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Cycling Is A Poor Form of Exercise :-(

Old 09-23-20, 09:42 AM
  #51  
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Originally Posted by burnthesheep
Quoted for emphasis. Hitting up the food truck for 2000 calories plus 500 in micro brew after the group ride doesn't help. You could have a net gain there instead of net loss in KJ's. One pastry on a cafe' stop could cost you 1000. Downing two gels an hour could cost you up to 200 per hour.
I used to fall for the "Magic Hour" myth, that anything you ate in the hour after a big ride immediately went to restore muscle glycogen stores, so you could eat ANYTHING!!!
I didn't lose much weight, but I did get fitter.

I realized that I have to count calories, so I do. Plus I ride between 5 and 7 hours a week. I'd love to do more, but I have too many other demands on my time. I'm down to about 212 from a high of about 236 in February. The big test is coming up - the holidays, and the rainy season, and the short days.
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Old 09-23-20, 10:17 AM
  #52  
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I often like to point out my experience with long rides and calorie consumption to help illustrate how nutrition can be done pretty minimally while accomplishing a lot. In 2 recent 100 mile rides, I burned about 3700 calories on those (as measured by my power meter, so more accurate than a HR monitor). I ate about 1100 calories during the ride, and also had a really minimal breakfast of basically coffee and maybe 100 calories of something. They key is that I rode at an endurance pace, so the body is going to use more fat than carbs at that intensity, and also the body carries about 2000 calories of glycogen in the muscles. So eating something like 2k calories during a ride is definitely overkill for a lot of people, especially since if they aren't regularly training, and thus they'll have a lower caloric utilization than someone riding on the faster end of things.
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Old 09-23-20, 10:23 AM
  #53  
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Originally Posted by unterhausen
I never quite understood how cycling can be considered not to be weight-bearing. Sure, nothing in your upper body gets much of a workout.
Bone density loss in pro cyclists is well documented. Cyclists do not see the vertical impacts of running or jumping or even the steady burden of simply holding ourselves vertical against gravity. I have my bone loss pointed out every time I get an X-ray.

That said, when I do one specific bike workout regularly I can fell my body getting stronger and more resilient. Hilly fix gear rides. (Plus they are a huge incentive to keep my weight down.) When I'm riding the fix gear in hills I can feel the continuous chains of muscle from my glutes and abs to my hands.

For me, the secret to eating to stay a decent weight is to practice enjoying feeling a little hungry. Trim down serving sizes. 1 1/2 sandwiches instead of two. Thin sliced bread. I recognize that I have to keep downsizing the rest of my life, that the metabolism I had even when I was 50 is long gone.

Skinny guys with pot bellies? If I let myself go and ate that much, I'd be one. I can not pile on the muscle on my legs and arms. Doesn't matter how much I ride or lift. Small gains, yes. But if I put on 30 pounds of gut, you'd never notice those gains.

I have to recognize that my reality is that I should weigh less every year. That I can do all in my power and I am still going to loose muscle mass. That with less muscle, it is my responsibility to this body to not add to the load those muscles need to support.

Ben
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Old 09-23-20, 10:58 AM
  #54  
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Troll troll troll your boat!
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Old 09-23-20, 11:32 AM
  #55  
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Originally Posted by ofajen
I was trying to stay out of this troll’s latest party, but it’s good to remember that cycling actually is a profoundly good cardio opportunity because the high speed creates a lot of cooling and heat dissipation. This helps allow higher exertion compared to exercise without that cooling.

Swimming of course has significantly more cooling potential and is pretty much the maximum cardio option in terms of how hard you can sustainably work your cardio system.

Both cycling and swimming also have the advantage of being low impact.

Lastly, ride SS for a while and you will definitely get upper body and core workout.

Otto
True, I did a lot of biking in 95 degree + weather this year. I wouldn't call it fun, but it was tolerable over long distances. Only really sucks on the climbs when you can't generate enough air flow to match the heat from the effort.


I think I get the same effects as SS by riding habitually in a 53 x 11 gear combo. I shift down a bit for hills, but I know I'm probably taking them with a combo more typical of a SS. It definitely works my upper body, but nowhere near as much as the elliptical on high resistance.

BTW, I think the best way to thwart a troll is to have a reasonable conversation start in the troll thread.
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Old 09-23-20, 11:37 AM
  #56  
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Originally Posted by BlackMambaNYC
Troll troll troll your boat!

Rowing is great cardio.
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Old 09-23-20, 11:51 AM
  #57  
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Originally Posted by BobbyG
Basically walking and hiking are just standing.
Walking is just constantly standing in a different place.
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Old 09-23-20, 11:57 AM
  #58  
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It's great exercise as long as you maintain speeds that offer resistance and include hills and hard sprints. Doing singletrack will also help with upper body.
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Old 09-23-20, 12:05 PM
  #59  
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Originally Posted by Milton Keynes
Walking is just constantly standing in a different place.
Walking is just controlled falling.
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Old 09-23-20, 12:19 PM
  #60  
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Originally Posted by jadocs
I eat by power...I do a lot of threshold eating.
I generally don't post in troll threads, but this had me falling out of my chair laughing.

