Does weightloss help turbo training?

CleeRider
CleeRider Posts: 304
edited March 2015 in Training, fitness and health
I plan to lose 4kg while maintaining muscle mass, I currently weigh 69kg.
All very straightforward as I've done it before.

I'm just wondering if this will have any benefit on my turbo training or will I only see the benefits when out climbing hills?

Comments

  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    You can use the turbo to monitor any potential negative impact on your power outputs for 1/5/20/60 minutes.
    A bigger CV engine helps turbo training.
  • NeXXus
    NeXXus Posts: 854
    Eh no
    And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon god they made.
  • JayKosta
    JayKosta Posts: 635
    Probably no detectable 'on turbo' performance gain.
    Perhaps a little theoretical gain is possible if some fat-weight loss is from your legs, or if the weight loss helps you to breathe better.

    The power/weight improvement would be most obvious when climbing.

    Jay Kosta
    Endwell NY USA
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    The weight loss will help out on the road, but will make no difference to how you train on a static trainer...
  • BrandonA
    BrandonA Posts: 553
    What sort of turbo training do you do? Do you do basic power based intervals or do you rise virtual courses which have gradients? If it is the latter then power to weight is important, therefore if you drop weight and maintain power then you will ride the virtual course quicker.

    Are you fit? If the answer is no then you might improve the watts you can generate as you get fitter. If you are at you maximum potential interms of fitness then I imagine it might be possible that you'd lose some watts when your weight drops. Similarly to the first paragraph though power to weight is important so even if you dropped weight and power it is possible that you power to weight ratio will improve thus making you faster when you ride on real roads.
  • Alex_Simmons/RST
    Alex_Simmons/RST Posts: 4,161
    CleeRider wrote:
    I plan to lose 4kg while maintaining muscle mass, I currently weigh 69kg.
    All very straightforward as I've done it before.

    I'm just wondering if this will have any benefit on my turbo training or will I only see the benefits when out climbing hills?
    What do you mean by "benefit"?
    RST Sport : Coaching - Training Plans - Powermeters -- My blog -- AeroCoach Australia
  • napoleond
    napoleond Posts: 5,992
    It makes it easier to get on and off.
    Insta: ATEnduranceCoaching
    ABCC Cycling Coach
  • Mr Dog
    Mr Dog Posts: 643
    As you're not moving.. the simple answer is no. But as a cycling specific exercise it should, if your sessions are structured, both make you fitter and loose weight.
    Why tidy the house when you can clean your bike?
  • jibberjim
    jibberjim Posts: 2,810
    Weight loss may help more on a turbo than out on the road actually, due to the lower mass for surface area leading to better cooling...
    Jibbering Sports Stuff: http://jibbering.com/sports/
  • bahzob
    bahzob Posts: 2,195
    jibberjim wrote:
    Weight loss may help more on a turbo than out on the road actually, due to the lower mass for surface area leading to better cooling...

    It is for sure that if you see a large amount of HR vs power increase over a session, especially for long sub threshold steady state sessions this will compromise training.

    However the marginal difference will be pretty small I would have thought. Should be more than offset by repositioning existing cooling or getting a stronger fan.

    I really can't see how losing weight will make any substantial change to what you can do on a turbo. The only direction I could imagine it working would be in a negative sense, perhaps showing if you lose weight too quickly it prevents you completing sessions that you used to be able to handle. I did the Dukan diet for a few months and while it was very effective at shifting weight and was fine for LSD sessions, threshold+ sessions were much tougher.
    Martin S. Newbury RC
  • diy
    diy Posts: 6,473
    Wont make it easier, unless you are watching w/kg, might make it harder if you have less fat and need to dip in to it for longer harder sessions.

    How tall are you btw?
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  • Tom Dean
    Tom Dean Posts: 1,723
    bahzob wrote:
    It is for sure that if you see a large amount of HR vs power increase over a session, especially for long sub threshold steady state sessions this will compromise training.
    eh?
  • diy
    diy Posts: 6,473
    I think that can best be translated as thrashing about.
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  • Grill
    Grill Posts: 5,610
    I've found that at my lighter weights turbo training is more bearable simply due to less mess impacting a stationary object. Not as big an issue on short sessions, but over an hour I can feel the extra stone.
    English Cycles V3 | Cervelo P5 | Cervelo T4 | Trek Domane Koppenberg
  • warrior4life
    warrior4life Posts: 925
    I've come down from a fit muscular 94kg to 80kg over a few years. Taking everything in to account I feel that pumping blood around those extra 14kg was harder. My legs aroughly the same size and power is the same, being skinnier just feels easier... I'm no expert and it could be a placebo.
  • diy
    diy Posts: 6,473
    I don't think Sir Isaac Newton would agree that it was a placebo effect.

    The force required to move an object of a given mass etc. :)
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