Body Stats Result after 6 months training so far

jellikins

I am 40 and doing the Raid Pyranees in June and have just had my second body stats test since started training.

I would welcome any observations please with 4 1/2 months still to go.

BodyStat 1500 Analysis Report

Date of test: 07/01/2009

Personal Details

Name:

Age: 40
Height: 180cm
Weight: 73kg
Activity Level: Very high


Results
Readings Taken
Actual Reading Recommended Range

FAT = 12.6% 13-19%

FAT WEIGHT = 9.2kg 10-14kg

LEAN = 87.4% 81-87%

LEAN WEIGHT = 63.8kg 62-66kg

TOTAL BODY = 73kg 73-78kg

WATER = 64.7% 55-65%

TOTAL BODY
WATER = 47.2 ltr 40-47 ltr

BODY MASS INDEX = 23 20-25




ESTIMATED METABOLIC
RATE AT REST = 1957 kcal

ESTIMATED AVERAGE
ENERGY REQD. = 3522 kcal

BASEL MET RATE/BODY WEIGHT = 26.8 kcal/kg

Consultant’s Comments:

This body stat test shows that you have successfully reduced your body fat percentage by 1.6%. You have also reduced your fat weight by 1.3kg and increased your lean body percentage by 1.6%.

You appear to remain very well hydrated – 64.7% water. Try to drink at least 2-3 litres of water per day to maintain this. Remember, if you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated!!!

Target: aim to reduce your body fat percentage to by 1-2% before next body stat test.

fuzzynavel

Hello....maybe stating the obvious here....the stats look ok compared to what they are recommended to be but can you actually ride a bike?
None of these stats will tell you how well you are going to be able to ride.

jellikins

Yep, bike riding is fine. Been training hard for 8 months now. 4 turbo sessions a week at mo plus a weekend ride when safe to do so weather wise.

Frank the tank

How long you spending on your turbo my owd?

I did my longest session on one today 1hr 50min forkin' 'ell don't it get borin', but I must say I'm glad I've purchased one for this winter, it's been a "life saver". :P

jellikins

got 2 CTC DVD's.

One is the Climbing one and the other the fitness one.

Both 60 mins each and very intense.

rickhotrod

To get down to 10% body fat follow a strict diet. This doesn't mean eating tiny amounts, it does mean controlling what goes in. Weigh yourself before breakfast each day on accurate digital scales and plot the results on a calendar. If weight isn't coming off, adjust diet. Eat a tin of tomatoes and have a mug of bovril if feeling hungry. Don't eat too much saturated fat or sugar!

BeaconRuth

jellikins wrote:

got 2 CTC DVD's.

One is the Climbing one and the other the fitness one.

Both 60 mins each and very intense.

It's very iinteresting that you feel the need to have very sophisticated and accurate measurements of your body stats when the most important issues, I would think, relate to your cycling and training. e.g.:

How far and how fast do you ride when you get out on the road?
Do you have a progressive plan for building up your endurance and stamina?
Are the turbo DVDs you're using really what's needed for the Raid Pyrenean - when you say thay are very intense, what does that mean, and for what proportion of the time on the turbo?

Your average skinny glamour model could probably get some good body stats results but I wouldn't put much money on them completing the Raid Pyrenean. Maybe you are planning all the training out carefully and just not interested in discussing that here - but personally I think that's of far more concern than your latest %body fat and water content (which surely can only be an instantaneous snapshot anyway?).

Ruth

jellikins

Thx for the reply Ruth.

Before the winter weather set in, was doing 50 - 60 mile rides in hilly areas at average 15 - 18mph depending on intensity I set off etc.

My base level cycling fitness is ok, did the Cat and Fiddle last year as well and was training well.

Last 6 weeks been doing turbo sessions focusing on specific climbing repeats and climbing specific workouts as well as some VO2 max sessions.

I suppose the challenge is to now build on the decent fitness base I have over the next 4 months with a specific plan to enable me to enjoy the raid better.

This is where I probably need to help.

Come March, I will cycle to work 2 - 3 times a week (60 mile round journey over hills) and also do a long ride at the weekend.

I knkw to increase the base miles than no more than 10% week on week and make sure I leave 2 weeks before the Raid to maintain but not tire myself?

doyler78

jellikins wrote:

Thx for the reply Ruth.

Before the winter weather set in, was doing 50 - 60 mile rides in hilly areas at average 15 - 18mph depending on intensity I set off etc.

My base level cycling fitness is ok, did the Cat and Fiddle last year as well and was training well.

Last 6 weeks been doing turbo sessions focusing on specific climbing repeats and climbing specific workouts as well as some VO2 max sessions.

I suppose the challenge is to now build on the decent fitness base I have over the next 4 months with a specific plan to enable me to enjoy the raid better.

This is where I probably need to help.

Come March, I will cycle to work 2 - 3 times a week (60 mile round journey over hills) and also do a long ride at the weekend.

I knkw to increase the base miles than no more than 10% week on week and make sure I leave 2 weeks before the Raid to maintain but not tire myself?

