[Closed] There's cycling fit.. and then there's..

Yep - I can ride all day and run reasonable half marathon times but five minutes on our punchbag and I am blowing. It's just a different exercise.

Cycling fit is so specific IMO.
Non-weight bearing, almost exclusively aerobic, limited range of movement. You can be super-fit on a bike and basically useless in anything else.

Try being a runner and then going wakeboarding for an hour. First time I did that I was unable to walk for three days.

Thea same thing happened when I started Crossfit. Damn squats.

I've done running and been to the gym quite a bit too - I was able to jump up onto the tall boxes for ages. But these two had me doing lunge jumps, they're a lot harder!

Really keen to try martial arts after the pandemic - hopefully it'll give me some good all round training whilst being more fun than aerobics.

I can cycle for hours, I can run half marathons, I can pick up heavy things... or I can swim for 5 mins then collapse.
Wife who does triathlons does not understand, and thinks I'm pretending to avoid doing tri's with her.

^^ Yeah, I would love to do a tri, but I cannot swim very well either. My daughters could easily out-swim me by the time they were 9 🙁

Swimming is a funny one, it's 90% technique, but it's really difficult to actually see. If I cycled like I used to swim I'd be pedalling with one foot on the bars and a parachute behind me wondering why I was so unfit.

Give me a choice of running 5km or swimming 5km I'd choose swimming every time

I'm currently reading "The Art of Resilience" - by Ross Edgley - he swam around the UK coastline starting/finishing in Margate, without stepping foot on land once. There's a lot of fitness/training stuff in there, as well as the adventure side of it, plus it's quite funny too in places. Recommend.

Cycling is very specific.

Crossfit is one attempt to try and balance all aspects of fitness / strength / flexibility / coordination in a single sport......

I remember when i was deep into Timetrialling.

I was good at riding my bike as hard as i could for an hour, and totally useless at any other type of activity.

these days, with running, and weights, combined with cycling I'm a lot fitter I would say, but still not cross fit fit...

Really keen to try martial arts after the pandemic – hopefully it’ll give me some good all round training whilst being more fun than aerobics.

Depending on which martial art, that's a whole new levl of pain.

Fitness won't really help you. It'll be lack of flexibility that'll hurt you

Cycling is very specific.

mtb less so at least the way I do it. I can definitely feel my shoulders after yesterday though whether that's more the er, gnarly, descents or hoiking the bike up steep bits/over locked gates is moot.

At Uni one of our lecturers was also an Olympic coach, had been involved in swimming, skiing, gymnastics and athletics (long distances)

She maintained that the best all round athletes were XC skiers. Supposedly mega in all areas, from cardio vascular, muscle (fast and slow) power, flexibility, endurance, balance and co-ordination. Basically they are gods and godesses of the physical world. Supposedly.

Fitness won’t really help you. It’ll be lack of flexibility that’ll hurt you

My wife recently discovered that she can very easily immobilize me with a thumb lock, because she is more flexible than me. She thinks it very funny. I now live in fear of her and her unbeatable thumbs. She will never lose another argument. 🙁

i'm not bad at cycling... but RUBBISH at squats!!!

I'm probably all slow twitch fibres, and need to actualy build up squat strength!!

DrP

I tried to do a Bums Legs Tums class.

I made it through about 25minutes of Pile Squats before having to admit defeat and half arse the rest.

To be fair, apart from the instructor no one else seemed to be doing full squats either (more of a curtsey), but still......

I couldn't walk for days, it was about a week before I could walk down stairs without the banister!

I’m probably all slow twitch fibres, and need to actualy build up squat strength!!

Squats is all slow twitch, it's not an explosive movement. Snatch / Clean and Jerk are explosive lifts and you struggle as you get older as you loose explosive power much more than strength. Power lifters can keep on getting heavier for decades, (Olympic) Weight lifters peak in their 20s.

I can cycle for hours, I can run half marathons, I can pick up heavy things… or I can swim for 5 mins then collapse.

If you're not good at swimming you end up thrashing your way up and down the pool, and as you've found out you can only borderline anaerobic efforts for so long 🙂

I'm pretty fit, with lots of running and cycling and even swimming, but after 5 burpees I'm ready to die.

For anyone interested in re-learning to swim I can recommend the book Total Immersion. I used it about 10 years ago when I was interested in triathlons and it took me from gasping for breath after a couple of lengths of freestyle to being able to do swim 1000m+ of freestyle in open water.

I remember a good 8 or 9 years ago, coming to the end of a good enduro race season, fittest I'd ever been and being talked into going to an MMA fitness bootcamp day. Holy shit that was a whole different level. Not only in terms of the guys (and girl) ability to push at both strength, stamina and explosive power continually, but also the mindset element, where they were pretty much all prepared to go to the point of puking in the bins.

