Training & Nutrition - weight lifting and mountain biking

I have a few questions related to weight lifting and such. I normally lift like once or twice a week and mountain bike like 3 times or so a week. So when lifting could I afford to do mainly bulk lifting but then rely on biking to build musculur endurance? or do I need to switch off like monthly between bulk power lifting and endurance repititious lifting. And also what is a good way to build your upper body more in a full body weight lifting routine. Like would protien help or even just more pushups or something. Because I have troubly really gaining weight in my upper body, more so my arms. I know it's alot but can anyone give me some pointers?

I certainly would focus on compound, heavy movements in order to build bulk and gain weight. The body adapts to weightlifting workout routines rather quickly - so change it up often - but try not to waste your time with isolation movements so much. An example would be to perform heavy chins and curl grip chins instead of doing bicep curls. Lift as much weight as you can safely lift - get out of the gym as fast as you can and then go ride. :thumb:

There are many variations of compound movements you can do to keep things fresh.

Try to get protein from your diet. Try to eat 6 times per day and lead with a protein. When planning your meals and snacks start your planning with the protein. Do not slug down a protein shake once per day and think that is the key - it is not. Consistency of your intake will give you greater results.

Also, if you're lifting to improve your mountain biking, do exercises that work the core. The compound movements mentioned above will do this, but also do things like planks. When I go to lift I do a lot of my exercises with stability and bosu balls. I'll do dumb bell presses, should presses, flys, lunges, pushups, etc. while sitting/lying/standing on one of those things. It forces you to use your core to keep you balanced.

For example:

Do barbell curls standing on a bosu ball.
Do pushups with feet on an overturned bosu ball and each hand on a small (8-12lb) medicine ball
Do lunges but step forward onto a bosu ball
Do flys with shoulders on an exercise ball, knees at 90 degrees, feet flat on the floor close together. Then when you are good at that alternate lifting one foot up in the air.
Put the back of your heels on an exercise ball then do dips from a bench.

These things will allow you to work out the arms and legs to build strength and mass (which you stated as one of your goals) but also work the midsection which will likely be a lot more important when trying to pull the bike up over a log just after coming out of an off-camber turn in the mud.

I certainly would focus on compound, heavy movements in order to build bulk and gain weight. The body adapts to weightlifting workout routines rather quickly - so change it up often - but try not to waste your time with isolation movements so much. An example would be to perform heavy chins and curl grip chins instead of doing bicep curls. Lift as much weight as you can safely lift - get out of the gym as fast as you can and then go ride. :thumb:

There are many variations of compound movements you can do to keep things fresh.

Try to get protein from your diet. Try to eat 6 times per day and lead with a protein. When planning your meals and snacks start your planning with the protein. Do not slug down a protein shake once per day and think that is the key - it is not. Consistency of your intake will give you greater results.

By compund movements do you mean exercises that effect more than just one part of the body like pushups, pull ups, and chinups,etc? and would it be wise to drink a protien shake on days your not exercising?

Also, if you're lifting to improve your mountain biking, do exercises that work the core. The compound movements mentioned above will do this, but also do things like planks. When I go to lift I do a lot of my exercises with stability and bosu balls. I'll do dumb bell presses, should presses, flys, lunges, pushups, etc. while sitting/lying/standing on one of those things. It forces you to use your core to keep you balanced.

For example:

Do barbell curls standing on a bosu ball.
Do pushups with feet on an overturned bosu ball and each hand on a small (8-12lb) medicine ball
Do lunges but step forward onto a bosu ball
Do flys with shoulders on an exercise ball, knees at 90 degrees, feet flat on the floor close together. Then when you are good at that alternate lifting one foot up in the air.
Put the back of your heels on an exercise ball then do dips from a bench.

These things will allow you to work out the arms and legs to build strength and mass (which you stated as one of your goals) but also work the midsection which will likely be a lot more important when trying to pull the bike up over a log just after coming out of an off-camber turn in the mud.


The Bosu ball exercises sound very cool. thank you. I might start doing more training along those lines like using my body weight as in pushups and lunges. As you said it builds core too. and I feel that it helps your strength that much more.

By compund movements do you mean exercises that effect more than just one part of the body like pushups, pull ups, and chinups,etc? and would it be wise to drink a protien shake on days your not exercising?

Yes - but keep in mind you need to progressively increase your resistance in order to gain muscle. Squats, bench press, deadlift, military press are all good examples of compound movements where you can increase resistance. Pushups only allow you to increase reps - which is ok for a while but will not be optimal for building bulk. As I said before - be consistent with your protein intake - if your lifestyle dictates you need 100 grams per day then don't get 50 grams one day and 100 grams the next. Remember that the days where you are not exercising are just as important as the days you are - be consistent in your diet.

Also - I agree with the other poster about core. Core exercises have helped me tremendously. I do them separate (most of the time) from my gym workouts or bike rides. Yesterday I did core when I got home from a bike ride.

I certainly would focus on compound, heavy movements in order to build bulk and gain weight. The body adapts to weightlifting workout routines rather quickly - so change it up often - but try not to waste your time with isolation movements so much. An example would be to perform heavy chins and curl grip chins instead of doing bicep curls. Lift as much weight as you can safely lift - get out of the gym as fast as you can and then go ride. :thumb:

There are many variations of compound movements you can do to keep things fresh.

Try to get protein from your diet. Try to eat 6 times per day and lead with a protein. When planning your meals and snacks start your planning with the protein. Do not slug down a protein shake once per day and think that is the key - it is not. Consistency of your intake will give you greater results.

So how often or frequent should I change up my weight lifting exercises? For example if I do bench press consistently for 2 weeks then could I switch to dumbell flys as an alternative for a couple weeks and then back again?