A lot of the time in cycling, weight and power to weight (Watts per kilogram) are often cited as some of the key factors for improved performance. In fact out of the dozens of riders I’ve coached and worked with, especially those who do road racing, a big personal target of theirs can often be to lose weight to improve their power to weight. The problem is, finding an optimal race weight requires a lot of trial and error, it is also not consistent throughout the season. Another element is that weight is often seen as more of a focus than power, or watts, when in reality a higher power output results in both a higher W/Kg, and also a higher W/CdA, so you go faster everywhere. Not to mention that rolling resistance means that an 80kg rider doing 400w will go faster uphill than a 70kg rider doing 350w even though both are doing 5W/Kg.

This is why we make an effort to shift the focus away from weight, and focus more on those watts. W/Kg goes up, performance increases everywhere, health and mood are improved, and we have a healthier, happier, fitter and faster cyclist!

So what this article is going to cover are a few reasons why we shouldn’t be focusing solely on weight loss, the risk factors associated with losing too much weight or losing it too fast, and the negative impacts of certain weight loss methods on overall performance. But it’s not all doom and gloom, we will also focus on ways to improve overall W/Kg in a healthy and sustainable manner with an eye to improving net performance while maintaining health and well-being.

Another quick but very important thing to mention is that youth or junior riders should never focus on weight loss. A junior rider should be gaining weight as they grow, this period of growth is also the best opportunity to build muscle mass and enhance power both immediately and in the long run!

*Warning, there may be some triggering subjects covered here for those who have suffered from disordered eating or eating disorders*

What not to do and why not to do it!

Don’t copy the pros

Professional riders have 24 hours in the day to share between training and resting, that’s all they need to do. They also have a wealth of support staff such as dieticians or sports nutritionists guiding everything they do and monitoring them to make sure they don’t do anything incorrectly. It’s also worth noting that although we see riders in summer grand tours looking leaner than we thought possible, they do not stay this way year round for several reasons. Firstly, they would get sick more frequently, secondly their long term health and bone mineral density would be impacted severely, and finally it can be mentally draining and can remove a lot of fun and social elements from life. You are not just fuelling your training, but also your work, family and social lives. There is no need to pursue the levels that world tour professionals do unless you ride for a world tour professional team and have the support in place to ensure everything you do is done in the safest possible way.

Fasted doesn’t equal faster

A big error in cycling training over the years has been fasted exercise. For people with type 2 diabetes (mellitus) or severe obesity there can be benefits from this, but for performance athletes without specific medical concerns or needs, there is very little evidence to suggest that fasted training can improve performance, but plenty that suggests it can impair it. The reasoning behind fasted training is that low muscle glycogen availability results in enhanced aerobic performance benefits from training as well as assisting in becoming ‘fat adapted’. For road racers, we want to be absolute carb guzzlers if we want to optimise potential peak aerobic perforamnce. Becoming ‘fat adapted’ can be beneficial for long duration events at lower to mid intensities, but to be really become better at utilising fat at higher exercise intensities it isn’t a case of starving yourself, you need to boost your aerobic performance via pathways discussed in this article. The other drawback from fasted training include: potential impaired cognitive function due to low carb availability (the brain uses carbs for fuel predominantly), increased hunger and cravings later in the day, reduced recovery from previous sessions and in advance or future sessions, and lower immune system capacity thus increasing the chance of illness and disrupted training.

Short term gains can mean long term losses

Another thing I’ve seen in fellow riders and myself included, are the effects of weight loss being beneficial in the short term, but being seriously negative in the mid to long term. As we drop fat quickly, we can get a scenario where power output and hormone balance remains in good shape. What this results in is a period of time where perforamnce is potentially enhanced. However, after a while the negatives come and hit hard. Firstly, testosterone (for males) or oestrogen (for females) drops and this can severely impact power production as well as growth and maintenance of muscle mass. The next thing is the increase in cortisol, which can result in fat gain as well as impaired recovery and reduced improvements from training. The net result is an increase in weight, a decrease in power, and a long road to recovery. For female athletes this can also impact their menstrual cycle and even affect fertility in chronic cases.

What can we do to enhance performance?

Fortunately, there are things we can do to optimise our body composition and find a level that is beneficial for performance as well as health and well being.

Fuel for the work required

We’ve covered this before in this article as well as this article specifically for female athletes and fuelling around their menstrual cycle. But nutrition should be periodised for the work that you want to achieve. Let’s take for example three days of training. The first is an easy 1 hour ride, the next day is 1 hour of intervals, and the final day is 4 hours of steady riding. The hour easy doesn’t require any specific fuelling during, or much additional pre-ride nutrition beyond normal dietary needs. However, with the session the next day being harder, a big recovery meal is needed to enhance muscle glycogen levels for the next day. For the hour of intervals, some fast acting carbs for before can help, and then still a good recovery meal for the next day as well as larger dinner in advance of a higher workload the day after. For the long ride, lots of fuel during and good recovery meal afterwards will be needed. The result of this tailored periodised nutrition is that you are better fuelled to conduct the sessions and get enhanced training benefits from them each day.

Timing is everything

It’s not just what we eat, but also when we eat it. Let’s take a suboptimal day where someone wakes up, trains fasted, eats breakfast, lunch, but then gets peckish in the afternoon and has a bag of jellybabies. That high sugar intake will go more towards fat stores. Now let’s change it to the jellybabies before their morning session and perhaps during and even straight after too. The same amount of sugar has been consumed, but because of the timing it has contributed to greater performance/training stimulus and replenishing muscle glycogen stores. Same calorie intake, same sugar intake, drastically different impact. The net gain is better training stimulus and better recovery for enhanced performance, while also optimising body composition with an aim to increase muscle mass, improved metabolism, and all things kept the same, reduced fat mass at a sustainable rate. However with increased muscle mass and metabolism will likely come increased hunger. But watts should go up, weight stays similar, W/kg goes up!

If you’re hungry, you probably need to eat

This may sound basic, but there have been pro cyclists who have stated they always feel hungry and that’s a good sign that they’re on the right track. The fact is, it isn’t a good sign, and instead shows that the rider is not well fuelled and their body is in need of something more. Hunger and inadequately fuelling leads to muscle atrophy, loss of muscle, which leads to impaired power output, lower W/Kg. If you’re hungry, you need to eat, even better though is that if you fuel your training properly, you shouldn’t feel excessively hungry afterwards.

So there we have some quick do’s and don’t’s for training that should hopefully enhance your performance, as well as optimising health and enjoyment. No one wants to be hungry and feel lacking in energy, or catching illnesses constantly. We want to feel strong, powerful and fast! This is always our number one goal with all our coaching clients, never compromising on health or performance.