MinnBobber

To supplement my biking and elliptical workouts, I do upper body weight workout with a Hoist HD1900 weight/cable machine.
I do about 40 minutes, Mon-Fri, the same workout every day.

If that ok to repeat daily or should one have a day of rest in between??

Thanks for any help/suggestions on this.

Bob in MN

ModoVincere

day of rest between....best if you alternate weights with cardio of some type.

Surftex363

Depends how hard you are working out everyday.

If you are really working hard, then i suggest no more than 1 day per week on that muscle group. If your staying pretty light and not really straining, 2 days a week.

The thing is, muscle isnt built working out, its built after the workout when your resting. I do muscle groups once a week. If you over workout those muscle groups your not gonna give your body enough time to rebuild those muscle tissues thus, not building muscle.

joeprim

Everything I've read says to lift heavy - all you can lift 6 to 12 times. If you can do 12 reps increase the weight. But to rest those muscles for at least 1 day. You can do other muscles the next day. This time of year especially I do cardo inside since it very often isn't light enough to get it in outside.

Joe

MTBLover

OP- what are your goals? If it's increased strength, then use something like a 5x5 program. If it's increased mass, then go to hypertrophy-specific.com for routines (you'll find 5x5 routines there too). Anyway, don't work the same muscle group daily at high resistance and definitely not to failure (which is never good thing, BTW)- you'll overtrain and run the risk of an injury. You don't need to kill yourself to get either strength or mass.

michaeldmanthey

If you are trying to improve your cycling then doing the same weight program every day is not the answer. I never repeat the same workouts twice. I am not a p90x user but muscle confusion is important to proper training and avoiding a rut. Check out my Blog to see my daily training calender. mikedmanthey.blogspot.com

scozim 

I lift weights three days a week - M-W-F - and split the body in two workouts: chest/shoulders/triceps and back/biceps/legs. I lift for approximately 30-45 minutes. I'm trying to cut some weight off the body after lifting fairly heavy for over 20+ yrs and get down to a little better hill climbing weight. I keep my repetitions now in the 12-20 range and sometimes higher. I don't lift with the quads that often because they're pretty strong already and cycling keeps the strength there. However, I do focus on the hamstrings and calves. I also put alot of emphasis on the lower back, abs and upper back/neck muscles for the cycling.

I will also ride on the trainer at least two of those days I'm on the weights - usually Monday and Friday.

ericgu

The point of workouts is to put training stress on your body. Workouts do not make you stronger. Recovering between workouts are what make you stronger.

So, if you work out every day you will make less progress than if you work out harder on a fewer number of days.

MinnBobber

thanks for the comments.
Sounds like I should do my lifting M/Wed/Fri and have a day to rebuild muscles in between.

I have NOT been doing lifting for lower body/legs as I thought my elliptical, bike trainer , and biking had that "covered".
Any lower body lifting suggestions? What exercises would help road biking?
thanks

Richard Cranium

None of this thread makes any sense. Your first question was about using a cable machine to "supplement" your cycling and elliptical machine workouts.

Now, you're responding to comments as if you are dividing your workout focus equally between building additional upper-body strength as well as additional non-cycling specific leg strength.

What a confusing mess. Good luck.

MinnBobber

thanks for all the helpful comments.

To summarize for Richard:
1. I asked if weight training M,T,W,Th, Fri was a good idea and the consensus was to lift every other day.

2. I then added that I currently do not do lower body weight training and what exercises did folks recommend for road cycling, lower body lifts that would help biking performance.

thanks again

MTBLover

I think the thread makes perfect sense . I totally agree with #1 (unless you're exercising different muscle groups or functions- like push-pull alternation, which works fabulously well as an adjunct to diet for cutting). As to #2, I suggest that you stick with compounds for lower body- deadlifts, straight-leg deadlifts (these are different from regular DLs- do both), and squats. That's probably all you need, but if you want to work your calves more, do weighted calf raises and toe lifts (which are totally brutal, but awesome).

the engine

Squats, Squats, Squats!!!

That is all you need to build leg strength for cycling ... other than riding hard, obviously.

Do 5 sets of 10 reps, once/week. It may not seem like much, but done correctly, it is just right.

Like someone here said earlier ... overworking your muscles does not make them stronger. It actually diminishes gains over the long term.

joeprim

Squats are good, but not all you need. Don't forget core strength! I like a mixed workout which addresses all mussles M, W, F, and ride when ever I can.

Joe