posted on October 13th, 2010 in Cycling, Cycling Tips, Strength Training by Stephen

Sit around most any group of male cyclists and they will end up talking about their weight. A conversation so in depth that it would shock most women not in the cycling community. Besides shaving their legs, nearly all cyclists attempt to stay as light as possible, yet attempt to keep a high power to weight ratio. This is quite a challenge for almost everyone I know, but here are some thoughts on how to do this effectively.

To drop bodyfat, there are good ways and not good ways to go about it. For example, most people tend to just eat less, but Caloric deficit is one of the prime facilitators of over training and slow recovery.

I did a consultation with a 300 pound guy that said he was eating under 1200 calories a day, basically starving himself and only eating a dinner meal. Yes, the scale reads a lower number, but A) what is the bodyfat % are you loosing fat or muscle? you want less bodyfat and keep or add more muscle, especially since muscle burns more calories than food and B) what happens when you do start to eat more – your body has been in starvation mode and will pack on the fat reserves in preparation for the next starvation.

I don’t truly believe the numbers behind calories, however I get where it can make it easier for some people to understand their eating habits – but please do NOT tell me that 100 calories of cheezy poofs are equal to a 100 calories of broccoli.

It’s a tough balance because of the great advantages of weighing less in a sport where power to weight ratio can matter.
Here are some tips that I use to help loose body fat %, while keeping the muscle:

1) Timing of meals.
Think of your metabolism as a bon-fire….each morning when you wake up the fire has burned down hot coals in the morning – you should throw some leaves, twigs, on the fire to get it burning again, but that small stuff burns hot & fast. Now if you wait or throw too big a log onto the fire it may burn-out or just smolder – instead, adding some fuel to the fire every few hours through out the day will keep the fire burning hot and bright all day!

2) Quality of food.
A) The less processed the food is the better.
B) the less legs the better – pork/steak = 4 legs, chicken = 2 legs, Salmon = none.
C) the less shelf life the better = less preservatives
D) more nature made food (veggies/fruits) the better.

3) Quantity of food consumed.
I debated about which should come first, Quality or Quantity – but in the end Quality over Quantity because more quality food is much better than just eating less junk food.

4) Fluids
Always drink enough water, and avoid sugary drinks

5) Keep alcohol and sweets to a minimum
Some people just can’t avoid things where they are surrounded by bad food choices, but here is what I try to do to minimize how much I consume.
A) don’t buy them – for me, it is easier to avoid them at the grocery store than at home.
B) You don’t always have to deprive yourself – eating/drinking in moderation is ok. I try to limit alcohol to the weekends and sweets to birthdays/special occasions.

6) avoid the 4 ‘white devils’:
A) Sugar
B) Table salt
C) Milk
D) Flour

7) Circuit Training!
Of course, you have to exercise – nutrition place a key role, but neither will truly work without the other. To best fire up your metabolism you should be doing circuit training not traditional body building exercises.

For cyclists doing LSD (Long Slow Distance) is a great time for work at ‘on the bike fueling‘. This is the time to have an alarm go off every 30 minutes and eat/drink a little. You will be amazed at the difference this will make.

When I do this well, I am usually starving at the end of a ride because my metabolism is fired up so much. But try to keep this steady supply of nutrition going and you metabolism will have less tendency to slow down!

For more detailed information on how my clients are loosing up to 2 pants sizes a month get my “Drop Pounds, Gain Watts” ebook:

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