Quitting ALCOHOL completely changed my life! If I didn’t make this change, to completely quit alcohol then not only would I have not achieved all the things I have achieved from a fitness and weight loss perspective but I was also actively and systematically destroying my health and mental wellbeing in the process of trying to fit in and feel ok. To say this has been a battle is an understatement. I’ve attempted to run 100k several times, I’ve completed multiple marathons, hundreds of 10k and 5k events… My biggest challenge by far, above and beyond all of these other challenges… Was doing a u-turn and completely giving up alcohol, cold turkey.
This article is one I’ve been meaning to make for a while and with the completely unexpected viewer count my “quitting alcohol” video got, I’ve decided to make this one now and If you’re someone who watched my “quitting alcohol” video and left me a comment, thank you. It means a lot.
This is article about motivation and remaining motivated when attempting to achieve any fitness goal.
As you’ve chosen to read this, having read the title and clicked on it, I’m assuming you have a weight-loss or fitness related goal you’ve been wanting to achieve. As it stands as I write this script, this is part one of a two, maybe three part post (specially about Atomic Habits).
One of the most common questions I get asked, especially on videos relating to the three hardest challenges and/or achievements I’ve ever overcome; giving up alcohol and going completely tee-total, turning Vegan by giving up meat and dairy and then my biggest success; losing over 100kg in body fat – All three I achieved within the past six years (You’ll already know all this if you’ve been a long viewer of my channel), the most common question I get asked is how?
How did I do it? And how did I remain motivated? Because that’s the biggest challenge, remaining motivated! Anyone can quit smoking for a day, go through the process of joining a gym or start a new diet but sticking with it long enough to see tangible results, that’s the key to success. Remaining consistent is the REAL holy grail of weight-loss and fitness success. “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is”
There are a lot of myths, rationalisations and justifications around weight-loss and fitness strategies. There is always someone in the press, on TV or on social media pedalling the next big wonder drug or “get fit quick” scheme. Celebrities have made millions from fitness DVD’s for decades. All you have to do is click on Instagram or turn on any daytime TV show and you’ll be met with yet another face singing the virtues of yet another magic pill or secret hack so the age old saying “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is” has never felt more relevant than it does when applied to the world of fitness influencers however having said all of that I’m also conscious that I’m a bloke on YouTube making videos about fitness challenges and how he’s lost a load of weight so in the same way that I’d advise you to apply the rule “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is” to others online, I’d recommend you do the same with me.
I’m not a doctor, I’m not a nutritionist! Up until the age of 39 (I’m now 45) I wasn’t even very good at making the right decisions for myself, let alone advise anyone else on how best to live their life however I have been through the ring, I have achieved some success and I have picked up a few nuggets along the way.
About a year ago I read a book, the book in the thumbnail… Atomic Habits by James Clear. I’ve still got the receipt for it, I don’t know why, I think I used it as a book mark. I bought it in April last year after it was recommended to me by a subscriber and having read it in just three days (devoured it would be a better description), I intended to make a book review video about it however other things took precedence and I never did.
Last week I went on a week long cruise of the Greek Islands with my family, the cruise and my holiday has absolutely no relevance to this post except to say that it afforded me a lot of spare time (something I severely lack in my normal day to day). I’m also right in the middle of making another video titled something like “How I cut my phone screen time”, its about a phone detox challenge that I’m currently still trying to endure. That video will be out soon however the reason I mention this is with no phone to distract me, I decided to completely re-read this book, cover to cover, make extensive notes and write the script for this video. But don’t worry, I still spent time with the fam swimming and eating (I ate a lot) however its amazing how much work I can accomplish, sat in the onboard coffee shop waiting for Tracie and my two daughters to get dressed in the mornings. I know mentioning the length of time my daughters and partner took in the mornings is a cliche and probably not very 21st century of me but this free time allowed me to get my thoughts and views down on paper and for me, that’s a very good use of my spare time. “zero epiphanies or zero moments of realisation”
Getting back to the book, this book really resonated with me as it does a really good job of articulating the steps I took six years ago when I first started on my life changing, slightly unhinged, radical journey and unlike with other self-help books I’ve read (specifically business related ones) that often left me questioning my life choices… when I first read Atomic Habits I had zero epiphanies or moments of realisation. Now, that doesn’t sound great!? “zero epiphanies or zero moments of realisation” are not comments you want to see in a review about your book especially one specially written to give you food for thought however I found myself completely agreeing with everything the writer (James Clear) had written which is a really good thing for the book but also, more importantly, for me. Because he was writing about (and this is going to sound incredibly self-serving which is not my aim here) the literal process I went through at the start of 2019, it was like reading a full breakdown of the steps I took when I decided I needed to lose weight, get fit and remain that way and that’s the key takeaway here… Remaining that way! This book, Atomic Habits, attempts to help you stick with the good habits and break the bad ones. This is exactly what I did and it felt really good to read a book obviously written by someone a lot more intelligent that I am on the subject, validating that what I did… that the steps I took were correct. I mean, it worked regardless. I achieved what I achieved even if the book didn’t validate me but it’s still nice to know that I’m on the side of the angels and I wasn’t wasting my time.
You have to remember that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing six years ago. As I write this, having lived through the process, I know significantly more now than I did back when I woke up one morning (in 2019), morbidly obese weighing in at approximately 190kg, I knew I had to make a change and I really needed that change to stick. I did zero physical activity, obviously because I weighed so much, I had a terrible diet (again, obvious) and I drank for England however even with these very self-destructive bad habitsI had one more poor trait that was the most self-destructive; I had every excuse under the sun for why it wasn’t my fault and I rationalised my situation in an attempt to not feel bad about it (and failing miserably)… “My weight problem was genetic”, “I had big bones” and “my metabolism was slower than others”… just a few examples of the nonsense I told myself.
I ate fast food as I had a fast lifestyle and I drank… well, I drank because everyone else did. I’ve already made a video about my history with alcohol and I’ve made several about my weight-loss journey. If you haven’t done so already, please check them out after, I’ll leave a link to them in the description but in a nutshell, it wasn’t until the end of 2018 and the start of 2019 that I eventually acknowledged that my mentality was the cause of my problems and subsequent unhappiness. Being unhappy and wanting to change, that is a big motivator.
