Getting a bit older, fitness advice.

Buy an ebike !

Its a fact that you are on a steady decline in performance, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

So accept it and get an ebike . You can then still  wrk hard to maintain fitness as best you can but you can also get up the hills to maintain in group rides etc

I would do something that keeps your overall strength and flexibility good to avoid injuries. I say that as injuries are now the thing that keeps me off sport for long periods now. Mostly tendon type injuries.

i think the key issue is only 2 hours a week

i've fallen into that since the summer.. and added a good percentage in weight..

however i have found that the smart trainer can really push me, so i plan to get that set up in a bit more of a permanent location ASAP

Aged over 50, adding in resistance work has massive benefits for overall health and reducing all cause mortality.

I'm not sure what impact it would have on your climbing ability.

As well as my weekly 2hr club ride, should i…

– Start to use structured strength type sessions (intervals etc) on the turbo a couple of times a week

or

– Start to build my legs using kettlebell squats etc (plus some press ups and rows etc)

Mostly A, but with a bit of B to add torque for techy/v steep climbs, in my experience.

I'm sure you're not feeble enough that the only answer is an eeb.

In my experience (similar age) a little bit of running is your quickest/cheapest way of gaining some fitness.

Buy an ebike !

I already have one, but i was hoping that i could still work hard at retaining some fitness and still enjoy my regular bikes too.

a bit older here, and with some heart issues, however my climbing performance, and overall bike fitness has been really transformed in the past year or so since adding indoor riding, lots of Z2 short sessions.  I tend to do about 4 sessions a week on Zwift, around an hour a go, with half of them at least in power and HR Z2, the rest a bit harder.

Since doing this I have sold my e-road bike and most of my real riding is on my gravel and regular road bikes.  My eMTB has been sadly neglected.

other stuff helps too, we have a dog who helps me to at least 10000 steps most days, and I swim around 3-5km a week, plus some yoga classes.

I'm 64 and retired so I usually ride 3-4 times a week, recently added some strength work and started doing Pilates (weekly class and at home) and I feel fitter than I have ever been, reducing beer intake and losing 19kg also helped.

Approaching a similar age, gaining or maintaining fitness is increasingly challenging. When younger, I could go out for a couple of long challenging rides and observe a noticeable change in fitness. Now a tough weekend just leaves me tired with little to show for it! As others have said, a bit of strength training is a must. Daily push ups are an easy 5 min morning activity. A kettlebell allows you to do a simple circuit of swings, squats and deadlifts at home. A circuit of lunges, forward, side and back is another surprisingly challenging short workout.  I find running tough unless done at least once or twice a week.

Indoor training on Zwift or similar is a good way of adding in some additional aerobic exercise time. As I get older, I wonder if simply getting away from the desk for a proper brisk 30 lunchtime walk is as good as anything else.

I’m also gasping for air a lot more than before

Out of context that sounds like cardio/ power type stuff, rather than strength per se. So definitely at least one additional training session per week required (2 would be a bonus), and I think chakaping's got the best answer. Simply more miles isn't going to provide a huge gain in performance, but structured intervals and intensity training should really help.

I'm a little older than you (57) and have experienced the same since turning 50 but REALLY stated noticing around 55. I have a desk bound job so fit things around that.

I would do regular strength training, press-ups, squats etc with or without weights at a gym or at home  couple of times a week as well as your turbo sessions plus flexibility stuff like pilates or just stretching as well as your regular riding. Consistency is also key and there are loads of video on YT about this stuff with a recent one by GCNs Dan that was quite good but he had proper testing and all that jazz which is out of the reach and maybe excessive for mere mortals, there's also a guy on YT called Forest Velo, road biased but the general principles are all the same. Also sleep and recovery is very important as one ages! long live the afternoon nap!

this.... but running is a no from me its too risky for injuries unless you've always done it, swimming instead??

As others have said, a bit of strength training is a must. Daily push ups are an easy 5 min morning activity. A kettlebell allows you to do a simple circuit of swings, squats and deadlifts at home. A circuit of lunges, forward, side and back is another surprisingly challenging short workout.  I find running tough unless done at least once or twice a week.

Indoor training on Zwift or similar is a good way of adding in some additional aerobic exercise time. As I get older, I wonder if simply getting away from the desk for a proper brisk 30 lunchtime walk is as good as anything else.

The biggest change I made to my climbing ability in the last few years was to shed a few pounds. I've found that easier with running - it seems to burn the weight off very efficiently.

As well as my weekly 2hr club ride, should i…

If that's all you're doing and with a desk job it's not surprised you're struggling.

Any specific reason you only ride once a week, and for so little?

