wife's, not mine. But even she only uses them maybe half a dozen, possibly a dozen, times a year.

John_V 

I bought a trainer back in 2010. I think I need to clean it up some as I only ride it when in rehab for upper body injuries. Living in Florida has it's perks.

rydabent

Since I am a bent rider, and my retirement medical pays for it, I go to a health club and ride the recumbent trainer 3 times a week. I live in the snow belt, and absolutely do not ride when it is cold.

Compared to when I didnt go to the club, I now keep approx 10 pounds of fat off over the winter.

tigat

I've had a trainer for years, set up in my home theatre, but usually relegated to bad weather days or days when I knew the day job would make riding impractical. Last year I sprung for a smart trainer, hoping to do a structured routine with interval days, to try and regain some strength and speed I had lost. Unfortunately, some other issues cropped up, which made hard solo road riding, or too much red zone training a bad idea. So for now, I'm spending four or five days doing a 60 to 100 min maintenance program on the trainer (running or elliptical on off days), and I'm glad I have the option.

Midway

At this point in my rehab from a hip replacement is the only kind of riding I am doing. I have my Colnago on a Blackburn mag TRAKSTAND and am coming from a fitness level of zero and up to 30 minutes 4 or 5 times a week and improving quickly. I have it in our bonus room where I have an older front projector and can watch TV while I spin.

Looking forward to getting on the road but I can’t afford to fall for a few months.

dannwilliams

I purchased a smart trainer at the beginning of January and have been using it 3 or 4 times per week since. Loving it so far. I hope to be in great shape when outdoor riding starts!

Planemaker

I prefer to ride outside like everyone else. However, we've only had two weekend this month where I've been able to ride outside.

I've been riding 6 days a week this month.

zacster

Do it 5 or 6 times a week with some structured training and you'll be in even better shape. I couldn't believe how fast and strong I was when I went outside on my regular routes last year. It never let up either since I was outside as much as I did inside.

dannwilliams

ingo

I ride the trainer 6 days a week in the winter, about 30 hours a month. Mostly racing and training on Zwift. In Canada, you get out of shape in the winter without indoor training and the start of the outdoor season is tough.


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Jon T

I don't own a trainer so, "Never".
Jon

zjrog

I'm trying to improve to 4 days a week. I set a goal of 90 minutes a week, as I am just getting started again. And have a long way to go before considering Zwift or any smart trainer (though I certainly see their appeal!!).

Nachoman

The group I ride with goes way too hard, straight out the barrel.
So three times a week, before my group rides, I hop on the trainer for a light ten minute spin, just to loosen the joints and get the blood flowing.

Scootman

I second the smart trainer and Zwift app. Definitely makes indoor much more fun and therefore more likely to do. I'm still at 2-3 times a week but before it was 0.

dieselgoat

I understand the benefits of a trainer. A lot of really strong riders I know use a trainer. I would rather have a colonoscopy and a root canal at the same time than ride a trainer, so it's outside or I ain't riding.

zacster

Listen to some of the advice in this thread. Zwift with a smart trainer is a lot more interesting than just spinning the pedals and staring into space or even watching something on TV. There are hills, there are competitions, there are sprints, there are structured workouts. A good smart trainer even has decent "road feel". A dumb trainer creates disturbances in the space-time continuum, but a smart trainer with Zwift or some other training apps does not. Time advances linearly as it should. There is a road and you ride it, albeit virtually on a screen.

My first experience with training videos was Spinervals with coach Troy. I never made it past 25 minutes. You pedaled while watching a group of people on trainers pedaling. It was the most boring thing imaginable. That is unfortunately a lot of people's experience with a trainer and it doesn't have to be that way. Try Zwift with virtual worlds, try Rouvy with real world video climbs that you control, try the Sufferfest with great workouts. They'll keep you engaged. And you know what? You'll go outside and kick some ass too when you're done.