I work long hours (up at 5.30am / home again at 8pm), but want to get cycle fit. I’ve never liked going to the gym due to the travel time/ getting changed/ equipment unavailable etc. so was toying with the idea of setting up a turbo trainer at home.
I need to make the most of the odd 1/2 hour – hour I can squeeze in when I get home and was wondering about hooking my mtb onto a trainer. That way I can just jump on and off without any lost time.
I did used to have a rolling resistance trainer which seemed a bit crude so am looking for advice on which way to go with this?

I’ve got a turbo trainer that I use pretty infrequently because i find it pretty deadly dull, I much preferred doing spin classes at the gym but like you say you do need to take into account getting there and back.

So for me although the gym did take extra time, I was much more likely to actually do the session because I found it enjoyable whereas I could always come up with a good reason not to use the turbo trainer. you may be more dedicated but you’re really the only person that can answer that.

I have found making the commute, or part of it a ride is the best way to fit training into a busy schedule.

But turbo would probably be better than gym, its there and immediate you can jump on it anytime, a half hour work out at the gym means getting there, getting changed etc, it becomes a psychological hurdle when trying to fit in a quick workout.

Sorry fella… but its not quite that simple.

The knobbly tire on your MTB is a no go on a turbo, but thats not to say you couldn’t have a spare wheel set up with a smooth tyre on it.

Then all you’d have to do is swap them over as needed, and get yourself a sufferfest video… never dull if you are doing it right… your eyes will bleed but you’ll never be bored

I have found making the commute, or part of it a ride is the best way to fit training into a busy schedule.

That is what I used to do when I worked longer hours (although not as long as the OP’s hours which seem a little crazy to me)

Also there is an option to keep the knobbly tyre on and still use a turbo

My commute is a 60 mile each way car journey, and the nearest gym is at least a 20 minute car journey from home after coming back from work – that’s my dilemma. It literally adds another 40 minutes to my day + time in the gym. I have a family and I always get the hard stare when i say I’m going for a ride after work!

Oh I didnt know those rim drive turbos existed….. cool

They you go OP, STW to the rescue …

My commute is a 60 mile each way car journey, and the nearest gym is at least a 20 minute car journey from home after coming back from work – that’s my dilemma. It literally adds another 40 minutes to my day + time in the gym. I have a family and I always get the hard stare when i say I’m going for a ride after work!

Find a closer gym? Unless you live on the Sheltand islands and commute to The Faro islands there must be one closer. There’s at least 10 within 20min of me, and I’m in the backwater that is Redcar! I’ve never had to join a gym that I couldn’t walk to (well I did twice, and I never used it).

Turbo is a none starter, they’re unrelentlingly dull, mine only comes out if I’mm too injured to ride on the road, i.e. actualy bleeding or broken bones and by the time you’ve got changed into somethign to sweat in on the the turbo you may as well go ride outside.

Gym membership and spin classes would be my advice, incfact mon/wed/fri spinnning and tues/thurs doing somethign more resistance based like circuits would probably be more than most people who are actively training for a big event do, and only takes an hour to get changed and do a 45min class, shower and back into workclothes. Do that in the mornings and you can skip the shower/breakfast/dressed routine at home and get straight into gym kit. Ditto on the way back, wait till you’re home to get changed out of the gym kit and therefore you’re not ‘late’ even if it takes the same ammount of time as showering at the gym.

Also I find it good for stress to go somewhere different between work and home.

So realistically a 45 minute session at the gym (typical spin class) is getting on for between 1.5 and 2 hours once you include travel and faffing, given the time you have available to you I reckon that kind of answers the question for you unless you could get to the gym in your lunch hour.

Sorry I’ve missed something but why can you not just go out for a ride? A turbo is very boring – I struggle to 30minutes on mine and that needs to be a tough session or I get bored. It’s also not popular with the family, it’s very noisy so I have to stay in the shed and I sweet buckets and buckets.

Surely if you want to get ride fit then actual riding is the way to go. I don’t see why going to a gym is going to help you against actually going for a ride?

As people have said, if your time is limited then commuting is the way to go. I understand that it’s a long way, but can you not split the journey up and drive/train 2/3rds of it and then ride the rest?

Failing that, best way of getting fit in limited time I have found is to go for a run.

