Training & Nutrition - 30 minutes on the trainer is all I have! Is it enough?

8 months ago, I went back to work from 7 years of self employment. Ill admit, it sucks. Without going into it, the only, I mean absolute only time I have it to hit the gym and the spin class bikes for 30 to 35 minutes MAX. Thats if I time it right to where the locker room is pretty much empty and I can grab a fast shower and get back to work from my lunch hour.

I do get a good sweat going but I still feel like Im wasting my time. I lost almost 40 pounds last year by averaging 90-110 miles per week on the road but that history. Ive gained the 12 pound winter weight and I feel it and see it in the mirror, just need some input.

Thanks you guys.

I sort of know the feeling - when I changed jobs and quit my downtown commute, I got 2-3 hrs a day of my life back.

30-35 minutes is better than nothing, but... Can you do any of the following to get riding in around your work schedule?

Bike to/from work? Or to a nearby gym where you can shower and change? Or take mass transit part way and bike the remainder?
Drive to work with bike, bike home, bike to work next day, drive home?
Drive to work with bike, bike at noontime or right after work? (It sounds like you have enough time to get in an hour's ride, but no place to clean up at work.)
Switch hours (flex time) to allow late afternoon rides or work a 10x4 or similar schedule? (I have friends who do this.)
Get some big-time lights and do laps in your neighborhood after you get home? (I know people who do this, too.)
Get an indoor trainer or rollers (should be easy to find cheap as who wants to ride indoors when it isn't winter) and ride. Sprint during commercials or when someone on your favorite TV show or movie does their signature move. [This is keeping my wife sane while a stress fracture from too much aerobics dancing heals.]
Worst come to worst - go for a brisk walk at lunchtime? (Yes, I know NC will get hot and humid in the
summer, but you can at least start while it's comfortable.)

And watch the junk food and snacking during the day and evening, drink nothing with calories, lots of fruits and veggies, etc., etc., etc. I am a sucker for baked goods so it is a challenge for me.

I'm lucky, my employer has a small gym and showers in the next building over and secure bike racks for the commuters and I live close enough that I can bike commute if I don't have to go to a midday meeting someplace else.

yea, Thats why I put the ONLY so I didnt have to make a long story. 3 kids, take them all to school, 15 miles to work, small town, etc. During the week, its all I can muster besides actually riding the bike out of work, then Id have no shower.

Losing weight is more about calorie deficit that it is about exercise. Longer exercises are better, but short ones still help.

But you're probably going to have to start with your diet.

Well it may not be enough, but it's all you've got. I think you'd feel like a piker if you didn't try to get in a little exercise. It's not about the bike or the weight, it's about you and how you feel about yourself. You want more reinforcement, but reinforcement is going to be pretty thin.

Suppose this: you don't work out at all and then 9 months from now you go to the gym and get on the spin bike - you get result A. OTOH you do your 30 minutes at lunch, and maybe not even every day and 9 months later you get result B on the spin bike. I can tell you that you would prefer result B.

So like Eric says, experiment with diet and get what you can. You don't talk about the weekends, but if you can bargain up some free hours on one weekend day, go for it. Ride as much as you can manage on that one day. Try for 70 miles. That's a nice ride, and about a 3000 calorie burn. And try not to eat too much after - you won't be recovering for anything.

So if we count each lunch workout as 9 miles and you get 3 a week, that's 27 and 70 on the weekend makes almost 100, which makes 5000/year. That's good.

Sometimes you have to tell the family, "deal with it." When I was a kid I walked 3 miles home from school in the dark at 50 below carrying . . . you get the idea.

I lost 58 pounds doing Bill Phillips' Body for Life. He advocates High Intensity Interval Training (3x per week) and weightlifting (3x per week). The HIIT cardio is 20 minutes, upper body lift 40 minutes, lower body lift 40 minutes, with the upper and lower lifts alternating. This works out to 3-20 minute HIIT cardio workouts and 3-40 minute lifts per week.

Ellington Darden (a well respected exercise physiologist, pioneer of Nautilus and developer of Bowflex) advocates for 3-20 minute full body weight workouts and 2-3 20 minute cardio workouts per week.

If all you've got is 30-minutes, do 10-minutes of accelerating warm-up. Then do sprints one day with full rest & recovery in between. Then do various intervals on other days. Whatever you do, don't do 30-minutes of TT at LT.

