Andrea Gabba is one of the most important Italian Triathlon Coach with a great experience at international level. Dedication, passion, working method and results are the fundamentals of his training phylosophy, because quality is the only way to obtain great results.
Palmarès of Andrea Gabba
Andrea Gabba is a young Coach with a fantastic palmarès: he is currently working as Coach of Italian Triathlon National Team Under 23. He coached two times the Italian Triathlon National Team at the Olympics Games (2004 and 2008) and he was the technical manager of Turkish National Team from 2013 to 2016 (getting the World Championship and European Olympics Games qualifications). Furhermore, Andrea was an Ironman also!
Hi Andrea! What does triathlon mean for you?
Triathlon, like my family, is my life, job and passion (I started in 1992 in Montecarlo) and for me and my wife Nadia Cortassa (5th place at Olympic Games – Athens 2004 and 2006 World Champion in team competition) triathlon is a lifestyle in terms of healthy values that we try to teach to our sons and athletes day by day. Triathlon means coordination, optimization, concentration, respect, love for nature, pay attention to itself and other people.
www.trifunfit.com
Swim, bike, run. Tre disciplines completely different that they become one. What is your approach to training in professional athlete and amateur respectively?
Regarding the professional triathlete I define the limits and contents and built tailor-made training programs for him. On the contrary, amateur has a life completely different as compared to a pro athlete: family, job and friendly relations are his priorities. He talks with me about time, goals and availability, and I must prepare the best possible built training program, in order to obtain the best results. Professional triathlete makes itself available wherease I make myself available for amateur. In any case, the goal is the same: optimize work for better performance.
Quality is a must for you. Whats is the role of Indoor Training in your planning? And how do you consider MagneticDays in your training plans?
Time optimization is the key for both professional triathlete and amateur. I have always considered indoor training as a must in my training plan during whole the year (I worked indoor only in the winter until recently). Fortunately, since I work with MagneticDays (the first Indoor Training System based on a scientific approach) I was able to convert my ideas into reality, offering high quality built training to my athletes during spring and summer also (at least twice a week), because there are specific workouts that are more efficient if done with this training system if compared to others on the road.
Bike strong to run strong. In terms of results, how MagneticDays affects the performance of your athletes?
MagneticDays is “more than a smart trainer” and my athletes have obtained great results. Each workout is planned in 3 phases on the base of specific physiological values of the athletes, so I can prepare the best possible training in order to reach our goals. Furthermore, MagneticDays is “no shortcuts”, because we can work with Newton and RPM that can be controlled from beginning to end.
I am very much satisfied of MagneticDays because there are two great possibilities: create your personal workout (I invented a specific training for triathlon) or “pedal” on JARVIS System the most famous cycle route in the world (or your personal cycle route) as .tcx or .gpx file imported on your personal profile on www.magneticdays.com.
MagneticDays allows me to simulate any bike race course, setting the personal values of Watt for each athlete. So, I can work specifically on all of the race segments (start, jerks, race pace and more), obtaining great results. I work currently with international Pro athletes and MagneticDays is one of my personal fundamental points..
Here’s the advice by Coach Andrea Gabba
My personal advice for all triathletes is: “MagneticDays allows you to optimize your time and training in the best way, giving you the chance to improve yourself under each point of view.. if you try it, you love it.”
Starter Pack MagneticDays: why to use
Aren’t you a MagneticDays user/client?
Keep your chin up!
If you want to try our Indoor Training System, take a look to this amazing free offer!
First step: ask your friend (if he/she is already a MD user/client) to use our Training System!
Second step: visit our website www.magneticdays.com to create your personal account and we will load two workouts automatically: the first workout is a self managed workout (total duration: 20 min) named Training Demo that includes all the primary features of MagneticDays Training System. Training Demo is setted at the Threshold Heart Rate default value in terms of Watt. The user/athete will be change this value in the specific field of the workout (as shown below). More infos are available on our webisite. Please click here.
