stamina

john krivaska said:

how can i build stamina, both mental and physical. also i
cant get my head round steep descents any ideas?

Practice.

john krivaska said:

how can i build stamina, both mental and physical. also i
cant get my head round steep descents any ideas?

Everyones body is different. but I'll tell you what I have
done / been doing:

1. If you're heavy, lose the weight! Not only does fat
cause you to breath heavier, it makes you hotter, and is
a major cause of cancer and diabetes.

2. Spin, ride, or run every day, no excuses! You need to do
a minimum of 30 minutes hard workout. That means that
you'll set your spinner at a high resistance and pedal
fast! You'll notice a change within the second week.
Exercise will build your physical and mental stamina
more than anything else. You'll also get some muscle
from it 🙂.

3. Build your muscles by exercising and eating protein
enriched foods.

4. Learn correct breathing techniques. It helps get Oxygen
into the muscles.

5. Commit yourself to the task. There are days I don't
want to workout, but I force myself to do it. You have
to want it!

6. Get a personal trainer. It's an expensive option, but
they can give you some great advice. Make sure they are
certified.

I don't know what you mean about your steep descents
problem.

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

Quoted message said:

john krivaska said:

how can i build stamina, both mental and physical. also
i cant get my

head

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

round steep descents any ideas?

Practice.

Ride with friends.

You'll be too afraid to stop if tired, or to not make that
steep descent, for fear they'll rag on you.

"Ride-A-Lot" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I don't know what you mean about your steep descents
problem.

I took it as fear.

john krivaska said:

how can i build stamina, both mental and physical.

For the physical part, it depends on how serious you want to
get about it. If you just want to be in good enough shape
for good rides, then ride. If you want to be able to deal
with longer rides, take longer rides. If you want to be able
to race, a helluva lot of riding will do the trick. Some say
that very specific training programs can help to make you
more race-ready, but those aren't really needed just for
general riding.

Quoted message said:

also i cant get my head round steep descents any ideas?

Well, that's the mental part. It comes from practice, and
repeated successful attempts. And all it takes is one
extremely unsuccessful attempt to negate all of that!

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail
address, at least)

john krivaska said:

how can i build stamina, both mental and physical.

Start slowly and keep a steady pace. It almost feels too
slow to start with, but you'll find you can ride for longer.
Then, it's just a case of riding / training more and more.

Quoted message said:

also i cant get my head round steep descents any ideas?

Lower the saddle and just practice on progressively steeper
and steeper stuff, preferably with friends. You'd be amazed
at the angle you're actually capable of riding down - most
people don't even come close.

Ride-A-Lot said:

2. Spin, ride, or run every day, no excuses!

I disagree. The body needs time to rest, it's as important
as the exercise itself.

bomba said:

Ride-A-Lot said:

2. Spin, ride, or run every day, no excuses!

I disagree. The body needs time to rest, it's as important
as the exercise itself.

Again, it depends on the individual. I get enough rest
sitting at my desk all day long.

"Ride-A-Lot" <mitchell@[nospam]schnauzers.ws> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I disagree. The body needs time to rest, it's as
important as the exercise itself.

Again, it depends on the individual. I get enough rest
sitting at my desk all day long.

bomba's right - no ifs, ands or buts.

You can do what you want, but this poor krivaska fellow
shouldn't ride himself into the ground on your say so. I'm
sure if your trainer is certified, he'll agree.

bomba said:

john krivaska said:

how can i build stamina, both mental and physical.

Start slowly and keep a steady pace. It almost feels too
slow to start with, but you'll find you can ride for
longer. Then, it's just a case of riding / training more
and more.

Quoted message said:

also i cant get my head round steep descents any ideas?

Lower the saddle and just practice on progressively
steeper and steeper stuff, preferably with friends. You'd
be amazed at the angle you're actually capable of riding
down - most people don't even come close.

i've got some descending tips here:

--
me and my bike:
www.specialtyoutdoors.com/penny/biking/ridetips.asp

bomba said:

Ride-A-Lot said:

2. Spin, ride, or run every day, no excuses!

I disagree. The body needs time to rest, it's as important
as the exercise itself.

bomba is right, you need to rest when your body tells you
to. The tricky part is knowing when you are really tired and
need the rest, and when you're mentally tired, perhaps from
other day-to-day things, and should just get out and ride.
Because of the way you asked the question, I would assume
that you are just starting out, not some experience rider
who wants to get over some 100 mile threshold. I think this
is a pretty safe assumption 🙂 So, at this point just ride,
have fun, work as hard as you want on any given day. At the
level many of us are at, riding at any level of exertion
will help, the more the better. You may find that motivation
is really the issue, you just can't seem to get out as often
as you should. Find riding partners, try solo rides, ride
the favorite trail in the opposite direction, ride with your
kids, buy a new bike part ...

