Improving your cycling fitness brings a number of key benefits: you’ll enjoy your riding way more, you’ll see new places because you can go further, and you won't be last one up the hills, to name just a few. Read on for our list of 25 pieces of friendly advice, follow as many as you can, and watch your fitness soar.
The biggest gains are made by improving your diet, working on cardiovascular fitness and strength, and getting plenty of rest. There’s a lot more to it than that, but these are the three key areas. There are other ways to achieve it though, from Fartlek sessions to cutting out the junk food, banning TV and other devices in the bedroom to perfecting your own recovery smoothie recipe.
Read on for 25 effective ideas on how to improve these three key areas, and build your cycling fitness to a whole new level.
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Improve your diet
This is always where personal trainers start, and for good reason — no matter how much training you do, you can't maximise the results if your diet is crap. We won't lecture you on cutting out alcohol, but we will suggest some improvements that, when combined, can start to add up.
1. Shed some weight to improve your power-to-weight ratio
Remember that BMI charts are hopeless for athletic individuals — they're designed to identify unhealthy weights for the general population. A body composition monitor is much better for cyclists. Body fat numbers to compare yourself against are 15–18% for the average male, 8–10% for a well-trained rider, and 4% for an elite cyclist. Try varying between long, easy rides and short, intense ones to optimise your body's fat-burning ability.
2. Don't cut fat completely from your diet, though
3. Pack in the protein
4. Drink enough water
5. Cut out the refined sugar
6. Get into the habit of snacking
7. Try keeping a food diary
8. Avoid processed foods
Develop your strength and fitness
9. Practice brow sprints
10. Learn to lift
11. Try cyclocross
12. Find a fixie
13. Pick up the skipping rope
14. Do some Fartlek sessions
15. Get a heart rate monitor, and learn your zones
16. Join a yoga class
17. Book a cycling holiday
Get enough rest and recovery
18. Buy a wake-up light clock
19. Get it on (giggity)
20. Banish screens from the bedroom
21. Book a sports massage
22. Do some active recovery
23. Avoid large meals near bedtime
24. Power nap like a pro
25. Try meditation or mindfulness
You can read more at BikeRadar.com
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