Knowing the steps to take to change my life around and fix everything that was wrong with it wasn’t necessarily in my skillset, I should have (could have) given up there but I did have two aces up my sleeve, the first ace was that I wanted to change, I recognised something was very wrong and that’s 50% of the battle! Thankfully I had enough self-awareness to eventually know that all the BS I had believed was wrong and something had to give. The second ace I had tucked up my other sleeve was that I was (at the time) a corporate manager within a very big corporate business, which ironically was a big part of my problems (again please go and watch my “quitting alcohol” video for more context) but it was also part of the solution. You see, I knew how to effectively manage large teams of people… I was very good at motivating others to perform well. So, I decided to take the one thing I was good at (motivating others) and turn that torch light back on myself. I was going to motivate the shit out of my problem until the solution suddenly manifested itself.
The writer starts this book, like any good story book describing a life altering event he experienced, resulting in a serious injury that ultimately led him through a series of unfortunate events culminating in a happy ending where he eventually discovered how to change his life, I’m summarising obviously.
It’s actually quite a good story and one I won’t spoil for you here but the first really important point he makes in the book is about the huge value of “the aggregation of marginal gains”. He talks about the “mediocre” performance of the British Cycling team at The Tour De France, something I’m really interested in. I watch The Tour every year now since I fell in love with cycling a few years ago and he goes into detail about British Cycling’s (then) newly appointed performance director, Dave Brailsford’s revolutionary new approach that completely turned around the fortunes of the British team which up until 2003 had been disappointing at best. Now interestingly and as a quick side-note, as part of the research I did for this video when writing the script and James Clear does add in a footnote to accompany his British cycling team example but there have been some controversies to the tactics that the team actually employed but as he goes on to clarify on his website (and I’ll leave a link to that in the description), this first chapter isn’t about cycling and the point he makes about small, consistent incremental gains is still a valid one and I agree with him here. Controversial cycling tactics aside, the power of tiny 1% daily gains when trying something new is huge.
Initially I made two obvious huge changes to my lifestyle, I gave up booze (went teetotal) and gave up meat and dairy (turned Vegan). Not on the same day, I took these steps some time apart but they felt necessary for my overall wellbeing and continued success. Giving up booze was an obvious advantage for my weight-loss and fitness ambitions, I thought of it like trying to fly a jumbo jet whilst simultaneously setting fire to the engines. Trying to achieve anything positive whilst still drinking would just be self-sabotage. However, giving up meat and dairy had another less obvious benefit, aside from the other health advantages of less (or no) dairy or red meat in my diet was that was that I had to read all of the ingredients in everything I ate, this made me an overnight amateur nutritionist. I suddenly knew what was going into my body and I was able to efficiently and effectively manage my calorie intake and remove food products that were either detrimental or excessive. There’s a lot more to this and of course you could achieve the same lower calorie intake without giving up meat and dairy but the fact that I was now forced slowly re-learn my daily eating habits meant, by association that I also started to understand what I was actually eating, what I needed to remain active and healthy and probably the biggest learning curve of all, what I didn’t need as it was bad for me, except vegan ice-cream… ice-cream is not bad for me.
I also started walking, I walked as far as I could pretty much everyday, initially this wasn’t very far, to the end of my road, then to the end of the next road, then to the park, then around the park… I tried to go slightly further everyday and I did this for roughly two years until I lost enough weight that I could attempt to run (or shuffle), I then kept trying to run short distances intermixed with long walks until I could run further for longer and longer eventually ending in running my first parkrun, 10k, marathon and then 100k ultra-marathon.
The concept of small, tiny 1% incremental gains is probably the best piece of advice this book offers anyone starting out for the first time and it comes within the first chapter. It doesn’t lead you in slowly, it hits you hard from the off with its biggest win.
When starting a new diet or joining a gym for example, the biggest reason people quit is the amount of effort and willpower required to see results. We think about the task as a whole and we need to see results to balance out the sacrifices were trying to make. The book talks about “The Plateau of Latent Potential”, when a switch is suddenly flicked and you eventually see the progress either on a Strava graph, in a mirror, or on the scales. To everyone else, it looks like an overnight success but to you, it’s the culmination of all the hard-work and sacrifices made. This is the point you need to reach that helps you break your bad habits and stick to these newer, harder ones. Prior to this tipping point, everything potentially feels pointless. He uses an ice cube as an example, I’ll use boiling water. We all know the boiling point of water is one hundred degrees, as the pot of water on the gas moves through the temperature range from zero to one hundred, we don’t see a lot of action, especially for 99% of this process. It’s only when it hits boiling point that it starts bubbling away. Think of the first 99% of this process as your diet or training plan, it would be easy to think its not working and you’d have justification to just give up but if you trust the process then you’ll reach boiling point where you’re significantly less likely to quit on your goals.
If I eventually do write a book on this subject then I’ll have a whole chapter titled “TRUST THE PROCESS” as its the best piece of advice I can give anyone, just start, don’t over think it, keep it simple and trust the process.
The book also talks about goals vs systems and that we need to focus more on the processes and systems than on our goals. “Goals are about the results you want to achieve. The systems are about the processes that lead you there”.
I’ve mentioned this before in previous videos, I’ve talked about changing the reason you’re making the change in the first place… If you start a diet because you want to fit into your summer beach bikini or you join the gym because you want to look like that guy off Gladiators then you’re doomed to failure from the start for many different reasons but the main one, your motivation to do it just isn’t strong enough. When it gets hard, looking like “Legend” suddenly doesn’t become that important and the reward vs effort required simply do not balance out and you inevitably return to your old habits. You need a good reason to do it and only you can decide what that is.
“The systems are about the processes that lead you there”. In the example of starting a new diet for weight-loss, part of the process might involve you removing all snacks, sweets and chocolates from the house (leave the ice-cream, that’s good for your mental health). This allows you to focus on other parts of the process or plan such as having three sensible and portioned controlled meals a day with zero snacking in-between. If you stick to this very simplistic plan with zero temptations (except the ice-cream) then you’re far more likely to have achieve your end-goal and subsequent happy place (eating ice-cream).
It’s also never a good long-term motivator to try to copy or emulate anyone you see online. It’s good to take inspiration from those you see doing good things, making change stick and who look like they’ve got all the answers. Inspiration is good… emulation is bad. Instead, try and focus on the things you know will work for you. I’ve mentioned it before about finding your “happy place”, I used the movie hook as an example in older videos where the lost boys teach robin Williams’ Peter Pan to fly by helping him find his happy place aka his motivation.
