I need a training plan!
Discussion
Ok, 'training' may be a little over the top, but the situation is this: Over the last few years I've slid further and further out of shape and I'd like to loose some fat, regain some muscle and become a bit more effective on the trails. I'm not looking to become an XC racer, just a reasonably passable weekend warrior.
What is the best type of riding to do for fat burning? (Short bursts? Slow and steady?)
Without going on a diet of lentils and green tea are there any palatable dieterary changes you can recommend (more protein after rides? more carbs beforheand? etc.)
Any other tips really...
If I try and go for a hardcore training plan I won't keep it up, but just a few general points would be good.
What is the best type of riding to do for fat burning? (Short bursts? Slow and steady?)
Without going on a diet of lentils and green tea are there any palatable dieterary changes you can recommend (more protein after rides? more carbs beforheand? etc.)
Any other tips really...
If I try and go for a hardcore training plan I won't keep it up, but just a few general points would be good.
I've been reading the diet doctors book recently with a similiar aim to yourself.
My diet for the next 3 months consists of fish, vegetables (no potatoes), salad, seeds & nuts (unsalted, not roasted), fruit, brown rice and wholemeal pasta & water to drink. Nothing else. As for training, get a heart rate monitor and train between 70-80% of your heart rate max. Train for at least 30 minutes a day or as near as possible.
It's actually a lot easier/better than it sounds.
My diet for the next 3 months consists of fish, vegetables (no potatoes), salad, seeds & nuts (unsalted, not roasted), fruit, brown rice and wholemeal pasta & water to drink. Nothing else. As for training, get a heart rate monitor and train between 70-80% of your heart rate max. Train for at least 30 minutes a day or as near as possible.
It's actually a lot easier/better than it sounds.
Edited by WildCards on Monday 3rd March 12:11
F
k putting together a training plan other than the following:
Get your fat arse out of bed early every weekend morning and ride the trails / centres you like for as long as you feel comfortable - fitness, distance, technique, and ultimately speed will come gradually.
Once the clocks change, ride as much as you can during the week too.
k putting together a training plan other than the following:Get your fat arse out of bed early every weekend morning and ride the trails / centres you like for as long as you feel comfortable - fitness, distance, technique, and ultimately speed will come gradually.
Once the clocks change, ride as much as you can during the week too.
Exercise:
As above...
Diet:
My advice, forget dieting if you want to loose weight permanently - look at your nutrition instead. You need something you follow for the rest of your life.
Apologies, I am telling you something you already know / do:
Really learn to cook, your diet will be far healthier and much tastier and it will be much easier to loose weight.
This means that if you have any processed food in your diet, drop it. Prepare everything from its raw ingredients. If you need to look on the back of a packet to tell you whats in a certain food, put it back on the shelf.
If you are already eating what appears to be an OK diet (varied and no processed food) and remain overweight, think of doing the following: eat half the amount of bread, rice and potato and at least double the amount of fruit and veg in your diet.
Snack on nuts and fruit. Your body is well evolved to digest both of these. Try some fresh pinapple, with some 85% dark chocolate chunks if you need a chocky fix - just give the sugary stuff a wide bearth.
Very easy to stick with (not at all hardcore), the only things off the menu are processed foods and over consumption of carbohydrates your body is not well evolved to digest effectively (including - bread, rice and potato), and if you are not a cook already it will give you a new skill to share with your friends. It will have a big impact on your weight, general health and energy levels.
Not bad at all.
As above...
Diet:
My advice, forget dieting if you want to loose weight permanently - look at your nutrition instead. You need something you follow for the rest of your life.
Apologies, I am telling you something you already know / do:
Really learn to cook, your diet will be far healthier and much tastier and it will be much easier to loose weight.
This means that if you have any processed food in your diet, drop it. Prepare everything from its raw ingredients. If you need to look on the back of a packet to tell you whats in a certain food, put it back on the shelf.
If you are already eating what appears to be an OK diet (varied and no processed food) and remain overweight, think of doing the following: eat half the amount of bread, rice and potato and at least double the amount of fruit and veg in your diet.
Snack on nuts and fruit. Your body is well evolved to digest both of these. Try some fresh pinapple, with some 85% dark chocolate chunks if you need a chocky fix - just give the sugary stuff a wide bearth.
Very easy to stick with (not at all hardcore), the only things off the menu are processed foods and over consumption of carbohydrates your body is not well evolved to digest effectively (including - bread, rice and potato), and if you are not a cook already it will give you a new skill to share with your friends. It will have a big impact on your weight, general health and energy levels.
