Hills as a fat knacker with limited time

ajoten

Gosh I'm getting such conflicting advice over how best to use a stationary bike at the gym. I read that Tabata or other interval regimes best when time limited. But also that they're only really much use if you're already lean and mean. So I'd be dead grateful for some direction here...

State of play.

1. Me = 44 and 14.5 stone i.e. getting on and tad overweight (tho I have a heavy build I'd argue. And short legs.).

2. I want to be better climber. Do I need fitness, strength or just be lighter? And by "better" I mean "able to get up an HC Alp without pushing".

3. My opportunities to "train" at the mo are 40 min sessions at the gym every week day. I've been regularly doing an interval on the bike of 2 mins @ 8 resistance (out of 25) and another 2 min at 18. I was advised that's not intense enough, so have swapped for 2 mins @ 11 vs 1 min at 22. Result? Legs ache all the time and no discernible difference uphill. And then read I'd be better off doing 40 min at a steady "medium" intensity.

None of this is ideal, but it is the way it is. Some gym is better than no gym, I just don't want to be wasting my time.

At a loss. All advice welcome.

Andrew.

meanredspider

Lose weight - that's your biggest bang for the buck. And you can work on it 24-7 - just eat really sensibly. The gym will help - can you not get out on a real bike though?

davidof

I'm not sure you'll ever get up a HC climb without pushing but losing weight should be a priority. How tall are you?

> And then read I'd be better off doing 40 min at a steady "medium" intensity.

intervals tend to burn sugar, you need to burn fat which means longer rides at medium intensity - LSD but ideal would be riders over 2 hours. But still, anything is better than nothing. I would go for the lower intensity stuff first.

ajoten

meanredspider wrote:

Lose weight - that's your biggest bang for the buck. And you can work on it 24-7 - just eat really sensibly. The gym will help - can you not get out on a real bike though?

Yeah, I get out on a real bike most Sundays for a couple of hours, but that's generally a social ride so I was discounting it in terms of training. And when I get to go out on my own I try and do hills, as that's what it's all about

Tallness = 5' 10" ish

herzog

Lose weight (relatively easy) and keep it off (relatively hard).

BeaconRuth

Find the setting on the gym bike which gives some indication of total energy expended, or calories burnt, or average power over the 40 minutes.

Maximise that number and increase it gradually over the coming weeks.

That will probably be easiest if you maintain a steady, hardish pace.

Ruth

ajoten

That makes sense. And can I do that every day even if my legs ache, or are any non-hardish-pace days of "recovery" recommended?

meanredspider

ajoten wrote:

That makes sense. And can I do that every day even if my legs ache, or are any non-hardish-pace days of "recovery" recommended?

You won't sustain every day at hard pace - you'll run yourself down. Alternate really hard days (crawling away) with easy days when you don't even breath hard (try to make these as long as possible and include your social ride as one of these)

andyeb

I'd go for a combination of intervals, recovery days and long/slow rides.

If you do intervals every day, you'll just run yourself into the ground and won't get faster or loose weight. Sometimes less is more.

BeaconRuth

ajoten wrote:

That makes sense. And can I do that every day even if my legs ache, or are any non-hardish-pace days of "recovery" recommended?

It depends how fit/unfit you are and just how much suffering you are willing to put yourself through. A very fit rider could probably cope with 40mins of 'steady hard' five days a week without too much trouble, but if they opted to ride REALLY hard for 40mins they might not find it so easy. A less fit rider might be best to take an easier day, say every third day.

So see how you get on. If you get on the bike one day and your legs are screaming at you that they don't want to play, then still do 40mins, but at a much reduced pace, say aim for half the number of calories or kJ burnt. But if your legs just hurt a bit to begin with, but in fact they can still do the work, then carry on. It would be hard to overdo it on 40mins a day, unless you're really putting yourself through serious suffering every day. But don't aim to put yourself through hell - just aim for 'steady hard' and I'm sure you'll be able to so it almost every day, if not every day.

Ruth