Absolutely savage day, not something I'd ever like to repeat, but huge admiration for MMA fighters and how rounded they are as athletes 👍

he swam around the UK coastline starting/finishing in Margate,

Errr say what now?? 😳😳😳😳😳😳

^^^^ here you go, here's a taster 😉

https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/ross-edgley-great-british-swim-tongue

Depending on which martial art, that’s a whole new levl of pain.

They do it at the local school, I have a choice of kick boxing, Taekwondo and Southern Shaolin Kung Fu which appeals to me because it looks coolest in the movies. But then maybe kick boxing as it sounds like you get to spend more time hitting stuff.

they were pretty much all prepared to go to the point of puking in the bins

I have this tendency as well, it makes it rather difficult to do base training because I always end up smashing it. That's why I needed a power meter for cycling, and why I hurt now!

She maintained that the best all round athletes were XC skiers.

Not convinced by this. When I learned to XC ski I was able to do so to a level not far off that of my biking - judging by my speed relative to everyone else, and without much physical bother other than the obvious. This isn't the case with martial arts, running, lifting, swimming or explosive type movements. Skiiers might have the best cardio but there are many kinds of fitness.

A few minutes of five a side and I'm totally destroyed and hacking my lungs out. I really need to work on some wider fitness.

I have a choice of kick boxing, Taekwondo and Southern Shaolin Kung Fu which appeals to me because it looks coolest in the movies. But then maybe kick boxing as it sounds like you get to spend more time hitting stuff.

I'd recommend kali/escrima/arnis (same diff.) if you've got any near you. For all round mix of fun, coolness, movement, fitness and actually being of any use should you feel the need.

 I have a choice of kick boxing, Taekwondo and Southern Shaolin Kung Fu which appeals to me because it looks coolest in the movies. But then maybe kick boxing as it sounds like you get to spend more time hitting stuff.

out of those, kickboxing every time. even if you don't contact spar, hitting pads hard is quite satisfying.

I used to box, do martial arts and climb on top of the mountain biking. Can’t swim at all, I just flail about and slowly sink. A few years ago my BiL convinced me to do a five mile assault course. My training consisted of two half arsed jogging sessions around Macc Forest. Got bored because I don’t like running. Figured I’d just have to do the running on the day.

The day itself went well and I finished in the top 100 which I was proud of. The downside being that I couldn’t walk for six days afterwards without having to lean on walls and sort of scrape myself along them. I looked utterly insane scraping myself along the perimeter walls of our warehouse whilst laughing and almost crying in equal measure. My legs and arse muscles were wrecked.

Yep, I can ride all day long, and often do, but 10 mins pushing an empty trolley in the supermarket and my back aches and I want to lay down!

Those martial arts I listed are the ones available at the local school which is a short walk away, this will influence my decision as I can't be bothered cycling across town for it.

out of those, kickboxing every time. even if you don’t contact spar, hitting pads hard is quite satisfying.

I did Kickboxing at Uni decades ago, really enjoyed the pad work - very satisfying.

In a galaxy far far away, I took up Taekwondo during A Levels and continued until the late 90s, without any gadgets like HRM it was the fittest I ever felt... And staying 70-73Kg was a relative breeze compared to now aged 47 and struggling to get under 80Kg!

My overall fitness has never been higher than when I was windsurfing a lot and starting powerkiting and kitesurfing.
Now I have very cycling specific fitness and miss those days.
And I have never been able to run since my schooldays when all I could do well wqs cross country.

I was always a decent club runner and handy enough on a bike so thought about doing a tri

However my swimming is absolutely terrible. Like 2 lengths and I am in pieces terrible.

Those martial arts I listed are the ones available at the local school which is a short walk away, this will influence my decision as I can’t be bothered cycling across town for it.

Don't bother at all then, you won't stick with it.

Try being a runner and then going wakeboarding for an hour. First time I did that I was unable to walk for three days.

I took a friend wakeboarding on the cable at MK a few years ago - he did ok, tried really hard. Had fun. Then we had beers and dinner. It was a good day.

The next morning when he came to leave, he opened the boot, loaded his bags and looked forlorn when he realised he couldn’t actually lift his arms high enough to close the book again.

He genuinely had a to seek help to close the boot so he could leave.

Good times!

I've never been able to run any sort of distance. Sprints, fine. Repeated sprints, fine. 800m plus, not a chance.

The fittest I ever was was when I played rugby. Cycle commuted 20 miles each way five days a week, swam three times a week, rugby circuits twice a week, two heavy gym sessions. Played most weekends. I could do two hours of HIIT, before it was called HIIT, at circuits and know I'd done it, but not wrecked. The warm up / cool down of 2-3 laps of the pitch, I was walking by the second lap.

If you spend too long doing one thing then you get comfortable at that one thing. A big mix is the route to all round fitness. Unless it's Crossfit. Then it turns you into a Crossfitter. 😉

Surfing...