If you can find a slightly more powerful motivator than squeezing into your budgie smugglers for that trip to Benidorm in a few months then you’ll have a slightly higher chance of success when things start to get hard.
For me my motivation is and always has been my family. Losing weight, getting fit and remaining that way has afforded me so much more than before. I’m able to do things I could only dream of six years ago, I’m now the fastest and fittest person I know, having the ability to climb mountains, run really long distances and cycle upright (sometimes) has given me a new lease of life. Because I’ve broken through the “plateau of latent potential” many times now, to return to my old bad habits and risk losing what I’ve achieved is just not worth it, the sacrifices don’t feel as bad and my new habits seem automatic mainly because they’re habits and not tasks. I also think a lot about the future. If I’ve achieved all this within the past six years when most of that was spent working through the 1% incremental growth stage, imagine what I can accomplish in the next six, twelve, twenty-four years? I might even finish a long bike ride without falling off.
Thanks for watching, I hope this has helped inspire you.
In the next parts of this video I’m going to talk about using your strengths to help maintain good habits, having and maintaining a positive mindset, calling out the BS and other things full of buzz-words. I’ll context it all with what I’ve done to hopefully give you some inspiration.
Please don’t forget to let me know what you thought of this video in the comments below.
What is ZWIFT? If you don’t know what Zwift is… let me google the answer.
I started on Zwift way back in the summer of 2023, I’ve been using it for my fitness and weight-loss training for just over two years now.
The first time I came across the idea of an indoor bike trainer, to help me with my weight-loss and fitness journey, was thanks to this marathon run training book, that I had previously followed when I ran my first marathon back in 2021. In it, there were days where it suggested I “cross-train” and by that it meant to specifically ride an indoor trainer to compliment my running.
This obviously just sat somewhere lodge at the back of my memory cells for about two years until, still thinking that I need to do more than just running and there must be something to this indoor bike training ‘stuff’, I eventually joined a gym and sat on one… A generic static indoor bike trainer.
Having enjoyed using them in the gym, I decided to invest in one I could use at home and like anyone else buying an ‘exercise bike’ or ‘indoor trainer’ to use at home, I knew I also needed something to stare at that wasn’t a blank white wall or Netflix.
At the time, Zwift was just supposed to be a means to an end. The software I used to compliment my efforts at home and to stop me going insane as I grind… grinded… peddled… indoors… and the rest, as they say is history.
I’ve made loads of Zwift videos to this point so If you’re new to my channel, I have a whole playlist dedicated to Zwift, my paincave and my indoor setup.
This is also probably a good point to ask you to consider giving this video a like. You liking my videos helps me improve its visibility and it goes a long way towards helping me make more of them. So, thank you in advance!
I’ve now been using Zwift pretty much every day for just over two years… time really does fly when you’re having fun… And I’ll be honest with you. It’s completely revolutionised my fitness habits. This is one of the reasons I’m making this video, that and the fact that I have absolutely messed up my training recently…
Before I get into the nuts and bolts of this video, the recent mis-haps I’ve had… I want to quickly talk about what Zwift has done for me… Its helped realign my motivation levels.
All I want to do now is either Zwift indoors or cycle and run out-doors. These choices may seem unrelated but they’re not. Zwifting indoors for me is like a gateway drug.
I get a lot of comments from people on my videos that tell me to get outside. For me, using Zwift to compliment my adventures outside is no different to Steve Redgrave for example… using a rowing machine to compliment his activities on the water… And no, I’m not comparing myself to an Olympic Athlete, its just an example of how the two things are not mutually exclusive and they can compliment each other. You can do one with an eye on making the others more enjoyable and that was recently evidenced by the fact that I was able to cycle 330km in three consecutive days and the best part… I had fun. It wasn’t an ordeal in part thanks to my daily fitness routine and significantly improved daily fitness habits.
I spent ages asking the question, am I a runner or a Zwifter? I even made videos about it. I used to like to pigeon hole myself into being a runner, a Zwifter or even a cyclist… I thought of these activities as being separate and what defined my fitness habits. I thought of them as mutually exclusive. To be good at one, I couldn’t do the others and that’s just not true.
I’m proud to call myself a cyclist, a runner and a Zwifter… When in reality, I’m just having fun, losing weight, staying fit and most importantly, I’m progressing… I’m not moving backwards… Relentless Forward Progress!
What I mean is, Zwift has massively helped ME put myself in a permanent mindset where I want to do something daily to the point that I plan other aspects of my life around that daily exercise habit (whatever it might be). Except family time… If you’re watching this Tracie, I absolutely do not prioritise running, cycling or Zwifting over fam-time.
That feeling (we all get) where we “NEED” to do something because we’ve signed up to a training schedule… Is hard. The daily mental struggle to force yourself to do something that is hard, is mentally exhausting.
Now using Zwift with my Zwift Ride as my indoor trainer and being a very small part the larger Zwift community, which I think is Zwift’s biggest USP by the way… doing this helped me a lot with this daily motivation battle. It no longer felt exhausting.
I do have a very active Discord server where there are now close to 1k members that chat about all things fitness and weight-loss related, not just Zwift.
I’ve also started my own Zwift Club that’s named TRIBE RC. I’m helped my two very capable Zwifters named Noah and Lee, they’re the brains, I just just turn up when they organise races and events to have fun. We’re in the early stages of starting a Zwift club but if you’d like to join and ride or chat with me and other like-minded individuals then I’ve left the link to the discord in the description.
We organise Zwifting events every week.
Because I wasn’t a cyclist when I joined Zwift two years ago, I obviously started at the bottom run of a very long ladder.
I thought I was fit-ish but boy was I in for a rude awakening. Zwift and racing on Zwift quickly humbled me.
My first ever ride on Zwift, back on the 23rd July 2023, was a very fast Crit Race. Crit races are brutally fast and relentlessly unforgiving. I was dropped almost immediately and spent the rest of the race realising just how bad I really was.
I was immediately hooked! I LOVED every second of it which is why I spent over a year on the grind, getting dropped daily.
Of course, I knew structured training was the way forward however I also knew that consistency is key to success and consistency, for me, will always trump anything else. If a structured training plan motivated me enough to CONSISTENTLY get on the bike and do something, anything then I would have set one up but for me, two years ago… Consistency equaled “THE GRIND”. And that equaled “Racing Baby”.
