Improving your cycling fitness brings a number of key benefits: you’ll enjoy your riding way more, you’ll see new places because you can go further, and you won’t be last one up the hills, to name just a few.
Read on for our list of 25 pieces of friendly advice, follow as many as you can and watch your fitness soar.
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The biggest gains are made by improving your diet, working on cardiovascular fitness and strength, and getting plenty of rest. There’s a lot more to it than that, but these are the three key areas.
There are other ways to achieve it though, from Fartlek sessions to cutting out the junk food, banning TV and other devices in the bedroom to perfecting your own recovery smoothie recipe.
Read on for 25 effective ideas on how to improve these three key areas and build your cycling fitness to a whole new level.
Improve your diet
This is always where personal trainers start and for good reason — no matter how much training you do, you can’t maximise the results if your diet is rubbish.
We won’t lecture you on cutting out alcohol, but we will suggest some improvements that, when combined, can start to add up.
1. Shed some weight to improve your power-to-weight ratio
Remember that BMI charts are hopeless for athletic individuals — they’re designed to identify unhealthy weights for the general population.
A body composition monitor is much better for cyclists. Body fat numbers to compare yourself against are 15–18 percent for the average male, 8–10 percent for a well-trained rider, and 4 percent for an elite cyclist.
Try varying between long, easy rides and short, intense ones to optimise your body’s fat-burning ability.
2. Don’t cut fat completely from your diet, though
It plays an important role in repairing muscle tissue after training and helps provide shock absorption for feet and organs, thus preventing injury.
There are different types of fat, with solid saturated fats (found in things like butter and animal fat) being the one to avoid. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats that are liquid at room temperature (like olive oil) have multiple health benefits, including lowering cholesterol levels.
3. Pack in the protein
Your body can only absorb 20g or so at a time though, so snack throughout the day and remember to have a recovery shake or bar immediately after training.
Bear in mind that protein’s only recruited to build muscle when you’re training hard and most people can’t build more than 1kg of lean muscle in a month. So try eating more like Ron Swanson, mix your own protein shakes and get biltong and nuts to graze on throughout the day.
4. Drink enough water
It’s crucial for maintaining your body’s ability to burn fat, rid itself of toxins, and absorb nutrients from food.
We recommend getting a water bottle to keep by your side at work and filling it regularly from the water cooler or tap.
5. Cut out the refined sugar
We all know that it abounds in ready meals, fizzy drinks and junk food, and is one of the leading causes of obesity and diabetes. But did you know it can also weaken your body’s immunity system and plays havoc with your energy levels?
Natural sweeteners like agave syrup are a much better alternative for your morning coffee and cereal, but it’s even better to wean yourself off entirely.
6. Get into the habit of snacking
You want to avoid starve-binge patterns, as these tempt you to indulge in all the wrong things. Plan your snack times so you’re never without food or drink for longer than four hours. Nuts, fruit, yoghurt and dried meat are all good bets.
7. Try keeping a food diary
We don’t mean for longer than a few weeks — it might start to become an obsession — but smartphone apps like MyFitnessPal are quick, easy and intuitive to use.
They can help you get a good idea of what your diet currently looks like and identify areas where you could improve. Visit
