grantelmwood

I am currently doing the former where x=20

Troul 

Depends on how you manage rest & nutrition. Also what other activities you do that compound the same muscles.
sometimes I'll do 5x+ a week with the later if I am feeling it.

terrymorse 

From a training volume standpoint, the stimulus will be the same.

But if you take off 6 days between exercise sessions, that's long enough to start detraining.

PeteHski

Doing it all in a single weekly session is more likely to cause excessive fatigue or injury. It’s just more efficient to train more often for a given overall load.

wheelreason

I would have agreed with you 30 years ago, now it takes that long fro recovery between rides...

alcjphil

Problem is: It takes me 20 minutes just to warm up

wolfchild

I've done both over the years. I was a daily all year round commuter / recreational rider for 12 years straight 5 - 7 days per week rider, and now I am a 2 days per week weekend rider. For fitness and health it doesn't matter, you get benefits form riding the either way. I don't see any pros or cons of either way, choose whichever way fits better with your daily lifestyle and routine.

CrimsonEclipse

At least.
It takes me 12-18 miles to get the ache out of my muscles.

alcjphil

You all might benefit from reading this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Selye
Exercise stresses the body. If too extreme it can cause damage. If it does not cross a threshold where the body cannot adapt, it can be beneficial.
Everyone has a different threshold.
Hans Selye was controversial, no question, but his research into the effects of stress, both physical and mental were a first step taken

MoAlpha

I have trouble believing the stimulus from one hour on the bike is the same as that from the last hour of a five-hour ride, taken at the same intensity. They are ridden in very different physiological states.

alcjphil

I believe that you are correct, but the work needed to be able to complete a five hour ride is also worth noting

grantelmwood

Selve sounds like he was researching chronic stress that led to death
How is this relevant to riding a bike a few times a week?

terrymorse 

Yeah, a one-hour ride when you're fatigued obviously feels more difficult. But does that mean it produces more of a stimulus than just a one-hour ride? No idea.

I don't think the Training Stress Score (TSS) takes that fatigue into account. TSS is just time by intensity.

MoAlpha

Yeah, the models don’t take cumulative stress into account, but all you have to do is look at power/hr over a long ride to see what’s going on. At a minimum, riding long trains you to ride long.

squirtdad

complex subject, but no serious athlete trains one day a week and competes at high levels so my non-serious athelete vote is 5 days is better

better would be do 3 or 4 1x and then a a 4or5 x on the weekend

here is an interest article on the latest hot trend in training the "norwegian method"
https://www.outsideonline.com/health...-ingebrigtsen/

RChung

Intensity isn't constant with duration. MMP over the course of several rides is almost always monotonic.

rsbob 

Isn’t 1X/week the definition of the weekend warrior?

Fredo76

Speaking for myself, the former is better for my mental well-being.

3alarmer 

.
...if x=20, there's some deal that I don't remember very well, about how it takes something like 20-25 minutes to get into your fat burning metabolism.
You can probably find something about it by googling aerobic exercise. My rides are all at least 90-120 minutes, with longer ones when I feel like it.

So I never paid much attention. Also, the intensity of exercise varies from person to person. So I'd be reluctant to formulate a general answer to your question.

Random11

Daily exercise is a good thing. But 20 minutes strikes me as at the lower end of adequate exercise. I'd shoot for at least 30 minutes.

mstateglfr 

Since x=20, I would for sure ride 1x per week for 100min.


20min/day, to me, is worthless. I would just start to get my heart rate up as I end.
I would much rather ride for 100min once a week. Then do some walking or running or lifting or basketball or volleyball etc etc on the other days.

Russ Roth

For general health you're supposed to move daily so I'd go with 1x 5 days for basic health, from a performance standpoint I'd guess 2.5x twice a week or 2x on 3 days would be generally better by putting in longer durations with less rest in between.

tFUnK

Riding for fitness or riding for enjoyment? I'm gonna say 5x20 min is better than 1x100 min for fitness (assuming that's the only form of exercise you're getting all week). Why? Because you're engaging your muscles and cardio more frequently and consistently, so your body can adapt over time and actually build fitness.

But for enjoying the riding experience, 5x20 min is boring (20 mins gets you what, 4-7 miles depending on effort?), whereas a 100 min ride can be a proper ride.

KerryIrons

If this is the only exercise you get in your life, then riding 5 days is much better than riding one day. If the bike riding is mixed in with other activities and the only purpose of the cycling is to ride, then a couple of rides per week totaling 100 minutes is fine. General guideline for minimal fitness and health impact is 150 minutes per week, spread over 5 days.

Iride01 

Only 20 minutes? It sometimes takes 45 - 75 minutes before my legs are working good.

As for the OP's question, just doing very short rides will not give one any experience to manage energy for longer rides. But I suppose that wasn't really part of the question.