Coached by science – the HYCYS coaching system

“I don’t need a coach, I’m not a professional after all.” We get that kind of statement at lot at HYCYS when we tell others what we do. Another one is “I’m too bad an athlete for a coach – it’s not worth the effort.” But a well-structured training is the key to success. And after all, who doesn’t want to become faster or better?

Coaching – at HYCYS this comprises more than just defining intensity zones, writing and evaluating training plans. Our definition of coaching consists of many facets, all of which designed to make the athlete better; no matter whether he or she is an amateur athlete, an ambitious athlete, a semi-professional or a pro. We have different options available to create a benefit for all of our athletes. These options include physiological performance diagnostics, writing training plans and analyzing the training sessions of the respective athlete as well as creating nutritional guidelines tailored to training and competition and the development of a pacing strategy – for cycling marathons and long-distance events just like for time trials or triathlon races. Our service portfolio also includes hands-on options to improve the athletes’ performance: In our individual bike fittings and aerodynamic optimizations, we look for improvement potential with regard to saddle pressure and power transmission, air resistance and saddle stability.

The HYCYS coaches

First and foremost, the athletes we train benefit from the expertise of our coaching team. They draw up a profile of strengths and weaknesses, write the training plans, react to changes, impart important know-how to the athletes, e.g. regarding nutrition, give tips for and provide assistance in the implementation of all of these. We are convinced that the personal contact between athlete and coach is essential for the further development of the athlete and is probably the most important component of a successful training support. And this is why we attach great importance to professional and social competence when selecting our employees. HYCYS coaches are not only trained sports scientists with a bachelor’s or master’s degree including a background in competitive sports (physiology, biomechanics, nutritional science, psychology), but most of them also have their own sports CV. Furthermore, the members of our team of coaches regularly do further training, attend congresses and study or do a doctorate, sometimes in parallel, to deepen their knowledge and broaden their horizons. In short, they all know what they are talking and writing about – and they can convey it to our athletes.

Our coaches keep direct contact with the athletes via telephone, mail and Skype or they communicate face to face at on-site appointments or, if desired, before or during important competitions. However, we don’t communicate unilaterally, because we believe that a good coach is in constant dialogue with his or her athlete and always “processes” their feedback, too. This is one of the reasons why we do not hand out ready-made training plans and why new training plans are always written only after the coach got the respective athlete’s feedback on the previous one. For real performance progress it is essential that the coach always reacts to the current physical and mental situation of the athlete.

HYCYS training support – holistic, scientifically based and passionate

Successful training support at HYCYS always rests on three decisive pillars:

  1. The general conditions of the athlete, which are important for training. These include, for example, available training time, special training camps, alternative training opportunities and of course the social environment such as family, job and other commitments. Everything will be coordinated.
  2. The athlete’s goals. These can be a certain result in a race or a specific time in a particular competition. But the goal may also be to lose weight or to become more athletically potent. This is determined by the athlete him- or herself, we support him or her in setting realistic goals.
  3. The holistic approach to performance development. Our performance diagnostics enables us to “prove” to what extent the respective athlete’s performance may improve. In addition, our bike fittings allow for a hands-on performance transition “from lab to real life”. We uncover development potentials in order to optimize the performance holistically.

Training with HYCYS

Anyone who trains with HYCYS will get individual support. The athlete gets his “training prescirption” based on his or her personal strengths and weaknesses, his or her goals and of course his or her time budget.

Before the training starts, however, athlete and coach will always talk first to get to know each other – for example by phone or in a personal appointment, e.g. for the first performance diagnostics. This is the basis for setting up the individual training plans, as otherwise it would not be possible to take into account the respective athlete’s prerequisites and, if necessary, his or her physiological weaknesses. Therefore, our plans are not designed with the help of an algorithm like a software, an app or a training platform.

When setting up the training plans, we rely on modern, scientifically verifiable findings. We have no philosophy that is shaped by a specific training “style”.

Collecting endless basic endurance kilometers in winter? Not an option for an individual training plan. For us there is no training content that depends on the season, training units are exclusively based on HYCYS’ training pillars. Even in winter a training session can be short and crisp if it contributes to the athlete’s development.

There is also no trial and error approach like “first three months basic endurance, then 2 weeks intensive training”. First of all, because such training concepts do not motivate very much and secondly – and much more importantly – because the performance diagnostics reveal the respective athlete’s weaknesses that can be worked on directly. In order to determine objectively that the training works and leads to the desired effect, the performance progress and the development of the athlete’s physiology is regularly monitored by means of further diagnostics. Therefore, this training design kind of “guarantees” that neither time nor kilometers are wasted, before it turns out after 3 months that “basic endurance” was not the right approach after all.

Training units are only the tool. One of the most important characteristics of modern coaching is to blend them in a meaningful way, to adapt them individually to the athlete’s physical condition and to integrate them into the everyday life of a non-professional athlete without overtaxing or undertaxing him or her.

Conclusion

You want to become a faster, i.e. better, athlete? Then stop trying to improve the chassis by buying carbon wheels, a super-light frame, electronic shifting and the like and start investing into the decisive factor: you. We at HYCYS are looking forward to the “tuning process” and to getting some extra power out of you. Any questions? Give us a call, write us an email or visit us in Cologne, Hamburg or Munich!

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