I did a Half Monty today on a Kickr Bike. On each ramp step, it increased the gradient by 1%.
That would seem to make it a harder test than on other trainers where the gradient does not increase.
Is this true?
I have not seen this discussed anywhere in the forum.
I’ve yet to do HM with my new Kickr Climb, so will look out for that, but TBF - the “gradient increase” is basically an aesthetic feature more than anything. It does change your angle and seating position, but it’s still the power increases that you’re responding to, not a “gradient”.
Interesting though. As I stated in my Climb review(s), I can feel a difference in leg muscle engagement when my Climb raises elevation, so I could definitely see how that would make HM feel different, though not sure it would be “harder”.
What was your experience of the gradient shift on the Bike in HM?
Yes the nose started to shift, but as soon as it did it, I locked the Kickr so it would not continue to do so. The ramp test is hard enough without the incline.
Hence, if you have not been training those muscles, they do not have the mitochondria and capillary blood vessels increases, as well as the improvement in muscle recruitment. It would seem reasonable that it would be harder to produce power numbers.
For the reasons I just stated, and therefore to make the comparisons with previous HMs that were not done with increased gradient, I locked the Kickr to stop the gradient change.
In general, the climb feature is an important feature if you like to do climbing. For example, G.O.A.T. done with gradients is a completely different experience than without – much harder.
Wait until you do a heart stress test. I got to 25% grade and was almost running. Made Full Frontal look EASY. However, if I had a Climb and the nose started pointing to the ceiling, I would be calling a halt to the test. It’s not valid. Even Full Frontal doesn’t change gradient…
About ten or fifteen years ago I did a heart stress test, but I do not remember it being as bad as a Full Frontal. They stopped the test because even at maximum grade, my heart rate stayed steady.
Maybe I do not remember it as being bad because we tend to block out bad memories.
Yup, every two years for my job. Though we run in ours all the time - is that not the same everywhere? On the plus side, those only last about 15min for me. Like the HM ramp. FF is worse by far IMO.
Howdy @Heretic - you can fully blame me for the gradient increases in the HM ramp. Note: the increases are relatively small, and do not begin until you’re at FTP.
As noted, there are parallels to
Stress testing on a treadmill where increases in gradient are used during treadmill protocols, and also the fact that as humans work harder on a bike, then tend to naturally decrease their hip angle - something that Ive observed & measured with many athletes using motion capture devices and also shown in this study to occur: Cycling: joint kinematics and muscle activity during differing intensities | Request PDF
In addition, as individuals reach maximum effort during a ramp to failure like HM, then is a progressive decrease in cadence which sifts the work to more glute activation, which also occurs as the simulated gradient increases…thus, this was done to attempt to match the body’s mechanical & biomechanical changes that occur during progressive maximal efforts.
Happy riding!
I checked my last three HMs, and my cadence has a progressive increase rather than a decrease. If I recall correctly that is what the instructions in the HM suggest.
Would this compensate for the differences that some people see between HM and FF? Since most people do not have a climb feature, it would seem they have an easier, if less accurate HM.
Nonetheless, it was a surprise when it happened. I could have sworn that it started before I got to FTP.