How Much Is Too Much | Commuting General | Commuting | Forums - BikeRadar

Wallace1492 · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 3:15 pm

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?

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Specialised Tricross - rack mudguards and panniers

FCN : 9/7

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MonkeyMonster · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 3:18 pm

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...

Modified Cannondale M500 [98]

FCN: 8

Clever Pun · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 3:26 pm

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

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Wallace1492 · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 3:27 pm

Kanya · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 3:28 pm

MonkeyMonster · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 3:32 pm

unscarred · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 3:44 pm

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.

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feltkuota · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 3:49 pm

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 · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 3:53 pm

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...

Prince
Pearson

Clever Pun · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 4:04 pm

-null- · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 4:08 pm

ketka82 · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 4:20 pm

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 · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 4:20 pm

Clever Pun · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 4:31 pm

feltkuota · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 4:33 pm

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 · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 4:53 pm

Coopster the 1st · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 4:58 pm

the_village_idiot · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 10:49 pm

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 · **Posted** Fri Nov 6, 2009 10:55 pm

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

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hillrep · **Posted** Sat Nov 7, 2009 12:13 am

Wallace,

As a serious training regime the main thing missing is rest Smile

.

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.

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