Basic Fitness Programmes?

[nilling]

I have a number of planned charity rides this year. Can anyone recommend a basic cycling fitness programme to improve my aerobic conditioning and pedaling technique.

I have a new exercise/spinning bike for the week, my old road bike at wkends and a HR monitor.

 

[walker]

what sort of fitness are you at at the moment?
whats the longest you've ridden and how much do you plan to ride?

 

[nilling]

It would be safe to assume I am overweight and unfit. Although I do go on the spinner a couple of times a week I'm looking for a structured fitness programme.

 

[Aperitif]

Ride your bike every day - whatever the weather.

 

[nilling]

Ride your bike every day - whatever the weather.

Wish I could but being a single Dad with a young daughter I just don't get the time, except for the summer holidays.

Which was the reason I bought an exercise bike. So when she's sound asleep up stairs I could get some basic fitness.

Maybe what I looking for is a turbo trainer programme?

 

[Twenty Inch]

Hi Nilling

There's a lot of experienced people on this forum who are happy to help, but it's difficult if we have to tease details out of you.

How about letting us know the amount of time you've got available and when it is, what your experience has been so far, what kind of distance you're aiming at, what sort of fitness training you are doing at the moment, and so on. It'll help people to target their advice and their time.

I offer this post in the spirit of helpful comment, not sarky criticism.

 

[nilling]

ok...

I'm overweight, unfit and pootling about at wkends is about the only exercise
I'm getting at the moment .

Time available 1 to 2 hours per night during the week.

I am hoping to do the Manchester-Blackpool ride on 13th July 2008 which is 60 miles.

Hope somebody can help

 

[stephec]

If you've got an hour a night and one ride of two to three hours at the weekend, you shouldn't have any problems completing the Manchester to Blackpool.

All depends on your goal, do you want to tank it in under three hours, or just enjoy the ride?

 

[Twenty Inch]

If you've got an hour a night and one ride of two to three hours at the weekend, you shouldn't have any problems completing the Manchester to Blackpool.

All depends on your goal, do you want to tank it in under three hours, or just enjoy the ride?

Pretty well my thoughts too.

However, some more structured advice.

Set a baseline:
Measure your resting heart rate every morning. As you get fitter, you'll see it come down. Also, if it is over 10% above average one morning, that's a signal to take it easy for a couple of days - you're either overtraining, or getting sick with something. HR monitors can be very useful tools.
Identify a ten mile circuit, and do it once a week. Your time will come down, and you'll be able to measure how much faster you're getting.

Structure your training:
Don't try and do the turbo every night. Unless you have an iron will, you'll go crazy with boredom. You'll also get tired and at risk of over training. 3x a week is plenty. Remember the muscles get stronger when they are resting. Mix the training up - do intervals - if you're watching telly, sprint for the ads interval, push hard for the song you're listening to, that sort of thing. This will help you to stay interested, and also help to train your body for real-life cycling.

On non-turbo days, do some strength exercises - press-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups (or half-pull-ups, or let-downs, or whatever you can manage), back raises, lunges, step-ups. These will all strengthen your torso and trunk, often neglected in cyclists. They can all be done in front of the telly.

Build training and weightloss into everything:
Get off the bus earlier and onto it later. Take the stairs, not the lift. Carry the shopping round the supermarket in a basket, not a trolley. Walk to see a colleague, don't send an email. Eat fruit instead of chocolate. If you must eat chocolate, make it 75% cocoa solids - you won't need much. Drink diluted fruit juice instead of coke (by the way, you can make your own isotonic sports drink with 50:50 juice:water and a pinch of salt). Have a low-fat plain yoghurt instead of biscuits. I lost 6-7 kg with the GI diet earlier this year without suffering.

Enjoy yourself, it sounds like you're going to have some fun, make some changes and really have a good time. Let us know how you get on.

 

[zummerzet_lou]

Hiya,

Wow .. congrats on entering the 60miler ride. I did a couple of thoe last year and felt so chuffed to haev achieved them.

How old is your daughter?

I sometimes took my children out on training rides, either in their trailer, or on a rear seat? Would she be too old for these?

Lou

 

[walker]

ok...


Time available 1 to 2 hours per night during the week.


Hope somebody can help

more than enough time to get in some training. I would start with some interval training to get the feeling of distance over limited time. with your current state I would only suggest the smallest of intervals, maybe only 8x10 second sprints. It will help given the limited time. It will also help out with your overall speed.

as said try and get some other training in, exactly the way twenty suggested.

 

[rikgrimsby]

at the min i go for a 10mile bike ride 5 days aweek before brekky(this takes me about 45mins to do).at the weekend i aim for 60miles sat and 60 miles sun.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

If you want a structure, then it's worth looking at the "Lance Armstrong Performance Program" by LA and Chris Carmichael (ISBN 1-57954-364-2 or paperback 1-57954-270-0). A copy from the library is handy as you only need to photocopy a couple of pages.

In the book, there are three training programs (Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced) each lasting seven weeks. The beginners is easily possible on a spin machine (and even the intermediate is do-able) especially if you can get out and about at the weekend on your bike.

The reaction to most people on these programs is that there is a lot of 'rest' and easy days. But it's easy to forget how much time the body needs to adapt to the improvements made to their physiology. It's a combination of quality training and adequate rest that will get you fit fastest. Most people's training consists of too much indifferent riding and too little rest.

 

[walker]

If you want a structure, then it's worth looking at the "Lance Armstrong Performance Program" by LA and Chris Carmichael (ISBN 1-57954-364-2 or paperback 1-57954-270-0). A copy from the library is handy as you only need to photocopy a couple of pages.

In the book, there are three training programs (Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced) each lasting seven weeks. The beginners is easily possible on a spin machine (and even the intermediate is do-able) especially if you can get out and about at the weekend on your bike.

The reaction to most people on these programs is that there is a lot of 'rest' and easy days. But it's easy to forget how much time the body needs to adapt to the improvements made to their physiology. It's a combination of quality training and adequate rest that will get you fit fastest. Most people's training consists of too much indifferent riding and too little rest.

This book is pretty much rubbish unless you plan to race and want to know the in's and outs of Lance and Chris.

I would advise getting the long distance cyclists book, same people

 

[Tim Bennet.]

This book is pretty much rubbish unless you plan to race and want to know the in's and outs of Lance and Chris.

No it's not. The Beginners and Intermediate training schemes are one of the best ways of using very limited time for all sorts of riding, especially if you are stuck indoors on a turbo or spin cycle. That's why I recommended getting a copy from the library and photocopying the relevant pages, not reading the whole thing.

If someone said "I live in the Dales and have limitless time on my hands" my advice would certainly have been something else. I was trying to answer a specific question relating to a specific set of circumstances.