Am i riding enough to see fitness gains?

The Northern Monkey

I ride to uni 2 maybe 3 times a week, takes me 10-15mins each way depending on traffic/how hard i push/how late i am. (have been doing this for the past month or so)

On the nutrition side of things i eat a very balanced diet and keep track of what i've eaten in my food diary, and feel i have lost weight.

Is this enough to start actually feeling gains in fitness? I do feel that the ride has become much easier over the past few weeks, but i still dont feel "fit".

B

JayKingFunk

Well I ride around 18 to 20 miles a week just on my commute and sometimes more if I go on a 'proper' ride off road. I started riding my bike again in January this year and since then I've lost nearly 3 stone!

My diet isn't brilliant, I eat fairly good mon to fri but on the weekend I probably exceed my limit for alcohol and have the odd take away!! I seemed to loose loads of weight at first and now I pretty much stay at the same level.

I do feel much fitter but no where near as fit as I thought I was when I went swimming a few months back for the first time in years! I know its a very different type of exercise but I was shocked at how out of breath I got and how quick I got out of breath!

My legs, hips and a*se a very toned though!!!

I know that doesn't answer your question in any way but I just felt like sharing my experience as I have time to kill!! J.

Surf-Matt

Ben - I reckon you need to do a bit more. Maybe a quick half hour after uni three days a week?

10-15 minutes is a bit short - you'll only just be warmed up!

I used to cycle loads at Uni and did 4x 1 hour mega intensity weights plus loads of surfing (Swansea Uni) - made me a total beer lightweight!

I now do:

50-70 hilly miles a week.
Run 5-8 miles (off road)
Walk 15-20 miles (briskly)
Weights 2 hours a week.
Surf when there is any - anything up to 10 hours on a good week (rare).

And am pretty fit but it's a way of life for me.

The Northern Monkey

Surf-Matt wrote:

Ben - I reckon you need to do a bit more. Maybe a quick half hour after uni three days a week?

10-15 minutes is a bit short - you'll only just be warmed up!

I used to cycle loads at Uni and did 4x 1 hour mega intensity weights plus loads of surfing (Swansea Uni) - made me a total beer lightweight!

I now do:

50-70 hilly miles a week.
Run 5-8 miles (off road)
Walk 15-20 miles (briskly)
Weights 2 hours a week.
Surf when there is any - anything up to 10 hours on a good week (rare).

And am pretty fit but it's a way of life for me.

Yea i thought it would be too short

I would do more if i knew where to go. I've been told that there's some good riding near me if i get on a train for half an hour - there are no hills around here and naff all trail wise

I can't really run, i have problems with my knees and the impact on the tarmac kills them

I do walk quite a bit, dont have the use of a car so if i ever go into town its always via walking/bus (nearest bus stop is a good 10-20min walk away, depending if i'm with the GF) and i walk the same distance to the shops most nights.

I have my bench in the house set up, however have no tools to tighten the bugger together, currently doing whatever exercises with can do without the bench until i get the correct spanner.

toshmund

Seem to remember the benchmark is 40 mins, which is not including the warm-up. Not warming up correctly can effect performance by something like 30 percent. There was a good article in Ultrafit about it years ago, but the figure is a "guesstimate"!?
Activity, at a decent level of effort (65/85 percent depending on fatburn/CV)at least 3 times a week.

http://www.ultra-fitmagazine.com/

Good magazine, bit more indepth than Mens Health and its pre-occupation with "How to have awesome Abs, in 4 weeks - doing only 5 minutes a day!" Along with the best hair gel...

Marjory Stewart BAxtor

Government recons 3 * 20 mins a week of something getting the pulse up is good. I recon it's a really low estimate, I think it needs to be 20 mins a day (and now I've written that out loud it rings a bell... anyone know if it's changed in the last few years). end of the day so long as getting pulse up feels regular I think it's okay. You won't be doing tour de france any time soon on that regime but if you want to keep in the banner of `fit` then I think you're not doing too bad so long as you push yourself on your commute

The Northern Monkey

government is actually 30mins of exercise at least 5 times a week to stay the same weight. The world Health Organization recommend 40 mins of exercise 5 times a week to improve health.

i've actually lost weight *yaaay* and feel so much healthier even over just a few weeks. I really want to increase my exercise length but with so much uni work atm its difficult. i plan on going to swinley forest hopefully once a week in my second semester

FSR_XC

bigbenj_08 wrote:

I do walk quite a bit, dont have the use of a car so if i ever go into town its always via walking/bus (nearest bus stop is a good 10-20min walk away, depending if i'm with the GF) and i walk the same distance to the shops most nights.

'Bus' into town?

Bike's much cheaper ya'know.

There is nothing wrong with doin' a few extra road miles on a MTB. 30min-1hr 3 times a week in addition to what you are doing and you'll notice it.

The Northern Monkey

i only ever et the bus if i'm with the GF....i HATE the bus!
yea might start upping my time o the bike, but i'm stuck with uni work atm. plus my ignitor tyres aint gonna last much longer on he road!