I bet a lot of people who take up mountain biking, like myself, have a small degree of "This will help me lose a few pounds and get in shape". I certainly thought so (although primarily I just like being outside and walking is dull, no offence) and I was hoping that is be able to carry on eating what I wanted and if I got out ride enough is lose weight and get in shape. Partly right. Mostly, completely wrong. Couldn't be more wrong!
I found riding regularly improved my fitness I could ride longer, faster and not feel as slug-like by the end of a route. But then occasionally during that time I'd find that I couldn't carry on and needed to stop a while after beginning to feel weak and dizzy.
I also found that I wasn't really shifting the pounds as much as I thought I would, although I was slowly losing a bit of weight.
The answer. Nutrition. Bloody food!
I found riding regularly improved my fitness I could ride longer, faster and not feel as slug-like by the end of a route. But then occasionally during that time I'd find that I couldn't carry on and needed to stop a while after beginning to feel weak and dizzy.
I also found that I wasn't really shifting the pounds as much as I thought I would, although I was slowly losing a bit of weight.
The answer. Nutrition. Bloody food!
The answer is pretty obvious really ain't it. We've all heard that you are what you eat (I'm meat) and that if you eat cleaner you'll lose weight, workout at the same time and buggar me you'll accomplish things! but let's be honest here for a minute...
HOW BLOODY HARD IS IT
Honestly though, how hard is eating clean! Taking the care to look at what you're eating, what's in it, how many micro/macro-nutrients of what category are in what. Calorie counting. Carb loading. Fasting etc...Jesus it's a minefield and everyone has their own opinion on what you should/shouldn't be doing. When you should be eating. When you shouldn't. What you should be eating. Whether you should be vegan or vegetarian. Piss off. I'm sorry but I can't be bloody arsed with all that!
Then you've got companies and "experts" telling you that you should be consuming x grams of carbs an hour and the BEST way to do it is using gels and energy bars that cost £5/6 for a 3 pack out of Tesco. Nope. Piss off. We as a species have lasted for centuries without them. But all of a sudden it's vital that you take in 3 scoops of strawberry-flavoured protein powder and 2 scoops of creatine. Pull the other one!!
Then you've got companies and "experts" telling you that you should be consuming x grams of carbs an hour and the BEST way to do it is using gels and energy bars that cost £5/6 for a 3 pack out of Tesco. Nope. Piss off. We as a species have lasted for centuries without them. But all of a sudden it's vital that you take in 3 scoops of strawberry-flavoured protein powder and 2 scoops of creatine. Pull the other one!!
I'm not having it. I refuse to believe I need to do all that shite. I'm sure if you're a serious athlete competing in 4 day enduros or triathlons or whatever there could be some advantage to some of the gels. But what's wrong with food?
I love food. All sorts of food. Shit food like take-aways (I love pizza and kebabs) and I love clean veggie dinners and fresh berry smoothies. The problem is that it's too easy to just say oh buggar it lets get a take-away, rather than spend the time you spend waiting, actually cooking something yourself and seeing the ingredients and working with them yourself. I'm guilty of this all the time.
But right now as I write this post I'm beginning to make the moves to try and take a bit of control over it. I want to eat my own cooked food, fresh and clean food. Part of this process is going to be documented in my blog here. I'm going to note down what I try before, during and after rides and try some different things and see what works for me.
And ultimately that's what this post is about. You can read all the nonsense on the internet you want and listen to people or not listen to them, because at the end of it all the person that understands how you work is you and no one else. I've read loads about what is important and where it is found and I'm gonna try to implement that in my own way.
Ill ll be keeping a track of it here for my own usage but who knows someone find use in it. But for now...
Ta-ra ✌️
I love food. All sorts of food. Shit food like take-aways (I love pizza and kebabs) and I love clean veggie dinners and fresh berry smoothies. The problem is that it's too easy to just say oh buggar it lets get a take-away, rather than spend the time you spend waiting, actually cooking something yourself and seeing the ingredients and working with them yourself. I'm guilty of this all the time.
But right now as I write this post I'm beginning to make the moves to try and take a bit of control over it. I want to eat my own cooked food, fresh and clean food. Part of this process is going to be documented in my blog here. I'm going to note down what I try before, during and after rides and try some different things and see what works for me.
And ultimately that's what this post is about. You can read all the nonsense on the internet you want and listen to people or not listen to them, because at the end of it all the person that understands how you work is you and no one else. I've read loads about what is important and where it is found and I'm gonna try to implement that in my own way.
Ill ll be keeping a track of it here for my own usage but who knows someone find use in it. But for now...
Ta-ra ✌️
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