Question about cycling to burn fat & improve cardio

Novicebiker

I have a question, I just started cycling with a 7 speed mountain bike. Basically what I want to do know is, do I keep peddling non-stop, or do I occasionally stop peddling to let the momentum of the bike carry me til I need to peddle to speed it up again? I find that if I just peddle non stop my legs get tired really fast so I can't really ride very long. I was thinking I could probably ride a lot longer if I let the bike glide during rest periods and peddle when needed. Any experienced riders have advice for a beginner? Right now my leg strength isn't very good so even with breaks from peddling I doubt I could even do anywhere near the 20 miles people have been saying they do. With the peddling non-stop routine my legs were pretty tired after just 2 laps around my block, I think my block is probably close to a quarter mile for a full lap. My bike is a del sol lxi 6.1, I don't know what year.

mask of sanity

Im new to this road biking lark but it would seem obvious that rolling will help you recover however its going to do nothing for your fitness. Also seeing as you're riding a MTB you'll loose momentum fairly quickly so will probably use up more energy to get it back to the speed you were at before. Sometimes if i've been out for a long ride i find myself rolling towards the end but try not to do it where possible. It sounds like you just need to build up your muscles which will only happen by cycling through the pain and discomfort.

If you're struggling you might find you're in the wrong gear for that particular gradient so try a few different ones to get to one you're more comfortable with! Hope this helps

t0ny

Get yourself a copy of Health & Fitness (For Cyclists) The Spring edition, which should be out at the moment. It is by the people who do Cycling Weekly. It costs £5.95

There is a training section in there for the Absolute Beginner and it should help you to get up to speed with your cycle training.

Another thing you can do is join a local cycling club. A good one will have different riding groups for different abilities.

You'll be doing 50mile rides in no time.

scottgeniusltd2005

losing fat is done by using the 50% to 70% of maximum heart rate. it's quite complex. find your max heart rate by pushing yourself to nearly fainting, by exercise, twice with a very short rest in between. you don't need to have a fancy computer you can use a finger on the pulse method. then cycle till your heart rate is in the the zones as mentioned. this way you won't go into the none fat burning zones. you need to be in the fat burning zone for a minimum of 20 minutes. the longer you are in the fat burning zone the better and to be honest you will probably feel like you aren't working hard enough. as a very general idea you should be just a little bit out of breath and just about be able to hold a conversation. i'm not an expert and i got this info from loads of sites, just google "hrm +training".

oldwelshman

Watch out fot this thread to be hijacked by Fatbee and his views on fat burning
Freewheeling will not really help you recover, you can recover whilst still pedalling easily, it is just that your not fit enough and used to cycling yet.
Increase your mileage by approx 10% a week, then you will find 20 miles very easy to do after a few weeks, then can progress to 50
Once you start to do 20 to 30 mile rides, do a couple of fast laps and learn to recover while pedalling.
You will burn fat off on bike rides but they would really need to be over 1 hour rides.
Some people will say what percantage heart rate you need to do to burn off more efficiently but it all gets a bit technical and boring but you can google it and many sites debate diet, exercise etc but unles your crawling along at 4mph you will burn off fat, you will also burn it off when pushing very hard, but at a reduced efficiency, but then again still burn off after stopping.
SO basically start riding longer and harder and you will burn fat, but then you have to make sure you don't eat too much to put it back

Stumpy Ade

If you are looking to lose weight / fat keep it simple.

On average you use 2500 calories to break even, consume more you will gain weight, less and you will lose weight.

30mins of medium excercise will burn about 300 calories.

It takes a 3000 calorie defeceit to burn a pound of fat.

I used this strategy a couple of years ago to lose over 7 stone.

Keep up the biking, start slowly and build it up gradually but keep at it. Good luck.

LittleB0b

mask of sanity wrote:

but it would seem obvious that rolling will help you recover however its going to *do nothing* for your fitness.

I'm not totally convinced by this statement - after all in my running club we deliberatly do short efforts followed by a recovery (then repeat).

I'd also suggest that learing how to make the terain work for you is an important skill

scottgeniusltd2005

my point was that it doesn't matter about the rests / freewheels as long as they are not long enough to let your hr drop out of the fat burning zone. which i doubt as the less fitter you are the longer the recovery takes therefore the longer it takes your hr to drop. if you try and push yourself too hard then you will lose enthusiasm and therefore stop going out on your bike. i used to use hrm monitor, cycle computer inc cadence, but i have removed them all and just enjoy the riding, lets face it, if you're not a racer then who cares about the extra small amount of time it takes to get somewhere, just means less telly. if i want to check my cadence i count revolutions against a minute, if i want to check my pulse i use my finger and watch. be a cyclist not a gadget nerd!!! i.e.

if you can only manage a little bit enjoy that little bit, then you will naturally want to enjoy a little bit more, then a little bit more then in less than a year you will be able to do 50 to 100 miles enjoyably.

there is a bloke on here and cyclechat called gary, i think his handle is gb100 or something, he is a real inspiration he has lost over 15 stone by cycling.

kingrollo

I heard a theory that pedalling hard - burns the wrong type of fat - you nead to be going steady so the fat is released as fuel.

Anyway - I lost 1st since Commutting, which falls into the slow category - to much traffic to hammer it

mask of sanity

kingrollo wrote:

I heard a theory that pedalling hard - burns the wrong type of fat - you nead to be going steady so the fat is released as fuel.

You're right there but i think instead of the 'wrong fat' you're unlikely to burn any but will burn proteins and other respiratory substrates instead. In order to burn fat you need to be doing aerobic respiration because the metabolism of fat requires more oxygen. So burning fat will only happen when you're getting suficient oxygen. This is why walking is actually better for burning fat then running as with running you're unlikely to get the required amount of oxygen.

