Losing Weight Through Cycling - How I Lost 10kg in 10 Weeks

 

If you've ever read any books by Tony Robbins you'll understand the concept of the 'syntax of success', in other words what sequence did someone else who has successfully already achieved what you want to achieve, then replicate it.  Another way of looking at is is what I call 'winning patterns' - what patterns of success can you install to get you more quickly to your goals.

For those that follow me on social media, they'll know that I reduced my weight by 10kg in 10 weeks in preparation to cycle up Mount Teide in Tenerife by focusing on a kg a week as my weight loss target.  No crash or fad diets, just discipline and work combined with good diet and lots of targeted exercise.  Lots of people have asked how I achieved it, so today I'm sharing some of my 'syntax of success' with you.

I achieved this under the guidance of a professional coach (@propulse on twitter) - who developed a personal training plan, individualised to my ergometrics and designed around my work schedule. 

He monitored my progress daily, including assisting me through a period of food poisoning and a cold.  We did this virtually using Whatsapp and through monitoring and evaluating each day's training session using Garmin connect (power, HR data etc) aswell as other data from my Fitbit (resting Heart Rate). Before we start on some details, let me just say this:-

Disclaimer

• Always consult a health professional before attempting any strenuous activity.
• Get a good quality coach/professional who can advise you and monitor your progress.
• If ever in discomfort, stop and seek medical assistance.

Setting the Goal

At the basics of motivation are having a goal to achieve, something you want. It's why many fall off the weight loss wagon, particular at New Year.  I've always liked this graphic which gives it some clear perspective, you need to be able to fill in all the boxes and it makes it easy to ensure you have all the boxes ticked.

Questions to ask yourself?

• How badly do I want this?
• What am I prepared to give up/sacrifice?
• What am I prepared to invest?

I also shared my goal with my wife. Her understanding and support was key as the evening training commitment meant disruption to our usual routines.

Technology/Applications 

• I have used a Fitbit Surge watch for a while now which monitors your movement and resting heart rate.  I also own the Fitbit wireless scales which automatically update your weight and body fat into the application.  This gave me a good baseline for my daily movements and added motivation to keep moving, such as having a short walk at lunchtime aswell as good progress tracking.
• I use Garmin Connect for logging rides and use MyFitness Pal for food logging.  With API's, these are all linked and it means my Fitbit dashboard shows me the consolidated view of all of my activity. Calories in, all exercise, the calorie deficit and my sleeping patterns plus resting heart rates - pretty much everything you need to understand how your body works.
• I'm into data, so monitoring has been a big part of having a 360 degree view of the pathway and sharing that with the coach.  All training sessions were conducted with a heart rate monitor on and we also kept a close eye on my resting heart rate to ensure the load was well calibrated and within my capacity.  Taking each step with certainty.

Food Logging

• By logging what you eat you can quickly get to grips with what you're eating and how to take corrective action to re- configure what you eat. Barcode scanning the things you eat (or looking them up) you can better get an angle on portion size and make more more positive choices about what goes in.  It leads to a lot of trading off, trust me.  MyFitnessPal has been superb for this.
• At the simplest level, a pound of fat is around 3,500 calories, give or take, so if you want to lose two pounds you have to create around 7,000 calories of deficit without your body thinking you're on a desert island and hungry.  This was a key piece of info for me when starting out as it gave me a number to focus on.
• By fuelling your body with what it needs you create the platform for the cardio work you need to do complete to create the weekly deficit you need.  I got a lot of advice from the coach on this, including supplements and specific eating strategies for periods of load.
• We identified I needed more protein in my daily diet, so reviewing my daily calories, it was about prioritising more intake.  This was provided via supplements, the rest through protein rich food.

A Typical Eating Day

Crash diets rarely work as your body thinks it's starving and holds on to the fat you're trying to lose or eats into your muscle for the fuel it needs.  Eating close to your daily metabolic rate is key, particularly with a training load.  Mine is around 2250 calories, I chose to ensure I eat at least 1950 calories per day (7 x 300 = 2,100 calories a week saved or around a pound).  

I can genuinely say I rarely felt hungry with this food pattern and - more importantly - avoided the sugar crashes that have you reaching for chocolate, biscuits or crisps, a previous regular feature around 5pm and 9pm in my life.

