i’ve been training Donald now for something just over 2 months, and he’s feeling a combination of nausea and improvement, in fairly equal measure. here’s his testimonial, thanks D!
(cheque’s in the post…)
Crank Punk Coaching System
Crank Punk is good people and gives great Skype. His training approach is pretty cool too…
Bit of background about how I came to fall under his (heavily tattooed) wing. I’m an expat banker living in Singapore with the obligatory (for Asia anyway) extensive selection of nice bikes and carbon wheels. To my wife’s constant displeasure, I’m reasonably serious about my cycling – training 12 hours+ a week, I watch my diet and rest well.
I’ve read all the books, put in the hours, have all the gear and do reasonably well – racing at a category 2 level. However, my training was in a bit of rut and I found myself looking for something new to take me to the next level. I’ve been on the hard end of some stout spankings from CrankPunk in local races & so when he said he was offering training, I thought I’d give that a shot. Figured that if you can’t beat him then at least get him on the payroll!
There’s already a well shared CP post sticking 2 fingers up to power meters & so you’ll not be surprised to hear that his training approach eschews such modern gadgetry. Training is based on PRE (Perceived Rate of Exertion) which means listening to your body and understanding how hard you’re pushing yourself. Anyone using the Sufferfest videos will be familiar with the scale. The ‘Fest vids also play a big part in the training but as I was already a heavy user, I’m cool with that.
Few things I liked about the program:
- Having a structured plan:
The biggest benefit I found was simply in having a structured plan. Each week, CP would design a specific program for me involving Sufferfests, puke inducing individual intervals, timed efforts and/or group rides.My weekly ride time stayed about the same but there was much more focus on achieving specific goals within the week that it felt much more effective. I realized that previously I spent too much time at a middling 7/10 exertion and not enough going really hard (9/10) or really easy (4/10).CP also baked in a regular timed effort (usually a 40km TT) to monitor progress &, whilst painful as hell, came to really enjoy these sessions. - Flexibility to have fun:
Lee was no number Nazi. He built freedom into the plan so you could adapt to how the legs were feeling or what else was happening locally. Sometimes a day’s instruction would be as simple as “Saturday group ride – Balls out. Have fun!” - CrankPunk Himself:
Lee is a good guy. Very funny. His Skype alone is worth the monthly training fee.
After 6 weeks of training with CPCS, there was noticeable difference in my form and physique. My legs had veins popping in places where there’d been none & my max heart rate miraculously went up 5 beats. On the results side, I hit my target – getting Silver and Gold in the Singapore National Time Trial events .
CPCS gave me the extra 2% on top of what I already had but that 2% was the difference between 8th place and a podium.
I heartily recommend Crank Punk Training to all (unless you’re one of my local Singapore rivals)
