: Confessions of a fat man

By: g | No Comments » |

OK, that sounds a bit harsh but it’s the general feeling around these parts.

Reading the journal of Mr. Pizzaz, I got to thinking that a diary from the point of view of someone trying to actually get back on the bike, might make an accessible read some out there could relate to. Who knows, it might even inspire one or two of you… or motivate myself.

Let me start with a bit of a background.

I’ve been on the bike for what must be 26 years now, making me…. well the wrong side of 35 and to close too the four-oh for comfort. I’ve ridden just about all the things I ever wanted to and was once 2×9 XC fast, big bike slow, race and epic fit. I lost interest in being 10 hrs a week on a bike and ended up riding for the fun of it, no goals, just the simple aim of being and staying ride fit on the fastish side. Sometime back in ’05, my back went south, north and then west, resulting in me spending a year plus with physios, sports doctors and in and out of all sorts of scanning machines. Nothing phases me any more, having had triple cortizone injections at once and being jabbed with radioactive crap. The end result of all of that was not much. Some ideas but no one actually knows and the physio and I parted ways with her final words being “there’s nothing more I can do. Do these exercises and if they work, just keep doing them”. The last few years have been anything but inspirational to say the least and for the past year, getting a clear run of the bike has seemed impossible. Some people call that thing that gets in the way – life.

I kept riding, or trying to during ’05 and into the next year but for the most part things just backed off at their own pace. Moving back to Sydney in ’07 only added to the slow down (no longer 10 mins off road from Majura does dampen the enthusiasm some what). Stolen bike, life and food and the net result is 12kg more than I should be and zero bike fitness. Something had to give and it did. My sanity needs the bike thus, a few weeks ago I decided enough is enough and I have to get bike fit again. Needing a goal I signed up to the Fling, half mind you, and now I have a horizon to head towards.

Thinking I needed some solid guidance, I pulled out my copy of ‘The Mountain Biker’s Training Bible’ by Joe Freils, the one true book every so called serious MTBer has. I spent half an hour with it then chucked it aside. Not a chance in hell I am going to be that serious. Between a mixture of real world living and stresses, and having no intention to go back down the road of heart rates, times, hours and intervals, the book, as good as it is, represents nothing I am even remotely interested in pursuing. I’ve ridden enough that I should know how to get back into shape. Not a winner, but in shape.

So how am I going to get there? It’s the depth of winter and even Sydney is damn cold, so it’s not what one could describe as the ideal time to try and get back on the bike. None the less, one has to ride to get bike fit and I need to find a way to get motivated and make sure if the motivation lacks, that there is a substitute to make sure the system is kept moving.

Firstly, the plan I have is to attack it as an overall fitness thing, not only making sure I can ride but the whole body gets into shape at the same time – there are kilo’s to get rid of. As such, making use of that card in the wallet that gets me into that thing called a gym, is top of the list. MTBing uses more of the whole body than one thinks, so having overall strength is a good idea and to me that means hitting the weights. That and increased muscle mass means a sped up metabolism, which is good for fat burning. The one thing I did pick up from Freils’ book was to forget specific, isolating moves and only aim for compound moves – moves that involve more than one joint. Having been a serious climber in a past life, I know that no muscle works in isolation, so I could not agree with Freils more. So in the gym I’ll do:

• Bench press – chest, shoulders and triceps.
• Standing shoulder press – shoulders, core muscles, triceps.
• Squats- pretty much every leg muscle from your glutes down, lower back and core muscles.
• Pull down – lats and biceps, forearms and obliques.
• Chin up – biceps, forearms, shoulders, middle back and obliques.
• Row – biceps, forearms, upper and middle back, lower back.
• Dips – triceps, shoulders and upper chest.
• Core abdominal muscles

It’s a simple workout, over with pretty quick (which is important) but covers pretty much the whole body, which is good. There’s no desire to be an Arnold or anything like that, so a generic routine ensures all the muscles develop in balance to one another – something that can go out of whack if one starts doing single joint specific moves, such as arm curls, used more to define and enhance specific muscles.

I aim to do this routine twice a week max and at very least once. Twice is all you need, giving the muscles enough time to recover between sessions and makes sure I don’t burn out. Even at once a week progress can be made, as muscle gain starts deteriorating after 7 days.

Bike wise, the aim is two to three times a week. While I think I am well over riding endless laps around Centennial Park, my plan is to use the park as a base and loop out from it to take in the bike path on Anzac Parade on one side, and Queen’s Park on the other. Overall the simple aim is to ride and hour and a half each session, taking in a range of flats and hills, with some breakout sessions to ride sections of coast, which is a solid mix of hills and pinches. There’s no aim to have specific ‘workout’ sessions, just to ride the bike and ride what I feel like at the time. Naturally, as the fitness gets better, I’ll seek out little challenges that I can use to guage progress. The key is to keep it interesting and not become bored or think of it as training – we are out to ride bikes here and that means having fun.

And what about when it’s arse cold and the motivation is lacking? The vow is that if it’s a bike day and the motivation is not there, I will go and walk 5-7kms. A brisk walk gets the heart rate up and gets the cardio and fat burning going. At very least it will help with the weight loss, which will improve power to weight ratio!

Like I said in that waffle above, the aim here is not to become a peak fitness racer but rather to obtain a solid, realistic, and most importantly maintainable level of bike and overall fitness. In doing so, I am hoping to do an event such as the Fling, have fun in a team at the odd enduro or be able to pack the bike and head to NZ for some real fun without having to wonder if I can actually do it, or suffer in the process.

And the first fortnight? So far I have got on the bike once, walked twice and been to the gym three times. Keep your eye out for the next update.

 

Tags:bike,cortizone injections,enduro,exercises,mountain,physio,racing,sanity


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