Not bad at all.
Cut down on red meat, bread and potatoes? That would only leave cheese on my diet...
Ok, exagerating slightly there. To be fair I already eat quite a lot of fruit, do need to cut down on the processed food though.
Your maximum heart rate is something like 220bpm minus your age isn't it? So, at 25 I'd have to sustain around 117-155bpm for about 2 hours.
I'm off work today, so going to nip out for a quick ride shortly - I figure even a quick sprint is better than continued vegitation.
Ok, exagerating slightly there. To be fair I already eat quite a lot of fruit, do need to cut down on the processed food though.
Your maximum heart rate is something like 220bpm minus your age isn't it? So, at 25 I'd have to sustain around 117-155bpm for about 2 hours.
I'm off work today, so going to nip out for a quick ride shortly - I figure even a quick sprint is better than continued vegitation.
Sounds right.
The idea is to get your body to use fat as fuel rather than glucogen - sugar. To get the fat-burning mechanism working well you need to be exercising for an extended period - 40 minutes plus - at a moderate level.
The HR range is pretty broad, but essentially you should stick to a work rate at which you can still just about breathe through your nose, or at least sustain a conversation.
Try to recover after each training session with protein rather than sugar, too.
Frequency is also important; the more often you exercise the faster your base metabolic rate becomes, burning more calories just to sit still.
The idea is to get your body to use fat as fuel rather than glucogen - sugar. To get the fat-burning mechanism working well you need to be exercising for an extended period - 40 minutes plus - at a moderate level.
The HR range is pretty broad, but essentially you should stick to a work rate at which you can still just about breathe through your nose, or at least sustain a conversation.
Try to recover after each training session with protein rather than sugar, too.
Frequency is also important; the more often you exercise the faster your base metabolic rate becomes, burning more calories just to sit still.
mat205125 said:
Fk putting together a training plan other than the following:
Get your fat arse out of bed early every weekend morning and ride the trails / centres you like for as long as you feel comfortable - fitness, distance, technique, and ultimately speed will come gradually.
Once the clocks change, ride as much as you can during the week too.
+1. Ride as much as you can, eat sensibly. Biggest thing for me was not what I was eating, just quantites of it - for a while measure out properly what a normal portion is and adjust to that.k putting together a training plan other than the following:Get your fat arse out of bed early every weekend morning and ride the trails / centres you like for as long as you feel comfortable - fitness, distance, technique, and ultimately speed will come gradually.
Once the clocks change, ride as much as you can during the week too.
Riding to work was a huge benefit to me too.
pawsmcgraw said:
As a dedicated racer and furious pedaler the first thing i always ask is how many hours a week do you want to train, as this will dictate how you train.What do you want to achive?Fitness or some gas in your legs?Or to tear your mates legs off on the Sunday ride?
Well, the problem is my time is currently split between two houses - only one of which contains my bike and it's not the one I have a key too! So training is likely to be a bit ad-hoc. Say, 1.5 hours every other day?I'd like to loose some fat and generally prepare for some more interesting trail rides out in the summer. I don't think my leg strength is too bad currently, but I wouldn't object to a little more.
Edit: Another question... When I don't have my bike to hand, should I try and follow the same guidelines running or adjust it for the different excercise?
Edited by Chris71 on Tuesday 4th March 13:23
If i was in the same circumstances, with that sort of time frame, and if the legs are quite strong, as you say then, i'd spend all of the time riding(or as much of it as you can)riding as close to max heart rate as possible.
This will give you most bang for your buck so to speak.Theres probably enough recovery time between, you will empty your system.You will gain more strength but most of all your general fitness will increase,especially your cardio/oxygen uptake.Stay out of the red zone, the point where you feel your going to be sick over the bars, but ride at a sustainable max for the duration of the ride.
Most people can't train this way as it hurts and as we all know it makes the mind shut it down.
If you can't do it because it takes the fun out of riding, just ride as hard as you can as often as you want.On such small time frames as 5 hours a week, more pain more gain is very true.
This will give you most bang for your buck so to speak.Theres probably enough recovery time between, you will empty your system.You will gain more strength but most of all your general fitness will increase,especially your cardio/oxygen uptake.Stay out of the red zone, the point where you feel your going to be sick over the bars, but ride at a sustainable max for the duration of the ride.
Most people can't train this way as it hurts and as we all know it makes the mind shut it down.
If you can't do it because it takes the fun out of riding, just ride as hard as you can as often as you want.On such small time frames as 5 hours a week, more pain more gain is very true.
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