Big interval session the day after killer leg day at gym?
 

Do you guys let your legs rest, or do you get on the bike the next day? Or maybe you get on the next day but go easy?

Im hitting the gym 3 times a week, as part of my off season...so im finding it hard to add in hard hitting intervals if i rest the recommended 24-48 hours


Tks

I don't do intervals the next day after hitting my legs hard at the gym, but I do go out and ride. It warms up the legs and helps with recovery.

This is how I do it too. Spinning seems to help my muscles recover. I will do some moderate climbing the next day but I design my ride so it's toward the middle to the end of the route. And I try to stand up when I climb. Anything to stretch out my legs.

If you're starting intervals, it's time to cut back at the gym. As you said a really hard day, intervals or gym, requires 24-48 hours of recovery. 3 times a week at the gym doesn't leave any time for another hard day

Tks.
outta curiosity, how often do pro guys hit the gym?

I would imagine that the pro's hit the gym everyday, but IDK for sure.

More like 72 hours if you want a full recovery - full meaning you can repeat an all-out workout. Maybe even longer. Especially as you get older.

But doing a lower power endurance ride after a hard leg workout in the gym would work.

Been working with a personal trainer since first of the year. We do three hard cross-training workouts a week Tues-Wed-Thurs for an hour -free weights, kettle bells, abs, legs, boxing, etc. I don't ride the days I work out but I ride (or was until I got laid up with an emergency surgery) riding at least three of the other four days. I think the thinking on recovery has changed in recent years. You can go hard on consecutive days if your body can handle it. And I have read recently that this is true even for older athletes. Listen to your body. Eat for fuel and if it responds well to you pushing it hard, then do it. Everybody is different. But the body can take more of a pounding then we think.

I once did heavy legs and alpine skied the next day. Error. When I start hard intervals in the spring, I cut weights back to one day/week. What you want is results from your intervals. Doing weights interferes with getting those results. There's not much evidence that doing weights helps with road cycling anyway, but there's a heck of a lot of evidence that intervals help. So you go with the heavy hitter.

Edit: As shy points out, one can do cross training even during the season. I do 1/2 hour of core most days, some Stairway to Hell, ski alpine and XC, and hike. I don't find any of those incompatible with a good load of cycling, except maybe over 20,000' of alpine ski, which really takes it out of my 68 y.o. legs. But heavy legs is another story, about the same as the heavy ski day. Upper body weights are no problem, but why do that?

When I was lifting competitively, I did legs only once a week.

Of course, it was 3-4 hours of hell that left me literally unable to walk down stairs or drive a manual transmission car for quite a while afterwards...

If you look at TSS, a heavy ski day for me is almost 400, and I get tired a lot quicker than I used to. Achoo's heavy legs day probably about the same. That's similar to doing a hard century. You should have trouble walking. Sure, pros can do intervals after a century, but for many of us, not so much.

Funny I have the same question/issue. I do full body workout including legs once a week on Mondays, then intervals on Tuesday & Thursday plus long ride (60 miles) on Saturday.

A good way around this ride vs. weights thing is to do weights after riding. I've been doing this for years in the winter. You'd be surprised how little riding effects the weight you can move, once you get your legs in shape and your nutrition nailed. I don't notice any difference in max weight or reps, whether I ride first or not. There's good reason to think that weights after riding benefits the aerobic system.
Resistance exercise enhances the molec... [J Appl Physiol (1985). 2011] - PubMed - NCBI

i did alot of intervals dec jan feb. Im focusing on weights to beef up my vmo and avoid the usual knee problems. More flesh, less problems.

As for weights after riding, that is a great idea, although motivation may lack?