Hello everyone, I wanted to get some feedback on what I have been doing so far. But first let me give a brief back ground.

I am 24 years old (25 in July) and weigh about 183 at the moment (about 6' 1"). I started working out again about a month ago. Before that, I haven't gone to the fitness center or worked out in quite a while. At the start of the year I was hovering right around the 200 lb mark and decided that I needed to make some changes since i had a little more fat than I'd like and was getting to the point where I would have to go up the next size in shirts (to an XL) and jeans (to about a 34ish from a  32). So as of today I have lost about 17 lbs since the beginning of the year. I also wanted to get back into racing this year doing hare scramble races (2 hrs long). So my main motives are to loose some weight (shoot for 175 lbs) and fat, get in shape, and develop a plan that will help me improve my endurance in racing.

Over the course of the past month of getting back into working out, I started at 2 days a week and now I am at 3 days a week as of a couple of weeks ago. I have not done any weight training so far.

I basically start out with stretching and then do some mixed walking and jogging. It's been since HS since I have been able to run a mile without stopping, so that is another goal I have...while eventually working myself up to being able to do a 5k later on this year (another personal goal). As far as running goes, I have been having issues with shin splints. It could be attributed to a variety of factors such as being out of shape and not conditioned, and shoes. I got some new running shoes this week and have been able to notice an improvement as far as shin splints. As of today, I can run 4 laps nonstop (6 laps = 1 mile) in about 4 mins and 52 seconds.

After I do some mixed walking jogging (total 20-30 mins worth), I switch over to the stationary bikes.When I first started out, I was doing 20 minutes worth with just sporadic rpm/cadence. After my workout tonight, I am at 50 mins (with a 5 min cooldown period afterwards) while maintaining a HR of between 155 and 160 bpm and cadence of around 105 rpm. At this HR I am able to breathe out of my nose. I am thinking about sticking with the HR range mentioned above for a few weeks while increasing my duration (for a total of 1 hour? not including cooldown period) to establish a base, then eventually doing some intervals.

I had purchased a Timex Heart Rate monitor watch (with hear rate sensor strap) the other day and have been implementing it into my training as of yesterday. I do not know my max heart rate yet (although I reached a max of 190 bpm while running today, not max effort) and my resting heart rate is around 58-62 bpm. I will work on determining a more accurate resting heart rate in the next few days.

As mentioned above, I am working out 3 nights a week (usually monday, weds, and thurs, depending on school work or anything else going on). Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays I am not able to go to the fitness center since I am away from campus (where the Fit. is). So I usually use those as my rest/ride days. I will probably start going monday through thursday within the next week or two. I have not gotten to the point where I dread working out or overtrained, in fact I look forward to it each workout day. I have remained consistent and committed to working out after a month or so of working out, which I haven't been able to do since my high school days...barely..

I have purchased the following books and hope to learn some stuff that will help me improve my fitness and endurance: (1) Total Heart Rate Training by Joe Friel, (2) The Time-Crunched Cyclist by Chris Carmichael, and (3) The Mountain Biker's Training Bible by Joe Friel. I would eventually like to get back into mountain biking for cross-training after I am finished with my Master's degree in August so I think the books mentioned above will offer good info all around.

So with all of the above info, can anyone that has been involved in athletic training offer feedback on where I am at now and possibly provide tips?

Nice start MX! Now for the part most people HATE hearing.... the 150-160 bpm range would be considered "tempo" in the world of VELO. Meaning you're burning calories, but not doing much else. The body has 2 motors, aerobic & ANaerobic and REALLY you can only train one at a time. This is what leads to BASE training and then ALL other training. This does NOT mean you're waisting your time, it just means you could have done better with the proper guidance.

SO, first off start each workout with a warm-up, this should be 20-45 min, ramp up to say 140ish bpm then do your "openers" these are ALL OUT efforts with a "short recovery " period. Meaning you get a dump of LA into your system, then you back off to clear the acid, then you HIT IT again. 3 "openers" is what works for most athletes. The point in this is to get your body to release LACTATE ACID BUFFERS. Ever wonder why you start a ride and are feeling "off" your game, then 30 minutes later you're on fire? Well there you go, that's what the warm up is for.

