off season training help please

ianbar

with the off season arriving soon i am trying to plan my training. this has worked for me in the summer where i based it on 3 rides + 100 miles per week with a 60+ ride at the weekend. i work 5 nights a week so getting more than 3 rides is very difficult.

now targets, i hope to start time trialing next year. on my own i can ride 60 miles on a flat course near 17mph and would liek to add a couple mph to that. my local sportive is the Big G the 66m route, has 5 cat4's in it i ave 15 this year 17 would be good. so thats roughly where am at.

6'3" 97kg(this really needs to drop i know). so my thoughts were... to maintain my long ride on a saturday. then once too dark to head out in the week, turbo twice a week maybe with focusing those session on time trialling? i thought i would try and start a little weight training , focusing on core.

any thoughts welcome, thank you

diamonddog

IMO you should concentrate on losing some weight and forget about the weight training (muscle is heavier than fat, not that I am implying you are fat by the way) .

imposter2.0

Agree about the weight training. Unless there is actually anything wrong with your core, then weights aren't going to help - and if you are time-limited, then you would be better to focus on things that will improve your fitness and sustainable power. Having said that, the type of training depends a lot on the type of distance you are planning for the TTs. Training for 10s or 25s will be a lot different to 50s or over...

BigFatBloke

diamonddog wrote:

IMO you should concentrate on losing some weight and forget about the weight training (muscle is heavier than fat, not that I am implying you are fat by the way) .

I think if I remember correctly, muscle is 15% less volume for the same weight. I'm not sure if all muscle is equal, are well trained muscles heavier than less trained muscles of the same size?

ugo.santalucia

I had my golden year cycling wise after a winter spent in the gym (horrible weather) doing a lot 3-4 weekly spinning classes and weight training. The spinning helped with agility and high cadence and I believe the weight training helped build a bit of muscles...
For what it's worth

ianbar

thank you for your replies, i dont mind the comments about weight i know i am too heavy, in perfect world would shed 10kg of fat, i just dont think i will manage it. weights wise i was thinking of a really short session, say half hour, in a way just to keep my interest as i do find turbo training really hard to get up for. i did think about trying to get my trainers out an try get a few jogs in too(more to push the weight loss)

my proper winter training was going to start after my week off in october, i may try and focus on shedding the weight up to christmas, i know i will be faster if i weigh less, relatively i think i have decent power.

TT wise i think i am focusing on 10 miles, 2 local clubs run tt series which are generally that length.

diamonddog

Good luck with the weight loss and the training. I just get some music on the iPod and zone out on the turbo trainer.

ianbar

well i need to work on something for the turbo, was looking at doing intervals which i kind of did before but longer and more focused i think. yeah well the losing weight will be focused on starting this weekends shop!

ric/rstsport

ianbar wrote:

with the off season arriving soon i am trying to plan my training. this has worked for me in the summer where i based it on 3 rides + 100 miles per week with a 60+ ride at the weekend. i work 5 nights a week so getting more than 3 rides is very difficult.

now targets, i hope to start time trialing next year. on my own i can ride 60 miles on a flat course near 17mph and would liek to add a couple mph to that. my local sportive is the Big G the 66m route, has 5 cat4's in it i ave 15 this year 17 would be good. so thats roughly where am at.

6'3" 97kg(this really needs to drop i know). so my thoughts were... to maintain my long ride on a saturday. then once too dark to head out in the week, turbo twice a week maybe with focusing those session on time trialling? i thought i would try and start a little weight training , focusing on core.

any thoughts welcome, thank you

Now is an ideal time to start changing your diet and creating a new lifestyle so that weight loss can be achieved. If you leave it to the new year (most peoples new year resolution??) it's not enough time to create changes and get used to the new weight prior to racing season. Expect to put on a kilo maybe over the Xmas period, but if you've instigated changes now, then you may be more willing to realise that cutting back on some treats over Xmas time is a useful.

Easiest changes to instantly make are to cut the real rubbish from your diet (e.g., cakes, biscuits, crisps, etc).

Not sure i'd totally recommend doing weights -- it maybe better to add a short hard turbo session instead (but if an extra turbo session can't be done then anything else, weights, running, swimming, etc is all good).

Good luck with your goals
Ric

BigFatBloke

One problem i find with doing weights is it makes me very hungry. Half an hour in the gym on a bike and i can burn up 500 to 600 cals and feel hungry but nothing excessive. but half an hour doing upper body free weights and I am starving.

I tend to put on weight, muscle not fat, if I do weights.

imposter2.0

I think the only purpose of the weights here was in relation to the 'core' - nothing more. I can't see much weight being put on through core work, regardless of how useful (or not) it might be.

diamonddog

ianbar wrote:

well i need to work on something for the turbo, was looking at doing intervals which i kind of did before but longer and more focused i think. yeah well the losing weight will be focused on starting this weekends shop!