• Breakfast - Sugar free Alpen muesli with blueberries, skimmed milk or natural yoghurt. Pint of water. Range of supplements C, D, E, Fish Oil. Double espresso (a treat).
• Mid morning - 750 ML whey protein shake (50g protein).
• Lunch - Couple of slices of ham, couple of boiled eggs, small portion of pasta, plenty of salad.
• Mid afternoon - piece of fruit.
• Evening - Chicken or Fish and salad/small portion of carbohydrate.
• Around 9pm - 750 ML whey protein shake (50g protein).
• Water - around 3L per day.
• No caffeine after 2pm.

Exercise

• Around 75 minutes per weekday cardio on a Wattbike with intervals. The intervals were designed around specific heart rate zones to achieve specific outcomes with varying load.
• Saturday ride around 3 hours with some intervals and sprints of increase increasing intensity as time elapsed.
• Sunday ride around 4 hours with some intervals and sprints of increase increasing intensity as time elapsed.
• Total around 13-14 hours per week with specificity in the design.

Outcomes

Just doing the math. If you think an hour of decent cardio should give you around 550 burned calories, 13 x 550 = 7,150 calories plus the daily deficit of 2,100 from diet (see point above) = 9,250 deficit per week.

With long rides at the weekend, they need fuelling, plus there are times in the week when you may go over your daily rate or need extra fuel for a training session, knock off 2,250 calories and you're left with about 7,000 calorie deficit (which give or take give you around a kg).

That at its simplest level is the basic formula I worked to in my head when looking at what I eat vs. the exercise and how to generate this gap whilst still giving the body all the essentials it needs to cope with the load.

Starting weight/body fat  = 205 pounds or 93 KG /25% body fat

Current weight/body fat = 182 pounds or 82.5 KG/21% body fat

Looking at my overall performance, my previous average speed on the bike I can produce with around -7% less heart rate effort, meaning greater efficiency. My resting heart rate is now 46 and my VO2 max around 53.  

I've broken just about every Strava record I've ever set in the previous five years in the last four weeks showing the impact of reduced weight, whilst building resiliency and threshold based tempo.

Quick Wins I Implemented to assist with weight loss

• Switched from flat white coffee to Espresso (130 calories per day in a Flat White to Double Espresso around 6 calories per day).  7 x 124 = 868 calories.
• Passed on bread. No sandwiches, toast or wraps.
• Skipped deserts when out at business dinners.
• If on a night out, alternated between alcohol and soda water every other drink (cuts out 50% whilst not living like a monk).
• Cut down on overall alcohol intake (generally around 180 calories plus in a pint of anything so if you have a ceiling of 1,850 you can quickly burst through it).  My 12 week period included a heavy three day session in Palma for a friends 50th birthday, however I offset a lot of it by walking for 10 miles a day and drinking a lot of water in between beers (all about offsetting if you're going to go for it).
• Always have some positive food on hand in your fridge if you get the munchies. It's better for you and long lasting in terms of effect.  For me, this was mostly chicken.
• If going away on business, I booked at hotels with gyms to train, also took food with me if necessary to avoid the easy burger and fries choice.
• Drove more to evening business functions rather than take taxis, meant alcohol was off the choice list.

Commentary from Niko (The Coach)

"Successful business people have similar characteristics to pro-cyclists. Dedication, targets, discipline are already there. The coach has to have the ability to transfer these into an effective combination of training plan and correct food intake while monitoring the training load, heart rates and recovery times. This is not easy. The very busy schedule of a CEO doesn't leave any time to waste - every moment is precious. Phil managed and continues to manage everything in a unique way.

Nobody should crack under pressure if a plan is well calculated, keeping the energy stores always recharged and the training load well balanced. The discipline of following a rigourous training plan should pay dividends for successful business people in their work lives, by enabling even greater energy, clear thinking and focus - but it still takes strong dedication to stick to the plan and achieve the results. "

Summary

So that's it.  After the 10 weeks you develop the winning mindset of eating better, finding time to train and better understanding the relationship between what you eat and what you burn.  On the bike, you get faster, more efficiently and climb better too.  You're body shape changes, leading to new clothes and increased confidence.  It's well worth the investments you make to get the returns.  

