fliphandywork

Looking for some input.

Currently I ride my road bike to work 3 or 4 days per week. It is 20 miles round trip. I also lift weights 5 days a week. My workout is something like this:

MWF - Chest, Triceps
TT- Biceps, Shoulders

I rotate the days every other week as to do them evenly in a month. Is it necessary or harmful to lift 5 days? I have seen some info that recommends 3 days a week. I am trying to get the most out of my workout and cycling time... but also don't want to waste time by doing to much and being constantly fatigued.

Please provide input if you would like.

Thanks,
Jesse

dmotoguy

so you lift five days a week and dont have a leg day??

late

Hi,
do one workout a day, that is plenty. Alternate riding and lifting. I suggest taking one day a week off, but
you are young and might not need to. That gives you 3 days of each. One week you would work the lower body twice, the next week it would be the upper body twice.

Your post didn't mention lower body work. If you do squats and such the day after would be a good day to take off. IMO, if you are going to lift, you should train the whole body.

If you haven't done lower body exercies like squats before, get someone to show you the
right way to do them. You can trash your body permanently doing them the wrong way.

fliphandywork

I leave the legs to the bike. Seems to work fine.

Speedy Gonzalez

where is back day? And I would not work any one bodypart more than twice a week.

fliphandywork

Alright, so the workout I have is not great. How about a recommendation for a workout that will maximize cycling?

AGGRO

2 x weekly leg press or squats. I also lift every other day and ride every day for at least one hour. Your body will get used to it and you will be much stronger. If you up your mileage your body will stay in proportion as you lose weight. Just depends on if you want the huge legs weenie arms look. I don't

Stair master is also a good hill substitute.

aikigreg

worst. lifting program. ever.

fliphandywork

Thanks for the input!

fliphandywork

What do you do for your upper body?

Mo'Phat

I, for one, think it's okay to lift 5x per week. It seems like it's your routine, so go with that.

Lifting to maximize cycling: You should definitely start incorporating some core exercises. Back, lats, abs. It seems all you're doing is chest, arms and shoulders, which are (arguably) the least used muscles for the bike. Back exercises will help with endurance, posture, and explosiveness. Abs are vital for balance.

I know you get your leg workout on the bike, but it's Aerobic, whereas lifting is Anerobic. They're really two different exercises, and lifting legs can help you.

I don't lift 5x per week...normally just 3, so my workout is normally pretty long, and I'll do Chest/Arms/Shoulders...Abs/Back...Legs.

voltman

You asked and then didn't like the answer.

AGGRO

Monday, wed, friday I start with stretch, the 1 set lat pull downs medium weight, hit the crunch machine, lat heavy set, crunch, lat heavy, crunch. Rest 1 min, incline dumbell med weight set then heavy set, heavy set, rest 1 min. Switch to flat Olympic set, start light go to heavy 3-5 sets. Next either decline or incline whatever I feel needs worked on. 3 sets first light then working to heavy.

After the heavier stuff I will do lots of curls alternating between dumbell, barbell and machine. Instead of rests do crunches or situps.

As far as weight I'm 5-10 and 190 and I will work up to 225 lb sets on flat bench and 245 lb sets on decline olympic bar. I occasionally go for max weight but that can be a recipe for injury.

You can change up with some other machines or if no machines barbells and dumbells for rows, military press, flies. Get inventive and keep your muscles out of a basic routine if you want growth. Should burn the next day a bit if you are doing it correctly. I don't go extra heavy unless I have a spotter.


For legs the bike can do it all if you do lot's of hills and big gear turning like a flat course. Leg press and squats will give you mass and shape. Toe raises will work on your calves.


For tone you can lift every day but lift lighter as you won't have much recovery time between workouts.

JUST DO IT

fliphandywork

Thanks for the detailed response! I workout at home with a smith machine, incline/decline bench, and dumbells.


The workout I did was out of convenience but as I have started cycling I have become more focused on getting the most out of the workout...

DMF 

+5


And s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

dhale50

I do compound weight lifting once, maybe twice a week. Bench or push-ups, deadlifts, squats, pull-ups. These exercises tend to work many different muscles at once. I don't like to do a bunch of isolation exercises, seems to take longer and only work one muscle.

superslomo

I recommend not lifting weights while you are in the middle of a ride. It's the ultimate anti-weight-weenie thing to do

fliphandywork

I will remember that one. Thanks!

aikigreg

You want a better answer? Pick up any single exercise book out there. Any of them. Do what it tells you.

Ian King
Chad Waterbury
Christian Thibbadeaux
Charles Poliquin
Carles Staley
Alwyn Cosgrove

Those names should help. Hell, pick up a men's fitness magazine - most of them are total ****E but at least they give better info then whever you got yours.

babydee

I have tried "letting the bike do the legs", and have recently tried doing legs resistance work along with cycling. I can tell you, from my experience, that doing resistance work helps the cycling significantly and makes the legs stronger and more athletic looking. If I was a TDF rider, I would minimize it but I'm not. I also do upper body and core work.

What I do is this - I usually have two really hard rides per week. For instance, this week Monday and Thursday were harder longer rides. So on one of those days, after riding, I will do my leg work, knowing that I will have 3 or 4 days before I really need my legs back full strenth. The exercises I do are 1) lunge - paying attention to form, and not bending the knee past 90 degrees 2) calf raises - one leg at a time, or sometims both for a lot of reps for a change of pace, and 3) squat jumps - again, never bringing the knees past 90 degrees, and concentrating on explosiveness. The day after a hard ride, especially if I also do leg resistance work, I will do a 20-mile recovery ride, i.e. at a slow easy pace to facilitate circulation and recovery.

