WHAT IS INSCYD?

INSCYD is the most advanced tool to analyze endurance performance in athletes. INSCYD creates a full metabolic performance profile of an athlete. This includes aerobic capacity, glycolytic capacity, anaerobic threshold, energy cost of locomotion, fuel contribution (Fat vs. Carbohydrate), lactate accumulation & recovery, aerobic vs. anaerobic energy contribution, and many more performance metrics.

How is the testing done?

INSCYD test is usually done in a real-world scenario - on the road, on the track (cycling & running) or in swimming pool (triathlon). It involves lactate measurements before and after several efforts done above your FTP or pace. During the testing, you will be wearing a Vo2 measuring device VO2 Master, which will give exact information on your breathing patterns and economy. A test usually takes about 2 hours.

FOR ATHLETES

• INSCYD is for all athletes.
• INSCYD will benefit your training schedule and performance with both a scientific foundation and precise predictability.
• With INSCYD, you’ll get a full picture of your physical capacities and also a prediction of your training and racing outcomes.

The performance you are looking for is composed of a variety of components and metrics, but if you only focus on FTP, heart rate zones, or keep training only according to your Rate of Perceived Exertion, you’ll miss accuracy and efficiency.

For example, with INSCYD, you can finally understand the interactions between your aerobic system and your fuelling needs. Do you wonder, “How much should I consume per hour in order to maintain my performance?” With INSCYD, you'll know.

INSCYD takes into account, and connect to one another, the most important metrics for training purposes:

• VO2max
• Anaerobic threshold
• Lactate accumulation and recovery
• Fat and carbohydrates combustion
• Recovery
• VLamax (or glycolytic capacity)

Each of the above metrics measured by INSCYD is critical to performance and remember, each sports performance is predictable and can be broken down to these fundamental elements.

Take VLamax, for example, although you might have never heard of it, VLamax. It is the single most important measurement to enhance your performance. VLamax is the maximum production of lactic acid in your blood and gives you a complete understanding of your anaerobic metabolism (which yes, is crucial in endurance events, too!). VO2max is aerobic, now we know the anaerobic piece, which turns out to be at least as important.

+ VO2max - The size of the engine

From swimming sprints to 90-minute football matches, the maximum aerobic capacity (VO2max) is the single most important performance metric that needs to be looked at. As often misunderstood, VO2max is not restricted by only raw physical talent, but it can be trained to unknown maximums. VO2max is also a metric that responds quickly to training, so it needs to be monitored regularly. When you start a training program with Train2Win Endurance Coaching will test your VO2max, and we will plan a coaching plan tailored to increase it, but not only. Through our performance software, we also can:

• Compare the effect of high-intensity training and endurance workouts on VO2max.
• Evaluate the impact of specialized nutrition regimes to further increase VO2max.
• Understand the impact of VO2max on fat oxidation and carbohydrate combustion.

+ VLAmax - Elite Coaches secret weapon disclosed

VLAmax can be looked at from two different sides. From one side, a low VLamax would increase your anaerobic threshold, your fat combustion, and it would shorten your recovery time from hard efforts.

On the other hand, a high VLamax increases the power available for attacks, sprints, and short efforts. The anaerobic capacity can actually make the difference between winning and losing a race: the final lap, the final sprint, the final push – they are all decided by your glycolytic power.

Vlamax is the most important metric you should focus on and train according to. You may have never heard of it because up until last year it was used only by pro teams and national federations. However, now its benefits are opened to everyone, and you can finally start connecting all the dots that compose your performances: metrics, training adaptations, race predictions.