As with all things, this is what worked for me.  It may or may not work for you, always seek advice from a professional before embarking on any big training loads and good luck if you fancy doing something like this yourself.

Preparing for a multi-day cycling event

So many people are doing so much for good causes right now and with the growth in cycling, inevitably more and more multi-day events are cropping up.  Common questions I get asked via the comments section of the blog relate to the preparation, kit and training required so thought it high time to get a post up with some pointers.  Here's 10 tips and links to other related posts: -

1. If you're BMI is over 25 lose some weight.  The lighter you are, the better your power to weight ratio which will make you ride faster and climb quicker.  Give yourself plenty of time to do this, losing 1-2 pounds a week as your goal.
2. Put 25MM tyres on your bike.  They are more comfortable, better for grip and more puncture resistant.  I ride Continental GP4000 tyres.
3. Get fitted on your bike.  If you're multi-day event involves long distances of 80M or more, you need to get your fit spot-on.  By doing this you will avoid niggles, aches and pains or injury.
4. Ride appropriate route profiles.  If you're doing a Lands End to John O' Groats for example, you need to be able to climb hills.  Work hills into your training, don't just ride flat routes.  Read this blog about ride ascent ratio to see what I mean.
5. Understand your route in advance.  On a multi-day event, each day can bring a different profile or challenge. Think about the requirements of each day in advance in terms of your clothing, nutrition and effort.  When you are going to stop and re-fuel.  What your weather contingencies might be and sunrise/sunset, all to be taken into account.  Key thing is to know which are the easy and hard days.
6. Learn how to ride efficiently as a group.  If a group of you are doing the event, then learning to ride efficiently as a group will reduce your energy requirements and get you there with less effort.  You should be able to ride 2x2, riding in a tightly formed group with three or four inches between you and the rider in front (wheel distance).  This will save you around 20-25% of effort if you deploy correctly and share the load amongst the group.  Watch cycling on the TV and see how the professionals do it and pratice.
7. Get your bike serviced.  Your bike should be in tip top condition in readiness for the challenge. Seen so many times riders arrive on bikes they've borrowed or bikes in poor mechanical condition.  The bottom line is you will slow the whole group down if you experience mechanical problems en route which could be avoided. 
8. Invest in good quality clothing and equipment.  Nipping into Decathlon for some cheap shorts won't cut it if you're doing a 10 day x 100 mile event.  Invest in the best you can afford, particularly for contact points like your backside, hands and feet!  Read 10 items of cycling clothing you should own.  Blog here.
9. Build up your miles and aerobic engine.  Multi-day events require a large aerobic and stamina base.  If you're doing a multi-day event of 100 miles per day over three or ten days, you must build your engine on the bike through long miles.  At least three to four months away from the event you need to be putting in 80M-100M per week in the saddle to build up your base.
10. Work on your core strength off the bike.  Working on your core strength will help you cope with the demands on your body the event will bring. A strong core gives the stable base you'll need for climbing and long days of pedalling.  Blog on developing your core strength here.

You may also benefit from reading the blogposts below, the key thing is to not underestimate what you have signed up for.  Treat it seriously, plan, train and arrive on the line ready to fulfill the ambitions of the people you are doing it for.  Good luck!

• 50 tips for a new road cyclist.  Blog here.
• Getting the right saddle position.  Blog here.
• Getting the right saddle height.  Blog here.
• Tips for saddle comfort.  Blog here. 
• 10 tips for replacing an inner tube.  Blog here.
• 10 things to carry on your bike in your saddle bag.  Blog here.
• Gear ratios for new road cyclists.  Blog here.
• 10 foods to boost energy.  Blog here.
• Choosing the right saddle.  Blog here.

Blood, Sweat and Gears

Another day of riding in the wind.  It's become a feature of the last three of four rides I've done, a steady 10mph wind coming from one direction or another with some big gusts thrown in for good measure.  It does make long rides hard work and you need to stay on top of your effort levels and also fuel appropriately as your heart is working harder than normal.

