Jacek Berruti is one of those people with cycling in his blood. A true heroic cyclist. He had a good teacher, his father, Luciano, who gave him courage, foresight, goodness and an unbridled passion for the essence of cycling: a way to have fun and create harmony between people. This is why, on his birthday, we share a little story he wrote just before the beginning of spring. A reflection linked to an experience in which anybody could find themselves, with their human limits, but with the desire to always get better. Because cycling – whether it is for training, competition or any situation linked to healthy competition – is, above all, the desire to try again, to enjoy a magical moment that only a frame and two wheels can give you. Happy reading and.. happy birthday Jacek!

“This happens weekly: as I leave work, my main thought is to get home to get moving. To unplug and recharge the batteries. It is evening, it is dark outside. I spent eleven hours away from home, and now I’m looking for a challenge that can really make me feel alive: so I turn to that multicolored tool that is the MagneticDays Jarvis smart trainer. Ready, set, go: cream on the saddle, towel, sweatband and the right playlist, let’s go. Intensity training, I feel it immediately: my heartbeats are high; my breath becomes a little short already during warm-up. Minutes go by, the going gets tough, too much. At minute 25 the AC/DC ‘screaming’ in my ears are not enough to keep me going. Not even the photo of my dad in front of me; I don’t want to, but I know that sometimes insisting can cause harm: so get off, give up and ‘see you tomorrow’ is the only choice. Usually giving up is not an option during my indoor and outdoor workouts. But so it is this time. I get down.

Defeated, I think that perhaps I was too tired to train. Maybe I’d better respect the recovery times: so I will put this behind me and try again tomorrow. The next day comes. Cream, playlist, bla bla bla: minute 23 this time. Can’t do it. I curse, I stop the training, I get down and I wonder why. Can the meal plan I am following to the letter affect my performance? Yes, I have a food plan: I am training less than usual and I try to stay in shape only through what I eat.

I decide to write Luca Bianchini, my MD Coach, a man of infinite experience. I explain what happened. He tells me I’m ‘low on carbohydrates’, and it is normal for my performance to drop: “you have to decide what your goals are”. So I pass the ball to the nutritionist, who patiently explains to me in detail the wellness and health goals we had set. Mind you: I said well-being and health, not performance or results, I leave those to somebody else. And, if I do reach them, it will only be an indirect benefit.

I return to Luca, who resets my workouts with a lower intensity percentage, and who assures me that soon, with little careful changes in my nutrition, I could have nice surprises. And I sure did! You never stop learning: this is yet another demonstration. I had put together a micro cosmos of sport-health-wellness that opened new horizons for me. The added value is having a coach who can personalize and constantly readjust the training to best suit my needs and goals. I’m being a “guinea pig” for myself and I like it, I enjoy it.

I have the right tools, I have the right people around me and I am very, very lucky. For the record: with the new settings I finished the training as expected. The sweatband was back on, the playlist was “right” again and my “ego” gave a big sigh of relief, which is a reminder that every now and then, feeling at peace with yourself matters the most”.

Client assistance and customer feedback are among the distinctive qualities of MagneticDays. So it’s possible to share your google reviews on MagneticDays JARVIS smart trainer, the user experience and everything that makes you feel part of the MD family. Leave us your review here. Your opinion is very important to us!

A few weeks ago we introduced a small change within the MagneticDays AUTOTESTS. But first, let’s remind us all what AUTOTESTS are: autotests or self-tests are incremental test protocols available (free of charge) to all MD customers/users who own an account on our site. They are used to choose the best range of physiological parameters when it comes to writing a workout or riding a Self-Managed Workouts, or simply to know the fitness level after a period of inactivity.

Each MagneticDays AUTOTEST (seven in total) corresponds to an assumed threshold level (processed by an algorithm) and, for each one, both the warm-up and the start of the incremental test will change. What does the change consist of? Until recently, the athlete’s recovery was an active recovery, meaning that after reaching the maximum bearable wattage, the brake opened to give the possibility to recover by pedaling. From today, however, the recovery is passive (yellow area of the graph below), meaning that the athlete recovers “from a standstill” for the entire duration, which is decided by the MD Coach. We defined this as the recovery index, or the ability of the heart to reduce the heart rate at the end of an exercise. The speed with which the heart returns to a low frequency indicates the efficiency of the cardiovascular system. It is believed that the recovery index reflects the reactivation balance of the parasympathetic nervous system and the inhibition of the sympathetic nervous system[1].