I was hooked on racing and that’s all I wanted to do so why not embrace that. I wasn’t training for any particular event, I knew that anything was better than nothing and motivation to ride equaled consistency and consistency was god!… It was a no-brainer and I went with it.
I wasn’t blessed with a natural cycling ability in the same way I wasn’t blessed with a natural running ability.
Everything I’ve achieved these past five or six years, I did through absolute, obsessive, sheer will and determination.
Knowing how catastrophically bad I was on Zwift made me even more determined to improve so I started racing (slowly), riding really long distances (slowly) or climbing long pixelated mountains (extremely slowly), all on Zwift and I did this pretty much everyday. The gamification on Zwift made these long rides more enjoyable.
Doing this helped me realign my brain so as that god-awful feeling of forcing myself to do something/anything had now gone and I’ve replaced my old “bad habits” (bad habits such as specific, habitual routines, throughout the day where I would procrastinate about tasks I have to complete by doing other less important tasks) and I’ve now replaced them with new “good” habits like smashing myself in a virtual race against complete strangers on the inter-web.
As you know, Zwift is broken down into categories, A-E. Two years ago I started right at the bottom of D category. I also know for racing that ZRS (or Zwift racing score) is dominant now however for the purpose of this video I’m just going to refer to the old letter categories as they’re easier to describe in a video without sounding like Russell Crowe in ‘A beautiful mind’.
I did that “Cat D GRIND” in Zwift for over a year until I stepped up from D and attempted my first ever C category race.
Then in July last year I cemented that progress by getting myself intentionally and “officially” promoted into category C on the back of a “big” FTP effort… This was huge for me. It was a watershed moment in my fitness journey.
Having put the graft and effort in for well over a year, I was now proud to say that I was a newly promoted Category C rider however this category didn’t last as long for me.
Unbelievably, three months ago, I was again promoted from a C rider into Category B and all I did was race, intermixed with the occasional big, long endurance ride.
I don’t want this video to be about categories. What category I race in isn’t as important to me as the need and want to consistently ride on my Ride however it is a good indicator of my progress as what category you’re placed in like the sorting hat from Harry Potter.. is based on your best PR power numbers.
I was now a category B rider and this blew my tiny mind.
I was over the moon with my progress. I couldn’t have imagined, when I first jumped on my indoor trainer nearly two years ago that I’d ever be a Category B rider, that I’d be able to hold the power of a Category B rider or that I’d even lose enough weight to be able to compete with other B’s in races, especially hilly races…
I also didn’t think I’d care either way but I do and it’s why I’m making this video.
I don’t measure my success by looking at others, I measure my progress by what I could do yesterday, last month, last year… or even two years ago.
And then… I did the worst thing anyone on an upward training trajectory can do… This BTW is the dramatic turning point of the video and why you clicked on this thumbnail.
I went on an all-inclusive holiday with the family….
Along With Tracie and my two daughters, I went on a cruise of the Greek islands and.. We had a great time!
This was our first family holiday in over five years, mainly because both Tracie and myself are self-employed and we’ve spent the past six years building a business from scratch, we don’t get paid for annual leave so this was the first time we were all able to enjoy a break away and I was able to enjoy my new found fitness freedom by doing things I couldn’t do the last time we went on holiday… I swam in the med with my daughters, that was fun and something I wouldn’t have considered when I weighed 190kg… and I ran a sub 25 minute 5k on the treadmill over-looking the ocean. This is worth mentioning as I’m currently after a sub 25 minute parkrun so its nice to know I’ve got it in the legs, I just need to translate that to footpaths through a park on a Saturday.
It’s been a while since I enjoyed a fully kitted out gym and I made the most of it.
I also got to read a book or two which I don’t normally have the time or headspace to do and if you’ve watched my “Quitting alcohol” video then you’ll know why this was also important to me.
We spent a lot of time together as a family which was great, being lighter, fitter and healthier made this experience significantly more enjoyable but this video isn’t about our family holiday…
I also did something on this holiday that old school Ryan used to do… I ate for England… It was “all inclusive” after all.
I’m normally very disciplined when it comes to food and my eating habits, especially with my portion sizes but being stood at the “all-inclusive” buffet spread three times a day broke my mind and I dived in like Augustus Gloop. Thank god it was only a 7 day cruise, I don’t think I’d have survived two weeks.
I’m also very grateful for the treadmill and all the swimming as by the time I returned home, god knows what the damage would have been.
When I eventually weighed myself, I had managed to put on nearly 3kg in “all-inclusive” buffet weight in just 7 days.
I had now been off the bike for three weeks, a week longer than hoped and, if this catastrophe wasn’t enough, I had also managed to get a full-blown head cold and chest infection while away on the cruise too.
I’m literally the only person that can go on a Mediterranean holiday in a heatwave and catch a cold.
However, even though I knew I wasn’t 100%, I decided to jump straight back into Zwift in a full-on racing series race as one of my Zwifting buddies was racing it and I wanted to join him.
I’ve only been de-training for three weeks and I’m still recovering from a chest infection. How hard can it be?
That race was a huge mistake. It made my chest significantly worse and set back my recovery by days if not weeks.
But instead of resting, I kept trying to race. This was a mistake. I was so fixated on losing the “all inclusive” buffet weight that I couldn’t see that I was going backwards, not forwards.
I will say though that I have now, finally, two months later, lost that weight and I’m back down to 87kg. The lightest I’ve ever been as an adult.
I’m also over that chest infection, thankfully but it hung around a lot longer than expected. Having asthma, which I’ve had all my life, makes things like getting over chest infections more aggro than they sound.
And then the biggest kicker… Because of all the “de-training” I was also demoted from B back into Category C on the back of a PRL Half race I completed but completely floundered in.
This was a blow mentally. For over two years now, I’ve been on a steady upward trajectory, this was my first real step backwards. My first ever taste of demotion and a real blow to my morale…
And then to add insult to injury… literally!
I’ve recently been suffering from a shoulder injury, initially I thought from one of my many falls. It’s been bothering me for months and I eventually conceded to visit my GP. I had a scan and it turns out it’s not a fitness related injury, I have Osteoarthritis in my left shoulder joint.
This was an even bigger blow to my morale… Arthritis was something I associated with my grandparents. I’m 45 years old. Having this conversation with the doctor and the fact that I spent a portion of my life significantly overweight which probably contributed to it made me feel my age and then some.
