How Much Is Too Much

Wallace1492

Ok, here is the deal.

I want to reduce my weight, increase fitness and strength.
I want to be able to eat almost what I want and not completely cut out beer.
I do eat reasonably healthily, but like ab occassional treat.

I now cycle every day, 15 miles round trip, so 75 a week. Usually do more at weekends, and do some longer commutes home, so call it 100 miles a week.

I do 1 hr of squash or badminton on Monday, 1 hour circuit training on Tuesday 2 hrs badminton Wednesday, and either squash or badminton Thursday night.

I also go for a run on a Saturday or Sunday evening, just for 3-4 miles.

Is this enough? Should I do more, if so what?

MonkeyMonster

sounds like enough to me...

Problem begins when you stuff deep fried pizza with chips into the equation... or is that just an edinburgh thing...

Clever Pun

If you want to increase strength, you'll need to do weights as well

the circuits will help depending on the format.. but one overall session should help chest, back shoulders and arms(possibly focusing a little more on your non raquet arm)... never forgetting abs of course, your legs are covered by the other stuff... probably Thursday or Friday

Wallace1492

MonkeyMonster wrote:

sounds like enough to me...

Problem begins when you stuff deep fried pizza with chips into the equation... or is that just an edinburgh thing...

Not just Edinburgh, but I would not touch the stuff..... not had Deep Fried Pizza in about 25 years.

Been doing this regime for about 4 weeks, but cycling hard since middle of August. Have lost about stone and a half, and want to lose more.

Kanya

MonkeyMonster wrote:

Problem begins when you stuff deep fried pizza with chips into the equation... or is that just an edinburgh thing...

Definately an Edinburgh thing ha ha

MonkeyMonster

Kanya wrote:

MonkeyMonster wrote:

Problem begins when you stuff deep fried pizza with chips into the equation... or is that just an edinburgh thing...

Definately an Edinburgh thing ha ha

Touch of salt'n'sauce and its game on...

unscarred

Only you can know if it's "enough" or "too much" by how you feel - are you still tired in the morning? It certainly sounds like "enough", but not like "too much" yet. However, you're certainly doing more than me!

You say you want to lose weight. To do that calories out must exceed calories in. At the moment you're probably at a stability point where calories in equals calories out, where most people spend most of their lives.

So, either reduce your food intake by about 500 calories a day, or do some extra exercise, say about 500 calories worth. 500 calories is roughly an hour of cycling, or half an hour running, or an hour of weights, and about the same as a cornish pasty or a bowl of vegetarian pasta. That should be enough to shift about a pound a week, depending on current weight, metabolism, etc.

Looking at your routine ATM, I'd say try and work in a weights session once a week. It doesn't need to be heavy weights, just maintain the intensity so you're sweating and tired by the end of it.
I assume you don't want to bulk up too much, so treat it like a cardio workout, go from one machine to the other quickly and take no more than a minute or two between sets, and make sure you do plenty of core strength work. Alternatively, a class like "Body Pump" is great if you can find one.
Weights are useful because the new muscle you build burns calories even when you're sitting around doing nothing.

feltkuota

Wallace,


This might not be the most popular post but here goes. It is meant with the best intentions..

If your daily commute is 15 miles I doubt that it is really effective in "managing weight" or increasing fitness. Yes you're doing 75-100 miles per week but the advantages would be much greater to both if you were doing 2 rides of 50 or 3 of 33. I don't think there is much benefit to a 20-25 minute commute ride other than to improve bike handling. You don't get your HR up long enough to make a change and the ride is not long enough to manage weight and improve fitness.

The answer on the question re squash or badminton I'm not as sure about. Seen plenty of overweight squash players. I guess it all depends how active/hard the games are..

Bottom line though is you cannot do everything ie eat what you like, lose weight/increase fitness and strength. Something has to give.

As I say, if you were to increase the length of your rides or throw in an additional couple of runs of an hour then you'd see some results.

il_principe

Pfft, weights are just gonna add unwanted weight - the enemy of the cyclist! Try pilates or something for your core. I'm becoming a chubby git now I'm bikeless, still have the same appetite but without the exercise...

Clever Pun

Il Principe wrote:

Pfft, weights are just gonna add unwanted weight - the enemy of the cyclist! Try pilates or something for your core. I'm becoming a chubby git now I'm bikeless, still have the same appetite but without the exercise...

He said strength..

