Tips on getting fit from zero fitness?

Lost all my fitness in the last 6 months due to illness, wanting to get back on the bike over the next 4 months but have to take it very steady. Anyone got any tips?

ride, eat well, rest and repeat

Just ride, just get some hours/miles in as and when you feel like it, and if you feel like goin’ fast, push on, if not just ride steady.

Do that for a couple of months. Enjoy!

Start slow, get faster 😀

Just start slow and work your way back gradually, setting little goals along the way.

I’d lost so much fitness through last year that I was horribly overweight and unfit by Christmas. I’ve been putting some more effort in since then, lost a couple of stone and my fitness has improved a lot (although it’s still not great). Did my first 50+ mile ride for years on Saturday and felt good enough to go running on Sunday, so was pleased about that. Last time I did a 50+ mile ride I could barely walk for several days!

Routine.

Everything above is correct.

But being pedantic I’d say that you aren’t going to get ‘fit’.

Nobody* ever gets to a level and says, ‘Hey, I’m fit, I can stop now.’

You’ll get FITTER. And the importance of that point is that there is always scope to get fitter again, more hours in the day to ride, plenty of people who can ride faster or further than you…..

*When I say nobody, I mean anyone who isn’t intent on running the London marathon just the once and then relapsing into a life of sofas, beer and cake…….

As above but mix it up a bit.

I’ve started a beginners running group this Spring and it has made a vast improvement to my fitness, I don’t like running but it is really helping with the biking so I’ll keep it up.

Going to add in Swimming too when I can to add another dimension then maybe a triathlon becons??

I’ve also been doing the mixing it up thing and have found that’s been useful. That’s meant quite a lot of roadie stuff (including on a turbo) plus running (or run/walk intervals) and some swimming.

Not personally ready for a triathlon yet (waiting until I can run 5k in 30 minutes) but thinking about a couple of novice ones next year maybe.

But being pedantic I’d say that you aren’t going to get ‘fit’.

Pah! Fit is meaningless. The actual phrase is “fit for purpose”. Depending on what purpose you have in mind it will be bleeding obvious whether you are “fit” or not.

Pah! Fit is meaningless. The actual phrase is “fit for purpose”. Depending on what purpose you have in mind it will be bleeding obvious whether you are “fit” or not.

very true but we understand what the OP is getting at

+ 1 for cross training
Also highly recommend core strength for making the best of the strength your legs can give you. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes

Thinking of starting down the gym, doing some conditioning and weights. Then moving onto some gentle riding. Might even add some gentle dirt jumping in too.

I had the best part of 5 months off this winter. embrace your situation.

if your fit and need to get better your training needs to be specific. if you’ve lost it all anything you do is good. this means you can do what ever riding (or other) you fancy.

little and often is good – just short rides. cross training is good becasue there will be days when you don’t fancy the bike but can do weights/ get in the pool/ what ever.

you will be surprised how easily the fitness comes back though as the technique is already there.

Before Christmas I hadnt really ridden my bike for 2 years.

The urge is to go out and try and ride like you used to. Doesnt work just kills you.

I actually found a turbo trainer (in the winter months) very useful as I could set myself targets, and I because its unlike real riding I couldnt see how bad I was. When I was very unfit I found riding off road very frustrating as I could easily see how unfit I was and found every thing very very hard. I also found that technical skills were almost none existant because everything was so hard.

4 months after getting back on the bike I’ve probably now got 80% of my fitness back, and I actually enjoy riding trails again, rather than every pedal turn being a huge effort. The first month was just pain and I didnt think I was achieving anything. However after that my fitness just appeared to click.

Start slow and short distance, continue doing short and slow distances until it stops really hurting and taking you a long time to recover, then gradually increase the distance and speed.

If you’re going to the gym it might be worth trying something like Body Pump. You can build the weights up slowly and it gives you the sort of all round workout that helps with everything else. In my experience it hurts the first time, but gets a lot easier. Good for people (like me) who lack the willpower to push myself on my own.

Anyone got any tips?

Start riding now while it’s all sunny and nice!

Maybe start with solo rides so you go at your own pace and don’t get disheartened if you can’t keep up?

just ride and not worry about your fitness. ride to enjoy it and everything will follow.

high5, you back on a bike my friend 🙂

No expert at this, but a few (& probably misguided :?) bits I’ve realised…
Running. In terms of time spent I think its going to get your stamina up quicker than all but a very intense turbo session. I started running in early Jan. It was surprising how quickly the stamina built up. Within a month I was clearing 3 miles pretty easily. Worked up to 10k (6m), & signed up for a local 10k race in march as a goal. Doesnt necessarily equate to riding prefromance though. Initially I still found riding as tough as before, probably due to different muscle groups etc. But after about a month I noticed I was keeping with my two riding buddies on climbs that would normally see me way back (& sometimes pushing). Also, try a singlespeed. Call it niche/fashion or whatever, but my winter riding has been mostly pretty fast night-time 2hr blasts, & a few road rides. And taking the geared FS out the other day felt a lot easier than I rememberd.

And get a copies of Roam & Seasons. If I’m getting bored, watching one of those quickly snaps me out of it. 😉

To get fit you need excercise and rest. So make sure you have easy and hard days.

I’ve made gains just through walking briskly

One of my housemates at uni was spectacularly unfit and in a brief sober moment he decided that he needed to get fit so he came out running with me.

First run nearly killed him and was mostly a mix of walking, collapsing and occasional jogging. Amazingly he came out again the next night and by the end of the week he could run a mile (slowly) without stopping. The good thing about being really unfit is that you get fitter VERY quickly so you can really see the gains and it should motivate you.

Once you get to a certain level it becomes much harder and you really need to do specific training.

Just go out, riding, walking, running, whatever you want. Take it easy, mix things up a bit, try a bit of exploring, anything just to keep it fresh and you’ll soon see the improvements.

coming off the back of been FAT i can only offer .. eat well, walk, be active, bending and stretching sleep and only when you can do all without issue go for a ride

http://pre65trials.blogspot.com/

we few we happy few

To get fit you need excercise and rest

Damn true – where I went wrong first time around (if you ignore the virus which has floored me)

I have to go dead easy – can manage about 20mins on a bike but only if my heart rate doesn’t go over about 135bpm on average and I can’t push it over a max of 165bpm at any time otherwise I develop serious chest pains and complications due to my condition which signal an imminent relapse. 🙁

Going to take it easy with a lot of rest thrown in so I can develop it.

Jedi – looking forward to paying you a visit soon(ish) 🙂

as jedi said.it’s got to be fun,so you want to keep on doing it.forget about trying to get fitter and just go out for a ride (the weather is fantastic at the moment)think of a short loop near to you that you’d like to try (look at google earth/os map to help you find routes) you’ll find that if you are enjoying riding,you’ll want to keep on doing it (and increasing your base fitness in the process.i’ve had problems with depression,but have started to ride my bike semi regularly again and am loving it (and kicking myself for letting the depression win 😡 if you want to take it more seriously in future (fitness) then you’d have a good base to continue from 🙂

It’s always fun 😉