mountain bike cardio

With me not training at all with this shoulder injury ive put a good amount of fat on. All ive been doing is sitting on my 4rse for teh last few months and rarely do anything and have slowy turned into a fat fcuk. I went and bought  myself a mountain bike and have been going out at least once a day. The 1st day i went i was out for 2 hours  but mostly its been been between 30-60mins.  Im wanting to know what would be best just to shift some fat and keep teh awl ticker in good nick. I was thinking o fdoing 2 hours each day but im wondering will this also make me lose much muscle

Hi there,
 
I think you'd be best off doing some kind of interval training, even if it's longer intervals. Are you going offroad on your MTB? Offroad riding is great interval training even if you don't design an interval session yourself: the terrain, the incline and the weight of the bike turn pretty much anything into an interval session. Have you got any decent places to offroad nearby?

Cycling smashes calories like mad and if you'll stick at it you'll soon get the amount of time you can ride up - you'll actually be surprised how quickly you get up to 50 miles and the knocking on 100 miles. When you do that you'll be blasting away BF like there's no tomorrow.
 
Beyond that, diet trumps trainng when it comes to weight loss and unless you're hammering the cardio like crazy it's almost impossible to train away poor diet

Be careful if you are going off road, flying down bupy hills puts a hell of a strain on your shoulders, depending on the nature of your injury it may make it worse.
 
That said cycling is great exercise and MTBing off road is a pretty good all over workout.

^ Agreed above, my mate took a decking on a descent and ended up with a complete clavicular separation! Not good.

Broken collar bones are pretty commomn too, 3 of my mates have suffered them over the last couple of years....but I suspect that's at least partly down to having more balls than ability.

Hahaha! Yes indeed.

 
Almost ashamed to admit this put I just fell off my spin bike in my garage. My mobile went off and I reached over to answer it, just stretched a bit far and off I went. Quite lucky I didn't have the straps tight or the pedals driven by the flywheel could have caused a nasty injury, got away with a chunky bruise on my shin and severely dented pride.

I forgot i posted this thread. Cheers for teh replies guys. Theres a few places here i think id be able to do it but i wouldnt be as fit for it yet,lol. Im sticking to a few roads that i know where its abit hilly here and there so thatll keep me busy for awhile. Not to fond of teh cold TBH but who is.  Havent been out in a few days but will get out tonight and try and do it everyday from here. One thing im not liking about it thou is my 4rse is fcuking killing me when i come home, think i need to bring teh seat back and try and change it for a more comfortable one.

keyser soez 2010


I forgot i posted this thread. Cheers for teh replies guys. Theres a few places here i think id be able to do it but i wouldnt be as fit for it yet,lol. Im sticking to a few roads that i know where its abit hilly here and there so thatll keep me busy for awhile. Not to fond of teh cold TBH but who is.  Havent been out in a few days but will get out tonight and try and do it everyday from here. One thing im not liking about it thou is my 4rse is fcuking killing me when i come home, think i need to bring teh seat back and try and change it for a more comfortable one.

 
Don't stop for a rest in the dogging layby's then 
 
 
Get some good padded shorts for your backside and a good quality base layer for the cold.
 
No such thing as bad weather, just bad kit.
 
 

Thought I'd drag this one up as I've recently started MTB'ing with a few mates. Great CV, trying to keep up with 9 stone riders on £2k bikes is killing me, but getting me fit fast!!! I also can't believe how my stubborn calves are coming up, I've trained my calves HARD in the gym and put on next to nothing, a few months on the bike and they are growing!!! Can't recommend it enough. 

I cycle everyday and really love it. It really chills me out.
 
I would always say that physical condition is 75% diet, 25% exercise. If you don't eat it in the first place - you don't have to burn it off.
 

You have to invest in a good seat and good cycle shorts / skins. Both are expensive but if you are serious and want to grind the miles out then having a sore backside is not even in the equation.

I totally love MTBing try to go around the red route (12 miles) once a week aswell as spin bike in the gym twice a week where i crank up the resistance for 30 seconds and pedal hard then slacken it off and pedal normally for 30 seconds. Do that for 15 mins. Only thing is the sore bum but ive got some good fox racing cycling shorts now that help with the padded bum

I love it but shatters my gears going down the Lickey hills at the weekend,  an expensive accident!