A man without an upper body just seems.. well a bit weak, you can do high reps at low weights this will not add bulk, it'll add strength and definition

suzyb

Clever Pun wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

Pfft, weights are just gonna add unwanted weight - the enemy of the cyclist! Try pilates or something for your core. I'm becoming a chubby git now I'm bikeless, still have the same appetite but without the exercise...

He said strength..

A man without an upper body just seems.. well a bit weak, you can do high reps at low weights this will not add bulk, it'll add strength and definition

And attractiveness

ketka82

Wallace,

Sounds like a good programme for the goals your looking to achieve. If you've lost a stone and a half since August then that is a pretty big amount you've shifted already in what 2-3 months? You must be doing something right!!

Obviously if you were looking to compete then you'd have to change your programme slightly but you don't mention that so I wouldn't worry about it.

The trick is to stick to a programme you can keep up for a sustained amount of time. 4 weeks is not a long time to have been keeping this up. Try keeping your current regime up for another couple of months and then see if you want to add to it.

First things first, you HAVE to enjoy it otherwise you'll start missing a workout here and there and then the weight will start to creep back on.

feltkuota is right, though, that if you really wanted to make your programme more effective then you should start increasing the length of some of your rides - perhaps working out a longer commute route so it stretches the time on the bike to over an hour or even 90 mins. Just build it in slowly...

Wallace1492

feltkuota wrote:

Wallace,


This might not be the most popular post but here goes. It is meant with the best intentions..

If your daily commute is 15 miles I doubt that it is really effective in "managing weight" or increasing fitness. Yes you're doing 75-100 miles per week but the advantages would be much greater to both if you were doing 2 rides of 50 or 3 of 33. I don't think there is much benefit to a 20-25 minute commute ride other than to improve bike handling. You don't get your HR up long enough to make a change and the ride is not long enough to manage weight and improve fitness.

The answer on the question re squash or badminton I'm not as sure about. Seen plenty of overweight squash players. I guess it all depends how active/hard the games are..

Bottom line though is you cannot do everything ie eat what you like, lose weight/increase fitness and strength. Something has to give.

As I say, if you were to increase the length of your rides or throw in an additional couple of runs of an hour then you'd see some results.

I see where you are coming from and to a degree agree, however I feel that the 15 miles a day, although not in itself a great deal, is a good core start to decent fitness. Doing and hour of squash or badminton quite soon after (usually within half an hour of getting off bike) certainly adds to the mix. I have found it pretty good so far, but keen to hear others opinion, so on the contrary, it is advise like your is EXACTLY what I want to hear. Doesn't mean I will do loads more just good to hear what others think.

Incidentally I feel fitter than I have been for 15 years, so it is doing me good. I do want to do an extra run on foot each week of up to 1/2 hour, and when weather was decent, and before the clocks changed I did up to 25 miles on way home.

Keep the comments coming!!

Clever Pun

-null- wrote:

Clever Pun wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

Pfft, weights are just gonna add unwanted weight - the enemy of the cyclist! Try pilates or something for your core. I'm becoming a chubby git now I'm bikeless, still have the same appetite but without the exercise...

He said strength..

A man without an upper body just seems.. well a bit weak, you can do high reps at low weights this will not add bulk, it'll add strength and definition

And attractiveness

8)

feltkuota

Wallace,

If advice requested then I'd suggest:

Quality over quantity, set a short term (3 month) goal, get OCD about what you eat/drink, do something/s you enjoy and reasess in a few months time.

Having said that, if you can swim then get yourself over to the dark side and look at triathlon. Perfect sport for the obsessive and works everything. Couple of swims a week, 3-4 runs a week and a2-3 rides and never bored..

Wallace1492

feltkuota wrote:

Wallace,

If advice requested then I'd suggest:

Quality over quantity, set a short term (3 month) goal, get OCD about what you eat/drink, do something/s you enjoy and reasess in a few months time.

Having said that, if you can swim then get yourself over to the dark side and look at triathlon. Perfect sport for the obsessive and works everything. Couple of swims a week, 3-4 runs a week and a2-3 rides and never bored..

Not a swimmer.... never will be.

Getting OCD about my badminton and squash, really enjoying both, but, and here is where the problem is, I feel I cannot get too obsessive (not yet anyway) about what I eat, I do have to have a few pleasures.... also not wanting to make too many radical chages too fast (I am in my early 40's). But wanting to keep good regime going through winter.

coopster_the_1st

Il Principe wrote:

Pfft, weights are just gonna add unwanted weight - the enemy of the cyclist! Try pilates or something for your core. I'm becoming a chubby git now I'm bikeless, still have the same appetite but without the exercise...