^This and altering your diet (nothing stupid just smaller portions, healthier etc.) will help get to your target weight.
Don't forget to get out on the road as much as you can as well it will all help.

markp80

ianbar wrote:

well i need to work on something for the turbo, was looking at doing intervals which i kind of did before but longer and more focused i think. yeah well the losing weight will be focused on starting this weekends shop!

- you might want to have a look at something like TrainerRoad if you want something to help make your winter turbo sessions more focussed. As well as individual workouts, they also provide a series of trining plans to follow, starting with basic fitness but also specific plans for time trials for example.Lots of people on here have found it worthwhile.

Cheers,
MarkP

Team4Luke

ianbar wrote:

now targets, i hope to start time trialing next year. on my own i can ride 60 miles on a flat course near 17mph and would liek to add a couple mph to that.

that's of no use for for TT type training

imposter2.0

Team4Luke wrote:

ianbar wrote:

now targets, i hope to start time trialing next year. on my own i can ride 60 miles on a flat course near 17mph and would liek to add a couple mph to that.

that's of no use for for TT type training

So tell him what he should be doing, then...

ianbar

that's of no use for for TT type training


well the TT is just something i would like to do, partly to focus my midweek riding. all my training is not too be ace at TT, i like doing longer rides etc i don't expect to ever race but as i say think doing TT's which are mainly in the week will give me a good focus and give me targets, but i wont be doing all my riding to just do TT's

carrock

Go and do some body pump classes. This is an hour of high intensity weight training using light weights that is a big Calorie burner using compound weight training moves such as squats, clean and press, and so on. You won't look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the classes are full of women mainly, so the scenery is good.

The small amount of muscle that you will build will help to burn calories 24/7

ianbar

carrock wrote:

Go and do some body pump classes. This is an hour of high intensity weight training using light weights that is a big Calorie burner using compound weight training moves such as squats, clean and press, and so on. You won't look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the classes are full of women mainly, so the scenery is good.

actually i think some girls at work go to classes like body pump...so i know the scenery would be good lol. classes generally might be a good idea

mattshrops

If you want to do 10 mile TT's google interval training, specifically stuff like 2x20's. (which is 2 hard efforts of 20 mins duration with a rest interval between)

You CAN lose the weight but you have to make a positive decision and step forward. No more thinking about it and wishing, you know what I mean. It's actually pretty easy if you really mean it. You will feel great benefits from it and not just physically- success is success and it feels good.

ianbar

mattshrops wrote:

specifically stuff like 2x20's. (which is 2 hard efforts of 20 mins duration with a rest interval between)

You CAN lose the weight but you have to make a positive decision and step forward. No more thinking about it and wishing, you know what I mean

yeah i have heard of this 2x20 intervals, think i am going down this route on the turbo and will aim for 2 of those session in the week.im determined to keep my 60+ rides at the weekend all year round i just get very wary when conditions are not perfect.

as for weight loss yeah i have to get my head down and on with it. i said at start of year i wanted to be 14st by end of year( at time i was 16st more 15,5 now) going to cut out crisps, cake, biscuits, plus try to eat less cereals etc i just need to organise what i am eating.

benno68

Weight loss will make a tremendous difference. I've managed to lose 12kg's this year, at 6ft I still want to lose 5kg's an get to 75kg.

I went on a diet using meal replacement shakes as I'm useless at eating small portions and planning my food intake. Initially I had a shake for breakfast and lunch with a moderate but reasonable evening meal to look forward to, increased my water intake too. Don't get me wrong, the first couple of weeks were purgatory for me and I felt hungry a lot but it got easier as my body got used to it. I'm fairly stable at 80kg's now - and will have a few weeks off and will get back on it to try to lose the final 5kg's.

I've started swimming and a bit of running and will probably start some spin classes as the weather closes in. Not sure what the experts say, but I reckon cross training is a good idea.

As others have said, interval training is the way to go I believe, especially if you're pushed for time as a lot of us are.

All the best mate and good luck.

ianbar

Benno68 wrote:

Weight loss will make a tremendous difference. I've managed to lose 12kg's this year, at 6ft I still want to lose 5kg's an get to 75kg.
I went on a diet using meal replacement shakes as I'm useless at eating small portions and planning my food intake.

cheers thats a good story, i wont be going down the shake route, to start just cutting down, if i eat little and often i shoudlnt get too hungry, one of the things i am ging to do is make homemade soup which i will probably have on my break at work,have done this before and worked pretty well.