Whilst riding today I met a competitor in the forthcoming Bolton Ironman competition who was riding the route.  We got chatting and three things struck me that we had in common: -

1. We had both been bike fitted.
2. We both wore foot inserts.
3. We both used heart rate monitors.

Doing an ironman requires you to be right on top of your pacing and nutrition, monitoring your heart rate and ensuring you take on board the 60g of carbohydrate the body can process each hour to keep your tanks topped up for such an extreme event.  It also requires you to have good technique, for running and cycling, so it was interesting that he'd got fitted up on his bike and had inserts in his cycling and running shoes.

I've worn inserts for a few years and got a pair custom made a few months ago. It's surprising when you go and see someone and they look at your standing pose and immediately note that there are corrections that can be made.  I'd recommend you to think about a set as I found my foot comfort improved a lot after using them. 

Food and Drink

There have been a few more questions of late about nutrition and what things I eat when I'm out riding.  I wrote a blog about gels and sports products recently which you can read here. 

Setting out today, I knew things were going to be tough. I'd picked a route which was had an ascent ratio of 50+ which when combined with the wind, would need a little something.  Here's what I consumed pre, during and post-ride: -

Last night - pasta dinner (Carbohydrate rich meal).
Pre-Ride- x2 Scotch Eggs, 0.5L bottle of Gatorade.
On the ride - 1.5L of water with High Five Zero tablets in, 1 x SiS Energy Bar, 1 x Gel.
Post Ride - Chicken + Egg Mayonnaise + SiS ReGo.

So, pre-ride and during the ride the focus is ensuring that you are taking on carbohydrate, hence the gel and the energy bar.  I took the gel ten miles from home as I was feeling the wind, normally might of skipped it as I would have had a coffee somewhere.  However, no cafe stop today, did the 65 mile route without stopping.

Post-ride is all about getting protein into your system within the magic 20 minute window of finishing your ride. I'd recommend a post-ride supplement if you are at effort, it all depends on how hard you've been working!

Riding Faster is a Slow Business

When you first get into road cycling, you want to ride as fast as you can, completely understandable, particularly if you have a new bike.  Your early rides will involve you going out and riding as hard as you can, either with mates who have started at the same time as you or on your own.

It's only when you start to ride with stronger and faster riders do you realise that you may need to lift your average speed up quite a bit, to hang in a group or go on a club ride.  I've been riding for around four years now and consider myself an average rider based upon the amount of time I can devote to cycling.  I'm more in it for the personal fitness and thinking time than anything else, but also do like to see some steady improvement in exchange for the miles.

This weekend, I've covered 185 miles on the bike over three days and am really feeling the benefit of my planned training.  Day one was an easy 50 mile spin in preparation for a faster ride the following day, my average speed was 15.7mph.  Day two was an undulating 70 miles route at higher pace (avg speed 17.2mph), today was a 65 miles recovery ride at 16.2mph.  The main thing is not to beat yourself up if you don't always come back faster, a good headwind can knock you right back.

Average speed is impacted by so many factors including wind, ascent, weather, road surfaces, sole/group rides however when you ride a bit on your own you'll quickly figure out which rides are similar to judge your progress.

I've spent the last three months really focusing on building a strong aerobic base fitness.  Between Jan-March, I put around 910 miles in, and this established the basic fitness to ride distances.  This mostly involves riding at a controlled heart rate with lots of people whizzing past you.

During April, I've been working a lot more on intensity, taking on harder rides at a higher heart rate.  During each of the months my average speed has been creeping up, whilst my heart rate has stayed constant (meaning improving fitness).  On yesterday's ride (17.2mph) I felt the best I had all year.  Between April and May month to date, I've covered 523 miles with 21K ascent.

It helped yesterday having stronger riders in the group pushing the pace as it made me push myself harder.  What was clear to me is that the patience in putting in the building blocks has been well worth it and when you ride with a strong rider, you realise just how far you still have to go, but how far you've come too.  

My next major breakthrough would be to lose weight.  I've got the essentials in place now in terms of fitness and my ability to climb at pace is now the key focus for me.  On the flats I'm happy to motor along at 20-22mph generally, it's only on the hills that I find it harder to keep up.  If I could knock off 10kg, I'd probably go from being average to OK!

The message is this.  If you a new rider and wanting to get quicker, take your time.  Give yourself a few months of building fitness and try and ride as regularly as you can.  I ride around 100 miles a week, mostly at the weekends and this has been good enough to get me in a place where my fitness is good and my speed 'good enough' for what I want to do on the bike.  

