QF Focus Magazine “Get on yer Bike.”
Monthly cycling tips / advice by Gary and Lynn, “Cyclogical” Quesada. Cycle Fitness Training.
Cycling for fitness can be one of the most beneficial and easiest ways to lose weight. The benefits of cycling to lose weight is the low impact nature of cycling and the ability to cycle more frequently with more volume (and intensity when appropriate) than you can with running. Swimming is also another great sport that has low impact during a weight loss period, however it is not as convenient as getting on your bike and cycling. If you have a spare bike or have your bike set up on a bike trainer during the winter it’s even more accessable and easier than driving to a pool.
Any weight loss programme that involves exercise should also involve balanced nutrition, just because you are working hard at exercise doesn’t give you a licence to stuff yourself with cakes and sweets once you have finished your workout. Next time you finish a hard cycle or exercise make sure you have an apple or a banana rather than a bag of crisps, always think about the food you are going to eat, how will it help you to get fit and get your weight down, if you think it is not going to help you reach your goals then don’t eat it! It sounds simple but it is a hard rule to execute.
You will get faster and leaner with interval training, you can increase your bodies anaerobic capacity, power, endurance and your cycling speed with short, sharp bursts of interval training.
Hill Climbs. Hill climbing takes it out of you at the best of times, but this hard and fast short burst of pain will help your long term power, find yourself a short, sharp hill with approx 4-5 minutes of climbing, power up the climb as fast as you can, once you reach the top, roll down as the recovery and then repeat as often as you can.
Sprints. After warming up for approx 20 minutes on a flat road, sprint for 20 seconds flat out followed by 20 seconds of slow gentle recovery, repeat this for approx 15 minutes or until you are exhausted. This helps to improve your endurance, strengthen the muscles, letting you ride faster.
Power Up. As little as 4 interval sessions can boost your power and ability to maintain higher intensity sessions, ride 20 x 1 minute at peak power with 2 minutes recovery between bursts, after a few weeks you should notice an improvement in your power output.
Other Skills. Skills such as one leg pedalling involve pedalling with one leg clipped into your pedal and one leg hanging by the side, this will help you to find out which leg is doing more work than the other. Try this for approx 3kms, alternating between legs every 50 revolutions, make sure that you are on a slight incline whilst carrying this out. High revolution spinning with one leg will focus on getting you to spin above your normal cadence and will get your heart rate above aerobic for a few seconds at a time. These types of drills will improve your efficiency and help you become better at pedalling because you will be wasting less energy.
Muscular Endurance. To improve muscular endurance pedal at a lower cadence which will improve your strength, by using the big chain ring at the front of the bike and a small ring at the rear you are forced to pedal slower and with a more focused pedal stroke, cycle in the high gear for as long as you can.
Rest day / Recovery Time. Whichever type of training you decide is good for you ensure you have a rest day in between as this is just as important as training. If you feel tired, lethargic or not looking forward to your next ride then this could be a sign that you may be over training.
Gary and Lynn are available at Cyclogical in Quesada Monday to Friday 09.30-17.30 and Saturdays from 10.00-14.00 to assist and advise you on all your cycling requirements.
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