Training for spin - diet changes?

Quoted message said:

From: "Ken Bessler"

Quoted message said:

Also would stretching before riding >help/hurt?

Easier/better to stretch warm muscles. Up to you how this gets done. Err on the conservative side.

Don't sweat the RPM. For practice, roll out on downhills, spin the foot speed up for a bit, with
control and some tension, or load in the pedals, then relax. Check your ride average RPM next year
sometime. (Flak about your leg speed
is... flak.)

Interested in group rides? Requires other riding skills related to safely riding close to others.
Good way to cover miles enjoyably, and FWIW/IMHO the riders who have real "status" are the folks who
can make a group ride work smoothly and safely without dropping the slower riders.

"Remember this is supposed to be fun". Bravo on your "report". --TP

In article said:

I'm currently transitioning from a MTB setup to a road bike setup (Bianchi). I'm a commuter who
rides for fitness and transportation.

I've been told that I need to shoot for a pedal "spin" rate of 90-95 rpm. I started at a comfort
pace of 75 but with a little effort am now at ease around 80-85 rpm and can shoot 95 rpm for 1-2
minute bursts. My "git da hell outta here" max pace is 137.5 rpm.

I'm 39, 230lbs and 5'8" with a 29" inseam. I was 298 in March, 2003 when I changed my diet to low
carb, low fat & low sugar. That is also when I started riding. So, with diet and excercise, I've
lost 68 lbs in 6 months. It's been hard because I'm an insulin dependant diabetic.

Quoted message said:

I ride 10-15 casual miles per day averaging 80-90 rpm and 15-20 mph on my Bianchi.

Trying to say this in a nice way... with that much fat on your stomach and your legs I think it
might just be counter-productive and inefficient for you to try to ride comfortably at 90-95 rpm's.
Work on gradually increasing your rpm's but don't worry about it much. You should focus instead on
increasing the length and frequency of your rides to help remove more fat. Make it one of your
primary goals to be able to do at least one 2-hour ride on the weekend.

-WG

"Ken Bessler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm currently transitioning from a MTB setup to a road bike setup (Bianchi). I'm a commuter who
rides for fitness and transportation.

<snip>

Dumbass -

So why post to a racing newsgroup?

rec.bicycles.misc rec.bicycles.Fatties rec.bicycles.Masters.Fatties alt.weight.watcher.fattie
alt.check.out.my.large.gut

would all be more appropriate.

I just want to add a few things...

Your cadence is fine so don't worry about it. Instead focus on your heart rate. See a doctor who is
qualified to give you exercise advice. About heart rate monitors, you can find inexpensive ones that
work great and can easily cost less than your Bianchi (which I have read the specs of about a dozen
times already, BTW).

Carbs are very important to a cyclist and your diet doesn't have many. Something to think about.

Stretching is good. Also, drink lots of water before, during and after your workout.

Dave

In article said:

I just want to add a few things...

Your cadence is fine so don't worry about it. Instead focus on your heart rate.

Why do you think it's important for a guy who is only riding 10-15 miles per day at 15-18mph to
focus on his HR?

-WG

"warren" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article said:

I just want to add a few things...

Your cadence is fine so don't worry about it. Instead focus on your

heart

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

rate.

Why do you think it's important for a guy who is only riding 10-15 miles per day at 15-18mph to
focus on his HR?

-WG

Hell - I'm no genius but even I can answer that one - A good cardio- vascular workout is evident
when the pulse is elevated to 25-50% above the resting rate. Now 15 miles at 18 mph might not
seem much to YOU but if I do it with a 700x25 tire in a 42/17 gear with a 170mm crank, I get a
great workout.

Besides, I'm just getting back into bikes after getting up to 298 lbs last winter. I've got maybe
250 miles total over the last 15 years and 63 miles over the last 4days. and have lost 61 lbs over
the last 6 months.

All I was asking was for advice.... sheesh!

Ken

In article said:

"warren" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article said:

I just want to add a few things...

Your cadence is fine so don't worry about it. Instead focus on your

heart

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

rate.

Why do you think it's important for a guy who is only riding 10-15 miles per day at 15-18mph to
focus on his HR?

-WG

Hell - I'm no genius but even I can answer that one - A good cardio- vascular workout is evident
when the pulse is elevated to 25-50% above the resting rate.

That range of effort is very easy to gauge without a HRM.

Quoted message said:

Now 15 miles at 18 mph might not seem much to YOU but if I do it with a 700x25 tire in a 42/17
gear with a 170mm crank, I get a great workout.

Using a HRM won't change that.