Jot down all your rides so you can get some quality data.  I use Garmin Connect and upload all my ride info, which makes comparisons really easy, then measure your progress and work towards specific goals.  Doing lung busting rides will simply yo-yo your fitness and likely make progress slower than necessary. 

Gels and Energy Products.....

I used to get so much stick from the guys who I rode with when I first started group riding, I'd carry my own body weight in gels and energy bars in bulging pockets on the back of my shirt, I didn't know any better.  All the ads suggested "increased performance" for the aspiring rider, I shot out and stocked up!

Nowadays, I use energy products very specifically and with nowhere near the frequency that I used to, I've learned when you need to use them and when you don't.

The decision to use energy products is primarily driven by how hard you are working when exercising.  As your heart rate drives up towards the intensive zones over sustained periods it switches to your carbohydrate stores to fuel itself and you need to replace them - hence needing additional carbohydrate in the form of fast absorbing sports nutrition mid-ride.  

I'm not a medical expert and this article is written to give you the basics, so to find out a little more about carbohydrates and the difference between complex and simple carbs, read this article on netdoctors or consult a sports performance coach if you want to do a deep dive.

Keeping it Simple

Particularly on long sportives or very hilly rides, you will be pushing your body much harder and it's important to keep on top of your carbs, or you'll end up 'bonking' (cycling term for the runners equivalent of 'hitting the wall').  However, unless you know what intensity you're working at, it becomes a bit of a guessing game.

Those that visit this blog regularly know that I do all my training using a heart rate monitor.  This means that you control your ride intensity and effectively your need for additional carbohydrates. Long 'base mile' rides rarely need carbohydrate topping up, a good breakfast or a cafe stop will be enough to give you the fuel you need to keep going.  Natural foods like bananas and porridge before setting off, give you the slow release energy you need.  

If you're doing an intense sportive, then you will definitely need to look at your fuelling strategy.  I would be looking at the route profile to see where big efforts are needed (like climbs), where the official food stops are to re-fuel with more natural carbs where possible and then figuring out what additional top-ups I'll need mid-ride either in the form of liquids, bars or gels.  I prefer things like flapjacks wherever possible, simply because energy products can taste a little sickly after a while.  Former hour record holder Graeme Obree, swears by marzipan!

During a long sportive, I'd be keeping an eye on my average heart rate and adjusting my fuelling based upon the pre-planning above.  To ride long distances, you need energy, the trick is figuring out how much you need from refined sports supplements by keeping an eye on your intensity levels using a heart rate monitor.

I always carry a gel with me when I'm out, whatever the circumstances, there's always changing conditions.  Sometimes, a long ride with heavy rain or wind can just sap your energy unexpectedly.  You may have forgotten to eat or drink regularly whist riding and then all of a sudden - BOOM!

The trick is to find a brand that you like, some gels can upset your stomach, some are organic, some with caffeine, there are lots to choose from.  Try not to mix and match and always test them on a ride, before you do anything big or long distance in case they don't agree with you. 

Ride Ascent Ratio (RAR)

A little while ago I devised a simple ratio to help me understand what sort of effort I'd put in relative to distance, irrelevant of other metrics all I wanted was a simple "how hard was is" sort of base measurement in order to make sense of ride intensity, relative to the average speed I may have returned.

In the early days of cycling, you become very focused on average speed as your basic indicator for how you are performing. However, there are so many things that contribute to average speed ranging from weather, road surface, whether you are alone or in a group and if you are well or not, amongst a host of other things.

One of the big dictators of average speed is your ride profile.  A flat route or a hilly route dictates a lot, other mitigating factors apart.  Assuming you are well and it's a perfect day, a hillier ride will always be harder than a flat ride.

By dividing the ascent by the distance, you get a basic output of understanding roughly how hard the miles were in terms of ascent.  I've put six rides in above that I've actually done to show you what I mean.  The ride with Wiggo, being a lot harder in terms of ascent per mile (101.3) than the 100 mile sportive that I did which returned (22.2).  The daddy is still the Fred Whitton for me with a whopping score of 113.7 - brutal.  

What this allows you to do is come home and understand that if your average speed is not what you want it to be, then look to the profile of your ride as a mitigating factor.  Try it yourself and see if it works for you.  