It made me wonder, what’s the point of exercising for fitness if I’m already starting to fall apart however I will say that I have been very lucky with injuries. I’ve not really had any significant injuries (touch wood) even though I’ve been running for well over 4 years and I was a very heavy guy, I still am relatively heavy. Granted not as heavy now as I once was but the fact I’m still able to do all the things I do, is great.
Having that conversation with my GP made me realise that I’m not going to take my significant progress for granted.
Now, of course, I know that in the grand scheme of things. Having now reflected on this, Osteoarthritis is something that can be common in people who have lived an active lifestyle but knowing that I caused this discomfort in my shoulder (that’s never really going to go away) because I allowed myself to become obese was annoying, to say the least, and I’ve spent the past few weeks reflecting on this.
I now also see getting back into B category as a personal mission, to prove that I’m not falling apart slowly and that my fitness journey has only really just started.
Relentless forward progress.
So yesterday, as a conclusion for this video, I jumped on Zwift and attempted to smash myself up The Grade in the hope of setting a new 5 minute power PR number, the number I need for that promotion.
I joined the wrong map that immediately started me at the bottom without a warmup and I was unprepared to immediately ramp up to 350+ watts so I had to do a u-turn and start again.
My best 5 minute power PR number is 354 watts. That’s the most power I’ve ever produced, over 5 minutes, since starting on Zwift two years ago. I’m aiming for that in the hopes its enough.
Having now reached 6 minutes (gives me a one minute window to bookend the ramping up and down either-side), I’m already blowing up and I know its not enough. I was off from the start so I decided to finish the climb max effort knowing I had already missed my 5 minute power PR number.
The good news is, I crossed the line at the top and set myself a new FTP… Instead of setting a new 5 min power PR and getting promoted back into B, I accidentally ticked off another 2025 target… reach a 300w FTP by the end of the year. We’re still in August and my new FTP is now over 300 watts.
I’ll take that as a consolation prize.
We’ve got this guys… Motivation and consistency is key… everything else is just white noise.
Thanks for watching this video. I might try for promotion again next week… Watch this space and join my Discord to chat to other like-minded individuals.
The Zwift Ride with Kickr Core is the indoor trainer I use in my “pain-cave” at home. I connect it to The Zwift App for a full-on racing and workout experience. This piece of kit (combined with a yearly Zwift membership) is probably the best investment I have made into my own physical and mental well-being.
🚲→ I have a ‘Money Off’ off link you can use to get a discount if you’re looking to purchase one?
I’ve been using a rocker plate, on and off for about eight months (at point of writing this), I say on and off as I had to give up using my old rocker plate when I swapped from The Wattbike Atom to my sparkly new The Zwift Ride with Kickr Core. Unfortunately, my new Zwift Ride frame and indoor trainer was not compatible with my old Wattbike rocker plate, so there was a period in-between where I used the Zwift Ride static, without a rocker plate…
I should probably start by explaining what a rocker plate actually is…
“It’s your indoor trainer’s new best friend.. It adds natural movement to your static setup, making it feel more like riding outside. You’ll get less pressure in sensitive areas, a more engaged core, and longer, more enjoyable training sessions. It’s the little bit of magic that makes indoor cycling way more fun!”
I lifted the above quote directly from the makers website however I do agree with this statement. Having now used my indoor trainer with a rocker plate for long enough to have formed quite a good opinion, I do think it does add quite a lot of natural movement and it has made riding for a long time (and I do occasionally sit on Zwift for hours on end) significantly more comfortable than simply remaining static and fixed to the ground. It is also loads of fun! I suppose the point of a rocker plate, that moves side to side, is to attempt to replicate the natural movement you would get cycling IRL.
The brand of rocker plate I’ve have been using is ‘Omnirocker‘ and I should say (in the interest of transparency) that Martin, the owner of Omnirocker, contacted me towards the end of last year (2024), having watched quite a few of my Zwift racing videos and asked if I’d like to try out one of his home built rocker plates. He thought my cycling style could benefit from the ability to move side to side on my indoor trainer (whilst training and racing on Zwift). I was hesitant as I’m a control freak by nature and once I get used to doing things one way, I don’t like to change but by the way he described it to me – as “radically changing the way I ride on Zwift“, I was intrigued enough to give it a go…
Once I got chatting to Martin, I discovered that ‘Omnirocker‘ is a family business that he runs from a small workshop, in his back-garden. Where he designs, manufactures (by hand), promotes and ships all of his products. He also doesn’t live a million miles away from me and I liked the idea of supporting a local, family run business. Now, he was giving me the rocker plate for free but I felt I could return the favour by sharing my experiences with it within my YouTube videos ultimately sharing it’s possibilities with a wider audience. I should probably say that I’m not on any form of commission structure with Martin, I was genuinely impressed with his handy work, passion for cycling in general and the product itself. I’ve always enjoyed listening to someone (anyone) who has a knowledge and passion for any subject. I could listen to someone describe the process of paper-clip manufacturing (for example) if they were both excited and knowledgable enough on the subject and Martin definitely fit this criteria when it came to cycling, Zwifting and rocker plates… his knowledge of paper-clip manufacturing left a lot to be desired though.
The new rocker plate I now use is a prototype that Martin has designed specifically for the Zwift Ride, it’s in two parts unlike the Wattbike Atom version I was previously using however the concept is exactly the same. It gives me a lot of motion side to side and allows me to rock especially when out of the saddle sprinting or climbing hills. The best part about my Omnirocker… There are two red, rubber balls that act as some kind of stabiliser, I’m sure they probably have a technical name, like “motion inhibitors” however, they sit nicely in-between the boards and can be inflated or deflated allowing me to choose the right level of resistance and range of movement. If I want a lot of movement, and I mean A LOT of movement, then I can deflate them and of course if I pump air into them with the small pump Martin provided, then this makes the rocker plate significantly firmer and far more rigid. I generally deflate the red balls quite a bit as I enjoy being able to really throw the trainer from side to side like a lunatic. Having the ability to really tailor the amount of movement I think is a huge selling point, I’m not sure if other brands of rocker plates offer this or if it’s unique to Omnirocker.