I'm older have just started Crossfit classes as I too noticed my 'strength' starting to disappear, just on one class a week at the moment, intend to move it to two in a month or two - I do though ride a lot more.

And is this weekly ride on your eBike?

Also check out Always Another Adventure on YT, he's older than both of us but I've taken his recommendation with the gym/strength training.

If that’s all you’re doing and with a desk job it’s not surprised you’re struggling.

At the weekend i also tend to go out on the bike or go hiking, but thats not always regular. I also do some irregular turbo type stuff. The weekly club ride is the only guaranteed activity so i was looking to build more structure around that. Stuff i can do every week rather than just if its not raining.

And is this weekly ride on your eBike?

No. I don't count any ebike activity as real activity. Its just fun.

2 hours per week is nothing. I suspect you’d see the biggest change just by upping that number. Whether that’s sessions on the turbo, or just riding outside, that’s the obvious win.

As mentioned above, weight is also a factor, which often plays into diet, particularly if you’re in a sedentary job.

Strength work is good as well, particularly as you get older, but that’s not going to make you a better climber.

Its a fact that you are on a steady decline in performance, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

Depends where you are starting from. I know a guy who decided to get superfit at 50 (maybe 7-8 years ago) and he now races CX internationally in his age category.

The key to being fitter in your 50s is probably to start in your teens, with the benefit of hindsight. I'm 56 this year. The last 12 months I've added one or two gym sessions a week and one or two online or real life yoga sessions, though that has coincided with a drop in riding time due to health and weather, so I'm heavier than I was a year ago, so it's very much about finding a balance that works for you and your work/life balance. I consider a good winter week to be two gym sessions, two yoga/flexibility sessions and two rides.

Commitment and consistency are key - half an hour online is probably better spent doing a simple YouTube yoga routine rather than scrolling on here. A bit of fruit is probably better for you than that Penguin bar. If you can't get to the gym, can you do a bodyweight workout at home (again, YouTube will find you some)?

One of my unhelpful characteristics was thinking a ride has to be 2 hours to be worth it - it doesn't. Once I'm out the house I have a couple of options to get an 6 mile loop with a good tough hill right in the middle and be done in half an hour. Though the idea of an indoor trainer is becoming increasingly attractive.

Joe Friel's book, Fast After 50 - https://www.velopress.com/books/fast-after-50/ - is really good on the basics of what happens to you physiologically as you age and the most effective ways of minimising impact and well worth a read.

In really brief, over simplified terms: your VO2 Max declines, you lose muscular strength and power and your recovery is slower. Answers are regular resistance training, thoughtful recovery - more time after hard rides - and regular higher intensity stuff to maintain top-end. That and changing the balance of your diet so you're getting enough protein.

More generally, consistency rules, so doing stuff regularly is better than going on binges, then stopping, then starting again etc.

Anyway, if you understand what's happening, you're in a better place to train / exercise / live, a bit smarter. Different things work for different people, you're always going to do stuff you love doing more than stuff that you hate for example, and I suspect that your physiological make-up is also going to have an impact on what works best for individuals.

Where would i get the biggest bang for my buck??

I'd argue a couple of intense  resistance sessions a week with big compound movements, some more steady cycling and one or two intense - maybe just the one - interval sessions, which could be a mountain bike hammerfest on jagged terrain if that works for you. Something you're actually going to do. If intervals turn you off, don't do them. Go Strava KoM hunting maybe. Or ride with people faster than you and smash every climb / sprint for signs, whatever. Oh, bear in mind that heavy leg weight training batters your cycling muscles, so intersperse stuff prudently.

But beyond all that, Fast After 50 is a good start-point I think

strength training is good, thought about pilates / yoga/ a PT gym plan (lots of personal trainers now specialise in cycling)

i keep meaning to join spin classes in winter, be lovely to strip off your gear into washer and not have to worry about your chain rusting. and mud clogging up the machine

i'm trying to get my cycling back up, + swimming, pilates and a les mills body pump once a week, which absolutely ruins me,

made it a new years resolution to stop snacking during working hours, i'm down 5% body weight and feel better for it

One of my unhelpful characteristics was thinking a ride has to be 2 hours to be worth it

That's a problem for me too, especially at this time of year, but I can never get into a training mindset when I'm out riding for fun anyway. Turbo helps. As does the running. (Did I mention running?)

Yes, out of all the activities I do I find that I enjoy strength and conditioning training the least- which is unfortunate as I understand it is pretty much unanimously considered the most important out of all of them by some measure once you start to hit middle age.

So I would say the strength/resistance training is the one to introduce but I think its doubtful it will have any noticeable effect specifically on your cycling metrics- though arguably in the long term I'm sure it increases your ability to keep cycling as you get older.