More than a smart trainer: a high quality Indoor Training experience
Workout No 2 is a cycle route imported as .tcx or .gpx files that you can pedal on MagneticDays using the new Virtual Gear, the last release of App MD WiFi (2.1.1). The official handbook of the release is available here.
Physics and evolution of cycling simulator were the key concepts of the introduction of MagneticDays Training Philosophy. With this third article, you can start to understand the great innovation about our indoor training system. Considering that we have at disposal the Jarvis indoor training system (an instrument with high accuracy and precision), we can always refer to the same state having always the same benchmark, a work condition that is impossible to reproduce outdoor where everything is constantly changing.
How to increase Bike Power – introduction
Having the right data at our disposal (always the same and measurable), the new challenge by MagneticDays was to separate the “Power data” in its two fundamental components: RPM (Revolution Per Minute) and Force (Newton Per Meters). What is the Power? In physics, power is the rate of doing work, the amount of energy transferred per unit time. In the International System of Units, the unit of power is the joule per second (J/s), known as the Watt (W). When an object’s velocity is held constant at one meter per second against a constant opposing force of one newton, the rate at which work is done is 1 watt.
The force applied to the pedal in our Indoor Cycling System (originated from the magnetic brake) includes all the forces that we can perceive outdoor like wind, friction, dynamic resistance and all those factors that can change continuosly “forcing” body to adapt itself over and over again in order to find the optimal balance. Considering that Jarvis is not an ordinary smart trainer but a scientific and cycling lab where is possible to work entirely on the body of each athlete, we can control the physiological respones to training going to control the factors affecting Power.
How to increase Bike Power
In the first article about our Training Philosophy, we had explained how using either the MagneticDays or any other Indoor Training System that use a resistance produced by permanent magnets (taking advantage from the Lorentz force) or dynamic resistance (produced by brakes), we are always in a phiysical condition of “flat terrain in the absence of wind.” Considering this “Physical state”, the scientific literature suggests how the best cycling cadence to optimize the pedalling technique and efficiency is at approximately 90 RPM. For example: Mario, Eric and Luke are three guys and athletes who have apparently the same perfomance::
Mario: 250 Watt (threshold heart rate) originated from 30 Newton and 80 RPM
Eric: 250 Watt (threshold heart rate) originated from 23 Netwon and 96 RPM
Luke: 250 Watt (threshold heart rate) originated from 27 Newton and 88 RPM
This situation represent three levels of Power exactly the same but determinated by three completely different feautures. Supposing that the values of thresold heart rate and RPM (for each athlete in training) are 250 Watt and 88 RPM, the specific training for Mario, Eric and Luke is Agility, Strenght and Neutral respectively.
Through our analysis we can confirm that we can help “Mario” to improve his cadence naturally cycling at 85 RPM (starting from a value of 80 RPM) and improving his threshold heart rate from 250 to 265 Watt (if force is equal, 1 RPM is equal to 3 Watt). Among other things, Mario represents (as physiological features) more than 80% of not professional cyclists.
With this example we want to explain two important things:
- Before to write a custom built training, is absolutely necessary to determine the specific physiological values for each athlete;
- Having at disposal a scientific instrument as MagneticDays, is possible to work finely on specific parameters as Watt, Newton and RPM, influencing the physical characteristics of the athletes.
Let’s go back to talking about the MagneticDays training philosophy in this second article on blog. A few days ago we introduced the first topic about what was the physical environment in which we could to be able to work with our indoor training system born as MD425 (as a first step) and subsequently evolved in Jarvis. Considering that using either the MagneticDays or any other Indoor Training System that use a resistance produced by permanent magnets (taking advantage from the Lorentz force) or dynamic resistance (produced by brakes), we are always in a phiysical condition of “flat terrain in the absence of wind” (this situation represent our work area), we have had the intuition to transform this training system into a true “cycling lab” with which improve the physical and mental wellness and cycling performance for each user. There was an evolution of the concept of cycling simulator as it was known until a few years ago, considering that this concept did not improved the quality of training from the physical point of view.