The job I do (film and tv work) doesn’t have a dedicated structure to it’s hours. There’s no lunch hour at a certain time, sometimes there’s no lunch hour at all, and my finish times fluctuate as well – that’s what makes going to a spin class at a specified time very difficult.

it’s very noisy so I have to stay in the shed and I sweet buckets and buckets.

Thought i was the only one banished to the shed! The other problem with the shed is it’s not the most inspiring of environments to be in for any length of time. There’s only so many times you can count the knots in the wood during the warmup before it gets old hat.

Turbo trainer and body weight exercises and a 16kg kettlebell

Get some Sufferfest videos, they make the time fly by and they work.

Someways I fit exercises in are as follows

*I’ve got a door frame chin up bar and whenever I walk past it I do 10 pull ups

*running a bath for the kids, get down and do some crunches

*kettle boiling, 30 push ups

* adverts on TV, do a plank

* 5 spare minutes, kettlebell swings.

Forget the notion that exercise has to be 3 sets of 12 or 5 sets of 5, 100 push ups throughout the day is still 100 push ups.

When time is short go hard and fast.

Good luck.

Take up jogging?

Seriously turbo’s are terminaly borring, and just as much faffing as the gym, if not more, it’s quite easy to faff for an hour before even starting on a turbo (get home, have a cup of tea in the neame of hydration, get changed, have a glassof water, pee, searth for HRM, remove bibs to fit HRM, get on bike, cant find shoes, find shoes, get back on bike, go back to find water bottle, back on bike, decide you need soem TV for boredome relief, go search for laptop, boxset of the simpsons and charger, back out to shed, spin for 30min not really having the motivation to do all the intervals you promised yourself, then repeat the pre turbo faff by dispersing the crap all over the house and having a shower. Then sell the turbo and join a gym as spinning classes take less time and despite Matt Groernings best efforts a pretty ladies bottom is far more enterntainment than a cartoon character.

Turbo – get an old road bike to leave in the turbo so you’re ready to go,nothing fancy I used one for years that someone gave me,all you need is the gears working,any h/bars will do(I had risers on mine)it never even had a front tyre on it….
Sufferfest Vids work,are cheap & f’kin brutal !An hour doing one of those will fly if you really go for it…

Oh & get a big **** off fan as well,you’ll need it !

Rollers with maybe a hrm or something to count your cadence should give you a pretty efficient workout over 30 mins, but add 5-10mins either side to warm up and down.

I think Nick Craig mentioned once that any free training time 30mims = go for a run instead of cycle.

Rollers?

i like my turbo (with sufferfest vids) don’t use it enough as i have to move it out, swap the wheel on the bike, move some other bikes, set up a workmate, to put the laptop on; this takes 15-mins each way, sometimes more if bikes are ontop of one another.

if your doing try and get a bike set up on there (semi) permanently.

Rollers?

Like a turbo, but you can fall off, and there’s much less resistance.

Apparently Tabata is where it’s at when it comes to short, intense sessions.

I’ve been doing these regularly on my Tacx T2200 and definitely feel stronger.

Not sure how easy it is to do Tabata type sessions on a TT using a MTB though. Gearing might well be too low. Hence most people use road bikes.

The advantage of the T2200 running Taxc’s own software is you can programme it to do all kinds of funky stuff including Tabata-specific wattage spikes at the correct intervals. No need to faff with timing and gears etc – it’s all done for you – all you have to do is pedal like a mentalist follow by some intermittent panting.

One or two people at work bring bike and turbo to work, find time to exercise during lunch in the car park, then pack up and drive home. Perhaps exercising at work BEFORE driving home might be a better option. Less distraction than at home.

I keep a set of running kit at work for lunchtime and do evening runs once the kids are in bed and the missus is in the bath.

It helps that the missus also runs one or two evenings a week so there’s no hard stares

It doesn’t help that I hate running. But when time is limited it works.

Unless you’re swimming, gyms are a massive waste of time and money IMO. Spend the money on a few weights / kettlebell and a pull up bar for home and you’re set. A turbo is good if you can stand cardio indoors but really…take up running, best bang for buck if you’re strapped for time. Shoes on and you’re out the door….

If you are going to buy a turbo you must buy a decent fan too. Makes it a lot more bearable.

Can’t be doing with running. Absolutely hate it.