Being out of breath when lifting

I have noticed recently that when weight training i’m out of breath way more easily and tend to take longer to regenerate longer between sets.

This caught me by surprise as i have been feeling better than ever on the bike having pushed my ftp from 190 in june to 260 as of last week.

It’s not like i’m doinf squats or deadlifts either but easier movements like biceps curls or military press and even those make me gasp for air and my heart starts pounding hard.

Did any of you experience something simillar when weight training?

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Are you holding your breath during strength training? Ensure you’re actually breathing with each rep.

Surprise on the curls but the overhead press is full body effort if done correctly. Given your substantial increase in FTP that I assume was through dedicated effort over the last 5 months, you may be carrying more fatigue than you are aware of and it is manifesting when you add more stress.

Me too. My go to strength workout has me knackered until I get into a good rhythm of doing it 2-3 times a week for a while. Same with going up the stairs. There is a great meme about that one. I think it all comes down to specificity of training. I am always surprised when my on the bike fitness does not translate to other activities. Recently I needed to run for a flight, and after 100 feet I wanted to die. Ha.

I can relate :stuck_out_tongue:
Maybe it’s just that my fitness doesn’t really over and me being fatigued adds to that.

The best argument for why all cyclists should do some weight training is it will slap them up side the head with the fact that pedaling a bike is a very narrow physical skill and the fitness derived from it is fairly narrow as well. Cycling is a great form of exercise but you can be fit at one thing and still be a raging flabby couch potato at another!

And, unfortunately for cyclists, real life is about 90% the other stuff :wink: That is, almost all the “other” physical aspects of being human involve standing up, moving around on foot and lifting things. None of which are directly involved in cycling.

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So true, as I found out last season when I did NOTHING but cycling from October 2018 through September 2019. I got pretty fast, but felt like a complete weakling in every other aspect of my life. Which was difficult because my job requires some strength based physical activity.

I made it a point to weight train 2x a week this off season. Even though I’ve been a bit inconsistent with the weights, I already feel like a more capable human being both physically and mentally in just 5 weeks. Thank god my body “remembered” how to lift weights again.

Yep. I usually do combo curl, press, tricep extension and it gets my heart rate and breathing up.

Separately, I went climbing yesterday for the first time in a while yesterday, and that got my HR and breathing up also.

I think strength stuff has a large anaerobic component which puts you in an oxygen deficit, that you then need to pay back. And more so when you’re not used to that specific exercise.

130bpm on the bike feels like talk to your friends all day long territory.

130bpm doing stuff in the gym, especially ballistic stuff, feels much much harder.

I think it’s a matter of perception for me.