Turboem1

Hey guys I have a membership to my local gym and want to start going to further help me. My main goal is weight loss. If I happen to become a better cyclist that is great too. Anyway I have a couple of questions.

What would the recomended set up be? Full body? Just major muscle group core exersizes (Squats, Bench press ect) or divide the muscle groups up (back/bis one day, chest tris another, legs another ect.) How many days a week?

Because its winter I don't get to ride my bike as much as I would like so I think I will focus on the gym a little more untill it warms up.

Thanks

mjw16

I would recommend dividing muscle groups and spreading your workouts over 3 non-consecutive days (mon, wed, fri for example). Some choose to divide by; pushing/pulling muscles, upper body/lower body, or more advanced methods like; back/bis, chest/tris, legs/forearms/other etc. I'd recommend cardio just about every day and abs and other core muscles on non-lifting days. Sounds like an awful lot of gym time, doesn't it? You can consolodate exercises/days as you see fit, the point is to work the entire body, get recuperation time, strengthen core muscles, and elevate your metabolism through cardio (although weight bearing exercises will help too). Don't forget diet and rest, take at least one day off a week where you rest up and allow yourself some slack in your diet (that will help prevent binging).

mjw16

Adendum to previous response:

Yes, I would focus on basic, compound exercises: squats, bench press, shoulder press, curls. I would do 2 to 3 exercises per group and focus on hitting the various aspects of the muscle, for example; flat/incline/decline bench presses. As for legs, since they're such a large group, I'd start with leg presses or curls to warm up, then squats, hamstring curls, calf raises, and inner/outer thigh if you like. Squats are an all-body type exercise and probably the best single move that you can do. I would also recommend limiting your routine to an hour to prevent cooling of muscles and fatigue.

madprofessor100

from what you all are saying, it sounds like lifting weights is more important than cardiovascular exercises. Is that the case?

CdCf

For fat loss, weight training is very important. Slimming from cardio alone is of course possible as well, but it takes longer and you risk losing more muscle that way.

DannoXYZ 

Depends upon where each person's fitness level is relative to their optimum. Beginners tend to have weaker and less-efficient muscles which can be developed quickly in the gym. More experienced riders will have sufficienty-strong muscles for the loads and only needs the gym for maintenance and rebuilding in the off-season. Tall lanky folks can typically use more strength-building while shorter wrestler types would usually need more cardio work (relative to muscular workouts). So the answer is "it depends"....

However, in relation to the OP's questions, it's really hard to lose fat weight in the gym over the winter. You can usually burn about 200 cal/hr of fat maximum and there's just no way to sit on a stationary-bike or trainer for 4 hours straight like you can out on the road; it's mentally too difficult. And that weight-loss is most likely offset by some muscle-mass that's built up from the gym workouts, although that's not necessarily a bad thing.

mjw16

No, not necassarily, it depends on your body type and goals. More precisely, I would say that a well-balanced mix of weight bearing exercises and cardio will achieve better overall fitness, strength, flexibility, and promote weight loss. Don't do either one to the exclusion of the other unless you're in training to be a powerlifter or something similar (where cardio is of negligable use).

Univega

Try:

https://www.t-nation.com/index.do

kmckay

You can get resistance and cardio at once I have been using simplefit.org for my training lately and it kicks ass. The workoouts look easy but they are NOT and it is free!

kuan

YEAH! That's ME BABY!!!!

Thanks Danno, good spin, "wrestler type" is totally me, LOL!

C_Heath

hehe

EJ123

Is it impossible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?

C_Heath

nope, cardio + strength train + eat right = u can

C_Heath

Addendum to above post:

Now, you can go big and blast yourself with big weight and big reps. That will bulk you up and you will gain then.

Who wants bulk anyhow? Youll suck on the hills

EJ123

I thought to lose weight(fat) you need to lower calories, but to add muscle you need more calories to rebuild..

DannoXYZ 

It's not a direct relationship with gaining muscle as it is with losing weight.

1. losing weight does require that you eat fewer calories than you take in. HOW you create that calorie-deficit will determine wether it's primarily fat that's lost or both fat+muscle. A 3500-burn/3000-intake scenario would lose 1-lb/week and be mostly fat. However, a 2000-burn/1500-intake deficit would most likely include a lot of muscle-loss as well.

2. adding muscle requires first that you overstress the muscles beyond their current capabilities. This causes microtears in the fibres, causing leaks and elevating CPK levels which triggers rebuilding them to be bigger/stronger than before. The extra calories only comes AFTER you've done this stress workout in order to rebuild. Even an isocaloric (same input as output) diet will still enable to rebuild bigger/stronger muscles. However, increasing calories alone without any kind of increased workout will just result in fat gain. You can eat all the food and protein you want and sit around watching TV and you won't gain a single gram of extra muscle (other than what's required to carry your extra lard to the fridge and back to the couch).

EJ123

Thanks for clearing that up.

C_Heath

Danno's self employed snd has the time

inside joke right D


lol thanks for adding that.

ed073

Stepper, treadmill, rowing machine. Couple of hours if you can manage it.....and ride your bike, too.

Nothing else if weight loss is your priority. Once you're leaned up like Staf Scheirlinckx, then hit the bench.

DannoXYZ 

You're welcome. Any more than 30-minutes on a trainer or stationary bike and I go bonkers! Can handle maybe 30-minutes on rollers while watching classic TDF footage. But anything more and I'd bundle up like an eskimo and face the blizzard, sleet and hail outside to get in a "proper" workout.

NomadVW 

Ride more, reduce portion size.

Weight lifting = slow calorie burn.
Riding = much faster calorie burn.
Weight lifting = stronger muscles.
Proper ride regiment = stronger muscles.

I'm a believer of "why lift when you can ride?" YMMV.

CdCf

You won't build much, if any, muscle from riding alone. Adding muscle all over your body through proper weight training will increase your energy consumption.

NomadVW 

I'm not certain my quads, hamstrings, glutes, or calves would agree with you.

This is true, as it requires more energy to go up a hill with the heavier shoulders weight training would develop there while they contribute little to possibly nothing to the climb.

ed073

He's correct. Cycling doesn't provide the resistance necessary to promote hypertrophy.

CdCf

Well, it could, of course, but not from regular riding. You'd have to really mash it out in stiff gears for short bursts. And some people do, of course. Most don't, though.

I think a lot of people lose body fat and get "pump" when they ride, making leg muscles appear more defined and (temporarily after a ride) larger.