If all you've got is 30-minutes, do 10-minutes of accelerating warm-up. Then do sprints one day with full rest & recovery in between. Then do various intervals on other days. Whatever you do, don't do 30-minutes of TT at LT.

Forgive my ignorance... why not?

I am no cycling coach and the answer to "is it enough" will depend upon your goals. But, assuming "enough" is an amount of exercise that will help you lose those 12 extra pounds and steadily improve your speed and general fitness on a bike, I think the answer is YES!

I did no exercise this year between late september and January 17th. On January 17th I started riding rollers or my trainer 5 days/week for 35 minutes each session. I am now down 12 pounds from my January 17th weight. I might have dropped more if I was not now at about my most comfortable weight. I have also seriously imporved my speed and comfort on a bike. I have finally been out on the road a few times this spring and I am averaging about 19 -20mph solo.

But, I will warn you, I did only about 6 weeks of "base" and then I got after it. I mean, I do intense intervals 2x/week for the last month or so...plus about a 28 min time trial once a week on my rollers (i warm up/cool down for a few minutes). I burn over 600 calories during my TT and intervals. I also ate pretty much whatever I wanted for the first 6 weeks but then, at about the time I ramped up my intensity I cut all the crap out of my diet. I rarely allow myself to go hungry but I do not eat chips, pop, fast food, ice cream and other unhealthy crap now. Nearly all my weight came off during the last 6 weeks. Remember to stay hydrated too. You lose a lot of liquid very quickly in a warm, stagnant room on a trainer.

As for the previous poster that says don't do a 30 min TT, why?

Forgive my ignorance... why not?Well, he can to 30-minutes TT at LT once a week maybe. This tempo workout will develop the aerobic systen, but the muscle and energy systems can't be ignored either. From his posts the past couple years, his muscular system is behind his cardio and needs to be developed more.

So weight-training and sprints/intervals on the bike is what he needs to spend 3-4 days a week doing. Finally, one day of real endurance of 2-4 hours if possible on the weekends. This is where he can really burn off the large amount of calories to shed the excess pounds. This burns off 1000-3000 calories in a single workout, something that's definitely not possible with 30-minute workouts.

Well, he can to 30-minutes TT at LT once a week maybe. This tempo workout will develop the aerobic systen, but the muscle and energy systems can't be ignored either. From his posts the past couple years, his muscular system is behind his cardio and needs to be developed more.

So weight-training and sprints/intervals on the bike is what he needs to spend 3-4 days a week doing. Finally, one day of real endurance of 2-4 hours if possible on the weekends. This is where he can really burn off the large amount of calories to shed the excess pounds. This burns off 1000-3000 calories in a single workout, something that's definitely not possible with 30-minute workouts.


Deja Vu, Danno!

You addressed almost the same issue with me a week or two ago, and like most people, I need to read stuff over and over again written in different ways to have a rich understanding (self-depreciating humor with an element of reality).

I appreciate the evident fact that you don't get bored giving the same (or similar) counsel repeatedly. You are a tremendous asset to this forum.

I'm still in the rut that I was in before-- riding on the edge of LT right up to an hour on my trainer. It's gotten so bad that I have a hard time keeping my heart rate up when my legs are crying for relief. Clearly, I need to do something so that my legs can catch up to my aerobic system (if I am to have any hope of TTing better this summer). I will certainly try to implement your advise-- and today. But as a long time runner-- I must admit that it seems counter-intuitive to me: In my former sport, intervals are to be done well into the season, the shorter and more intense-- the later on. Sprints in running (200's anyway) are usually done very late-- to sharpen for a major goal.

I've got to undo my way of thinking

Well, he can to 30-minutes TT at LT once a week maybe. This tempo workout will develop the aerobic systen, but the muscle and energy systems can't be ignored either. From his posts the past couple years, his muscular system is behind his cardio and needs to be developed more.

So weight-training and sprints/intervals on the bike is what he needs to spend 3-4 days a week doing. Finally, one day of real endurance of 2-4 hours if possible on the weekends. This is where he can really burn off the large amount of calories to shed the excess pounds. This burns off 1000-3000 calories in a single workout, something that's definitely not possible with 30-minute workouts.

Ah.. now it makes perfect sense. Thanks for the detailed reply.

Danno knows his stuff, he has been all input on me for a couple years now.