CameronStewart

Hey guys,

Just looking for a little advice. Basically got myself a road bike for christmas and I am really enjoying it. My first love however is weight lifting but my cardio etc has always been a weakness of mine so I am hoping the biking will help improve that.

Anyway how many days rest should I give myself? I usually lift weights three/two days a week, quite intense heavy weight. Is it okay for me to cycle on the other days? Something like this? I am not cycling very far at the moment, 5-10 miles.

Monday - Lift
Tuesday - Ride
Wednesday - Lift
Thursday - Off
Friday - Lift
Saturday - Off or Ride
Sunday -Off

Cheers guys

tarwheel 

That shouldn't be a problem. Rest days are more important in cycling after intense/long efforts. I ride 5-6 days/week with no problems and I'm 61, but I'm not riding hard every day. Even after a hard ride, it's not a problem riding the next day if I take it easy. With cycling, you can basically recover on your bike just by riding at an easier pace.

CameronStewart

Perfect, thanks for the reply tarwheel!

Jared.

Some of it may depend on what type of lifting you are doing on what days. For me, I like to rest a day after doing heavy (for me) deadlifts, as my back will be sore and I will be uncomfortable on the bike the next day. Otherwise I'm fine on the bike without rest. After heavy lifting I go light on the bike as a "recovery" ride.

Summertime I'm racing the bike one to two days a week so my weight lifting schedule moves around a bit.

Carbonfiberboy 

I also ride on the days I lift. I ride first, then lift. Riding back and forth to the gym is good if practical. My usual pre-lift ride is 1-2 hours. Doesn't bother my lifting much if at all. Different energy systems. I have to use a sports drink to keep my blood sugar up in the gym, though. So I ride 6 days a week, one day off from both lifting and riding. That works fine as long as I keep the riding effort down. I have no trouble failing every exercise and then riding the next day. Of course I've been doing this for a long time so it may take some time to get into condition. I'm 69.

TexMac

I commute 4 days a week. 42 miles daily 21 mile in, 21 out and do leg workout on Mondays, upper body on Wednesdays
Friday off and saturday Z4 60 mile club
Sunday off

RomansFiveEight

Just to throw it out there (I'm no expert); but there's a lot of smart people out there suggesting that "Active Recovery" is really effective. i.e., a light jog, power walk, or a light spin in an easy gear on level roads, etc., instead of just resting. I've been following that practice with my running (only now getting into cycling) and I actually feel a lot better, and progress faster; having "active recovery days" instead of "rest days".

GeorgeBMac

For the most part, you are training different systems with the two modalities: heavy lifting is strengthening certain, mostly fast twitch, muscle fibers. Riding, at least endurance type riding, is strengthening mostly slow twitch muscle fibers as well as your cardio-vascular/pulmonary system (mostly the latter)...

In my estimation, neither one doubles up on the other and almost qualifies as a recovery from the other. True, sitting in front of the TV with a beer might be a better recovery (at least more fun!) but I think that the 2 modalities compliment each other far more than they compete with one another.
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Of course you can adapt the resistance training to focus more on slow twitch, endurance fibers and adapt cycling to focus more on fast twitch major muscle fibers, or to get them both focusing on the same, but that does not sound like what you are doing...

Ignoring the very important differences the two types of exercise exert on your cardio-vascular/pulmonary system and focusing only on the effects on skeletal muscle, "The Science of Fitness" by Hom & LeMond (p. 74) says :

Type 1 (slow twitch) muscle fibers are very good at aerobic endurance and are in high percentage in postural muscles and in the muscles of long distance athletes. Type 1 fibers have abundant mitochondria, resist fatigue, and burn fat very efficiently. However, they also tend to be thinner in cross section and are therefore less powerful. ... These low power activities can be performed all day without appreciable fatigue. When more force is required, type II muscle fibers are called into play.

Type IIA (intermeditate) muscle fibers can use both aerobic and anaerobic energy, are more powerful than Type 1 and can contract faster....