I’ve put this thing through it’s paces and it’s held up really well. The quality of build is excellent. I can see that Martin has spent hundreds (and hundreds) of hours refining the look, the feel and probably more importantly, the technology that goes into them. Because I’m quite aggressive when I ride on Zwift, specifically when I race, initially I thought the new, smaller prototype Omnirocker would bounce around my garage like R2D2 break dancing however this was not the case, it’s stayed in place and hasn’t moved an inch. I also haven’t managed to break it which is a miracle as I seem to have a knack for that, possibly because I still weigh 88kgs at point of writing this. This also feels like a good point to mention the size of it. I don’t know its exact dimensions, as a good product reviewer, I should probably search for the tape measure or ask Martin for its measurements but it appears I’ve done neither. I will say that it’s a lot smaller than it looks on the website and if you can make your Zwift Ride fit into your pain-cave, then so will this Omnirocker (probably).
I’ve seen forums online talking about tennis balls as cheaper alternatives to rocker plates in general, for me this is like comparing running a parkrun in sandals vs running in top of the range carbon running trainers (for those that aren’t runners, they’re the best trainers money can buy). You can get around a 5km parkrun in sandals and it is marginally better than doing it bare-foot but you’ll always be better off in a pair of decent trainers that have been engineered specifically for the job, especially if you’re any good at running… My point is, if you’re good at Zwifting or consider yourself a “Zwifter“, I think you’ll benefit from using a rocker plate like I did. If you’re new to Zwift or indoor training in general then maybe experiment a bit before taking the plunge as this leads me onto my next point, the price!
With a compatible rocker plate for The Zwift Ride advertised on the Omnirocker website at £569.00 (correct at time of publication), it’s fair to say rocker plates are not cheap however I go back to my original sandal-wearing parkrunner analogy. You get what you pay for and it depends how seriously you want to take the act of cycling in your garage or spare room… I spend more time out running the roads around my house or sat on Zwift smashing myself up Alpe Du Zwift than I do watching Netflix or playing my Playstation 5 so I don’t mind investing in these activities, for me it’s no different to someone buying a new 60″ 8k TV or the latest games console. I’m happy to spend money on items and kit that I think will make the act of exercising more comfortable or easier to get up and out the door.
When I started using a rocker plate, I expected (I hoped) my power numbers such as my raw watts or FTP would increase, this was me obviously displaying my naivety and of course that didn’t happen. What I did benefit from was improved comfort. Having my hips move side to side when riding improved my endurance, I felt like I was able to ride seated for longer, my bum hurt less on longer rides as (and I’m guessing here) the more natural movement probably meant more blood flow to those areas. However the biggest improvement was with my climbing, the rocking motion made it feel like I was dancing up the mountains of Watopia, it felt significantly more natural and I could stand for a lot longer. Sprinting is still something I’m working on but I feel that is more to do with my own strength and ability then it is the rocker plate’s, it definitely hasn’t hurt my sprinting power numbers.
I haven’t actually tried racing, climbing or sprinting without the rocker plate for quite a while now. Maybe I should, to see how it feels and to see if I lose any of the gains I’ve described in this article.
What criticism’s are there? There is one, quite a big one… The learning curve is quite steep. When I first stepped on my trainer after the rocker plate was expertly installed beneath it by Martin, it took me about three months until I was able to stand, out of the saddle. I also completely lost the ability to sprint too (although you probably couldn’t tell the difference). All I could do was remain seated which, felt strange however I will say that I was not a very experienced road cyclist back then, maybe this played a part in my slow uptake. If you’re an experienced cyclist then you might take to it significantly quicker than I did but I wanted to mention it as I nearly gave up on it several times however I am pleased I didn’t as the pay-off was worth the effort. I made a video about my first impressions and I talk about the learning curve, you can watch it here.
I also made another, follow-up review video having used the rocker plate for three months and you can watch that one here.
As we leave the warm glow of summer and enter into the world of Narnia, where its always winter and never Christmas, at least in the UK. I’m going to be transitioning from the outside, like many of you, to now ramping up my indoor training… On my ZWIFT RIDE… In my paincave.
So this seems like as good-a-time as any to make a review video about my Zwift Ride indoor trainer. I mean, I say a “review video”, this is just my opinion of my Zwift Ride and Wahoo kickr core indoor trainer, having now ridden on it in well over 100 max effort races and even more max effort rides up ADZ over the past 6 months.
If you’re here looking for deep dive insights or technical comparisons into the inner workings of its setup and operation then you’re probably watching the wrong video. Me calling this a review video will have DC rainmaker and GP Lama turning in their professional studios.
I consider myself the average user, in his paincave trying to turn back time and putting that progress up on YT as much for me as it is to inspire others watching.
I’ve already made a ‘first impressions’ video, several months ago having just received the Ride and having set it up in my “paincave”, this garage.
I was really impressed with it, however that was back in March. The question is now and the reason you’re watching this video… Do I still like it now I’ve been training on it for longer than two weeks?
The short answer is Yes! I’m still very happy with how its performed over these past 6 months. So much so that I cut the umbilical cord that was my old Watt-bike indoor trainer and sold that on eBay only last week.
I initially kept the Watt-bike as backup, just incase the Ride wasn’t what I needed it to be but it is and I don’t need two indoor trainers taking up space in my garage.
I have big plans for my paincave and space is at a premium especially as I already have Nasa’s flight control as my Zwifting setup.
I’ll start with the thing I’ve enjoyed most about the trainer… It’s build sturdiness (I suppose that’s the best way to describe it)… I currently weigh 87kg and I’m still losing weight, I’m not on a diet and I’m not intentionally attempting to lose weight but with the amount of daily exercise I’m doing, losing a few KG is inevitable.
So the idea that I need a “big framed” indoor trainer like the Watt-bike is becoming less and less important to me however I’m still a lump and I throw this bike around like a rag doll in a hurricane. It’s survived the Ryan Condon “Murphy’s Law” that if it can go wrong, it will.
From a structural and mechanical perspective, I’ve had absolutely no issues and that’s important. I’m not mechanically minded, I said that in my last video, especially when it comes to bikes.
I don’t want to worry about having a traditional bike frame attached to a drive trainer. I don’t want to have to worry about making it work, I just want it to do what it says on the tin and thats exactly what this frame and trainer gives me.
In our old house, before we moved, I spent several months building a new kitchen from scratch. I taught myself how to make cupboards and worktops from a plain sheet of wood and then how to fit those cupboards and worktops to my own specifications. I did all this all on my own with no prior experience simply by watching home-improvement, YouTube videos.
