Hi,

I am hoping to lose some more weight / bodyfat over the winter months and get fitter to go riding in Italy next summer.

I usually get two 3-4 hour rides in on a Saturday and Sunday and do some weight training in my garage three nights per week. However, That final 10lbs I need to shed is stubbornly sticking to my middle aged abdomen!

I already have a turbo trainer which I admit I haven’t used much since I got it. I find it tedious sitting on it in the garage.

I have been considering early morning short rides instead. I live approximately a mile from a forest park with nice wide trails. No major climbs but again, nice to have the buffer of a wide trail when riding in the dark. I estimate I could get a 5 or 6 mile ride in two or three mornings per week.

Whilst I appear to be answering my own question from the above, on any previous dark rides I have done, I tend to ease off on speed / pushing myself. The fear of not having the same view as daylight riding is a factor.

So, is night riding worthwhile from a fitness perspective if you are not giving 100%? Will you get more from pushing hard indoors on a turbo trainer?

Weight loss wise, hard intervals on the turbo will be best, as you’ll burn more calories in a shorter time, and the intensity of the exercise suppresses appetite.
In terms of mental health, I’d keep the turbo training to one or two sessions a week, and get out on the mountain bike when you get fed up.

Turbo. If you stick to it. Try sufferfest or the like to make it more interesting. I’m going to try zwift this “season”

Night riding is for fun and skill not fitness (for me anyways)

Thanks.

Do you use any electronics to measure your performance on the turbo trainer?

I sometimes find it pretty hard to structure my training when out on the mtb, I often go out with the idea of doing hill climb repititions, and then if the season isn’t going well just abort for singletrack fun. On the turbo the only purpose is pain so being rigorous is easier.

For weight loss turbo is unlikely to be as good as real rides as would spend a lot more time out on the bike than on the turbo. Turbo does build up muscle and improve fitness well though.

So do both.

If weight loss is the main goal, would you consider other, non-bike exercise?

Swimming can be quite good, kettle bell sessions? running too, work different muscles in a different way, mix it all up and see what you get on with…

I tend to see night rides as a fun thing rather than intense training and while turbo training can provide what you need, it’s hard to stick the with monotony of it for too long…

Not that I am very fit or following anything like a structured training plan myself, so feel free to disregard all of the above…

You can’t out train a poor diet. Sort diet and add midweek turbo, rides, gym. Your doing everything at the moment in two days. Spread the load

Night ride……..using all your muscle groups plus mental agility and it’s real riding as opposed to mind numbing turbo training. Don’t just stick to the double track, seek out any local trail fairy built trails or if it’s acceptable in your local woods follow some well trodden deer tracks. Don’t restrict yourself to 5-6 mile rides……be restricted by the burn time your lights will give you!

Both. There are always going to be mornings/nights when the weather’s so minging you don’t feel like riding, but don’t bother trying to do steady sessions on the turbo, you’ll die of boredom. Just invest in some Sufferfest vids and nail yourself for an hour or so. I just mix it up according to conditions and what I feel like doing, though I’ve had years when I’ve just ridden outside regardless. Hard on a night when it’s just above freezing and proper bucketing it down though.

agree with both.

if you have the gadgets the turbo wont be that bad and probably better for a targeted goal. some structured power training is my plan this winter using trainerroad (i have stages and a bluetooth HRM).

get out when you can just to mix it up

A big +1 for the you can’t outrain a poor diet,i have done 25 hour weeks in Majorca and come back having put weight on.

Zwift! I’ll be using it a lot this year after trying it for the first time in Wednesday. I thought it’d be like watching myself ride on the laptop, then I got pulled into a race with a wheel sucking South African and ended up really enjoying myself. Maybe we should organise some STW group rides…

For myself it’s simple, riding comes first, turbo is good for wet spells, short time gaps etc and nothing else, because it’s something I do despite it being shit whereas riding is the reason I do turboing, it seems like a no brainer really. If you’re on a proper full-on training regime then the benefits of a turbo are probably stronger but we’re not.

Motivation’s hugely important to me, it doesn’t matter so much what’s best or worst, it’s more important what I’ll do most often.

Can’t comment on diet because I look like a famine victim despite the fact that right now, I’m eating a massive lump of cake

The way I look at it is that fitness is power to weight. So a focused (like trainer road for example) turbo program will probably improve your power more even if it does nothing about the weight. But….. it depends how motivated you are for sitting on the turbo.

I estimate I could get a 5 or 6 mile ride in two or three mornings per week.

thats not even enough to warm up, I’m not sure you’d get any benefit

I estimate I could get a 5 or 6 mile ride in two or three mornings per week.

thats not even enough to warm up, I’m not sure you’d get any benefit

agreed, I’d save time and jump on the turbo and do interval session for 45mins. Quality not junk

Ride what ever you think you will be able to stick to. A night ride is better than not riding the turbo.

I find complex short very hard turbo routines the least mind numbing. I still try and limit to two a week and try to get out unless the weather is bad.

I’ve lost a significant amount of weight since June, I’ve gone from 75 to 70kg. I didn’t up my exercise but I did cut calories. I would suggest a food diary/my fitness pal and start calories to see if you can reduce them. If you are over eating it is very hard to make up the excess through exercise.

I wouldn’t worry too much about diet beyond keeping it balanced. Cutting out the junk is effective. You don’t need to be a monk – you just need to stick to it most of the time.

I didn’t up my exercise but I did cut calories

well done m8, cutting out junk in most peoples diet will have a significant affect, beer too more so

Perhaps the usual boring answer: a little of everything.

[list]
[*]Longer rides at the weekend to get/maintain a reasonable base.[/*]
[*]Night rides for a bit of fun[/*]
[*]Turbo trainer (Zwift/Sufferfest/TrainerRoad) for working on specific weaknesses.[/*]
[*]Something non-bike related to avoid muscle imbalance[/*]
[/list]

I found turbo training mind numbing and could do about twenty minutes maximum before I would give up. Started using TrainerRoad and it’s a lot better (though still not as nice as being outside). The real advantage of turbo trainers is that if you need to do three five minute efforts with a minute’s rest then it’s simple whereas out on the road there’s too many things that can get in the way.

Keeping a food diary is a good idea but you have to be honest and record *everything*. I’ve seen systems where you also record how hungry you were on a scale of 1 – 5 with 1 being “I wasn’t hungry but ate it anyway” and 5 being “I don’t care what it is, I’m eating it”. Alcohol is always a 1 BTW.

For the weight loss it’s more about diet and lifestyle than purely exercise.

Losing that last 10lbs will be far easier if you make good diet choices, you’re getting your sleep, and the exercise you do makes you happy, lowers stress levels and keeps you motivated. All of these things are related and lead to each other, and so for me this points to doing what you love.

Burning a miserable load of kms/kcals on a Turbo is not going to lead to good choices and outputs elsewhere in your life based on how you feel about it.

Get the lights on the bike and rip it up outside!

Good luck.

Analyse your carb/sugar intake then reduce it lots. Boom, weight loss.