Use it or lose it. Not arf

[swee'pea99]

After a couple of months away, I am stunned by just how much physical capability I've lost. A fixie doesn't lie, bits of my usual route that I would expect to be no problem suddenly are. Really are. I have to work hard to get up slopes I'm used to pretty much zipping up. Two months!

It's not even like we've been lying around calling for another G&T. Proper backpacking, buses and trains and hills and rucksacks. But not the usual daily routine: walking, cycling & swimming.

I've always bought into the whole Michael Mosley use it or lose it mindset, and how borders can draw in if you don't keep testing them. It's one of the reasons for the fixie: on any ride round here, however short, I will at some point be working at 100%. Pushing as hard on the pedals as I physically can. Intuitively, that feels like a good way to avoid 'shrinkage'.

And now I haven't done that, for just two months, and boy does it show. Two months and, I'm struggling. I'm not even sure I'll be able to 'get it back', though I'll work with that in mind. And I've never felt that way before. I guess maybe this is that there old age they warned me about. But...I ate my greens!

 

[ColinJ]

I am suffering from this too after a winter ruined by multiple minor illnesses which reduced my total riding time by about 80%.

I can currently only produce around 120 watts for an hour and a half at a heart rate that was giving me 160 watts for four hours back in November.

 

[presta]

Imagine what it's like after 15 years.

 

[Chief Broom]

I really didnt want to lose too much fitness over the winter and grabbed any weather window to get out there when it was really bad it was onto the turbo which i loathe anyhow even though i can only stand doing half hour sessions it did the trick. My regime was 4 mins hard, 1 min very hard 4 mins hard 1 min very hard and so on. Dripping sweat after a short but tough workout kept me very close to pre-winter fitness

 

[Wheelspinner]

Not fun to see the decline charted in detail by my Garmin. I don’t really “train” for anything specific, but always keep an eye on a few of the metrics I figured were relevant for me.

A couple of months of reduced time to exercise has seen my VO2, FTP, max HR and “Endurance Score” all plummet. ☹️

 

[Mo1959]

I’m another that’s slowly but surely lost fitness over the last ten years. Sadly, I’m quite lazy by nature and really have to push myself or it‘s just too easy to make excuses. I even bought a Wattbike and decent treadmill a couple of years ago so the weather isn’t even an excuse. The novelty value made me use them initially but I’ve barely touched them in the last year.

I feel envious when I see people cycling or running but it doesn’t seem to inspire me to get out the way it once did.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I notice it after a few weeks off the bike

It is one reasons I am glad that I have an ebike
If I try to ride normally - in Eco mode or Off - then it gets depressing and I move to shorter less interesting rides
which does nothing for my motivation

but as it is an ebike I can up the Motor Assist and still get round my favourite rides
I generally start off riding in Tour and still struggle to get up the hills to some extent but get there
then if I keep getting out then they become easier and I start switching down to Eco again for most of it
then after a while I am in Eco for the whole route

by the end of Spring it is not unusual for me to ride in "Off Mode" if I come up behind slower people - and then sometime I get home and realise that I forgot to switch it back on and rode the whole way home with no assist

This is all due to it being an ebike so I can change the Assist

I got it due to Asthma - to make sure I could get home. And also so I could just ride further to increase motivation to actually do it
but it has helped far more than I expected

 

[SpokeyDokey]

180+ days in hospital/visiting hospital in the past year and very little exercise (no cycling at all) and still recovering from chemo; I am shattered.

Finding it very hard to get back in the swing of things.

Even cutting the lawns or cleaning the car knackers me.

I am trying on the gym, turbo & treadmill but it is a) hard and b) my motivation has gone.

 

[All uphill]

On a positive note I'm pleased to see how quickly fitness can return. I had a quiet cycling year in 2025 and most miles were on an ebike because of a health issue.

I've now been back on my non-assisted bike for about six weeks and subjectively I feel I've got most of what I had back in terms of power, although I'm still a long way off in terms of stamina. My heart and lungs seem fine but my legs turn to jelly after 20 lumpy miles.

It will come back

I'm 71 btw.

 

[Big John]

The scary thought of doing no exercise is what motivates me to go out even in crap weather. I've reached an age where if I took a break for a while I could easily not go back to it, so I carry on. When I'm out there all negative thoughts disappear and I love it but sometimes it's a real effort to put endless layers of gear on and face the elements.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

On a positive note I'm pleased to see how quickly fitness can return. I had a quiet cycling year in 2025 and most miles were on an ebike because of a health issue.

I've now been back on my non-assisted bike for about six weeks and subjectively I feel I've got most of what I had back in terms of power, although I'm still a long way off in terms of stamina. My heart and lungs seem fine but my legs turn to jelly after 20 lumpy miles.

It will come back

I'm 71 btw.

It is definitely much harder to bounce back as you age (70 this November coming).

Ironically, my Consultant and Nurses think I am amazingly fit for for my age - supported by umpteen different objective tests.

Yet, I feel relatively feeble compared to pre-illness me a year ago.

 

[All uphill]

The scary thought of doing no exercise is what motivates me to go out even in crap weather. I've reached an age where if I took a break for a while I could easily not go back to it, so I carry on. When I'm out there all negative thoughts disappear and I love it but sometimes it's a real effort to put endless layers of gear on and face the elements.

But once out the door everything is good!

It's getting out the door that's the challenge.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

But once out the door everything is good!

It's getting out the door that's the challenge.

I think my door has too many locks and bolts on it plus it is wedged shut in its frame for some reason.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

But once out the door everything is good!

It's getting out the door that's the challenge.

That is very true
I often avoid even choosing a route and the decision and balancing of differences acts as a dis-incentive

I just get out then decide as I reach the road

I even avoid getting changed as it is just another "thing to do" - and in summer I keep as much hanging on the bike (helmet, gloves etc) as possible so I only have to put them on once I am out of the house

 

[swee'pea99]

On a positive note I'm pleased to see how quickly fitness can return. I had a quiet cycling year in 2025 and most miles were on an ebike because of a health issue.

I've now been back on my non-assisted bike for about six weeks and subjectively I feel I've got most of what I had back in terms of power, although I'm still a long way off in terms of stamina. My heart and lungs seem fine but my legs turn to jelly after 20 lumpy miles.

It will come back

I'm 71 btw.

Well that sounds encouraging! Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic about the whole thing. It's early days. And I'm a very fit & healthy 65, so maybe it'll all come back. I'm just a bit taken aback by how much of it has gone away. And thinking further on it, I must have had a similar interruption during covid, but I don't recall anything like the impact, or 'having to get it back'. But like I say, thanks for the encouraging report.