Skipping

cjcp

Just seen a feature on BBC News (one of Mike Bushell's). Said to build leg strength and fitness. My daily commute isn't moving the last few pounds I want it to, so may give this a pop.

Thought I'd mention it for those looking to move a few extra pounds themselves and, like me, can't rustle up enough enthusiasm to go for a run (which could be better used for riding in my book ).

chuckcork

CJCP, you've likely peaked, you body has adpated to the amount of cycling you're doing and the commute probably won't as you say shift any more weight.

Perhaps though if you did more cycling, say regular sunday spins with KW.... ?

itboffin

cj he's got a point you know, the body does get use to exercise after a while, what you need is a different kind of exercise such as cyclocross or mtb, I find both of those really work different muscles.

cjcp

chuckcork wrote:

CJCP, you've likely peaked, you body has adpated to the amount of cycling you're doing and the commute probably won't as you say shift any more weight.

Perhaps though if you did more cycling, say regular sunday spins with KW.... ?

My last Club run was October 2007, and my last foray into the Surrey hills was July 2008. I'm on kids patrol on the weekend and the only chance I presently get to ride in Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the Park while no. 2 child is having her afternoon nap. Those naps are, however, becoming shorter, so will probably switch to evening laps of the Park this summer. It's much quieter then at least. It is however coming up to kids' birthday season for my monsters, so I plan on getting out rather than going to those.

Yep, I'm coming to the conclusion that the commute is probably doing as much as it can, so an extra lap or two of the Park on the commute home is probably the best prospect I have of increasing the regular mileage, so that should bring me down two to three pounds, but no more.

@ITB - some cross racing would be good, but it's no fun anymore on my present mtb. It's too heavy to be even middle of the field and I like to be at least a little bit competitive.

symo

Lift weights. Burns fat at rest far more efficiently.

Eat My Dust

Running is what you want. 20 - 30 miles a week and that last bit of weight will fall away.

cjcp

Eat My Dust wrote:

Running is what you want. 20 - 30 miles a week and that last bit of weight will fall away.

:shock: I only did 23-24 max when I trained for the marathon!

Symo - won't weights make me gain weight though?

lost_in_thought

CJ - Weights may make you heavier, but obv. build muscle while removing fat - do you want to be lighter or carry less fat?

I can't skip, have never been able to, but my (smug) mother can and alternates 20 mins of it with other cardio when she's dropping winter weight for the season. It's a bit high-impact on the knees and ankles though. Could you use the gym for something other than showering? Cross-trainer is always good, or the rower.

As others have said, variety is the key.

roger_merriman

light weights and lots of reps should burn fat rather than arnie you at least what I can rember.

nielsamd

From my own experience, if you trained for the marathon and are done with that distance for now, then you could probably do with some balancing upper body work anyway.
When trying to be intense about it, I alternated mainly upper body days i.e. weights, chin-ups, pushups, with mainly lower body, i.e. cycling/running, albiet lower body was/is usually much more aerobic work.
But that way my overall metabolism was more even throughout the week and the upper/lower muscles could alternately rest/recover/build.
Rowing/cross-skiing machines do both upper and lower.. but if you need recovery time ... and theoretically you should ... then you often end up really just sitting around doing nothing and not consistantly burning as many calories. `Rest' days don't have to be paralytic days.

cjcp

nielsamd wrote:

From my own experience, if you trained for the marathon and are done with that distance for now, then you could probably do with some balancing upper body work anyway.
When trying to be intense about it, I alternated mainly upper body days i.e. weights, chin-ups, pushups, with mainly lower body, i.e. cycling/running, albiet lower body was/is usually much more aerobic work.
But that way my overall metabolism was more even throughout the week and the upper/lower muscles could alternately rest/recover/build.
Rowing/cross-skiing machines do both upper and lower.. but if you need recovery time ... and theoretically you should ... then you often end up really just sitting around doing nothing and not consistantly burning as many calories. `Rest' days don't have to be paralytic days.

Bizarrely, I'm lighter now, with a smaller chest size, as a result of the daily commute than I was when I did the marathon (tbh, I think it was because my training was, um, less than enthusiastic :oops: ). The chin-up and push up bit is interesting because I was just going to do some press ups to build up some upper body strength without doing weights. I'll try the chin ups too. The weekends are usually for recovery.

