Fitness levels stalled...

miss notax

Hello

I've been MTBing for about 18 months and now I ride a couple of times a week and do a spinning class once a week - but my fitness seems to have stalled :? We did a route last night with very long climbs and wheras I can more easily blast up the shorter more technical stuff, I struggled on these and had to revert to walking up the last bit of at least two climbs :oops: I havn't had to do that for a while :evil:

How can I move my fitness to the next level? Am even considering getting a road bike to be able to do an hour or so at the weekend when we wouldn't have the time to go MTBing. Or maybe even commute to work :shock:

Any thoughts welcome to help a grumpy girl feel slightly better!

lost-time

A road bike would be good....Also how are you at running? I do a bit of running and it has helped with general cardio fitness...I recover quicker from hills and have a bit more stamina. Putting the extra miles on the road bike will keep the cycling muscles in top form.

Also remember that you can have crap days. I had a bad day a couple of weeks back. No energy...felt sick and got my first ever sticth in nearly 20yrs of off-road biking.

miss notax

Hmmm, running is a good idea although i'm not meant to do TOO much due to a slightly knackered knee (old age ). Jogging once a week might help though.

And yes, probably just a crap day!!

Kiwi Kranker

You could try mixing your training up a bit to keep it interesting. I swear by a rowing machine, I had a similar fitness plateau issue to you and I used to commute 4 times a week and tried to do a decent ride each weekend whether road or out and about. By dropping a commute or *ahem* 3 and switching to the rowing machine I found I broke through that level after about 4 weeks. (40 minute min sessions)

Rowing and swimming are apparently the only two sports that use every major muscle group in your body (I am sure there are others before some anorak brings up Egyptian underwater pot making or the like) and I found that not only did the change of training make things less tedious it made me a stronger rider as my upper body strength increased as well as my cardio. I am more physical with my riding now really placing the bike where I want it to go....well as far as my skill level allows Often the placement is the wrong part of the trail but thats a story about A and E......

Oh and it also is great for general toning of the body which is ideal with summer coming up! Just make sure if you do use one that someone shows you how to use it properly otherwise you are wasting your time and risk hurting yourself.

Just my 2p

miss notax

Thanks Kiwi Kranker

I hadn't thought of rowing actually - I have always ignored the rowing machines in the gym! Good idea though, and it'll give me more to do whilst my OH is doing weights.

Thank you!

weeksy59

sarah75 wrote:

Thanks Kiwi Kranker

I hadn't thought of rowing actually - I have always ignored the rowing machines in the gym! Good idea though, and it'll give me more to do whilst my OH is doing weights.

Thank you!

Rowing machines are superb. They're great for both sprinting and endurance depending on how you decide to work.

Cardio is HARD on them. But the results do pay off.

Concept have competitions often on them for you to test yourself and give you some incentive.

Look on Concepts website.

ride_whenever

Rowing machines are great, but you're better off learning to row first, poor technique can give you a lot of back trouble. As for doing CV stuff on them, it's easy, just sit there with a HRM on and maintain a suitable heartrate.

Do remember, fitness does tend to increase slowly, if you find you don't have enough to do particular climbs, try doing some longish but intense intervals, say short hill repeats.

tlw1

I improved with running, but my knee is knackered now

So I have started swimming in the local pool in a "masters" class - its hard and I am VERY bad - but it is a great work out!

numptyfish

how about trying some bodyweight circuits especially burpees. help build all round core strength and endurance. sounds like you are doing plenty of cardio work and may be lacking in other areas. try looking up "bodyweightculture" on the net.

miss notax

Thanks for the advice - off to the gym tonight (spinning) but will also have a blast on the rowing machines and have a look at circuit type classes etc

320DMsport

I give the thunbs up for the road bike, great for building base fitness and the bigger the base you build the higher the peak you can get if you know what i mean.

Dead easy to ride from home and rides over 2 hours start to build fitnessand get your body to burn fat better.

You could get a heart rate monitor as riding a couple of hours at accurate Level 2 which is 75 to 85 percent of your max heart rate is prob as good as riding 6 hours with your HR all over the place, you know on the MTB, blast up hill, push abit, stop to open gate, coast over some rocky stuff, wait for a mate on a climb etc.

Also on road bike or your mtb find a hill that takes you about 5 mins to climb of reasonable steepness and do hill repeats, that way you will get better at climbing.

Try big ring or middle ring first gear and ride the hill seated, then ride the hill standing then change to next hardest gear and ride seated and then standing, keep going down the block until you can't ride up the hill anymore.

You will climb like a goat before long.

It's worked for me over the winter so only talking from personel experience.

Goodluck.

miss notax

320DMsport wrote:

I give the thunbs up for the road bike, great for building base fitness and the bigger the base you build the higher the peak you can get if you know what i mean.

Dead easy to ride from home and rides over 2 hours start to build fitnessand get your body to burn fat better.

You could get a heart rate monitor as riding a couple of hours at accurate Level 2 which is 75 to 85 percent of your max heart rate is prob as good as riding 6 hours with your HR all over the place, you know on the MTB, blast up hill, push abit, stop to open gate, coast over some rocky stuff, wait for a mate on a climb etc.

Also on road bike or your mtb find a hill that takes you about 5 mins to climb of reasonable steepness and do hill repeats, that way you will get better at climbing.

Try big ring or middle ring first gear and ride the hill seated, then ride the hill standing then change to next hardest gear and ride seated and then standing, keep going down the block until you can't ride up the hill anymore.

You will climb like a goat before long.

It's worked for me over the winter so only talking from personel experience.

Goodluck.

Thank you for the really helpful suggestions

It's my birthday in a month or so and I think i'm getting a quite nice second hand road bike from my other half, and will try the climbing technique you suggest.

Fingers crossed!

320DMsport

It's worked a treat for me and just getting those essential base miles in will make the world of diff!

The road bike i used this winter was borrowed so you don't need anything fancy just make sure it has a compact chainset i'e 34 inner cog or even a triple as your first excursion onto the road maybe a shock as the wheels are slightly bigger and the gearing harder so there is no 22/32 gearing to get you out on climbs but it will make you stronger.

Try doing the sets 2 per gear (1 seated 1 standing) till failiure then add a set each week.

The standing on the climb for 5 mins will get you really breathing and use diff muscles.

It's great though once you get used to powering along in the big ring on a road bike, going back to a 44 big ring on a mtb is alot of fun.

When out on the road try and over gear youself slightly on the climbs but so you can stay seated it will make you stronger and spinning in the easiest gear poss just get's you up the slowest poss way and won't make you stronger.

Your mates will wonder whats happened in a few months!

No pain no gain.

Surf-Matt

Sarah -just mix it up a bit. Run, swim, do weights, etc. I try and keep up the cycling, running and weights and think it's resulted in good overall fitness and strength.