David O'Loughlin, professional cyclist, tells Patricia Westonthat he trains six or seven days a week and while he has a fairly serious attitude towards his job he also really enjoys it.
Are you fit?
Yes, I'm a full-time athlete! My training schedule varies from 200km of endurance rides to short-track sessions of less than an hour in duration, six-seven days a week.
Have you sustained any serious injuries?
Yes, I've broken a good few bones in crashes but no major injuries or illnesses.
What's your diet like?
It's very balanced when I'm at home but if I'm doing lots of travel with racing I find it difficult to eat a balanced diet. Eating in restaurants three times a day for a couple of weeks at a time is not good for that.
What would you eat in a typical day?
It varies, if I've got a large training and racing schedule I'll be eating lots of carbohydrates and if it's a light schedule I try to moderate the carb intake. I also eat lots of fruit, vegetables, fish and I like a good steak on the barbeque.
Do you suffer from stress?
Well, I'm building a new house at the moment so there's lots of stress there.
What else do you enjoy besides cycling?
I like to go for walks with the dog in the woods or water-ski on Lough Corrib in the summer.
What's your attitude towards exercise?
As it's my job I take a very serious attitude to it. That said I really enjoy what I do.
David O'Loughlin has just been selected for the Irish team to compete in the Tour of Ireland cycle event, which takes place on August 22nd-26th.
Patricia Weston's exercise prescription:
If you're inspired by David to jump on the saddle and do some cycling, your body will really benefit from this form of exercise.
The average person cycling for an hour at a light to moderate effort can burn 380-400 calories. It's also a low impact, aerobic, weight-bearing activity that doesn't damage your joints but helps stave off osteoporosis.
If you haven't tried it before give a spinning class a go at your local gym. It's a tough workout and not for the faint-hearted. You can burn about 450 calories in 45 minutes.
Unlike an aerobic or dance class you don't need to have great co-ordination for spinning because you're stationary and strapped into the bike.
If you have an old exercise bike gathering dust iyour house take it out and try this fat-burning workout:
Warm up first by cycling at a light pace for 10 minutes.
Then up the ante for a 20-minute moderate- to high-intensity cycle. Lift your bum off the seat and do a standing run for four minutes at high intensity.
Sit back on the saddle and cycle slowly to recover for one minute.
While you are seated, take up the intensity again and do seated sprints, do 15-20 second sprints at around 80rpm.
Reduce the gear and recover again for one minute. Then do a standing
climb by gradually increasing the gears three times in increments for three minutes.
Reduce gears again and do seated sprints for two minutes then slow down and recover for one minute.
Take up the gears again four times and do a standing climb.
Then for two minutes sit back down at a reduced gear, cycling very fast.
Cool down and recover, cycling lightly for 10 minutes.
Patricia Weston is an NCEHS fitness instructor, personal trainer and Pilates teacher.
Consult a physician or qualified healthcare provider before embarking on any exercise regime and stop exercising if you feel nauseous or dizzy.