Don’t waste your time training the wrong way. Get tested with Train2Win Endurance Coaching – know your VLamax – and tailor your training according to it. Here is what Dan Lorang, coach of IRONMAN world champion Jan Frodeno says about VLamax

“You really know what to work on if you know the VLamax.” — DAN LORANG - HIGH PERFORMANCE COACH OF IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPION JAN FRODENO

Train2Win Endurance Coaching can help you to create a training program tailored to improve this precious performance metric to optimize:

• Fat Combustion
• Carbohydrate sparing
• Anaerobic Threshold (FTP Power)
• Ability to recover from hard efforts
• Sprint performance

+ Anaerobic Threshold

It is commonly known and accepted that there is a critical intensity (or power) as the highest intensity that allows for a “steady state” in your metabolism. People call this the anaerobic threshold, critical power, or velocity. Everybody knows it exists, and everybody wants to increase it. The commonly used methods to determine the anaerobic threshold are based on empirical findings within a certain population. However, this has let to a lot of misunderstanding around the anaerobic threshold and has restricted its assessment to some non-specific protocols. The most significant shortfall on the empirical determination of the anaerobic threshold is that it doesn't provide any insight into the reasons why the anaerobic threshold is what it is. By testing your AT with Train2Win Endurance Coaching, you’ll get it tested according to its main definition: the maximum intensity at which lactate combustion equals lactate production. These tests will benefit you with an improved understanding of your own performances and how they’re composed. More precisely, you’ll then get to:

• Know the influence of physiological metrics on your anaerobic threshold.
• Reduce the standard error of determination of the anaerobic threshold to < 3%.
• Calculate the enhancement of anaerobic threshold by improving a single performance metric.

+ Lactate accumulation & recovery

In disciplines with random interval-type work demand, such as cycling or football, repeated high-intensity efforts are unavoidable. Every bout of sprinting and attacking may result in lactate accumulation. The duration and intensity that an athlete can recover from these efforts are absolutely crucial. The ability to use lactate as a fuel and to actually use it to optimize your performance is absolutely crucial in high-intensity sports. These kind of abilities are highly trainable, and with Train2Win Endurance Coaching, you can start training them for real and see the real benefits in a very short time.

+ Economy - Decrypting the speed hack

We’re sure you have heard of the economy. Running economy, cycling economy, swimming economy - the word is used across all disciplines. However, very few understand it, forget about measuring it. So, what economy really is?

• Economy relates to the conversion of energy into speed or power (depending on what you measure).
• Understanding economy means understanding how much energy is needed to move at a certain speed or produce a certain power.
• The amount of energy available is a matter of physical ability, but how fast an athlete moves with that energy is a whole different story.

Decrypt the key to go fast!

• Economy is the single most important parameter in free motion sports such as running and swimming. Obtaining insight into your economy will become a competitive advantage.
• Assess the impact of a prescribed training regime on changes in economy.
• Monitor economy on a regular basis and tune it to your training programs.
• The software we use to evaluate your is a high-precision tool that allows you to capture the effect of different equipment such as running shoes or wetsuits and their energy cost at various speeds.

+ Fat combustion

Fat combustion is the bottleneck of endurance performance in sports like running and triathlon. Train2Win Endurance Coaching is also able to measure and track this metric through our performance software – so you can create strategies to increase your energy expenditure from fat and thereby enhance your performance. Why?

• Fat combustion rates are highly individual metrics.
• Accurately understanding fat combustion in is crucial in endurance sports.
• Significant differences are observed both between different athletes and between different states of training in the same athletes at different times.
• Knowing the FatMax Zone allows you to train fat combustion most efficiently.

+ Carbohydrates combustion

It is also crucial to understand precisely how much carbohydrates you burn during exercise. With this understanding, you can find the perfect level of fueling for your training and races, and which level will actually fatigue or enhance your performance. Fuel to perform

• Focus on carbohydrate combustion and get tailored nutrition plans.
• Perfecting intake of carbohydrates is trainable but needs to be practiced.
• Adjust the pacing and plan a fueling strategy to avoid running out of fuel.

Conventional assessment of carbohydrate combustion based on gas analyses has significant limitations. Not only they are lab-based test only, but they also get affected by nutrition status. Scientific research has shown that neglecting lactate measurements when assessing carbohydrate combustion from the gas exchange is misleading. Through the use of our performance software, you can finally compare your lactate production and compare it to the carbohydrate combustion one. The only way to produce lactate is by breaking down carbohydrates; thus, lactate production is directly linked to carbohydrate combustion. Measure where these metrics where it matters: on the track, on the climb, and on the field.