NEXT, name the similarities between running and what your going to be doing in a HS? I need your help with this because I don't see ANY, other than MAYBE heart rate. I feel your time would be MUCH better spent riding a bike. Get a trainer and/or rollers study while you ride! A bicycle is really the BEST training tool, because you can have SO much control over the variables as well as all the data that can be acquired whine on the bike. Just remember 2 wheels are 2 wheels, other than speed and the source of power, no difference. Other great Xtraining choices, climbing/bouldering - Parkour (free running) - bicycle trials - MMA training/sparring - telemark skiing - unicycling. I could go on but I'm pretty sure you get the idea. LOOK for sports that place similar demands on the body, both physically and mentally. Wear a weight vest around all day, builds STRENGTH, BALANCE, POSTURAL awareness. ALL cross platform (sport) skills. this way you'll be doing more than JUST burning calories.

Get a slack-line for yourself,or make one. GR8 for core strength.

PM me if you want...... Charlie

Thanks for your feedback Charlie! It definitely provided some insight.

As far as the biking in the 160 bpm min range, I had expected that to be a "tempo" range...or more in the upper part of that range. As you stated, it is pretty much just base training at this point (while also burning calories). At the slightly higher heart rate, I am probably burning more a little more carbs than I am fat. So a question I have for you is how long should I stick with the BASE type training. This week is the first week of actually sticking to a consistent heart rate of 160. The past few weeks before this week, I would just hop on and pedal with some brief sprints here and there.

As far as BASE training goes, what are the primary benefits of doing so, compared to doing more aggressive cardio workouts (i.e. interval training) right from the get go (particularly in my case as someone who has been relatively inactive)? I kind of understand the purpose of it, but not fully.

Once I get to the point where I am doing intervals, how do I determine my "regular" HR to stay at, and my peak HR at my increased intensity periods, and how long should those periods be. Your analogy as far as the feeling off your game until about 30 mins or so into a ride makes a lot of sense!

As for the running, it is more of a personal goal. As I mentioned, I haven't been able to run a full mile without stopping since around high school. I would like to do that, while alos working my way up to doing a 5k. Just another one of those things I would like to say that I have accomplished. I think of it also as aiding in helping my get in better shape physically. So the running stuff isn't really driven toward doing HS per se.

I agree that a bike is a very valuable training tool since you can control the variables better. Once I finish up with school, I would like to get another mountain bike and start doing rides. I can see this as offering a lot of improvements that carry over to HS racing very well.

I haven't been doing any weight training but will probably start here soon. I know there are many trains of thoughts when it comes to this as far as high reps low weight, ...etc.

I will definitely shoot you a PM sometime. Thanks for offering!

Edited by MXandSXracer21, 05 April 2012 - 06:54 PM.

OK, you made me say it... your 15-160 bpm is JUNK training. BECAUSE your using BOTH motors, you can only train one at a time. NO way round it. The arbitrary HR ceiling for TRUE BASE training is 128 BPM, your's might very del be a LITTLE higher but without lab testing can't really say. Also it's too late for you to be doing any BASE training for this season as it's an 8 wk minimum without breaking the hr ceiling. This is do to blood pressure and the higher BP will blow out the capillary ends, NOT stretch/grow them.

You know with a nice sidearm and good aim you won't have to run from those bears! LOL  You can keep up with the running, I was just trying to highlight the difference between exercise and training for the general peanut gallery. Exercise is a workout. Training is exercise that is directly applicable to the sport you're TRAINING for.

I would start with interval training now, BUT with LONG intervals. I want my athletes to be able to run at 85-90% of max for 3.5-4 hours if they're doing HS racing. You always want to have something left in the tank, and 100% efforts are a myth, you can see that when somebody does something "superhuman" like lifting a car off someone. THAT"S 100%. Can't really be tapped into except in emergencies.