Cells need to rebuild ATP during recovery

It is necessary for cells to rebuild ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) after exertion, and this process takes place during recovery. In the first 10 seconds this is done by the anaerobic alactacid system (the re-synthesis of ATP by means of the creatine phosphate kinase enzyme). Subsequently – up to about 30 seconds – the anaerobic lactacid system is activated (splitting of glucose with production of ATP and lactic acid). From 30 seconds on, the aerobic system is more involved in the recovery.

The three recovery indexes (IDR), described in the report that the MagneticDays Coach sends to the athlete after each training block, indicate the efficiency of the energy systems at the end of a maximum effort, such as an incremental power test. In addition, they indicate the athlete’s resilience in the three areas as well as in general. This allows the MD Coach to calibrate each customized indoor training session, with the relative recoveries studied ad hoc.

The recovery indexes in the MagneticDays report

The recovery indexes highlighted in the MagneticDays report are:

1. IRD AA: Anaerobic Alactic Recovery Index, or the ability to resynthesize ATP through the use of the enzyme creatine phosphate kinase (CPK);
2. IDR AL: Anaerobic Lactacid Recovery Index, or the ability to resynthesize ATP through the use of anaerobic glycolysis;
3. IDR AE: Aerobic Recovery Index, or the ability to resynthesize ATP through the use of the Krebs Cycle;
4. IDR GENERAL: GENERAL Recovery Index, or the ability to resynthesize ATP through the use of all three systems.

How to read the recovery index

To read the recovery index, the following must be kept in mind: the number indicated in the report corresponds to the slope of the linear regression line intercepted through the points examined by the MD Coach. A low number corresponds to a poor recovery capacity, conversely, a high number means the athlete has a good recovery capacity. The numbers taken individually are not very useful. To understand whether the personalized indoor training has achieved its effects, it is necessary to compare them with the parameters of a subsequent incremental test. And this is one of the many advantages of the MagneticDays coaching service.

For a few months now, we have uploaded 7 free MagneticDays AUTOTEST (FTP Cycling Test) on each personal account. These tests are available to all MD customers/users, to give them the opportunity to choose the best range of physiological parameters when it comes to writing a workout or using our Self-Managed Workouts, or simply to find out their fitness level after a period of inactivity. Each AUTOTEST corresponds to an assumed threshold level (processed by an algorithm) and in each both the warm up phase and the start of the incremental 1:6 test changes. But what is behind the development of the MagneticDays AUTOTEST? A statistical analysis of over 3000 incremental test protocols. Let’s have a look at what it is.

Statistical analysis of over 3000 incremental test protocols (FTP cycling test)

The threshold values of the MagneticDays AUTOTEST (FTP Cycling Test) are provided by an algorithm studied on the basis of the experience gained from the statistical analysis of over 3000 incremental test protocols, from the studies carried out at our TRAINING LAB and from the collaboration with various Italian universities, among all the University of Verona and the Foro Italico in Rome.

Obviously, it is the athlete’s condition at that precise moment that determines the outcome of the test and the threshold values. Each time, the condition is different and therefore the athlete’s response to the test is different. As mentioned above, these considerations are the result of a statistic completed on over 3000 incremental test protocols (1:6), and are able to ensure the actuality of an “estimated” threshold value. This value is as precise as possible without the presence of a coach, who would be able to place the threshold value unequivocally. The threshold values obtained with the AUTOTEST MagneticDays protocols can therefore be considered a good starting point when you do not have the support of a coach, but they cannot be substituted for the data collected by the test protocols analyzed by the Coaches.

“The AUTOTEST MagneticDays – declares the company – is part of that research path we are following to continue to raise the level of personalized training. We place ourselves immediately below the classic test developed in the presence of a Coach, with the difference that, in this case, the users carry out the protocol completely autonomously, without the support of the coach, and can still obtain an accurate estimate of their physical condition.”