Zwift Chat

[<Tommy>]

Here - Add
There’s a bloke on here saying he’s an electrician but he bikes to work and has sea bass for luncheon !
I wonder if he’s worried that he will get his cravat tangled in the spokes having handlebars that low

😁

Haven’t you got paving slab that needs shifting? Don’t let us keep you!

 

[Whorty]

I think when you talk about losing weight you have to talk about gaining power too. I just think they have to be part of the same conversation. It’s the hardest thing we do as cyclists I think. But it’s the only way.

If you solely focus on losing weight you can easily lose power. If you solely focus on increasing power you can easily gain weight. You need to find a way of marrying the two. It goes back to my last waffle post. It’s a question of commitment. Or how much you have. Because you can lose weight and gain power but it’s does take a bit of trial and error and a fair bit of control.

I guess I'm looking at losing weight but maintaining power as a worst case scenario for me. I understand that I'll have to work on the power side as losing weight will almost certainly lose me power at the same time, so if I can 'stand still' on the power I'll be in a good place. Any power gains on top of what I have today whilst losing weight will be a bonus.

I'm definitely looking at workouts that try to boost my shorter power ranges (1 min, 5 min and hopefully 20 min) as these seem to be the key KPIs for Zwift racing. I think I'm pretty close to my max capacity for the time I can put into training.

Time for all of us is constrained, but this should be no excuse for me ..... less time should mean less opportunity for filling my face with cake 🥧🥮🧁

 

[<Tommy>]

I guess I'm looking at losing weight but maintaining power as a worst case scenario for me. I understand that I'll have to work on the power side as losing weight will almost certainly lose me power at the same time, so if I can 'stand still' on the power I'll be in a good place. Any power gains on top of what I have today whilst losing weight will be a bonus.

I'm definitely looking at workouts that try to boost my shorter power ranges (1 min, 5 min and hopefully 20 min) as these seem to be the key KPIs for Zwift racing. I think I'm pretty close to my max capacity for the time I can put into training.

Time for all of us is constrained, but this should be no excuse for me ..... less time should mean less opportunity for filling my face with cake 🥧🥮🧁

Have a think about it this way. Kind of the other way around. If you focus on your training sessions or races, before your weight loss goal. You will probably find that the weight loss takes care of itself. If you eat enough and of the right food to train, and then eat enough, and of the right food to recover from your training. But don’t over eat, snack, eat crap. You might actually find that you can eat more, train harder, ergo get stronger because of it, and still lose weight.

Alternatively if you focus first on losing weight. You can lose the energy to perform and recover. And it makes it hard to even maintain the current power level let alone improve it.

All this stuff is asking quite a lot of discipline. And I’m not saying it’s for everyone. But it is a bit of a road map if you can map it out for yourself and work out what you need in terms of intake and output.

And now I’ll stop pontificating for the day I promise!

 

[BurningLegs]

Don't know if anyone here subscribes to the Trainer Road podcast? They have an audio and video version. They have covered this topic a few times in a few different ways - have a search on Youtube and you will see lots of content from them around nutrition, power to weight, and whether it is possible to lose weight and improve power (they insist that it is).

A few points that have stuck with me from their videos which I try to use as general principals:

1. Eat/fuel before a ride, rather than binge afterwards. I treat extreme hunger after a ride as a sign that I got my fuelling wrong. To see a physical adaptation (increased power) you must stress your body. That takes a lot of energy, which needs to be readily available during the workout, not after. If you go into a workout under-fuelled in an effort to run a calorie deficit then the workout will feel much harder and you'll probably feel like cr@p aftewards (and very hungry!).
2. Don't diet on the bike. As above - your body won't let you stress yourself if you don't have the fuel, that's a basic survival mechanism. If you're racing or doing a high intensity workout, fuel it with simple carbs. The only rides I don't fuel on the bike are low intensity rides.
3. Adaptations only happen during rest. I only do approx 4 hours riding a week, across three sessions. That's plenty to see a noticeable improvement in power to weight. If the goal is to see a gradual improvement in power to weight, I'd question the value of training on consecutive days over full recovery between rides. Consecutive training days are common in structured training plans but they're usually aiming for improved stamina rather than improved power to weight. In my experience, fatigue leads to hunger!

I seem to have plateaued at 65KG (from 70KG in Jan 2020 and 78KG from July 2019) - I use a FitBit smart scale to record weights which is quite handy to see trends etc. Tend to use it a couple of times a week, and all my weights in July have been between 64.2KG and 64.8KG. I'm happy with that and not looking to lose any weight at the moment, but trying not to see any added

 

[bobinski]

Google has just reported a huge rise in searches for The Colour Blind Electrician’s Sea Bass diet for cyclists 😀

 

[Whorty]

Google has just reported a huge rise in searches for The Colour Blind Electrician’s Sea Bass diet for cyclists 😀

There is even a meme available .... clearly Tommy is not the only one

 

[CXRAndy]

It is, but as I'm currently still technically overweight it should be feasible and still be healthy. Not easy that's for sure, but the target weight isn't unhealthy. If I'm honest with myself I'll be happy with 70kg, but always good to set a stretch target

What metric are you using-please say it isnt BMI. That was debunked years ago. It was created in the 1940s (correction in the 1800's by a mathematicianAdolph Quetelet )

It takes no account of body shape(mesomorph, endomorph, ectomorph) or muscle content

3 body types

Hip to waist ratio, lab tested body fat percentage are much more accurate. The hip/waist ratio rough guide is if your waist is smaller in dimension that hip you're pretty much ok.