Having said all that, if you are solely interested in getting faster on the bike in the short term, a couple of intense interval sessions on a turbo trainer per week will 100% make you faster on a bike.

Came on here to recommend Joe Friel as per BWD above.  Contrary to seemingly most of the newly-found WFH brigade I became very sedentary during COVID and looked to his Over 50 book to try and regain lost fitness.  My takeaway was to concentrate on hill climbing intervals with the odd longer ride thrown as opposed to just doing miles with the odd sprint session; the results came through pretty rapidly.

just move your goalposts.

obviously as you age, you are not gonna be as fast and as strong as 20 years ago.

ride slower for longer, make your cycling about the journey, not the speed.

59 here. retired. 14 years with heart problems.  i ride every day. usually make over 100 miles per week all year. all at about 10mph.

and ilove it.

Yeah @ton, but you're sensible and mostly ride solo or with your missus. I'm out riding with folk 10-20 years younger than me and need all the training I can get ?

At 51 now, I'm trying push myself to do 5 hours per week in '25, which typically includes ~1 hour from four Tiny Races and every now and again I might do one other race per week. It's a struggle because my stamina is so carp these days, but I'm trying to now do approx one hour long easy sessions. I might be making some very marginal gains, but mostly just about managing my goal after a year or so of often struggling to do ~3.5 hours per week.

Until long covid began in late '22, I used to do ~10 hours per week. Numerous Zwift races per week autumn to spring, including some short ones back to back. Typically at least two outdoor rides per week in spring/summer where I'd z2/3 between z4+ efforts up hills 250-600 feet (so approx 5-15mins) for 2-3 hours. Most warm months, I'd do a 60+ mile ride in the same hills, but all around z2 for ~4 hours. In spring/summer '22, I was often beating my best segment times since '17 for fun, got a good handful or two of top ten overalls and even got the odd KOM. My relative forte was repeatable threshold and VO2 efforts, somewhere between an all-rounder and puncheur MAMIL.

Sounds like OP could do with two days a week with either sub 20min turbo races, or some ERG workouts focussing on VO2, starting with ~4min efforts with 3-4min recovery periods or just jump straight in with ~8min efforts for bigger gains (according to Dylan Johnson vlogs).

Stuff like...
https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/less-than-60-minutes-to-burn/the-gorby

It sounds like you’re mostly about road cycling and climbing is the issue. For me that’s mostly driven by body weight and cardio fitness.

Zwift (or other training app - whichever motivates you most) is really good for me for pushing myself really hard with tempo or threshold sessions - using races mainly. For lower intensity I either join a slow group ride or run a Zwift workout in my phone and watch tv on the Apple TV I have in my home gym (garage).

I tend to do quite a bit of weight training so I’m never going to be a road whippet - nor do I want to be as mtb is where I have most fun on a bike. I had my first ever PT session today with a focus on core strength and fitness for the downhill bits. I’m reasonably competent downhill and it frustrates me that leg endurance seems to be the biggest factor that holds me back on long down hills.

Ive heard running is decent for a quick bit of cardio fitness but I really hate it. I’m a right thudder and find it hard on my joints if I do much - or I seem to strain my right calf muscle ?‍♂️

@scotroutes    lol.... sensible.

you need to swap your name to Peter Pan...............   ;o)

Another recommendation for fast after 50. Transformed me and now faster uphill than I’ve ever been! Good luck

57 and 11/12ths here.  I am trying to sort myself out after 15 plus years of really good training, kids, work and my wifes job have hit me hard in training and energy.  Cholesterol is a tiny bit high so I am trying to sort this with a better diet before I am forced to look at Statins.

I dont think the OP's 2hrs are enough tbh.  I find that 3hrs + is just enough, but really need to push to nearer 6 hrs a week and then its all good.  I am getting back close to 3-4 hrs and the difference is amazing.  I have really kicked my diet up the a##e, no cheese for six weeks baring the odd meal out.  Giant oats in water/seeds/cinnamon/banana for breakfast 5x a week, lots of beans etc.  We are pretty good at home, lots of fish, good bread (£4 a loaf :-(..).  Kicked bacon - once since middle of December.

Training wise I love night rides (well i did before I stopped), a bit of mtbing and we have a Peloton (the best thing my wife ignored me on).  I find a change to turbo and Zwift and have started doing weights at a gym a couple times in the month.  I am going try to start a little bit of running when the weather improves and see if I can continue into next winter

Its hard training this time of the year (I really hate these months) but hopefully it will pay off when the weather gets better.  Lets see.

PS I am not fit enough for an eBike 😉