Cycling Fitness Program to help Cyclists Drop Weight during Winter
http://www.cycling-inform.com/articles/39/1/Cycling-Fitness-Program-to-help-Cyclists-Drop-Weight-during-Winter/Page1.html
David Heatley
David Heatley is the director
of Cycling-Inform and co-creator of the RaceRight Cycling Camp. He has
medalled at national and regional events in By David Heatley
Published on 27-Mar-08
Loosing or maintaining weight during the winter months is something of a challenge. It’s especially difficult as the days are shorter and the weather is cooler. Here are some great tips explaining how your percentage body fat works and how to manage your diet to keep you in control of your weight during winter. So you’ll be able to ride efficiently up hills and keep slim till summer arrives again.
Click on the full story link below to read more...
Click on the full story link below to read more...
Cycling Fitness Program to help Cyclists Drop Weight during Winter
Firstly, it's important to understand that it is unrealistic to wish for the same body mass as that of full-time professional athletes. Pro cyclists will have many more available hours to train at their disposal, compared to people who work.
People also have different body compositions; percentage of body fat, and muscle make-up. You could be very muscular, and have low body fat, which results in you weighing 81 kg. Another cyclist of the same height and weight could have smaller amounts of muscle, and greater amount of fat, resulting in a greater body fat.
So the first step is to assess the actual amount of body fat that you have, and from that you can make guidelines for fat loss.
There are several ways of establishing body composition, including, skinfold measurements, bio-electrical impedance analysis (BIA), and hydrostatic weighing - which is generally regarded as the "gold standard". It's important that the person who measures these variables is trained and follows standardised procedures. With skinfold measurements, the actual result (sum of all the skinfold measurement sites) can be highly dependent upon the skill of the person measuring.
You can pick up a set of bathroom scales that measure fat using BIA from your local department store. It is a very accessible way of monitoring your fat composition. This becomes important because as you train you generally build muscle which is heaver than fat. If you use a normal set of scales and monitor your weight you may not see much difference even though you are loosing fat and gaining muscle.
Once your body fat percentage has been measured you can then get set a realistic desirable target body fat percentage. Once you have determined your weight loss needs, your goal should also have a realistic time frame in which to achieve it. Aiming for a weight loss of about 0.5-1.0 kg maximum per week is a sensible guideline.
The next step is to record in a food diary for the week. Note the exact quantities and types of food you are eating. When you review the diary you may see some patterns in your eating habits, and also spot 'bad' foods like any fried food. The rule for fried food is simple…. Don’t eat it at all. Replace it with grilling or boiling instead.
Dietary recommendations promote that the majority of our food should come from low G.I. carbohydrates (about 60+ percent) such as high fibre foods, and low to moderate glycaemic foods. Wholegrain cereals, wholemeal bread, pasta, rice, vegetables, legumes, fruit, and low calorie drinks as these are best for our health. It is important to cut down on the amounts of saturated fats that you eat. Unsaturated fats are essential to your diet and should be part of your daily intake.
Snacks should be based around low calorie, filling choices such as fruit, dried fruit, vegetables, etc.
Depending on your training volume (time), consuming about 5-8 g of carbohydrate per kg body mass per day should help fuel your training activities (e.g., 405-648 g of carbohydrate per day for an 81 kg rider).
Riding four to six days per week will help to maintain or lower your weight. During the winter / off-season months you shouldn't give up training - as this will almost certainly mean an increase in weight!
Some content for this article was adapted from: http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=letters2002_10_29 written by Richard Stern
People also have different body compositions; percentage of body fat, and muscle make-up. You could be very muscular, and have low body fat, which results in you weighing 81 kg. Another cyclist of the same height and weight could have smaller amounts of muscle, and greater amount of fat, resulting in a greater body fat.
So the first step is to assess the actual amount of body fat that you have, and from that you can make guidelines for fat loss.
There are several ways of establishing body composition, including, skinfold measurements, bio-electrical impedance analysis (BIA), and hydrostatic weighing - which is generally regarded as the "gold standard". It's important that the person who measures these variables is trained and follows standardised procedures. With skinfold measurements, the actual result (sum of all the skinfold measurement sites) can be highly dependent upon the skill of the person measuring.
You can pick up a set of bathroom scales that measure fat using BIA from your local department store. It is a very accessible way of monitoring your fat composition. This becomes important because as you train you generally build muscle which is heaver than fat. If you use a normal set of scales and monitor your weight you may not see much difference even though you are loosing fat and gaining muscle.
Once your body fat percentage has been measured you can then get set a realistic desirable target body fat percentage. Once you have determined your weight loss needs, your goal should also have a realistic time frame in which to achieve it. Aiming for a weight loss of about 0.5-1.0 kg maximum per week is a sensible guideline.
The next step is to record in a food diary for the week. Note the exact quantities and types of food you are eating. When you review the diary you may see some patterns in your eating habits, and also spot 'bad' foods like any fried food. The rule for fried food is simple…. Don’t eat it at all. Replace it with grilling or boiling instead.
Dietary recommendations promote that the majority of our food should come from low G.I. carbohydrates (about 60+ percent) such as high fibre foods, and low to moderate glycaemic foods. Wholegrain cereals, wholemeal bread, pasta, rice, vegetables, legumes, fruit, and low calorie drinks as these are best for our health. It is important to cut down on the amounts of saturated fats that you eat. Unsaturated fats are essential to your diet and should be part of your daily intake.
Snacks should be based around low calorie, filling choices such as fruit, dried fruit, vegetables, etc.
Depending on your training volume (time), consuming about 5-8 g of carbohydrate per kg body mass per day should help fuel your training activities (e.g., 405-648 g of carbohydrate per day for an 81 kg rider).
Riding four to six days per week will help to maintain or lower your weight. During the winter / off-season months you shouldn't give up training - as this will almost certainly mean an increase in weight!
Some content for this article was adapted from: http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=letters2002_10_29 written by Richard Stern