Something like rock climbing (indoor at this time of year) will add a massive amount of strength quickly to your upper body and core while not adding much weight.

Just like cycling, any excess weight is an enemy in the sport.

the_village_idiot

your not gonna be able to gain significant strength whilst loosing fat- its too tricky to do at the same time

your doing more than enough cardio

i would suggest you do the cardio on an empty stomach at a moderate pace- although you may wish to partially fuel your 2 hour badminton sessions!

when you have cut your body fat to an acceptable level- then hit the weights to build muscle. lifting weights before then will help you cut the fat- but dont expect to gain loads of muscle.

if your eating too much you wont loose weight- simple- try to behave yoruself- see if you trim down a bit in the next 3 weeks. if you dont- cut back on the meal sizes again- and concentrate on low GI foods

spasypaddy

to lose weight you need to do weights to raise your metabolism, you need to increase your protein intake and lower your carb intake. all of this whilst having a calorie deficit.

use a website like fitday.com and attempt to get your daily diet to:
60% protein, 20% carbs, 20% good fats.
eat 30% of your calories for breakfast
eat 25% for lunch
eat 20% for dinner
then have 2/3 snacks during the day inbetween meals to make up the other 25%.

Try and do 3 days on, 1 day off. 1 massive cheat day a week (so take it at the weekend and drink if you must) and 1 not so massive cheat day when you aren't quite so worried but still limit yourself slightly.

keep up for a few months, much weight will be lost.

For weights unless its cycling specific exercises you want i recommend full body exercises 3 times a week when in the gym (squat, deadlift, bench press). You will put on weight doing this but burn/lose fat, the weight you'll be putting on is muscle not fat though

hillrep

Wallace,

As a serious training regime the main thing missing is rest :-).

As others have said, it has to a "lifestyle" you enjoy. It sounds as if it has had rather significant effects since August, so if you enjoy it, keep going as you are.

My personal experience is that a similar length commute does have significant fitness (and possibly weight) effects. When I started this commute I had to drastically cut down on my running, but the change in fitness was _much_ less than expected.

Getting all obsessive about diet or training will no doubt see faster improvements, it is certainly what elite athletes do, but not everyone can or will want to maintain such a program in the long term.

tri-sexual

too much is never enough!
you can rest when you are dead

Cychologist

Wanna gain strength?

Do this along with the other stuff:
www.stronglifts.com

Youll get so much stronger!

C

always_tyred

MonkeyMonster wrote:

sounds like enough to me...

Problem begins when you stuff deep fried pizza with chips into the equation... or is that just an edinburgh thing...

Don't joke. The life epectancy in parts of Glasgow is in the mid 50's. I think everyone from Richmond, Twickers and Esher should be forced to visit at least once in their lifetimes in order to feel less annoyed at paying 40% income tax, and ever so slightly guilty that they live in the same country.

Edinburgh is populated almost entirely by English people, or Scots who have been to Fetters and St. Andrews. Plenty cous cous, vegitarian pad thai or sushi, but you have to show that you are visiting for the festival in order to be served deep fried pizza in Edinburgh.

roger_merriman

Always Tyred wrote:

MonkeyMonster wrote:

sounds like enough to me...

Problem begins when you stuff deep fried pizza with chips into the equation... or is that just an edinburgh thing...

Don't joke. The life epectancy in parts of Glasgow is in the mid 50's. I think everyone from Richmond, Twickers and Esher should be forced to visit at least once in their lifetimes in order to feel less annoyed at paying 40% income tax, and ever so slightly guilty that they live in the same country.

Edinburgh is populated almost entirely by English people, or Scots who have been to Fetters and St. Andrews. Plenty cous cous, vegitarian pad thai or sushi, but you have to show that you are visiting for the festival in order to be served deep fried pizza in Edinburgh.

I may live in richmond/twick etc but the area I'm from or rather where I worked are depopulating with entire streets and estates going, the worse bits do look very bad as the weather, being fairly high up tends to find it's way in.

though the areas in spite of booze and drug use tends not to be violent.

the areas reason for being has gone so they are year on year reducing.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Wallace1492 wrote:

feltkuota wrote:

Wallace,


This might not be the most popular post but here goes. It is meant with the best intentions..