Quoted message said:

Besides, I'm just getting back into bikes after getting up to 298 lbs last winter. I've got maybe
250 miles total over the last 15 years and 63 miles over the last 4days. and have lost 61 lbs over
the last 6 months.

All I was asking was for advice.... sheesh!

And the advice should be useful. For where you're at you just need to ride at what you perceive as a
moderate effort for as many hours as you can, and if you can't do that you need to ride at moderate
effort for as long as you can at least once or twice a week because the fat-burning adpatations can
be more effective during a two-hour ride than during a bunch of 30-45 minute rides. IOW, you don't
need a HRM for what you're doing right now unless you like to look at it.

-WG

"warren" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

All I was asking was for advice.... sheesh!

And the advice should be useful. For where you're at you just need to ride at what you perceive as
a moderate effort for as many hours as you can, and if you can't do that you need to ride at
moderate effort for as long as you can at least once or twice a week because the fat-burning
adpatations can be more effective during a two-hour ride than during a bunch of 30-45 minute
rides. IOW, you don't need a HRM for what you're doing right now unless you like to look at it.

-WG

Thanks, Warren - I was beginning to think this NG was completley dominated by a$$holes. ;-)

Ken

"Ken Bessler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"warren" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

All I was asking was for advice.... sheesh!

And the advice should be useful. For where you're at you just need to ride at what you perceive
as a moderate effort for as many hours as you can, and if you can't do that you need to ride at
moderate effort for as long as you can at least once or twice a week because the fat-burning
adpatations can be more effective during a two-hour ride than during a bunch of 30-45 minute
rides. IOW, you don't need a HRM for what you're doing right now unless you like to look at it.

-WG

Thanks, Warren - I was beginning to think this NG was completley dominated by a$$holes. ;-)

Ken

But HRM's can help motivate you no matter what fitness level you are at.

You don't need one but they can be an interesting way to monitor your fitness.

Dashii

In article said:

"warren" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

All I was asking was for advice.... sheesh!

And the advice should be useful. For where you're at you just need to ride at what you perceive
as a moderate effort for as many hours as you can, and if you can't do that you need to ride at
moderate effort for as long as you can at least once or twice a week because the fat-burning
adpatations can be more effective during a two-hour ride than during a bunch of 30-45 minute
rides. IOW, you don't need a HRM for what you're doing right now unless you like to look at it.

-WG

Thanks, Warren - I was beginning to think this NG was completely dominated by a$$holes. ;-)

Ken

Liberal use of "killfiles" makes the usefulness of the ng pendulum swing back towards "somewhat".

-WG

"Ken Bessler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Hell - I'm no genius but even I can answer that one - A good cardio- vascular workout is evident
when the pulse is elevated to 25-50% above the resting rate.

Hmmm. My resting HR is about 50-55bpm. Just standing around I'm at 75-80. So am I getting a good
cardiovascular workout then?

JT

Because he is overweight, his heart must work harder to supply blood to his body. He has other
complications, too. He needs some sound advice from a qualified doctor, really. I wonder if a doctor
would recommend that an active person with his medical conditions be on a low carb diet.

About HRM's, they are so inexpensive now that I cannot imagine any one who's remotely serious about
a cardiovascular sport not having one. If you are going to spend x number of dollars on your cycling
appearal then what is 20-30 dollars for an HRM? Also, by using an HRM, a doctor can tell him exactly
how hard to push himself, and he can intelligently track his fitness level. I'd much rather hear
"Don't exceed 170 BPM" than "Just keep a moderate pace," wouldn't you?

And don't forget, he's dragging 230 lbs. everwhere he goes! Yes, 15 miles is not a century, but
don't short change the guy.

Dave

"John Forrest Tomlinson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Ken Bessler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Hell - I'm no genius but even I can answer that one - A good cardio- vascular workout is evident
when the pulse is elevated to 25-50% above the resting rate.

Hmmm. My resting HR is about 50-55bpm. Just standing around I'm at 75-80. So am I getting a good
cardiovascular workout then?

JT

I was quoting my Dr. He might have under reported the number for me because I have hypertension, I
don't know.

FWIW

Ken

John Forrest Tomlinson said:

"Ken Bessler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Hell - I'm no genius but even I can answer that one - A good cardio- vascular workout is evident
when the pulse is elevated to 25-50% above the resting rate.

Hmmm. My resting HR is about 50-55bpm. Just standing around I'm at 75-80. So am I getting a good
cardiovascular workout then?

JT

Define "good." The CDC did recently release "exercise" recommendations with a substantial loosening
of the requirements for gaining health benefits. I'm not sure they went quite as low as "just
standing around" though, but IIRC they had making photocopies or somesuch in the list.