I'm out of surf-fitness thanks to Covid, although almost at my best cycling-wise. I know I'll be destroyed on my first few sessions back in the water!!

I did about 6 hours shifting soil in the garden today. I am absolutely wrecked! Thankfully it's to make a base for a shed, which in turn will free up the garage to be used as a gym. My long-dormant weights will be able to be used once again....

I do try and vary my sports, however exercise-from-home limits that variety somewhat. Not long now....🤞🏼🤞🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

they were pretty much all prepared to go to the point of puking in the bin

I resemble that remark. Funnily enough, I learned the fortitude to do it as a Thai boxer in a different time.

I've basically spent my whole life exercising on the basis that if its not hurting I'm not trying hard enough.

I have a friend who thinks I'm stronger than him on a bike, despite Garmin metrics to suggest otherwise. I maintain that I'm just better at suffering.

they were pretty much all prepared to go to the point of puking in the bin

The motivation's a bit different with MMA though! Extra fitness on a bike means a slightly faster time, or being slightly fresher at the end of the day. Extra fitness in a fight is likely to make the difference between having the shit kicked out of you or not!

Pump tracks. Now they are another level altogether - one lap and I wrecked. Unless I'm just shite (well, I am, but you know...).

Really keen to try martial arts after the pandemic – hopefully it’ll give me some good all round training whilst being more fun than aerobics.

Head-butting a brick wall repeatedly is more fun than aerobics. It's a low bar 🙂

Since working from home I go through phases of randomly exercising throughout the day to get me off the chair. My most recent exercise is crawling on hands and knees head first down the stairs, and then on reaching the bottom, reversing back up without turning around. Gets the heart pumping!

Not sure how I'm going to cope when back in the office.

I think I probably got to my fittest whilst doing the BMF military style PT sessions.
can't remember all of my times/scores etc during the fitness tests but I do remember completing 56 burpees in two minutes for some reason, perhaps it was being close to death that makes it so memorable. I do recall mountain biking becoming somewhat easier, my times getting faster and being able to begin recovering from a climb before I'd actually completed it!! I'd quite happily swim 100 lengths of the pool before work in the mornings and could run a hilly xc 10k in 40min. The only other time I remember being close to that sort of fitness was doing Thai boxing, Silat and Satria yoga.

I'm pretty fit on a bike, but the other day I had to run 200yds to a cashpoint to pay for my kebab.
Nearly killed me.
*the run...not the kebab.

Recycling round fit. I started on the bins last June while furloughed. I'd used the first lockdown to do a bit more running. I'd got to a point where I was generally doing one 4.5 mile, one 6-8 mile and one half marathon or more cross country runs a week over the downs and I'd pick routes with lots of up and down. I reckon when I started on the round it felt at the end of the day pretty much the same as having done a half marathon. I typically walk between 25 - 35,000 steps a day and pick up god knows how many tons of glass of the floor. On half our days all the recycling is in boxes and is picked up from the ground. My arms were dropping off by the time we finished today. Since June I've worn out 3 pairs of boots and eaten more than I've ever done. I'm still managing to run but only once a week at the weekend, not yet tried to add any in to the working week!

When I used to be in a run club our fastest runner was a bin man.
The lightest/fittest I've been was when I had a summer job as a postie in Glasgow, doing loads of tenement steps.
The problem with being semi-fit cycling that you have the cardio capacity to do a longish run but the muscular pain afterwards says otherwise.

Try being a runner and then going wakeboarding for an hour. First time I did that I was unable to walk for three days.

@willard I’m a kitesurfer. A couple of years ago on holiday there was no wind so we went to the wake park for a couple of hours. I don’t think my body has ever felt so broken, everything from my waist up just didn’t work for a few days afterwards.

Cycle fitness is very specific. My Son is a keen MTB downhiller and a Tennis player to a high standard. I can beast him on our rowing machine he’ll last about 3-4 mins I’ll do 20plus. I can last about 1 tennis rally with him and I’m done. I think your body becomes very proficient at using the least amount of energy for your chosen sport over time.

Agree with cycling making you cardio fit. Took up running about 3 years ago and was regularly cycling 100 miles a week at the time.

Whilst my lungs and heart were quite happy to run my legs were not. Took about 2 months to become comfortable running.

Anything that involves moving lots of heavy objects exhausts me. I just don't have the strength/weight to move very heavy objects.

Swimming - I can swim but get tired quickly. Mostly because I lack correct technique and as a child, I had no desire to get in a pool with lots of strangers. Still don't want to.

Anything that involves moving lots of heavy objects exhausts me. I just don’t have the strength/weight to move very heavy objects.

I think this is about core. I can do manual labour fairly well, considering I rarely do it and I spend most of my time at a desk. But then in the gym I struggle to lift much weight above my head cos it's all in the arms.