Having said this, even if our work area is always that of “flat terrain in the absence of wind”, is also true that we have at disposal the Jarvis indoor training system (an instrument with high accuracy and precision), then we can always refer to the same state (measuring all the parameters that we need to know) having always the same benchmark, a work condition that is impossible to reproduce outdoor where everything is constantly changing.
Our indoor training phylosophy was born from this new concept, in order to change the classic vision of smart trainer into a training system with an high levels of performance. From cycling simulator to cycling lab where is possible to work entirely on the body of each athlete, having at our disposal all his reference parameters that are clear and measurable by a scientific approach. All of this clearly represents a new range of action and test in the cycling world, where a scientific approach (applied to a reliable system) represents a new start point in the indoor training field.
How is born the MagneticDays training philosophy? It all started five years ago when we wanted to understand in more depth what was the physical environment in which we could to be able to work with our indoor training system, also thanks to the help of the considerations made in collaboration with a physicist of the University of Pisa (Tuscany). One of the first things we have determined (by physical formula) is that using either the MagneticDays or any other Indoor Training System that use a resistance produced by permanent magnets (taking advantage from the Lorentz force) or dynamic resistance (produced by brakes), we are always in a phiysical condition of “flat terrain in the absence of wind.”
Whats does it mean? The physiological responses of those who pedal on these systems are equal to a flat terrain condition in the absence of wind. So, when it comes to climb or downhill simulation (or anything else), it’s not true.
On the road, in a flat terrain condition in the absence of wind (like MagneticDays) and independently from the others measurable values, the key factor that determines the dynamic resistance is given by v2 (dynamic resistance is proportional to velocity squared). What then arose in practice is that with the use of our magnetic braking system we are able to reproduce the condition of air resistance.
Instead, when you cycle uphill the gravity affects for v, therefore the total value of dynamic resistance (in the physical formula) must include the condition v2 + v, a physical enviroment that is not repeatable in an indoor training situation with these typology of these smart trainers (that consider only v2).
Why this introduction? Because we want to tell you about the evolution of a product that has found its complete growth during these first five years, through reproducible results that were tested by all those who (pro athletes and amateurs of triathlon, cycling, mountain biking and handbike) have chosen MagneticDays for their physical and mental wellness! 😉
When our adventure started 5 years ago (the mission was to create the first indoor training system based on a scientific approach where theory and practice could “talk together” to give the users an amazing experience), we were inspired by Iron Man, the legendary Marvel hero (performed by Robert Downey Jr. fill in Tony Stark’s shoes), controlled from an artificial intelligence named Jarvis, like Edwin Jarvis, the loyal household butler of the Stark family.
Put the fantasy genre aside for a moment and focus on the reality, the world of “iron men” has always fascinated us, in the sport field escpecially. “Iron men” means IRONMAN and triathlon, the first sport where we have made known the 4 essential ingredients of our innovative indoor cycling system with a scientific approach: technology, craftsmanship made in Tuscany, precision mechanics and research of the best raw materials, with the goal to create a high quality and one-of-a-kind product able to “build” specific trainings for all the people in every moment (depending on their needs), accompanying them (step by step) towards the complete physical and mental well-being. And you can feel this same condition at the end of our trainings of HTT methodology, a mix of healthy and gratifying effort, satisfaction and a hint of happyness.. because the endorphins must be trained! 😉
Furthermore, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg completed his 2016 goal to create a simple artificial intelligence program to manage his household. Named after the Stark family’s faithful servant, Jarvis is the center of Zuckerberg’s smart home, and can respond to voice and text commands to dim the lights, play music or turn on the toaster. That’s not shabby for someone who has a full-time job running the biggest social media company in the world. Why this correlation with Facebook? Because we believe in the digital communication and “right” use of social media! 😉