Empirical Cycling Podcast

Zwift training content manager and Never Going Pro podcast host Shayne Gaffney joins the podcast to discuss his role at Zwift, and what it's like building workouts and training plans for large numbers of unique users. We also cover how he got his start, coaching mistakes and lessons, parenting-cycling balance, and the symbolism in the Zwift logo's one sharp corner.

This conversation explores functional exercises as a continuum from your standard fare squats to the functional variations you might see on Instagram. We discuss if they're viable alternatives to normal training, good resources for functional exercises, and the weirdest ones we've ever seen.

In this episode we look at what fatmax is, where the promise lies, and what validity there is. Do you get better at burning fat by burning more fat? Do you lose more weight by burning more fat? How does e=mc^2 relate to the energy stored in food? This episode answers all these questions and more.

This episode was recorded not to be a traditional podcast, it's a call between Kolie and his client Ingvar Ómarsson who is professionally racing mountain bikes. The 2021 season was our first working together, and we go over what went right and what can be done better, and apply those lessons to the plan for next season.

Kolie and new Empirical Cycling coach Cory sit down for a discussion on previous coaching relationships, cultivating new ones, training and racing experience, and coaching red flags. They also get into Cory's motocross experience, technical aspects of criterium bike setup, and the difficulties of Zwift racing while living in a car.

This episode takes a bird's eye view on periodizing strength training in your season including adaptation, hypertrophy, strength, maintenance if needed, and even more specific periodization suggestions for lifting into the season. How and when one might plan these phases, how long they would last, and other tangents such as single leg specific phases, deadlift choice, and a bonus rant on whether or not you should do plyometrics for cycling.

Podcast listeners voted on our topic to celebrate 200k listens! In this purely editorial episode, we list our top 5 best and worst workouts, discuss what makes them good or bad, and how one might fix them. On the lists are ramp tests, group rides, using FTP as an anchor intensity, all out efforts, and many more.

If you've ever thought about using the ketogenic diet for cycling, you may want to listen in. We look at a pair of modern classic studies that compare traditional high carbohydrate diets to periodized low carb and keto. This includes a study with, and a study without a carbohydrate re-adaptation period.​

Wonder how many reps to do in the gym? How many sets? This episode will help. We discuss typical set and rep ranges, how good they are for strength, hypertrophy, or maintenance, as well as in the context of periodization.

This discussion focuses on cyclists choosing exercises for strength training, and the hosts mostly stay on track. Topics included are high and low bar back squats vs front squat, lifting shoes, injury concerns, weight belts, and the bilateral deficit.