Do your intervals in an inverse triangle, 1 min / 2 min / 3 min, as an example. You need to also be training yourself to hold back and keep something for the last lap. Plus it's mentally more difficult to do this. As far as intensity goes, you want that 160 bpm range to be active recovery. If you can afford to do so, I know i went through an execrated MS program, sell off the HR monitor you got and get a POLAR that can be downloaded, much better tool.

As for the weight room stuff, I only use it when there is a specific weakness that needs work, as weight lifting is 2 dimensional NOT 3D, now free weights are a little different but only a little.

If you search my posts you'll find a bunch on the reasons and benefits of a TRUE BASE training program. I coach following a TRUE pro training schedule, I adjust volume based on the individual but I don't break format.

When you refer to "both motors" what exactly are you referring too...in between two heart rate zones, or the fat burning zone and the carb burning zone?

As for the interval training, could you suggest to me a regimen to start out with? The inverse triangle interval training makes a lot of sense, since it will help train you to still have energy at the end of a ride/race. I was also thinking, How would a diamond shaped interval setup work out? I would think of it as allowing you to start off strong at the beginning of the race (assuming you have warmed up a little), then tapered of to a comfort zone midway, and then pick up the pace towards the last half of the race. As far as the HR monitor goes, I will be sticking with what I have for now, and then getting a Polar down the road once I finish school and have more money to spend on one. I know the data i get will be limited, but I am at least able to get the average hear rate per time interval, as well as live heart rate readings. So I take the data from each time interval and record it on paper when i get home so I will have some record of my progress.

As far as strength training, what are some good body-weight type exercises to incorporate into a program. i can definitely see push-ups being a valuable exercise for your arms, chest and shoulders. Is there a sequence that should be followed with weight training (perhaps start out at x number of reps, and as the number of sets increase, so does reps. so for example, do something like 10 reps, 14 reps and then 18 reps?).

Aerobic & Anaerobic, Fat & Carb, those are the two. In the purest sense your aerobic motor is being trained in and during BASE training. Meaning LOW heart rate with increasing durations and loads. Then we have the anaerobic side, HIGH heart rate brief durations and maximal load. Again this is speaking in simple terms. The middle "tempo" zone is generally considered junk because neither motor is being individually used and strained/stretched, so technically neither is being trained.

As for the interval training goes, cycling, bicycle trials, par-kour, climbing gym work ( campusing, dynos ), plyometrics are all good choices. Critique your skill set and then choose a cross training platform that stresses that weak area. Have a hard time seeing, picking lines? Spend time on a climbing wall and running par-kour.

Your diamond analogy doesn't work and your hard/settle/hard is how races are lost NOT won. You want to train so that your 80-90 % is your competition is at max output. Then you just wait for them to start folding, then turn it up a notch. That EARNS a win.

Mixed martial arts training, CLIMBING WALL, par-kour these will all give a great overall workout. PLUS help train and hone other skills that are integral to riding and racing. Your rep idea is right on to UP the anti increase load each rep cycle.

I will try to keep it simple:

When starting from low to moderate fitness, a training schedule fits this basic format:
Base training (usually lower intensity, and gradually increasing time, higher rep range on weights but not maxing out or going to failure) - 4 to 6 weeks.  Try adding 1-2 minutes to your cardio session each time.  Keep your heart rate under control.
Middle phase (pre-peak)- add 1 or two higher intensity interval workouts per week.  More variety between hard and easy days.  Rep range on weights, should be lower, say in the 8 -10 rep zone.  Still should not be going to failure here. 4-6 weeks
Peak phase - ramp up the intensity here.  2-3 hard interval days per week, and 2 easier days.  Try to work in exercises that are specific to your sport.  Do lower reps, heavier weights.  Make sure you are a getting lots of rest.  More is not always better. 4 weeks.