At the beginning level, you have to be having fun, because
if it is not fun, you won't go do it again. As you progress,
you'll continue to have fun, but fun may become redefined;
"I want to make that climb in under 40 minutes", "I want to
enter a local race", "I want to make it to this area that I
have never been to" ... you get the idea.

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado (remove ".nospam" to reply)

john krivaska said:

how can i build stamina, both mental and physical. also i
cant get my head round steep descents any ideas?

There's lots of good advice in this thread already about
getting in shape physically. One piece of advice I haven't
seen is get a physical check-up from your doctor. If you're
in way bad shape, they may help, esp. if you're real fat (he
said bluntly). As for your head. Go ride with people who do
steep descents well. Seeing somebody ride down something you
*know* is unridable is enlightening. Plus go to
www.petefagerlin.com for some videos of people riding
unrideable terrain. Watch and learn Grasshopper.

Cheers, Shawn

"john krivaska" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:HEdjc.164$xs3.155@newsfe1-win...

Quoted message said:

how can i build stamina, both mental and physical. also i
cant get my head round steep descents any ideas?

If you can afford it get a coach: Personalized for you and
your goals. Usually a coach will have you log your week.
This is a great motivator, knowing you have to tell
someone what you really did can make you get off your ass
and do it...

If you can not afford a coach get Joe Friel's book
The_Mountain_Biker's_Training_Bible. This will fill the gap
until you get serious and then get a coach.

I rode for a long time for fun... and it was fun but never
moved up to the next level. I joined a team that has a coach
who sets weekly schedules for each of us. Huge improvement
in motivation (see above) and results. Some people refer to
it as the coaching effect, just having to report your weekly
activity can be a huge motivator depending on your
pesonality. Before coaching my rides were never structured.
Now there are days you ride hard, days you ride easy and
days you don't ride (very few) but a good coach can set up a
plan based on your goals.

What ever you decide to do good luck. By you asking
questions and seeking knowledge means your are on the right
path (pun intended)...

As far as downhilling... that's tough. You need to get in
the mind set that it's not if you are going to crash but
when. I don't have the book near me but John Howard (I
think) wrote a book call Dirt! which gave some technique
pointers for example when going down don't put your arm out
but roll (save's the shoulds/AC/Collar bone). How I improved
my downhill was to first ride behind a friend who was faster
than me. Have them slow down so you can see the lines and
body position they use. Soon I was following at full speed
then trying to beat him... after many crashes.

Cheers,

-p

"john krivaska" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<HEdjc.164$xs3.155@newsfe1-win>...

Quoted message said:

how can i build stamina, both mental and physical. also i
cant get my head round steep descents any ideas?

Not that you need more advice from strangers, but hey, why
not? I recommend you join a group or club or shop ride that
rides regularly at least once a week, and hopefully they'll
be better and stronger than you so that you get pushed to
work harder than you might if you were on your own, or
riding with others of your same caliber. And you'll see how
good riders handle the steep descents, they might spot you,
or at least give you some tips.

Then, in off days on your own time, practice nice long, slow
climbs, and alternate now and then with intervals, or
relatively short sprints followed by short rest, sprint,
etc, until you're begging to die.

Allow time for rest and recovery after "hard" rides, even a
full day or two if your body says you need it.

Caveat: I break all the hrm rules every ride, since I push
myself into the red zone nearly every time. But it works for
me. ymmmv.

paladin

Ride-A-Lot said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

2. Spin, ride, or run every day, no excuses!

I disagree. The body needs time to rest, it's as
important as the exercise itself.

Again, it depends on the individual. I get enough rest
sitting at my desk all day long.