Women its slightly different ratio but rule still applies

 

[CXRAndy]

Google has just reported a huge rise in searches for The Colour Blind Electrician’s Sea Bass diet for cyclists 😀

He needs to look for his front brake first

 

[<Tommy>]

Don't know if anyone here subscribes to the Trainer Road podcast? They have an audio and video version. They have covered this topic a few times in a few different ways - have a search on Youtube and you will see lots of content from them around nutrition, power to weight, and whether it is possible to lose weight and improve power (they insist that it is).

A few points that have stuck with me from their videos which I try to use as general principals:

1. Eat/fuel before a ride, rather than binge afterwards. I treat extreme hunger after a ride as a sign that I got my fuelling wrong. To see a physical adaptation (increased power) you must stress your body. That takes a lot of energy, which needs to be readily available during the workout, not after. If you go into a workout under-fuelled in an effort to run a calorie deficit then the workout will feel much harder and you'll probably feel like cr@p aftewards (and very hungry!).
2. Don't diet on the bike. As above - your body won't let you stress yourself if you don't have the fuel, that's a basic survival mechanism. If you're racing or doing a high intensity workout, fuel it with simple carbs. The only rides I don't fuel on the bike are low intensity rides.
3. Adaptations only happen during rest. I only do approx 4 hours riding a week, across three sessions. That's plenty to see a noticeable improvement in power to weight. If the goal is to see a gradual improvement in power to weight, I'd question the value of training on consecutive days over full recovery between rides. Consecutive training days are common in structured training plans but they're usually aiming for improved stamina rather than improved power to weight. In my experience, fatigue leads to hunger!

I seem to have plateaued at 65KG (from 70KG in Jan 2020 and 78KG from July 2019) - I use a FitBit smart scale to record weights which is quite handy to see trends etc. Tend to use it a couple of times a week, and all my weights in July have been between 64.2KG and 64.8KG. I'm happy with that and not looking to lose any weight at the moment, but trying not to see any added

I agree with pretty much all of that Legs. Even the bit I’ve highlighted to a degree. It does depend what you want out of it though doesn’t it. So it’s a bit subjective. Because training for that limited amount of time is fine if your main focus is zwift type racing. But endurance is also about sustaining power over a long period of time so you can manage long days, multiple days back to back riding. Specifically mountain climbing requires both as good vo2 max and as good w/kg as possible. So by definition improved stamina and improved power to weight aren’t mutually exclusive. And can be gained from training for endurance. You see professional athletes build a training plan that combines lots of different elements to suit their requirements.

But if your sole aim is focussing on high intensity and recovery rides then less is often more.

 

[<Tommy>]

He needs to look for his front brake first

I put some new bar tape on yesterday. ‘Fabric‘ silicone tape. First time I’ve used it but I really like it. It doesn’t have a sticky back but it’s kind of self adhesive and it’s really stretchy so you can decide how spongey you want the bars to feel and it went on nicely. I’d definitely recommend it. It’s not as grippy as supercaz or lizard skin but more grippy than cork So somewhere in the middle there. I think I’ll put it on the other bikes too.

 

[theboxers]

Didn't realise you was back riding TB ... great news

@Whorty

Yes, yes it is

Not going too mad at the moment, the op was only June 23rd. I'm only averaging 120-140w on the rides I'm doing on BigRingVR, which all things considered is quite frickin impressive considering the amount of time it's been since I last rode in the real world (365 days, July 6th 2019 and July 5th 2020, those are the dates between my last ride of the old era and the first ride of the new era, post op).

I am concentrating on building endurance at the moment. I did the Oslo Pt1 ride Sunday @126w avg and really enjoyed the 2h34ms of it .

I am starting a FTP builder program now to get some power back but with such a low starting point I may have to bump the FTP numbers up to get a real benefit .

I'll not be racing anywhere. But to get back to a point where I thought I could do a 100 mile ride would be good.

 

[theboxers]

Good to see you're riding again.

How's it going and are you over the health problems you had?

@Del C
thanks good to be back

Not totally over the problem, but the issue remaining is now lower leg not Total groin blockage affecting the right leg .

I'm just working my way back as far as I can

 

[Whorty]

What metric are you using-please say it isnt BMI.

That's why i caveated with 'technically' and 'ballpark' - I think generally it's an ok estimate and I would say that when I was 16st I was obese, and now I'm still overweight. As an absolute value BMI may not be great, but as a guide/estimate I'm still happy using it

 

[Whorty]

@Whorty

Yes, yes it is

Not going too mad at the moment, the op was only June 23rd. I'm only averaging 120-140w on the rides I'm doing on BigRingVR, which all things considered is quite frickin impressive considering the amount of time it's been since I last rode in the real world (365 days, July 6th 2019 and July 5th 2020, those are the dates between my last ride of the old era and the first ride of the new era, post op).

I am concentrating on building endurance at the moment. I did the Oslo Pt1 ride Sunday @126w avg and really enjoyed the 2h34ms of it .

I am starting a FTP builder program now to get some power back but with such a low starting point I may have to bump the FTP numbers up to get a real benefit .

I'll not be racing anywhere. But to get back to a point where I thought I could do a 100 mile ride would be good.

That is brilliant news TB

I found BRVR really useful last year for getting some good solid miles in. Ride at your own pace but keep the pressure on the pedals due to the inclines. Really pleased for you mate

 

[berty bassett]

Yeh - welcome back TB 👍