Why is that people always refer to incremental increases in terms of distance. Surely distance is a function of speed and as such it cannot controlled very easily as terrain, wind, etc play a part. When you are limiting your increases to 10% per week then it seems to me that the reason for doing that is because you trying to build your endurance sensibly however for the reasons I gave before distance doesn't really let you do that - particularly as the distances increases.

Let me give you an example. If you go out one Saturday and do 40 miles and it takes you just 2 hour as you had little wind. You go the next week and do 44 miles (10% increase) however you have strong headwind which limits your speed to 15mph then you it will take you 2h56m to complete. That is an increase in time of just over 46% which is a huge increase to make in effort.

It would seem more sensible to me to increase based on time rather than distance otherwise you run the risk of picking up the injuries you were trying to prevent by exercising caution into your programme.

BeaconRuth

doyler78 wrote:

It would seem more sensible to me to increase based on time rather than distance otherwise you run the risk of picking up the injuries you were trying to prevent by exercising caution into your programme.

Is it really all that critical? I know people talk about increasing their training by 10% a week and that's not a bad rule of thumb for beginners but I'm sure making an increment that happens to be bigger is not a recipe for certain disaster. I don't think the risk of injury or overtraining is that great, is it?

Jellikins - I don't know whether you're intending to take the Raid Pyrenean on as a competitive stage race, but I'm quite sure that if you will be regularly riding 200 miles a week at 16-17mph (which is what it sounds like) then you'll have absolutely no problem completing the Raid in a very respectable time scale. I did a (longer) version of the Raid Pyrenean myself about 10 years ago and I would have been nowhere near as fit as you at that time. I certainly didn't have a 10-month training programme and all that body stats analysis gubbins. I just went and did it off the back of regular Sunday club riding. Sounds to me like you're making mountains out of............. er.......... mountains.

Ruth

doyler78

BeaconRuth wrote:

doyler78 wrote:

It would seem more sensible to me to increase based on time rather than distance otherwise you run the risk of picking up the injuries you were trying to prevent by exercising caution into your programme.

Is it really all that critical? I know people talk about increasing their training by 10% a week and that's not a bad rule of thumb for beginners but I'm sure making an increment that happens to be bigger is not a recipe for certain disaster. I don't think the risk of injury or overtraining is that great, is it?

Ruth

yep but what I was showing was that they assume 10% increase in distance equates to a 10% increase in training. It doesn't necessarily was what I was pointing out. Do I think it would lead to certain disaster. Absolutely not however in sticking to the rule in the first place the person following such a schedule presumably has reasons for doing so and what I was pointing out was the absurdity of it for doing the job they wanted it to do in the first place.

Not a great issue I agree it just always strikes me as strange everytime I see it and this time I bit

BeaconRuth

By a similar argument a 10% increase in time might be more than a 10% increase in training 'load' if someone decided to ride much harder all of a sudden. Doesn't measuring by time have the same inherent problem if the pace is not constant as distance does if the conditions are not constant?

Sorry, a bit OT I guess...........

Ruth

doyler78

BeaconRuth wrote:

By a similar argument a 10% increase in time might be more than a 10% increase in training 'load' if someone decided to ride much harder all of a sudden. Doesn't measuring by time have the same inherent problem if the pace is not constant as distance does if the conditions are not constant?

Sorry, a bit OT I guess...........

Ruth

I knew when I wrote that last response that this was going to be coming back like that I agree however it at least cuts out one of the variables and we can work PE, heart rate or power data to control effort and that's not something you can apply to distance.

To go back on topic of the all the tests as a cyclist that I could take I would find the test taken by the OP to be one the least interesting. It is pretty easy to easy to see lean muscle mass and to know if you are carrying a bit of a belly. If you eat well and drink sensibly then water content and fat aren't going to be real issues. If you are that bothered a piece of string and tape measure will prove just about as useful. Having said that if someone paid for me to have it done I would happily get it done I just wouldn't spend my money on it

BeaconRuth

doyler78 wrote:

I knew when I wrote that last response that this was going to be coming back like that I agree however it at least cuts out one of the variables and we can work PE, heart rate or power data to control effort and that's not something you can apply to distance.

Fair dos.

To go back on topic of the all the tests as a cyclist that I could take I would find the test taken by the OP to be one the least interesting. It is pretty easy to easy to see lean muscle mass and to know if you are carrying a bit of a belly. If you eat well and drink sensibly then water content and fat aren't going to be real issues. If you are that bothered a piece of string and tape measure will prove just about as useful. Having said that if someone paid for me to have it done I would happily get it done I just wouldn't spend my money on it

I agree with you.......... but then some people like measuring things and some of us are happy being a bit vague............ how many people round here are fascinated by the numbers their powermeter spits out whereas others of us can't be bothered to get one........... did I ever mention that you don't fatten a pig by weighing it?

Ruth

BeaconRuth

Jellikins - I sent a reply to the message you sent me via my website, but it got sent back from the email address you gave?

Ruth

jellikins

sorry ruth, work firewall!

sent you a pm.