I would say that it depends on the individual's level of
fitness and probably more importantly, the intensity of
their workouts. It is certainly possible to use 'desk time'
for recovery after short or low intensity workouts, however,
after long rides / runs I would advocate at least a day's
rest. Even professional athletes do not train every day.

More importantly, the one thing I would never advise someone
just starting out on a fitness regime to do, is to train
every day.

--
a.m-b FAQ: j-harris.netambfaq.htmOpen ↗

b.bmx FAQ: t-online.debmx faq.htmOpen ↗

On 2004-04-27, bomba penned:

Quoted message said:

Ride-A-Lot said:

Quoted message said:

> 2. Spin, ride, or run every day, no excuses!

I disagree. The body needs time to rest, it's as
important as the exercise itself.

Again, it depends on the individual. I get enough rest
sitting at my desk all day long.

I would say that it depends on the individual's level of
fitness and probably more importantly, the intensity of
their workouts. It is certainly possible to use 'desk
time' for recovery after short or low intensity workouts,
however, after long rides / runs I would advocate at least
a day's rest. Even professional athletes do not train
every day.

This reminds me of an experience I had. Feel free to
disregard ...

Anyway, one college summer, I was determined to make up for
the lack of martial arts practice I'd had during the school
year. My instructor generally recommended three classes a
week, but had many time slots available. I took to attending
both the teenage and adult TKD classes every day, plus
hapkido three times a week. A total of something like 15
hours a week of intense martial training. Let's just say I
was dragging. I wasn't seeing the kind of improvement I'd
expected; instead, I was tired and slow.

Finally, my instructor came to me and told me that I really
needed to ease up. I snapped at him (good sign that I was
overtired; this is not something you do) and said in a
snotty, accusative tone that "Olympic athletes train every
day." And here's what he told me: Yes, they train every day,
but they alternate their training so that they still allow
their bodies to recuperate. These classes, though, they're
designed for people who train three hours a week. We don't
alternate our schedule that way. You're going to hurt
yourself if you keep this up.

Anyway, I eased up a bit -- not three hours a week, but not
15, either -- and it really did help.

Doing the exact same thing every day can be really hard on
your body.

Quoted message said:

More importantly, the one thing I would never advise
someone just starting out on a fitness regime to do, is to
train every day.

Depends on what you call training. Pushing yourself to the
breaking point every day isn't a good idea, but you can
stretch thoroughly (2+ minutes per stretch), take a brisk
walk, do calisthenics ... play frisbee with some friends ...

I think it's healthy to be active every day; working to
exhaustion every day is another matter.

--
monique

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

On 2004-04-27, a penned:

Quoted message said:

Ride-A-Lot said:

>> 2. Spin, ride, or run every day, no excuses! My
>> instructor

generally recommended three classes a week, but had many
time slots available. I took to attending both the
teenage and TKD classes every day, plus hapkido three
times a week.

Now that's too much!

Hey, "slightly" off-topic, but I have authentic World
Taedwondo Federation banners from World Championships that
I'm finally ready to sell, for years 1975,(first, Seoul)
1977, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, and 1988 Seoul Olympiad. And a
few others I'm still looking in boxes for.

The '75 and '77 are especially very rare. So if you know any
of your fighting buddies that are seriously into the WTF and
might want these, please send them my way. c bro 77 at
yahoo.com thanks.

paladin

On 2004-04-29, Paladin penned:

Quoted message said:

"Monique Y. Mudama" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

On 2004-04-27, a penned:

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 17:23:05 -0400, Ride-A-Lot wrote:

>>> 2. Spin, ride, or run every day, no excuses! My
>>> instructor

generally recommended three classes a week, but had many
time slots available. I took to attending both the
teenage and TKD classes every day, plus hapkido three
times a week.

Now that's too much!

So I found out.

Quoted message said:

Hey, "slightly" off-topic, but I have authentic World
Taedwondo Federation banners from World Championships that
I'm finally ready to sell, for years 1975,(first, Seoul)
1977, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, and 1988 Seoul Olympiad. And
a few others I'm still looking in boxes for.

The '75 and '77 are especially very rare. So if you know
any of your fighting buddies that are seriously into the
WTF and might want these, please send them my way. c bro
77 at yahoo.com thanks.

Those sound pretty cool. I can't think of anyone offhand,
but I'll keep this message on file just in case.

--
monique