My point (with this random kitchen building tangent) is that when I’m motivated to do something, I’m prepared to put the time in to learn how to do it properly, however, time is a scarce resource in my life and I prioritise other things over tinkering with bikes in my garage.
I have a Zwift Ride because I do not want to retro fit, tinker, or adjust anything.
I do not want to watch YouTube videos on how to change or repair chains or adjust gears on bikes wether that’s on an indoor trainer or a bike outdoors IRL.
The least amount of work I have to do from the moment I decide to ride to when the banner drops in a race, the better! And that, in a nutshell, is what this Zwift Ride indoor trainer gives me.
If you watched my video last week, titled “Is this the end of Zwift for me?”, then you will know how important it is to me that I’m able to train daily on Zwift.
I race at least 500km every month, with some months exceeding 1000km depending on the time of year, with the winter months being higher for obvious reasons. I wouldn’t compromise my training by riding on an inferior product.
I say this because I’ve been sent this Ride by Zwift. I haven’t paid for it and for this reason some think, in my comments, that’s why I have such a positive view of the bike, because it was free.
Quite the opposite, I still had my perfectly acceptable Watt-bike, up until the end of last week, sat there doing nothing (until I sold it). I would have lost nothing by turning my Zwift Ride into an expensive clothes hanger, not make this review video and return back to the status quo. No-one would have been the wiser.
This is my setup now, I don’t wheel this out of the way once the camera goes off and push the 140kg Watt-bike back into place, especially now I’ve sold it.
I’m not going to waste my time training and racing on a product I don’t like or isn’t as good. I simply don’t have the time for that.
My progress is very important to me. I’ve spent over two years trying to win races and better myself. I’m not going to use an indoor trainer that makes that process harder just so I can make two YouTube videos about it. That kind of nonsense is where madness lies.
I use it, every day because I really enjoy doing so. Riding on The Ride on Zwift is a lot of fun and it makes the process significantly more enjoyable which is why I keep coming back every day.
I also got some comments on my previous Zwift Ride video saying that the cost of the Ride is a big factor, for those commenters, and of course, for anyone considering this as their next big fitness purchase.
I completely get this, this is another reason why I’m making this video and not on things like what headphones I wear when I run or Zwift.
Because it is a big investment, it’s worth making this video. It’s a big decision for anyone when choosing what setup they’re going to spend their hard earned cash on, unlike what headphones I use as that is a relatively (compared to this) inexpensive and cosmetic decision.
What bib-shorts I wear, what headphones I use, what website or food delivery app I use (I don’t use a food delivery apps as I live out in the middle of nowhere, I’m lucky to have wifi).
This stuff simply isn’t important, its just “white noise”.
I know not everyone can afford to spend a lot on an indoor trainer however my view on it’s cost is based on it’s value… I’ve already spent thousands of pounds on my fitness and YouTube, pie-in-the-sky, ambitions…
As it stands, if I actually sat down and listed everything I’ve bought since 2019 to get fit, lose weight and document that journey on YT then I’d probably be close to 20 grand.
Running trainers, cameras, bikes, laptops, Wattbikes, monitors, lights, supplements, editing computers, rucksacks, hydration packs, bib shorts, clipless pedals… the list goes on and on and it all adds up…
Nothing I’ve spent money on was “cheap”. Everything I’ve bought these past 6 years (especially if you asked my Mum) could be classed as an outrageous luxury and completely superfluous to the important things like paying the bills and putting food on the table however I do not have a social life, I do not spend my weekends down the pub or ordering takeaways… The TV in my living room is nearly 10 years old, works perfectly well and doesn’t need replacing so I spend my spare cash on things I see value in (after I’ve paid the bills and put food on the table, mum).
I value my health, my fitness and the fact that I’m able to run a 10k or smash myself up a mountain on Zwift, both in under an hour and I’m still able to go to work or shopping with Tracie without having to walk like John Wayne…
This is where I see value. In the same way that I wouldn’t criticise any of my family and friends (that I don’t go to the pub with) for buying the latest 70” Ultra OLED 8k TV for their living room, because they enjoy watching Netflix on a Saturday night with a Pizza… As thats what they see value in. Who am I to tell them otherwise?
When they see me spending money on a pair of running trainers or an indoor-trainer, they call me crazy. I see it as the best investment I’ve ever made.
I see spending money on my health and fitness as an investment in my future and for that I’m willing to spend significantly more than they would, its that simple.
As cyclists, we spend thousands on multiple bikes to ride outside. One for every type of terrain (apparently). I see adding this one to my growing number of ‘two bikes’ as a no brainer.
I’m pretty sure, some of those commenting on it’s price (on my previous video), wouldn’t bat an eyelid if I went out and bought the latest £4k road bike… (I’m not sure how much the latest road bike costs, now I’ve said 4 grand, I’m pretty sure that’s nowhere near enough).
They’d probably congratulate me and then tell me I need to spend more upgrading the wheel-set and pedals saving less in weight than I had for breakfast.
Training on this indoors, I’m able to go all out, absolutely smash myself for anything up to two hours and then get on with the rest of my day.
I’d never ride like that outdoors. I’m simply not confident enough to race or ride anywhere near full capacity IRL.
I bicycle outside for fun and for the feeling of adventure. I’m probably going to enter into a few ‘Sportives’ over the next year or two however, I’ll be doing all my serious training, racing and big efforts indoors, on my Zwift Ride.
The training I have done indoors, has made these long rides I do do outside significantly more enjoyable and my confidence in my own ability is growing.
Remember, I only started riding a bike two years ago. Prior to that I was a professional coach potato with no cycling experience whatsoever.
The other thing I’ve been really enjoying about The Ride is that the controllers are built directly into the frame.
Seems obvious to me now but not having to worry about buying separate controllers to retro fit to a homemade setup is another USP.
Of course there are workarounds but you could apply that to everything I say within this video and I go back to my previous point… I just need it to work.
Having the controllers and shifters built into the handlebars makes life a lot easier when all I want to do is jump on and go.
When you’re on a long ride or in the middle of a big sprint effort during a race, you don’t want to have to move your hands to change gears. Knowing that there’s been some thought put into the button placement makes a big difference.
I like the fact that, ergonomically, I can easily tap or punch the relevant button or flap without thinking about it.
Another small point is that the buttons for changing gears have ‘haptic feedback’. They vibrate when I hit them. I don’t know why I like this so much but it’s satisfying as hell.