Last edited by Just Mark; 09-23-20 at 12:30 PM.
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Old 09-23-20, 12:29 PM
  #61  
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Originally Posted by livedarklions
BTW, I think the best way to thwart a troll is to have a reasonable conversation start in the troll thread.
Living well is the best revenge.
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Old 09-23-20, 12:36 PM
  #62  
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Originally Posted by bcpriess
It's great exercise as long as you maintain speeds that offer resistance and include hills and hard sprints. Doing singletrack will also help with upper body.
A lady once asked on our Facebook cycling group what kind of bike she should use to push herself harder and get more exercise. We basically told her that whatever bike she has will work if she just starts pushing it harder and trying to ride faster.
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Old 09-23-20, 01:23 PM
  #63  
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Originally Posted by genejockey
I used to fall for the "Magic Hour" myth, that anything you ate in the hour after a big ride immediately went to restore muscle glycogen stores, so you could eat ANYTHING!!!
I vaguely remember seeing a physiological schedule for that. It came down to something like a granola bar in the first hour for the glycogen. Half a candy bar, something like that.
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Old 09-23-20, 01:36 PM
  #64  
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Originally Posted by caloso
Walking is just controlled falling.
That's how I used to describe our old Basset Hound going down a flight of stairs. She fell down the stairs - one step at a time!
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Old 09-23-20, 01:53 PM
  #65  
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Originally Posted by surak
What a sweeping, oversimplified statement. Within months of changing nothing in my routine except adding some bike commuting trips each week, I went from an already light BMI of a shade over 21, which I'd kept for over a decade, to under 20, and my waist slimmed down to narrower than my smallest belt size. My legs went from looking like sticks barely wider than my biceps to, well, normal sized.
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Old 09-23-20, 01:59 PM
  #66  
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Reading that OP made me throw up a little in my mouth.
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Old 09-23-20, 02:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Koyote
In another recent thread - and it may have been started by the same OP - a mod weighed in to ask people to report trolls rather than feeding them. So, troll reported. We'll see if anything comes of it.
I don't mind a "polite" troll. It does get one thinking, and sometimes leads to good discussions.

I don't know if this thread rises to the level of "good", but people have been thinking, and the OP was polite.
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Old 09-23-20, 02:15 PM
  #68  
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Originally Posted by jadocs
I eat by power...I do a lot of threshold eating.
I love me a set of over/under eating intervals.
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Old 09-23-20, 02:46 PM
  #69  
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Originally Posted by wphamilton
I vaguely remember seeing a physiological schedule for that. It came down to something like a granola bar in the first hour for the glycogen. Half a candy bar, something like that.
Definitely NOT a double bacon cheeseburger with large onion rings and a milkshake, followed by a big slice of cake with ice cream, then?
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Old 09-23-20, 02:54 PM
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Originally Posted by genejockey
Definitely NOT a double bacon cheeseburger with large onion rings and a milkshake, followed by a big slice of cake with ice cream, then?

Or Indian buffet?
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Old 09-23-20, 03:25 PM
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Originally Posted by genejockey
... and a milkshake, followed by a big slice of cake with ice cream, then?
Portillo's, a Chicago eatery on the expansion, has shakes with a slice of cake blended in to them - ridiculous calorie count.

Originally Posted by livedarklions
Or Indian buffet?
Oh, I could tear in to some Indian food right now and if I ever get a naan or roti recipe down, I will be a fat, fat man.
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Old 09-23-20, 03:27 PM
  #72  
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Originally Posted by ofajen

Lastly, ride SS for a while and you will definitely get upper body and core workout.

Otto
I've been riding fixed gear for the past 12 years and I am also a singlespeed mountain biker and they provide a better workout than a regular bicycle but still it's not even close to the workout stimulus that I get from lifting weights and doing kettlebell training. You just can't build an upper body strength, core strength and lower body strength with a bicycle, no matter how hard you ride, there are other much more effective ways of building strength than riding a bicycle.
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Old 09-23-20, 03:39 PM
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Originally Posted by livedarklions
Or Indian buffet?
If I ate at an Indian buffet, I would asplode just like a crabon frame.
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Old 09-23-20, 03:40 PM
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Originally Posted by WhyFi
Portillo's, a Chicago eatery on the expansion, has shakes with a slice of cake blended in to them - ridiculous calorie count.
Because milkshakes are insufficiently decadent?
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Old 09-23-20, 03:45 PM
  #75  
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Originally Posted by livedarklions
You're lucky. If I allowed myself to "eat by feel" I would never stop eating.
Nope, this has nothing to do with luck.
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