You can then start over after taking a week off, or try some other program like P90x.   Variety is key too.  Mix up running, biking, rowing, swimming etc.  try to vary how you work with weights too.   For example, one day do squats, another day do lunges.

Hope that helps.   Sometimes people get too scientific about it, and should be out training instead!

Every 4th week you should back off and take it easy.   Most people who get serious about training will overtrain at some point.  The hardest part for me was always taking a rest week!

Physiologic adaptation takes 8 weeks, not 4-6, the down time that you refer to is to follow doping protocols. Ramp up3 wks down the 4 rth. The duration build -up during a base training cycle is at least a 1hour bump in workout duration each week of the cycle. Forget about some canned routine once your out of TRUE base training, cause it doesn't work. Not for an athlete anyhow. Once you are really training for your sport/events you should have a coach to guide you, keep you on track, motivated, hungry to train and win, AND not burn out or overtrain.

NOW on that last part, overtraining DOES SERVE A PURPOSE, it's to break the athlete with plenty of time to rebuild before a targeted event. We ONLY  get stronger during recovery, and overtraining makes our bodies "over-recover" so that nasty overtraining thing won't happen again...or so our bodies think. Again the mid tempo zones are pointless as far as training goes, they'll be covered by default during regular directed training. DO NOT WORK OUT 5 DAYS OR MORE PER WEEK!!!!!!. You need off days. Day after a race, maybe a light spin on the bike for an hour or so, that's it, the next day you train. You  need to vary the intensity.

REMEMBER IF YOUR BRAIN ISN'T INTO IT, YOU NEED A BREAK! This is what having a coach is about , I talk to my athletes DAILY and we plan out training plans DAILY. Again if your brain isn't into it, because your dog died, your kid is sick, you had a fight with the girl friend, ECT means that neat little scheduled rue tine just got shot to shit. This is why you won't find any pro athletes trying to keep to some arbitrary schedule. IT DOES NOT WORK.

I would also tend to disagree about the go to failure point, as most people have no REAL idea what that point is. Case in point, most folks would say they went to failure on a bike ride cause they had to stop because they were vomiting, serious cyclists wear it as a badge of honor when they can be vomiting WHILE STILL HOLDING THE PACE, no backing down.

A big part of training vs exercising is to make you hard, tuff, and unstoppable. These traits not only make tougher racers they make safer/better racers. CUDOS TO: Ryan Hughes, DOUG HENRY, Tyler Hamilton, Mike Schultz, Mouse McCoy,and all the other HEREOS that have given it their all, you are an inspiration and example to each of us. GOD SPEED!

I'll get off my soapbox now.

MXandSXracer21, on 07 April 2012 - 06:12 PM, said:

I'm a cyclist as well.    The mid (tempo zone) will vary a bit depending on your age and level of training.    Watige is right about them being "junk " miles --- but without lab equipment, most of us are left to make educated guesses about where this is.

For me personally, i produce more watts at 180 bpm than i do at 190,  and 160bpm is rapidly approaching the anaerobic zone   (i'm also 40 yo, not 25)

I'll post up a sample of a basic interval workout to get you started  ---

I will also add that my focus as a cyclist is track racing , and more specifically, match sprint, keirin, and kilo. ,  but i would have to ride my share of other longer distance events like points races just to get in track time --- bottom line, my goal was to produce 1800 watts for 12 seconds or less in a lot of cases ,  where a road racer would strive to produce 300-350 watts for hours and hours.  A long ride for me is an hour , unless its a mountain bike race-- sometimes those take longer

That said -- the premise of an interval is similar regardless of what you are training for,  but the big variable is how long and how many

But a sample "lunch hour" interval workout (if you have a long lunch) -- would be to roll out and ride  in the recovery zone (under 130bpm) for 15-20 minutes to ensure you are nice and warmed up , then ease into your mid range ("tempo zone") for a couple of minutes then gear it up -- do what you need to do to get into your personal pain zone for about 2 minutes,  then back off for 2 minutes -- your heart rate should drop back down into the tempo zone pretty fast but dont let it fall back to the recovery zone,  ---  if you are ready to go again in 2 minutes -  it,  -- a 2 minute on - 2 minute off interval schedule times 5 will take 20 minutes ,  then i'd recommend at least 20 minutes of cool down to let your heart rate get back down deep into the recovery zone