The buttons are also pretty much instant. Before on my wattbike, my gear changes were slightly delayed. Now having instant feedback was a game changer for me.
Steering in game is also a lot easier, the paddles are bigger than they were on my retro fitted play controllers meaning I can easily change gear or steer back into the draft if I’m in the drops or sat up on the handlebars.
If you’re watching this and you’re new to Zwift, when you get used to the in-game dynamics and you eventually do join big group rides or you start racing, then good button placement and the ability to steer into the draft, easily, will be important to you.
Now having said all of this, there are a couple of things that I do think are detractors or at least need improving.
The sizing guide that I got with the Ride, that came in the box, was completely off. It wasn’t even close.
As soon as I sat on it having followed this guide to the letter… literally, I knew it was wrong.
Instead, I just measured my old trainer and transferred those measurements across and over time, made other smaller adjustments so its dialled in.
I don’t think there can be a one-size fits all based on height etc so I don’t know what the answer to this is however I do know, from reading posts from other, newer Zwifters, on my Discord server… They said they also followed the sizing guide but instead of recognising it was wrong (as they had nothing to compare it to), they powered through the discomfort thinking it was just part “of the process”.
Even though there is a “getting used to it” phase when you first start on Zwift (trust me, my backside still has PTSD from the pain), the bike setup or fit needs to be right so I’d say to take these initial measurements with a pinch of salt and do some measuring and manual adjustments yourself.
The other thing that came up when chatting about making this video on Discord was the saddle and handle bars. The saddle seems to split the discussion (pun intended). It was a bit like marmite, some like it, others don’t.
I find that the saddle is very firm, quite thin and does need some getting used to, especially if you’re new to cycling.
On my old Watt-bike, I paid extra for their “comfort” saddle. It was a lot wider and a lot thicker. A more ‘squishy’ saddle overall.
It being bigger and softer didn’t actually help, it made riding harder as there was ‘more’ saddle to overcome (if that makes sense). Possibly because I was so heavy and my inner thighs were “chunkier” back then.
I’ve found that a decent pair of padded shorts is more than enough to make riding on the Zwift saddle acceptable. I’ve now tried four different saddles on two different indoor trainers and on my gravel bike outside.
I don’t think I’d ever describe a bike saddle as “comfortable”, regardless of its cost, brand or design.
Telling someone that a bike saddle is “comfortable” is like telling someone a trip to the dentist is fun. They’re both necessary but if you choose the wrong one then you’re in for a bad time.
With a decent pair of bib shorts, I really don’t mind the saddle however it is very easy to change so I guess its not the end of the world if you want to swap it out for a “comfortable” one.
I don’t think its a deal breaker as I’m happy with it. I just thought I’d mention it as it seems a talking point with others.
And like the saddle, the grip tape on the handle-bars also seemed to divide those in the chat on my server. Some saying it was uncomfortable or the tape quality needs improving.
Again, like with the saddle. I’ve used two indoor trainers and my gravel bike now. Personally, I wouldn’t describe the handlebars or the tape as inferior to either of the others I’ve used.
The tape on my old Wattbike handlebars would peel and roll when I gripped it too hard or I dried it with the towel and I’d have to straighten it. Which did become a minor annoyance.
The grip tape on my Zwift Ride has remained in place and to be honest, it’s quality didn’t cross my mind until a few mentioned it, in chat online.
Quite a few brought up a very good point and that’s that you can now buy the adjustable crank length as an add-on.
I also have one of these. I haven’t installed it yet as I don’t actually know why I’d need it, I’m only mentioning it as it’s an accessory you can buy, in addition, if you know that you need it.
I might try it out however, I don’t get any aches or pains and my power numbers look really accurate so I’m in the mindset, if its not broke, don’t fix it?
I also think that’s another really big USP of The Zwift Ride combined with The Wahoo Kickr Core – It’s power number readout accuracy!
I saw no change in my power numbers when I moved across from the Watt-bike which is also known for being accurate… I mean, I’d hope The Wattbike was accurate as it cost me over double the cost of The Zwift Ride but at the time, it wasn’t something I thought about. I just knew it was a bike to ride indoors and that’s all I wanted to do… Two years on, what I need it to do now is significantly more and my expectations are significantly higher.
The Zwift Ride (being half the cost of my old Wattbike) is very accurate and a big testament to this is that not a single person on my Discord or in the comments section of my previous Ride “review” video complained about inaccurate readings. This for me is the real stress test. It’s also something I’ve not seen a lot of other YouTuber’s mention when making review videos.
There are a lot of indoor trainers, exercise bikes and drive trainers out there on the market. Some of them cost a lot less than The Zwift Ride does.
I like to have fun on Zwift and for me having fun is racing. I really need my power numbers to be accurate. I don’t want to find out, 6 or 12 months down the line, that my numbers, my pacing category and my own ability has been over or under estimated by a trainer I’ve setup wrong or is inferior and quite possibly both.
Over the past two years since starting out on Zwift, I’ve discovered that not all indoor trainers (and exercise bikes) are equal and you really do get what you pay for.
Knowing I can just jump on it, workout and it does exactly what it says on the tin… That’s important to me, that’s where I see it’s value.
This thing… The Wahoo Kickr core is a beast, its rock-solid. The sound is more than acceptable. I made this point in my last video about The Ride. It’s the same if not quieter than my Watt-bike was which is my only real basis for comparison.
Its an indoor trainer, its never going to be silent. I’ve never really understood those that say it makes too much noise.
When I’m racing, I’m normally smashing myself up a hill trying desperately not to be dropped. I have two industrial fans blasting me in the face and on occasion, I have music blaring on my speaker. The sound of a chain turning a drive trainer really doesn’t register with me but I can understand that if you live in a flat or with young kids sleeping in the house (for example), this might be a consideration.
But having said that, it’s not loud.
There isn’t a lot else I can share or that I haven’t already shared in my previous video.
When I eventually reach an age where I’m not able to do the things I can do now and I look back and reflect on the decisions I’ve made, The Zwift Ride will definitely go down on the list of “good decisions”.
I have also just been sent these… If I don’t get lambasted in my comments section for anything I’ve said in this review, I’m definitely get it in the neck every time I wear these.
Will these go down on the list of “good decisions”?
I can’t justify saying yes to these bad boys, I took one look and thought “they’re outrageous”. I need to wear them, I just won’t look in the comments section.