In addition to the leg stuff, I do some upper body once per week and core work once or twice a week. The core work consists of crunches, oblique crunches, and back extensions. For arms, I do bench presses and/or pushups, one arm bent-over rows, bent-over shoulder raises, lateral raises, and maybe sometimes bicep curls or tricep extensions.

That's what works for me. I don't do a lot of upper body stuff, because that's not the body I want (I might start doing uppers only once every 2 or 4 weeks). To each his own. Definitely don't skip the core exercises though - core strength is the root of everything else.

ericd74

I'm an avid weightlifter and moderately avid cyclist, so take the program below with a grain of salt (i.e. perhaps not the "ideal" biking workout, but one I've had great success with from a general fitness standpoint). The basics: 2 days a week - back, bi's, shoulders; 2 days a week - chest, tri's; abs all 4 days (different exercises); 2 days a week legs (can be incorporated into back or shoulder day or done on separate day depending on biking schedule and other happenings in life...). Each upper body day takes about 1.5 hrs, each leg workout takes about 30 minutes (and yes, I do have a real job outside of the gym). A typical workout week looks like this:

Monday/Thursday
- Back: 4 sets pull-ups (sets of 20, 15, 14, 12 reps); 3 sets "assisted" pull-ups on machine (75% of body weight, sets of 12 reps); 3 sets of reverse sit-ups (for lower back, sets of 25, 20, 15 reps)
- Shoulders: 4 sets of seated dumbell presses (pick a weight where you are comfortable doing sets of 12 reps); 3 sets of straight arm dumbell raises (use a lighter weight, good for feeling a burn)
- Biceps: 3 sets of dumbell curls (pick a weight where you can do 12 reps), 1 "burnout" set of dumbell curls (pick a light weight and go until exhaustion - 30-40 reps, try to do one more rep each week - note: I find this is good for training the mind to ignore the pain of biking up long, steep hills)
- Abs: crunches, leg lifts, etc.

Tuesday/Friday
- Chest: 5 sets flat bench (first set is warm-up - light weight 10 reps, then pyramid to heavy weight for 3 sets - i.e. I go 10 reps at 185 lbs, 10 reps at 225 lbs, 6 reps at 245 lbs, then do one set at your first pyramid weight - i.e. 185 lbs for me - until burnout); 3 sets of incline dumbells; dips 2 sets as many reps as you can - if you're just starting out, use the assisted dip machine (cant stress enough how good dips are. Along with pull-ups the core of any upper body program)
- Triceps: Rope pull downs (3 sets, 25, 20, 15 reps) and "reverse dips" (i.e. heels resting on one bench, hands on another, butt facing the ground and do dips (3 sets of 25)
- Abs: crunches, sit-ups on medicine ball, etc.

Leg workout
- Squats: 4 sets on the guided squat rack (3 sets of 12, 1 set of burnout at top weight - e.g. I warm-up at 135 lbs, then do 12 reps at 185 lbs, 12 reps at 225 lbs, and 20 reps at 245 lbs) - squats are like dips and pull ups: an essential workout
- Calves: 3 sets of seated calf raises (15 reps each) and 3 sets of nautilus calf machine (15 reps each)

Ride on off days or at night if you can workout in the morning and don't have family obligations. I usually do one long ride on the weekends (weather permitting here in the northeast) and shorter rides after work (usually 2 sprint laps of central park in manhattan, approx 12 miles)

Again, I'm not saying this is the end-all-be-all workout routine, but it has worked well for me for over 10 years. Happy to answer any questions.

ericd74

Also, for what it is worth, after many years of "letting the cardio do the leg work," I started lifting legs routinely about 2 years ago and have noticed a significant difference in my biking ability. I've shaved about 1 minute off of my 6 mile Central Park loop time and find hills much easier.

ratebeer

* It's said sprinters are weight lifters who ride a bike
* One of the fastest sprinting road racers in the area lifts a 53-12 as his only resistance training - no gym
* Work with your own personal body type and desired performance and/or your vanity interest (what?! guns on a rider?!)

cris2fur

you can do an ab workout everyday because they are very resilient muscles. Other than that I would do an upper body day, a lower body day, and repeat. This is what I do:



Monday:
-Trapezius
-Rhomboids (they're kind of hard to work out, the rowing machine works them a bit)
-sternocleidomastoid (back neck muscle)
-erector spinae (the two ridges to the left and right of your spine)
-deltoids
-upper abs
-stretch

Tuesday:
-leg endurance (go do an "air chair" while holding a 25 pound weight)
-quadriceps (make sure you work them all, there are 4)
-hamstring (get them all)
-tibialis anterior
-gastrocnemius
-soleus (its hard to work out, but just stay higher on your toes than usual and it will burn after a bit)
-lower and side abs
-stretch

Wednesday:
-Pectoralis major and minor
-biceps
-triceps
-forearms (front and back)
-serratus anterior

-latissimus dorsi
-upper abs
-stretch

thursday:
-glutes
-full leg exercises (squats etc that combine all of the muscles into one motion)
-lower and side abs
-hip adductor and the other one, I forgot what its called
-stretch

thats a full body workout over 4 days with enough variation to keep me interested, sometimes I'll substitute a bike ride for one of the leg workouts

friday is my rest (read "party") day

sat and sun can be biking days

AGGRO

Or you can toss out the weight routine and kayak about 5 miles a day That also works.