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Boost Cycling Fitness and Shred Fat with Fasted Training

One of the most efficient ways of kick starting your fat burning metabolism and boosting your cycling fitness is to partake in fasted training. As I've talked about before, your body is designed to utilize the energy substrates that are available to it to meet energy demands.  During fasted exercise, there’s a stark limit on the amount of sugar available. There is, however, a huge amount of energy available from fat stores, and you need to train your body to use it effectively.

Similar to how your body will adapt to exercise by getting fitter, your body will adapt to fasted training by increasing the amount of fat it can burn.  Fasted training helps to adapt your body to the stresses of hard training and primes you for a “train low, compete high” scenario where you’ll teach your body to be stingy in burning carbs in your typical training but supply it more on race day to ensure it's properly fueled.  This will not happen overnight, though. It will take months of work to increase the efficiency of your body’s fat burning machinery, and these fasted training tips will give you a significant edge in that quest.

As you start your fasted training protocols, keep in mind a couple of simple things:

  • Always carry some food with you to prevent bonking (and be prepared to eat after an hour of hard riding)
  • If you’re not feeling well or having an off day, skip the fasted training and eat something.  You can always go back to it later in the week.
  • Pay careful attention to your body: if you start to bonk badly or repeatedly, back down and rest a bit, and be sure to eat.

Bearing those “safety” concepts in mind, click through the jump to learn how to add fasted training to your cycling program.

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The Relationship Between Caffeine, Coffee and Bikes

From days gone by when Tour de France cyclists relied on the caffeine as a performance enhancer to the current day “coffee shop ride”, coffee and bikes have been an inseparable pair.  Cyclists have long had a love of coffee both for the taste, the performance benefits and the social interaction involved with a cup of joe.  Pre-ride, post-ride or mid-ride, so much of the sport revolves around coffee and the caffeine within.

But why?

Is it because cycling is traditionally a European sport, and Europeans themselves have a love affair with the coffee bean?  Or does it have something to do with the warming feeling of a cup of joe before an early morning slog?  Maybe some love the performance enhancing effects of caffeine?  Is social interaction a primary motivator?

Maybe it's one of those reasons.

Maybe it's just a little more intangible than any of those.

Click through the jump for some info on the performance enhancing effects of caffeine and why coffee and bikes belong together.

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Performance Effects of Caffeine On Your Cycling

Is it possible that the quintessential coffee shop ride has more to do with performance than it does social togetherness?  In some studies, it's been shown that the caffeine in a cup of coffee may be a difference maker in terms of performance while riding a bike.  But some difference of opinion remains when discussing how soon after ingestion do the performance effects of caffeine actually take effect.  When should you drink that espresso?  When should you have that morning cup of coffee when you're going out for a training ride?

In this short Periscope videocast, I'll talk about the performance effects of caffeine on your cycling performance.  I'll also touch on what is the optimal timing is for getting your caffeine fix and what the quickest method of getting your caffeine into your blood is.  I'll also answer a couple of questions from listeners who were online at the time, giving you a couple of other tidbits on coffee and caffeine.

Don't forget to like/share and comment!

 

Coaching Q&A – Ways to Boost Your Training Outcomes (Podcast #58)

This time of year, the focus of your questions has turned from how to get strong and fit for upcoming events to wringing the most out of your training time.  If you are anything like the 99% of cyclists for whom riding a bike isn't a job, you have limited time to train and need to get the most out of each hour. I'll wager that these questions that I'm getting will apply to many of you out there.  It's true that no question is a stupid one, and since there's a lot of valuable information in each of the topics I'll talk about, I've put them together into a podcast intended to help you boost your training outcomes.

In this episode of the Tailwind Coaching Podcast, I'll explain how you can boost your fitness and increase your training outcomes with some simple techniques.  After the jump, you'll be able to peruse the show notes and read a synopsis of what's talked about in this episode.

Don't forget to hit the like and share buttons on the left to share this information with your friend, group ride buddies and teammates!

Now, learn how to boost your training outcomes with these simple tips:

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Tailwind Coaching E-Bootcamp

The Group rideIf you looked at the calendar recently and wondered where the “(Not so) off season” went, you're not alone.  If you're starting to sweat your fitness level a little bit because you've been lacking motivation to get on the indoor trainer and hammer out some miles, you're DEFINITELY not alone.  If you're thinking you have about 8 weeks until you should be riding with your buddies, racing or setting PRs in gran fondos, well, I'm right there with you.

That's why I'm running a six week e-Bootcamp to kick your fitness up a notch or two.

Each week, you'll receive an email with your weekly training plan, some relevant tips to help you achieve the week's goals and my expert guidance.  Here's what to expect:

  • A 6 week training plan, delivered each week of the camp.
  • Coaching support (just respond to your weekly email with questions)
  • Nutritional advice, training physiology concepts, mental toughness tips, recovery advice, and more delivered each week.

How much?  A few hundred dollars for 6 weeks of training plans, coaching support and training advice?  How about $60?  That's ten dollars per week.

Check out the e-Bootcamp information page for more detailed information.

There's no deadline, there's no catch.  You can do a 6 week intensive bootcamp any time you want with this program.