Does anyone use anything similar or invented an alternative way to measure their ride data?  Drop me a comment and let me know.

Riding back to Fitness

Coming back to the bike after a long break is hard work.  Regular readers will know from my recent post about my year end mileage that I had a poor last quarter to 2012, covering only 143 miles, so it's back to the grindstone to re-build my fitness for the Spring.  

On the positive side, within the first week of 2013 I've already covered 133 miles, nearly what I covered in the last twelve weeks of 2012.  I wanted to come into the New Year, having cleared all my colds, with a good start and get straight back into a routine of at least 100 miles per week.

Building Your Base

The key to building a good base is not going straight out there and blasting it as fast as you can go.  With poor fitness, you won't go far and you'll end up breathing through your ears before long and blowing.

It's all about covering distances within heart rate zones 2-3, which are the basic endurance and aerobic endurance zones.  It's not about miles covered, or how fast you can ride, it's simply going out for two to three hours and controlling your heart rate through your gears and cadence to stay within certain parameters by wearing a heart rate monitor.

My maximum heart rate is 187 bpm, so I would ride for around three hours ensuring my heart rate is at least 75% of my maximum (140bpm for aerobic endurance) as I already have 3,000 miles of training from 2012.  If starting from zero, 65% of your maximum works on your basic endurance (120bpm or otherwise known as 'base miles).   

You end up pedalling super slow up inclines, super fast down descents and at a smooth, steady average on the flats.  You'll be pedalling below what you think is your ability, people will be passing you, but don't worry just stick with it.  

In the long term it's the best way to build a deep aerobic engine which will allow you to ride long distances in an aerobically efficient way.  Before long, you'll notice that even riding at the same heart rate, your average speed will increase, that's the sign you're getting stronger.

2% slower speed, 8% lower heart rate

To give you some idea, here's some comparable ride data from my last three rides. Ride one was my first one back after a long break, conditions were awful with gusting winds and I felt terrible.  You can see from my heart rate how hard the going was, 150bpm to achieve 13.4mph - possibly one of my worst rides ever!

Ride 2 was an aerobic endurance ride, so it's all about the heart rate during the three and a half hour outing on Saturday morning.  Without the wind, my speed was around 9% faster.  Ride 3, which I did the day after ride 2 I decided to slow the pace down in terms of my heart rate like a recovery ride, however you can see only 2% negative difference in my average speed but with a heart rate 8% lower than the day before.

Before you rush out and think you can achieve this within two rides, a word to the wise.  I've already built my underlying aerobic engine over three years, my rides are simply kicking it back into action.  What I want you to understand is the principle of effectively going slower, to go faster in the long term by controlling your heart rate and therefore your training outcome.

I'll be spending Jan-March riding in this way. to put at least 1000 miles on the clock in my zone 3 aerobic endurance zone, ready to step-up training between April-June prior to riding from London to Paris again.  Let's hope the weather keeps up!

Core Fitness

Sort your core fitness out to get faster

I've been road cycling for about two and half years now and in that time there's no doubt that I'm better on a bike now than I was in 2009.  I've enjoyed the initial weight loss, getting faster, overcoming hills, riding my first 100 miles and - more importantly - acquiring bikes!

In June, I'll be riding London to Paris in three days and I've been thinking about my weight, my stamina and my core strength, prior to the ride.  I spend a lot of time on my rear. I drive to work, spend all day in meetings or at my desk, sit down in the restaurant for lunch, I'm regularly on trains, planes or sat at my home PC blogging.  When I'm not doing that I'm sat in a saddle on a bike, see what I mean?

Although I've done some reasonable miles, I don't seem to be getting any faster and my ride averages have stayed pretty much the same.  My weight has bottomed out, so despite riding 100 miles or so a week, it isn't impacting on my weight.  I know my cardiac fitness is good from my last BUPA test, however my body fat had increased.

Total Cycling Performance

A little while back I was contacted by Simon Vincent of Total Cycling Performance in South Wales and invited down for a full assessment of my composition and body conditioning. I don't get to South Wales much on business, so taking advantage of a recent trip down, I called in to see Simon at his home studio.