When i said to do what you need to do to get into the pain zone, -- i meant that there are a number of ways to go this, -- the absolute most common would be to shift into the big ring, get out of the saddle to get on top of the gear,  sit down and hold it as long as possible, upshifting when necessary if your rpm's drop too much.
    The other way is to just keep pouring on the rpm's until you start bouncing, then grab more gear -- (as a track cyclist, this is the only way to do it on the track as the bikes are single speed)

This is a good ride when you have an hour

Interval workouts are not something to be done on every ride though -- maybe twice a week , possibly 3 times a week if you are a dedicated cyclist and thats all you do,  --- but dont lose sight of the fact that you are riding your bike to prepare for hare scrambles,  not for bicycle racing.
    If you wake up one saturday and decide to go do your bike clubs 10 mile time trial instead of a nearby hare scrambles race --- you have gone to the other side

I admittedly do not have experience with 3 hour motorcycle races --- but i can routinely get my heart rate into the 165-170 range on a mx track --- this constitutes training on its own for me.   You also dont want to be so cooked from your cycling that the motorcycle is a PIA on the weekends

  As far as weight training goes,  Cross Fit is a great general purpose program for a motorcycle athlete --- it helps your strngth without having an emphasis on adding bulk----  but again,  moderation is the key-- i know a few guys who are so over the top with X-Fit that they dont do anything else anymore --- but a lot of the exercises need to be eased into for newbies - and i tell people who ask me to not be afraid to skip a movement if its going to hurt more than it helps  (chubby 45 yo bankers dont do handstand push-ups or non assisted pullups for instance)



The early 90's was the beginning of the mountain bike boom in Oklahoma , but as a mx'er, i had been involved for a few years by then --- it was not uncommon for us local MX guys and gals to take the bikes out on non race weekends -- it was a blast.   Out of those loosely organized little group rides sprang the first Oklahoma mountain bike series and by '92 or '93,  mountan biking was bigger than motocross in the area   --- so its entirely possible to do both and do both well  ----  Johnny T dabbled with amateur motocross,  Johnny O' was a highly ranked mtb racer himself --- there has been crossover.   RC Carmichael raced at a Sport class level even.
  For me, eventually i liked "training" for motocross better than i liked motocross -- so it was "bye-bye Suzuki, and Hello Colnago"  for a long time, but i came back to MX a few years ago on a limited basis

Whatever you do , have fun and dont burn out

just re-read your original post about shin splints --- if they start flaring up when your new shoes get some moe miles on them, --- you may have shoes that are not ideal---

Look around for a shop that caters specifically to runners --- take your old shoes in --- some of the more experienced runners those shops tend to employ can look at the wear pattern on your shoes and can possibly recommend something a bit better for you than  what the local high school kid working at Foot Locker could recommend

Nice write ups, what would be the effects of having burnt yourself out? Would you be tired, sore, lethargic for say, a month or two?

Jay350, on 19 April 2012 - 03:57 AM, said:

Maybe, first sign is a bump in resting HR and an inability to be able to get your HR up to were you normally can. Also when you are getting ready to go train/ride you don't have the same enthusiasm. I then have my athletes take some time off and do things NOT related to training in any way, this might take a day, maybe a few. But your brain has to be into it to get any gains out of the training.

But it should only last a few days. When you get back at it you'll feel ready to tear the competition apart. THAT is what you want to feel every race/ride.

shin splints - try wrapping your shins and buying some orthodics

also please add in a little circuit weight training and see where that gets you. stay intense/motivated..

my friends and I went on our first bike ride the other day - we were having so much fun we went 25 miles without realizing it