Stationary bike workout for Mountaineering?

[DanO]

We got a stationary bike a few months ago, I have been

hitting it about thirty to forty five minutes several times

a week. Would do it every day but I find I need the extra

recovery time. I am surprised on how a good workout it gives me.

Pretty convenient as I do it watching TV in the spare bedroom

in the evenings.

 

I feel my legs getting bigger and stronger. But I don't feel

like it translates totally to the hiking motion with a pack.

 

I wonder if any here has done the stationary bike workout

and how well it translates to mountaineering?

 

Any suggestions on the best length of time for the workout?

I can't hit it too hard as to baby my bum knee along.

 

Dan

Edited March 18, 2010 by DanO

[genepires]

try doing intervals on the bike. (BTW, I have never done this, only heard about it so more research should be done) Go hard (real hard..as hard as you can do for the length of time) for some fixed length of time, like 20 seconds. then go easy spinning for another fixed length of time, like 10 seconds. This is one interval. do this for 5 minutes and add another interval for each workout.

 

Ori Hoffmekler had a workout involving bikes that was intervals but with holding dumbells overhead and such. CFT or something like that.

 

with a bum knee, I wonder if it is less damaging to hit it hard for short periods of time or mellow for longer? Incorporating various dumbell routines into the bike session would increase the workload allowing you to workout for less time and therefore less harm to the knee.

 

good question. maybe Layton will chime in on this.

Edited March 18, 2010 by genepires

[summitchaserCJB]

I don't have a lot of experience on stationary bikes per se. But I do have a lot of miles on a real bike. It is really hard to do something wrong on a bike, espesially if you aren't on an elite level. For climbing edurance is key, so pile on the mileage (careful about the knee though).

Edited March 18, 2010 by summitchaserCJB

[Stopgo]

You're laying out a Tabata interval (8 sets of 20secs on, 10off). You have to hit it as hard as you can doing these for them to be effective. Do one tabata, spin easy for 2 minutes, then do another set.

 

My favorite bike interval workout is:

5 mins warm up (intersperse 3x30 secs pickups. Pretty quick turnover, but not too much resistance)

7 x 90secs on, 90secs off. Go as hard as you can and still be putting out the same amount of power on the first interval as the last. You want to be getting your heart rate up high (I shoot for 180bpm).

2 mins easy spin

3 min interval (1st min= high rpm superspin, 2nd min= same gearing and effort as the previous intervals, 3rd min= hard gearing, something near as hard as it gets)

2 min easy spinning cool down.

 

Intervals are great for working your lungs. I never used the bike to build leg strength, just lung capacity. Hit the weights if you want stronger legs.

 

[DanO]

Because of the knee, hard fast training is out, I can only

do moderately paced peddling at steady pressure. I find I can

get some sweat going and get a good leg work out, but it does

not hit the lungs much, the best I can do.

 

But after a 45 minute workout my legs can be surprisingly sore

for at least two days. After a few months of this my legs may

adapt, I suppose with hiking with a pack that this will make

great cross over training.

 

For anyone interested, what I do is put on a moderate pressure setting on the bike then I do half the time down lower where my

knees raise up to around horizontal. I am careful during this period as it puts more strain on the knees, Then I do half the

time setting with the seat two notches higher. I find this hits

a broader range of muscle groups. I find that if I lubricate the knee by a caster oil wrap this also helps the knee and healing. This is a treatment that works on knees and other parts of the body.

 

Go to the health store and ask about a wool wrap and castor oil.

You wrap the body part, knee, ankle, whatever with the wool wrap

with castor oil on the body part, use kitchen clear plastic wrap

over the wool wrap-saturated with castor oil. The procedure I

am using currently. Wrap the knee for about 15min(Castor oil Wrap), then do the stationary bike, then after that ice the knee. Works pretty well. The knee is a long time injury, I think it

is slowly getting better and as long as I don't overdo it the bike

workouts actually seem to help it.

 

I posted this to give someone else a idea if they wanted to try

it out.

 

As for translating to mountaineering, I am wondering about that,

shall see, has to help I think.

 

 

Dan

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2010 by DanO

[jon]

I'm no expert but if you are riding for 45 minutes and are sore for 2 days you need to lower your intensity a bit.

 

Below is graph of how ideal training works. You apply a stress, the body degrades, and then overcompensates. The key is to start your next training at the peak of overcompensation. The harder the training stress the lower on the graph it goes and the longer the recovery phase is. If you start you training before overcompensation starts you basically go nowhere.

 

 

Back it off a bit and ride 5 days a week.

 

As far as translating, I've found that cardiovascularly and energy system wise it's great, but muscularly if I haven't been putting a lot of hiking miles in with a pack I'm a wreck, especially after long steep descents.

Edited March 18, 2010 by jon

[nhluhr]

The bike is a great way to cross-train for other leg-intense activity but you're right - it does NOT translate very well to hiking/climbing.

 

It will help beef up some major leg muscles and lower back, but it will do very little for all the little stabilizing muscles in your lower legs and core that are in constant use while hiking and it won't work your shins at all so you will end up getting shin splints on your first hard hike with a moderate descent if you neglect other forms of training.

 

I have been a competitive cyclist for many years but I simply cannot rely on it alone.

[Doug]

Traditionally I've trained for climbing by a combination of running and hiking. As aging has been taking its toll, specifically an arthritic knee, I've adopted other forms. I've found that the benefits of cycling both stationary and road to be quite good. Just taking the pounding off of the knees has paid huge dividends and I'm finding that I get a much better cardio workout than I ever thought I would.

 

Typical cycling class @ the gym is an hour; average road rid for me is 2 hours. I still run a couple of times a week and I've begun to incorporate a couple of 1000 yard swims as well.

[Rad]

Jon's graph is a good one that I think a lot of people miss: rest and recovery are important because that's when growth/strengthening/repair happens. Too little rest is bad. Too much rest is bad. Find the sweet spot.