Training & Nutrition - Riding and lifting on the same day?

I would love to ride on lifting days which are non-leg workouts, but I am worried about too serious a caloric defecit if I start doing that. I have generally avoided riding because conventional wisdom at least states that most of your days calories on a lifting day will go to normal body functions+whatever muscle building. I am worried about how much I would have to eat in addition to possibly wasting lifting days by riding on them. But I reallly want to ride most days!!

FWIW I am not trying to bulk up or anything, just trying to build healthy non-leg strength. I do leg lifting, but that is generally Fridays. Today was back and some ab stuff-Shrugs, dips, deads, lat pulldown, leg throwdowns etc...

Here's some first hand experience with what you are talking about. It's not from a magazine or published article in a medical journal, but it is what works for me.

I commute 50 miles a day, 5 days a week on a track bike. I am in the gym 5 days a week as well. I've found that I have to eat constantly and put a good deal of thought and planning into it in order to maintain or gain weight. It would be a whole lot easier to put on muscle mass if one could stand to live a sedentary lifestyle outside of the gym, but who wants to do that? The best advice I can give is that you maximize your rest days (the weekend), eat 7 or 8 small meals throughout the day with lots of good carbs and ample protein, and get plenty of sleep so that you get decent recovery. Also, as i'm sure you know, never work the same muscle groups two days in a row. You are going to have off days both on the bike and in the gym, but work through it and be patient.

Remember to schedule a rest day. You'll be pushing yourself pretty hard, without proper rest, you'll continue to fade in intensity, recovery and weight lifted.
Some days you'll feel strong, and other days, you'll just go through the motions, that's
normal. Don't forget your flexibility; and also proper ab work will help protect your back.

Thanks for the advice guys. I am in the gym 3 days a week and I try to get on my bike as much as possible. I generally try to schedule my leg workouts for Friday, and then rest Saturday so I am not lifting legs and then riding 24 hours later. It seems to be working well. The real part of my lifestyle that needs help is sleep. I am a very busy college student, and I am lucky to average 6 hours of sleep some weeks. Which produces lethargy, and my legs just DRAG. It's horrible. Do you guys have any gym workouts you would like to share, or eating tips? I feel like I do pretty well but I always need more options!

The Aussie Sprint Team do hard leg weights in the morning and track sprinting in the afternoon.

As long as you eat well before weights, after weights and then before your bike ride calories should not be a problem. Heavy weights has been shown to enhance ones sprinting as long as the sets and reps are kept low.

Another question is are you doing weights to improve your cycling or the other way round or are both for fun?

Hamish Ferguson
Cycling Coach

I used to lift and cycle on the same day about 2-3 hours apart. I did that for 5-8 weeks, but stopped because my cycling performance went down.

After work I would hit the gym for upper body (whatever upper body part I was working on) and go home and eat a medium size meal (600 or so calories). Let the food settle for an hour and then ride 20 miles for about an hour. This was when I just bought my bike and I always wanted to go riding.

The way I did it was wrong. My stomach was robbing all the blood my legs needed.

If you do it, put at least 4-5 hours between workouts. The more time you can put between cycling and weight lifting, the better.

There's no worries about a calorie deficit if you eat during and after your workouts, especially the rides.

I often bike to/from the gym and have only benefitted from it. yes, you will burn more calories but the to me that is a good thing. I also run and lift on the same day too. Personally I think it has made me alot stronger aerobically and anaerobically to do multiple workouts per day 4-5 days a week.
Plus, my wife and I are excellent cooks and I like to eat...