LiT - I use the gym forn the occasional 5k run on the treadmill, but that's about all I have time for. The benefit of skipping, as I see it, is that I can do in the back garden while the kids are playing and while I'm technically looking after them at the same time (and entertaining them too probably ).

My goal is to lose weight and increase leg strength (improve power to weight ratio). Not much to ask, is it? :P

Cheers, all.

chuckcork

cjcp wrote:

My last Club run was October 2007, and my last foray into the Surrey hills was July 2008. I'm on kids patrol on the weekend and the only chance I presently get to ride in Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the Park while no. 2 child is having her afternoon nap. Those naps are, however, becoming shorter, so will probably switch to evening laps of the Park this summer. It's much quieter then at least. It is however coming up to kids' birthday season for my monsters, so I plan on getting out rather than going to those.

Can't you get a sunday pass from the missus, for being good and at work all week? The hills aren't that far away, even the KW's No.1 route on their website can be done in less than 3 hours, shorter if you miss Box Hill or take a slightly shorter route up to Ranmore than Staple Lane.

cjcp

chuckcork wrote:

cjcp wrote:

My last Club run was October 2007, and my last foray into the Surrey hills was July 2008. I'm on kids patrol on the weekend and the only chance I presently get to ride in Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the Park while no. 2 child is having her afternoon nap. Those naps are, however, becoming shorter, so will probably switch to evening laps of the Park this summer. It's much quieter then at least. It is however coming up to kids' birthday season for my monsters, so I plan on getting out rather than going to those.

Can't you get a sunday pass from the missus, for being good and at work all week? The hills aren't that far away, even the KW's No.1 route on their website can be done in less than 3 hours, shorter if you miss Box Hill or take a slightly shorter route up to Ranmore than Staple Lane.

Rarely. I only really get to see the kids in the morning, so taking out an entire Sunday morning is quite a chunk. Last July, I headed out via Staple Lane, Shere, Peaslake, Radnor Lane, Whitedown, Ranmore Common and Box Hill, where I met the family because the run back from Box Hill isn't very scenic. Took about 2.5 hrs. But can't do that very often.

lost_in_thought

Well then, yes, if it's to be done in the garden then skipping's great! Also, you could try to devise some simple circuits, or get the kids (depending on age) to help/join in...

ride_whenever

Cycle into work with your right leg, cycle home with the left one...

linsen

Try stress - works a treat for me

prawny

Skipping fxxkin kills don't do it!!!

weights help you lose weight, if you want to gain muscle you have to eat more that your using, it's very difficult. Have a look on bodybuilding.com or similar.

I tried to gain muscle but cant affird the food so i'm sticking with what i've got and going skinny.

biondino

Re skipping - if you live in a modern house/flat you may well not have high enough ceilings to skip indoors! In my case, I also don't have big and empty enough rooms to skip indoors. Waste of £9.99, that skipping rope.

Dropzone-dog__

If you wish to gain a greater power to weight ratio then, you need to push the muscles involved beyond what they normally expect.

In terms of cycling you can either push a higher gear or, indulge in some squats, leg presses etc.

Muscle is metabolically active fat is not!

Are you concerned about your weight or your appearance?

You will level out to a certain threshold unless you actively choose to build muscle thus, engaging in a degree of anaerobic respiration.

In short everybody who says build muscle in this case is right.

You may not have Arnie genetics so don't really worry about that

Christophe3967

I think you have simply plateaud (sp?) and you need to find a way of doing something different - higher/lower intensity rides, varying the routine etc. All easy to say of course. And then there's the diet and looking at cutting out the empty calories - depends how much you're prepared to compromise. And dfinitely no jelly beans ....

http://www1.bluemountain.com/display.pd ... um=3149447

cjcp

DZD/Christophe - yep, I think I have levelled out/plateaued (sp.? ). Am planning on extra laps of the Park on the way home.

DZD - not worried about weight or appearance, but would like to climb faster, so would like to get the weight down for that reason. Am going to do more of those exercises where you sit with your back to the wall, but hadn't thought of squats, so cheers for that.

Christophe - yes, I could probably cut out some calories, possibly in terms of portion size, but I'm burning 1,900-2,000 calories on the commute as it is, so more mileage in terms of extra laps around the Park on the way home would no doubt help. However, just watching Paris-Roubaix is making me hungry!

Cheers, chaps.