LittleB0b wrote:

I'm not totally convinced by this statement - after all in my running club we deliberatly do short efforts followed by a recovery (then repeat).

I see what you mean as i used to run as well but can't take the pounding of it anymore, but i've found running and cycling to be fairly different from each other. Im probably wrong but cycling seems to me to be more about muscle strength whereas running is about overall stamina so would've thought the training for each would be different. But as i say i'm new to road biking so maybe as i progress (hopefully!! ) i'll see the benefit of that kind of training.

Please feel free to correct me anyone as i dont want to be passing on my 'wisdom' if its not correct, lol.

oldwelshman

There is no such thing as burning the wrong type of fat
You will burn off fat once hr over 60% and if you "pedal harder" you will still burn off fat.
The most efficent hr for burning fat is 60% but it does not mean that above that you won't burn off fat, but it burns it at less efficiency.
But this less efficient fat burning is offset as you burn off more callories and even though the percentage of those callories maybe less, the total fat burned will be more even though your burning off other sources of energy.
The added benefit of higher heart rate workput is that you continue to burn off fat after stopping exercise but you won't at 60% hr.
There are lots of articles on the internet about this.
In the past it was though you had to work at 60% hr for best results but lots of articles now say differently.

Diogenes

Novicebiker wrote:

I have a question, I just started cycling with a 7 speed mountain bike. Basically what I want to do know is, do I keep peddling non-stop, or do I occasionally stop peddling to let the momentum of the bike carry me til I need to peddle to speed it up again? I find that if I just peddle non stop my legs get tired really fast so I can't really ride very long. I was thinking I could probably ride a lot longer if I let the bike glide during rest periods and peddle when needed. Any experienced riders have advice for a beginner? Right now my leg strength isn't very good so even with breaks from peddling I doubt I could even do anywhere near the 20 miles people have been saying they do. With the peddling non-stop routine my legs were pretty tired after just 2 laps around my block, I think my block is probably close to a quarter mile for a full lap. My bike is a del sol lxi 6.1, I don't know what year.

Forget all the heart rate stuff for the time being, just ride ,you need to get base miles in and get into the swing of pedaling.

Take your bike down to a reputable bike shop and get them to help you set it up to make it as comfortable as it can get, then ride, take your time and aim to increase your distance. Don't worry about speed, just turn the pedals and watch the distance roll by.

Once you have been doing this a month or 2 you will feel better and will be able to go further which will help to get the base miles in. You will quickly find that knocking out 10, 20 miles is easy and will start looking further afield. If you can then get involved in a club that accommodates novices (local CTC groups are ideal), ride with people who will encourage you to roll along.

As for pedaling nonstop, it is certainly best for getting fit because you will exercise the muscles but also because pedaling and coasting means you are regularly having to accelerate again which is knackering. Try to keep your legs turning at the same speed and use your gears to adjust for gradient, doing 80 or so pedal strokes per minute (dont bother trying to count them, just judge if you are doing a bit more than one a second).

Remember you are doing this for enjoyment, not as a punishment, keep it simple and worry about HRMs once the bug has bitten and like the rest of us you want the toys associated with our sport.

D

volvine

Totally agree with stumpys post about intake of calories i wouldn't worry about all that Heart Rate stuff TBH at this stage as stated before it can all seem a little bit daunting and complicated at first i wouldn't have a clue what my Heart rate percentages are so just ride your bike enough so you still enjoy it set yourself little targets like getting up a local climb or hill which you usually struggle with and you will soon get fitter and quicker and no doubt loose a little weight along the way i don't mean any disrespect to anybody as most people are all trying to help but a lot of the time people give advise to individuals as if they are preparing to ride in the Pro Peloton and have un limited time restraints and it can all seem overwhelming.

SpinningJenny

+1 for Diogenes' post.

You WILL be able to achieve 20 miles (and more, if you love it) after a while. But if you've just started out, then 20 miles is not achievable - yet.

For the moment, I would concentrate on attaining a certain target - ie, to X and back, for a short period. Then once you can do that, extend it by a little, and so on. Some days you will feel it's easy, other days not so much. For example, last week I did three sessions of the same length - 2 days it was just hard enough, 1 day I really had to force myself to complete it because I felt lacking in energy.

The important thing is not to let the toughest, crappest session defeat you.

Oh - and the most important thing...

ENJOY IT!

Headhuunter

If you can't keep pedalling consistently round the block a couple of times, it sounds like the bike is not set up for maximum efficiency and/or you are not using the gears properly. You probably need to do a bike overhaul, if it's a weighty old MTB that's been stuck in a shed for a while it may need some maintanence. You should be able to get round the block without freewheeling, unless you live on the side of a mountain...

ohlala!

I use to weigh 21 st and am 13st now. The only way that I believe works is by creating a deficit of calorie intake. When I was in my weight loss period I only limit my calories to 1500 during active days and 1200 during non active days and I go out to do exercise 5 days a week not stopping until I burn 1000 calories/day through exercise alone (additional calories are burned during other activities during the day). I only eat take aways as a treat for a good week on saturdays

If you decide to use cycling to lose weight, that's great but just remeber that you also need to do some weight training as well to increase your lean mass therefore burn more calories and doesn't make you look flabby when you've lost all that weight. It's strict but it sure paid off.

Hope this helps.

Headhuunter

Weight training to build muscle will also help burn calories, not only do you use energy to do the weights and repair the muscle afterwards, but muscle tissue in the body burns more energy than any other type of tissue, even when you're just sat about not doing much. That's probably why, when your body goes into starvation mode, it burns muscle tissue for energy as it needs to reduce energy expensive tissue in the body.