If your daily commute is 15 miles I doubt that it is really effective in "managing weight" or increasing fitness. Yes you're doing 75-100 miles per week but the advantages would be much greater to both if you were doing 2 rides of 50 or 3 of 33. I don't think there is much benefit to a 20-25 minute commute ride other than to improve bike handling. You don't get your HR up long enough to make a change and the ride is not long enough to manage weight and improve fitness.

The answer on the question re squash or badminton I'm not as sure about. Seen plenty of overweight squash players. I guess it all depends how active/hard the games are..

Bottom line though is you cannot do everything ie eat what you like, lose weight/increase fitness and strength. Something has to give.

As I say, if you were to increase the length of your rides or throw in an additional couple of runs of an hour then you'd see some results.

I see where you are coming from and to a degree agree, however I feel that the 15 miles a day, although not in itself a great deal, is a good core start to decent fitness. Doing and hour of squash or badminton quite soon after (usually within half an hour of getting off bike) certainly adds to the mix. I have found it pretty good so far, but keen to hear others opinion, so on the contrary, it is advise like your is EXACTLY what I want to hear. Doesn't mean I will do loads more just good to hear what others think.

Incidentally I feel fitter than I have been for 15 years, so it is doing me good. I do want to do an extra run on foot each week of up to 1/2 hour, and when weather was decent, and before the clocks changed I did up to 25 miles on way home.

Keep the comments coming!!

The distance itself isn't necessarily determinative. Sure, one/two/three hours on the bike is a good run out. But 25 mins of intervals (sprinting between lights) is a different exercise to 25 mins of pootling. It all depends what you make of it.

don_don

All this talk of exercise is making me hungry. Now, where is that Kit-Kat I stashed earlier...

Wallace1492

Greg66 wrote:

Wallace1492 wrote:

feltkuota wrote:

Wallace,


This might not be the most popular post but here goes. It is meant with the best intentions..

If your daily commute is 15 miles I doubt that it is really effective in "managing weight" or increasing fitness. Yes you're doing 75-100 miles per week but the advantages would be much greater to both if you were doing 2 rides of 50 or 3 of 33. I don't think there is much benefit to a 20-25 minute commute ride other than to improve bike handling. You don't get your HR up long enough to make a change and the ride is not long enough to manage weight and improve fitness.

The answer on the question re squash or badminton I'm not as sure about. Seen plenty of overweight squash players. I guess it all depends how active/hard the games are..

Bottom line though is you cannot do everything ie eat what you like, lose weight/increase fitness and strength. Something has to give.

As I say, if you were to increase the length of your rides or throw in an additional couple of runs of an hour then you'd see some results.

I see where you are coming from and to a degree agree, however I feel that the 15 miles a day, although not in itself a great deal, is a good core start to decent fitness. Doing and hour of squash or badminton quite soon after (usually within half an hour of getting off bike) certainly adds to the mix. I have found it pretty good so far, but keen to hear others opinion, so on the contrary, it is advise like your is EXACTLY what I want to hear. Doesn't mean I will do loads more just good to hear what others think.

Incidentally I feel fitter than I have been for 15 years, so it is doing me good. I do want to do an extra run on foot each week of up to 1/2 hour, and when weather was decent, and before the clocks changed I did up to 25 miles on way home.

Keep the comments coming!!

The distance itself isn't necessarily determinative. Sure, one/two/three hours on the bike is a good run out. But 25 mins of intervals (sprinting between lights) is a different exercise to 25 mins of pootling. It all depends what you make of it.

I agree with you here Greg, I do pootle at times, but at other times go for a really fast time. Sprinting after others, a bit of SCRing. I certainly can get a good sweat going when I work it, and I do try and do that at least half of the commutes. As I said, I do feel it has made a difference so far, but just wanting to guage opinion.

My goals for next year are to ride from Glasgow to Durness (about 350 miles) in a week and get a personal best time in the Rob Roy Challenge (17 miles on foot, 42 on bike) I want to be able to say I am the fittest I have ever been, but not sure if I could get back to the levels I had in early 20's. But to put in in context, I am probably fitter now than I have ben since late 20's, so I think there is certainly scope for more improvement.

I also want to get a fe Munro's in the bag over winter.

Think I will not be worrying too much about diet, but trying to eat reasonably healthily, will run more and some light weights, that should sort me out for next few months.

Thanks everyone!!