--
--
Lynn Wallace xmission.com~lawallOpen ↗ "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

Ken Bessler said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

A good cardio-vascular workout is evident when the pulse is elevated to 25-50% above the
resting rate.

Hmmm. My resting HR is about 50-55bpm. Just standing around I'm at 75-80. So am I getting a good
cardiovascular workout then?

I was quoting my Dr. He might have under reported the number for me because I have hypertension, I
don't know.

It may be he meant 25-50% of your HR range. Say your resting HR is 60 and maxHR is 180, range is
120. Then 25-50% is 90-120. Even so, I would not call the lower range of that a good cardio-vascular
outfit, but I have no experience with untrained individuals.

"onefred" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Because he is overweight, his heart must work harder to supply blood to

his body. He has

Quoted message said:

other complications, too. He needs some sound advice from a qualified

doctor, really. I

Quoted message said:

wonder if a doctor would recommend that an active person with his medical

conditions be on

Quoted message said:

a low carb diet.

About HRM's, they are so inexpensive now that I cannot imagine any one

who's remotely

Quoted message said:

serious about a cardiovascular sport not having one. If you are going to

spend x number

Quoted message said:

of dollars on your cycling appearal then what is 20-30 dollars for an HRM?

Also, by using

Quoted message said:

an HRM, a doctor can tell him exactly how hard to push himself, and he can

intelligently

Quoted message said:

track his fitness level. I'd much rather hear "Don't exceed 170 BPM" than

"Just keep a

Quoted message said:

moderate pace," wouldn't you?

And don't forget, he's dragging 230 lbs. everwhere he goes! Yes, 15 miles

is not a

Quoted message said:

century, but don't short change the guy.

Dave

Thanks, Dave - your advice was helpfull.

And it was my Dr. that sent me to the endocrinologist in the first place, to help me loose weight
and cut my insulin use from it's rate then of 600u per day (!). I use about 20-40 per day now (less
when I exceed 10 miles on the bike).

I see the endo twice a month and bring excercise records, dietary logs and blood sugar reports with
me. She weighs and measures me, checks my pressure and pours over the data then tweaks my overall
procedures (diet, insulin, excercise) for the following 2 weeks. It's so complicated that I need
both my home PC plus PDA plus computer controlled blood glucose meter to keep track of it all.

The bike aspect is new - I was walking 1-2 miles per day but I had gotten used to that so I wasn't
getting a cardio workout from it anymore, hence the biking.

I won't go into the details of my diet in this forum but to generalise, I'm averaging 120 gr carbs
and 20 gr fat per day. The goals are to control my diabetes while loosing 1-3 lbs per *week* and
build fat burning muscle mass.

Now - do you have any suggestions for a HRM? Links?

Ken

"Ken Bessler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Now - do you have any suggestions for a HRM? Links?

Do a "google" search.

www.google.com, type in HRM then start reading, you can do your own research and decide what
HRM you need.

You want one that records every workout? You want just the basic heart rate? You want to be able to
set zones?

Do some research, then come back and tell us what you decided. 🙂

Dashii

"Dashi Toshii" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Ken Bessler" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Now - do you have any suggestions for a HRM? Links?

Do a "google" search.

www.google.com, type in HRM then start reading, you can do your own

research

Quoted message said:

and decide what HRM you need.

You want one that records every workout? You want just the basic heart rate? You want to be able
to set zones?

Do some research, then come back and tell us what you decided. 🙂

Dashii

First I found that if you put "HRM" into Google, you get back a bunch of [censored] about Human Resources
Management. Not helpfull. Then I tried Yahoo and got a better result.

I looked at the LifeSource XC-100 for $40. Not bad but I figgured I'd keep on looking. Then I found
Polar. Saw the A1 for $46 and noted it has an average heart rate function that the XC-100 did not
have. Hmm. Looked at the Impulse Strapless but that was $80 and you had to touch 2 pads on the unit
to get a reading (not really safe when riding).... Also saw Timex, Cardiosport & others....

Kept on looking but the Polar A1 seems to give me the most for my money. I also don't think I need
much more than heart rate and average.

Now I've been a good boy and did what you told me to do. Will you now fill me in? Have I missed a
popular brand?

In article said:

It's so complicated that I need both my home PC plus PDA plus computer controlled blood glucose
meter to keep track of it all.

Since you're approaching it that way you may want to get one of the downloadable HRM's. You would
find the software from Polar to be very useful in displaying and maintaining a formal record of your
rides and other exercises.

-WG