How to Perform Muscle Tension Intervals on Zwift
FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
Release Date: 10/01/2025
5 Training Rules for Masters Cyclists (What Bicycling Magazine Left Out)
FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
Are you a master's cyclist trying to get faster but feel like something is missing from mainstream advice? Train this way FREE for 1 Month In this video, Coach Frank breaks down the 5 most important training rules for cyclists over 40, 50, and 60+ , and more importantly, what Bicycling Magazine didn’t have space to tell you. Frank was recently featured in their article on coaching older cyclists, and while they nailed the headlines, there’s a lot more nuance that can make or break your performance. Today, Coach Frank is giving you the full coaching perspective. 🚴♂️ What You’ll...
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Unbound Gravel Training: Developing Your Diesel Watts
FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
Coach Frank describes a 3 month Unbound training plan that you can follow FREE for 30 days → Develop your Diesel Watt power by knowing how to train it in March, April, and May to arrive in Emporia fresh, fit, and ready to send it. Whether you're lining up for the 200, 100, or XL, this video covers the training concepts that have helped thousands of FasCat athletes finish strong,from sweet spot base building to full gravel simulation rides to the art of a proper taper. You'll learn: the Gravel Power Workout (the single best workout for gravel racers) how to build your long ride from...
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Gravel Pacing: the Right and the Wrong Way
FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
Are you making this gravel pacing mistake? It could be costing you 30 minutes or more — and you won't even feel it happening until it's too late. In this video, Coach Frank breaks down the #1 pacing mistake I see in gravel race power files, why it happens, and exactly how to fix it. I'll show you the one tactical decision you need to make in the first hour of your next gravel race that could save you 30 minutes — without being any more fit than you already are. What you'll learn: - Why gravel racing is really a time trial (and why that changes everything) - How to use Intensity...
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Winter Workouts that bridge the gap between Base and Race
FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
Learn how not to be the Group Ride Hero and Train the Right Way, Free for 30 days → One of the most common mistakes cyclists make is piling on high-intensity intervals before they’ve finished building their aerobic base. It feels great in February. You’re flying on the group ride. You’re winning town line sprints. But by May, when racing and big events actually matter, you’re flat, stale, and wondering what happened. In this video, Coach Frank Overton from FasCat Coaching shows you how to bridge the gap between base season and race season the right way. You don’t need to live in...
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How to Use Your Coach, When You Get Sick or Injured
FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
Getting sick or injured during a training block doesn’t have to ruin your season. Try Coaching (AI or 1:1) Free for the 1st 30 days → In this video, Coach Frank breaks down how to use your coaching in the event of sickness or injury without making things worse and without losing weeks of fitness to a preventable layoff. You’ll learn a simple 6-step process used with real coached athletes to: ✅ decide when to rest vs train ✅ adjust intensity and volume ✅ avoid overdoing it ✅ revise your training plan ✅ rebuild day by day Most athletes don’t lose fitness from...
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The #1 Nutrition Mistake Cyclists Make
FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
Learn how to eat right for your cycling. Most cyclists try to lose weight by eating less and riding more and that doesn't work. Get the Go Fast Grocery List mentioned in this video for FREE → In this video, Coach Frank breaks down the #1 nutrition mistake most cyclists make and explains why watts per kilo don’t improve on the bike… they start in the kitchen. This video introduces our long-standing FasCat concept called Winning in the Kitchen: a simple, sustainable approach to performance nutrition and weight loss that works for real cyclists with real lives. You’ll...
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Base Training Advice is broken, and How to Make it Right with 4–8 Hours a Week
FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
The base training advice you’ve been getting from social media and indoor riding platforms is wrong. Riding only Zone 2 all winter doesn’t work for cyclists with less than 8 hours a week to train. Riding hard indoors doesn’t work either. In this video, Coach Frank Overton (aka BigCat) breaks down how to build a REAL aerobic base on just 4–8 hours per week, using the Sweet Spot training methodology he has pioneered for the past 20 years. You’ll learn: 1️⃣ Where base training actually fits in your annual plan 2️⃣ Why Zone 2-only training fails when volume is low 3️⃣...
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Ask a FasCat Q&A from our Sweet Spot Saturday Group Ride
FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
What happens when you mix a live Sweet Spot group ride, real-time coaching, fueling advice, tech questions, and unfiltered athlete Q&A? You get a live, no-BS training session led by Coach Frank that covers how cyclists train. Pardon the audio as we recorded from our discord channel that was live during the ride. In this ride & podcast, we dove into a dozen or more topics, including: 1. How to ride Sweet Spot by feel (no rigid intervals required) 2. Why Sweet Spot is “not too hard, not too easy — just right” 3. Fueling correctly indoors (70–90g carbs/hr and why it matters) 4....
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How Sweet Spot Training Was Developed
FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
Sweet Spot Training is one of the most widely used and effective ways cyclists build their base and improve power. Sweet Spot Train the Right Way for FREE in the CoachCat App → But very few people know the story behind the development of 'sweet spot training'. Long before Sweet Spot Training was mainstream, it was developed inside a secret, private beta group of coaches and sport scientists that I was part of. We were testing a new power-based performance model that would later go on to become the Performance Manager Chart inside TrainingPeaks. And what we discovered & developed...
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High Torque, Muscle Tension Intervals
FasCat Cycling Training Tips Podcast
Pro Coach Sierra Sims (M.S. Exercise Physiology) breaks down the science and technique behind muscle tension intervals: one of the most effective ways to turn gym strength into real power on the bike. Whether you're building your base, coming back from the off-season, or looking to climb stronger, these workouts teach your neuromuscular system to produce MORE torque and apply it efficiently across the pedal stroke. You’ll learn: ✔️ What muscle tension (high-torque) intervals actually are ✔️ Why low cadence is so effective for force production ✔️ How to combine...
info_outlineMuscle Tension Intervals are those big gear, low cadence masher that are like lifting weights on the bike.
You can do them in the CoachCat app → https://fascatcoaching.com/app where the first month is free.
The problem? Not everyone has access to a steady 3–5% climb like we do here in Boulder.
That’s where Zwift comes in. In this video, Coach Frank walks you through two ways to perform Muscle Tension Intervals on Zwift:
1️⃣ Exporting your workout into ERG mode and using the Incline setting in the Companion app. 2️⃣ Riding free-form in the Climb Portal and simulation riding uphill for work intervals, then turning around and coasting downhill for recovery.
Additionally, you’ll learn how torque (force on the pedals) connects to power, and why these intervals build the kind of strength that pays off when you combine it with higher cadence later in the season.
💡 Try both methods, or even all three if you include the outdoor version, as part of your Fall Foundation plan.