I love people like Simon - a new business, going less than a year - he's one of those people that has given up a successful career to do something he loves, sports science driven body conditioning and assessment.  In many ways, he reminded me of Craig Middleton at Onix Bikes who did the same thing (following his passion).

Simons set up is in his back garden.  A large studio full of gym equipment and gizmos for measuring, assessing and training his clients.  I have to be honest, I was a little nervous as - apart from the bike - I don't do anything else for fitness and I've never been a strongman.  I knew my core strength needed improving, but I had no idea what my base was.

Ground Zero

After a pre-assessment of my diet, exercise and lifestyle it was on to the physical bit.  Leg presses, extensions, arm presses, grip strength, lat pulldowns, flexibility measurements, lung capacity, body fat make up, hydration, wattbike pedalling analysis, maximum heart rate and core muscle tests to name but a few, Simon gave his assessment - basically, my core strength is really poor.  The only saving grace was an above average lung capacity, pedal stroke was OK (but still with room for improvement) and my back strength was higher than average.  In all other elements, it was lower quartile - ouch.



Get off the bike

Simon gave me some initial feedback and followed that up with a 20 page report with all of his findings, but more importantly his recommendations.  A complete change to my diet, my hydration, my time in the saddle and my fitness regime, including joining a gym, fundamentally, riding a lot less.

Explaining the science behind the metabollism, it quickly dawned on me that there were some big changes needed.  By increasing my core strength and losing some weight through effective management of diet and time in the gym, I can make the progress I need to nail London to Paris.



The Metrics

I love data.  It takes the guesswork out of it and makes it factual.  Simon collects data as he conducts his tests and then presents it back to you, comparing against what you should be capable of.  Here's a few of the statistics: -

Leg Press.  You should be able to press x3.5 your bodyweight. I could do x2.1.
The Plank (see picture).  You should be able to hold about 90 seconds.  I held about 20 seconds (now up to 45 with some more practice).
Leg Extension.   You should be able to do 0.45 x your bodyweight.  My target should be around 43kg.  I could do 25kg.

The Plank

You get the story?   Basically all to play for.  So where do we go from here?  Simon wrote me a twelve week fitness plan, broken down by day.  In it, full details are given as to what exercise I need to do, number of repetitions or sessions on the wattbike or out on the road.  Combined with this is also a recommendation as to my diet, calories I need to eat with the correct balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates. 

Making the Change

The big changes I have to make are to drink a lot more water, upping intake to 3L a day and eating a lot more natural protein in my diet through nuts, lean meat and fish. Milk has to be switched to full fat, bread only after a training session and in limited amounts, 9-12 portions of fruit and vegetables leading to a re-balancing of my body make-up. More stretching is needed to increase my suppleness, dynamic stretching sessions make a frequent appearance in the 12 week plan.


Simon’s unique approach to nutrition also advocates the use of absolutely no synthetic protein shakes, vitamin supplements, or other man made versions of nutrients that as he put it “can all get provided by Mother Nature given a little planning and organisation”.

My aim is to look to lose around 1kg a week of fat through steady and consistent management of my diet, exercise and to also gain a significant amount of additional cycling strength and power, through a structured and targeted strength training regime of just 2 sessions per week. By doing this, I should radically improve my base strength and power to weight ratio, resulting in better miles on the bike - we'll see.

I'm about four days in and I've never drunk so much water, been to the loo so much or consumed so much white meat. It's had some immediate impacts in that I'm not snacking, reaching for sugary things like biscuits around 4pm, I've given up sugar in coffee too. The scales seem to like it as my body seems to already be adjusting to the new diet and dipping in to my fat reserves.

I'll keep reporting back on progress, it's good to have a plan to follow, something personal to you as an individual, written around your body, your lifestyle and your areas requiring improvement specific to improving your total cycling performance.

A session with Simon in South Wales to assess your all round cycling ability, but perhaps most importantly the full physiological weaknesses within your current training and nutrition practices preventing you becoming a more efficient, faster and stronger cyclist starts from £75.00. I think that’s money very well spent as you can then focus your future training on smarter rather than longer sessions, in order to get a lot closer to realising your true cycling potential.

If you're really brave, you can book in the local hotel and then go and ride some Welsh mountains afterwards.  Erm, anyone seen my car keys?