Type IIX (fast twitch) muscle fibers have the fewest mitochondria and therefor have poor fatigue resistance. ... They hypertrophy (enlarge) more rapidly in response to resistance training. ... [and] because they can grow thicker and contract faster, they are more powerful.

The same book presents a less technical explanation when it says (p 24):
"An example of different muscle fiber types is the white and dark meat in chicken. The dark thigh meat is composed of endurance slow twitch muscles rich in mitochondria, because chickens spend their waking hours walking as they peck at food on the ground. The white breast meat is powerful fast twitch muscle with fewer mitochondria, because chickens only need to fly in short bursts to avoid predators. The breast meat in migratory birds such as ducks and geese is comprised mainly of dark muscle meat (slow twitch mitochondria rich) because these birds must fly for hours at a time..."

In short, I believe that the two types of exercise not only compliment each other well. But, in order to be TRUELY fit in an overall, balanced way (vs just being strong) you need to do both. And, since they are training different systems, alternate days for each should work well -- but you may have to back off the intensity of both if you are exercising every day...

chaadster

I agree with Georgebmac in that it's a question of intensities, and that the two modalities are complementary.

If your goal is train and develop your cv system and aerobic capacity, noodling around on your cycling days ain't gonna do it.

However, if you get after it and stress the system to elicit the physiological adaptation responses your looking for, you're going to get tired, and that brings us back to George's comment that you may have to back off intensities of both if you're working out every day.

Be willing to to take a look at changing your weightlifting program, and you should achieve your goals.

ESTrainSmart

I'm a Coach, Personal Trainer (ACE) and Bike Fitter with a degree in Kinesiology. I specialize in strength and conditioning for cycling, and know how to utilize it concurrently with a cycling training schedule. I read through the reply below regarding FT and ST fibers and wanted to clarify some inaccurate information.

Heavy weight lifting does not focus more on fast or slow twitch muscle fibers because the overload is so great that it will require 100% contribution from both fiber types. You'll improve both FT and ST strength. In fact, due to the slow nature of heavy weight lifting, you'll likely get a better ST training effect than a FT training effect from accumulated lactic acid. Any indirect improvement in explosiveness is caused by adaptations to the neuromuscular system (forcing 100% muscle recruitment is very taxing on the neuromuscular system).

In order to target fast twitch muscle fibers, the speed of the lift has to be explosive. Olympic lifts, box jumps, plyometric style lifts and depth jumps will produce an improved FT training effect. Explosive exercises that focus on the concentric phase of the lift will translate to better sprint performance on the bike (cycling is largely a concentric dominant sport).

If you want to focus entirely on endurance, low weight and high rep style lifts will help you develop fatigue resistance to specific muscle groups. If I have a client who complains of quadricep weakness in the pedal stroke, this style of training helps to develop resistance to the effects of lactic buildup within a localized area.

You can lift and ride on the same day. If you do a sprint workout on the bike, give yourself some time to recover, then do some explosive lifts at the gym. If you do a hard, steady effort on the bike, you can lift heavy that same day. If you ride lightly, then work on flexibility, mobility and myofascial release to speed up your recovery. If you decide to do lactic acid intervals on the bike, then focus on high rep workouts at the gym. I hate generalizing because there are situations where these rules of thumb don't apply. If you run into problems, I recommend getting a coach to help organize and adapt your workouts to your specific limitations. I offer long distance coaching, but local coaches always have the added value of one-on-one interaction. Hope this info helps!

Carbonfiberboy 

^ Yup. Also my experience. My fave was an endurance ride finishing at the gym, lifting heavy, and then a sprint workout on the way home. It's a kick to see what happens when you get all those fibers firing at the same time.

Ragriz

I just wanted to +1 the notion of intensities and resting. I am actually at the tail end of recovery from a lower back injury. I was riding hard or lifting heavy probably 6 days/week. One day, I was warming up for squats and felt something strange. That strange feeling was one of my discs herniating...

In retrospect, the signs of overuse were clearly there. I was just too enthusiastic to notice it.