Hi all,
Any suggestions or guidance on workouts for building muscle?
Lift heavy things. Eat well.
There’s a good book called Weight Training for Cyclists by Ken Doyle
Without knowing exactly what kind of suggestions you’re looking for.. be consistent, be patient, and like the other guy said, eat well. Most hypertrophy principles use tempo/time under tension, and getting close to failure on your sets. The downside for us cyclists is that this can leave us incredibly sore, likely making intensity days less effective.
If you don’t know where to start, ask a professional. Preferably one that understands cyclists, like www.cyclingstrength.coach
Are you looking to build muscle size? Strength? Both?
Are you doing this with the intent of becoming a better cyclist, or just for general health?
How old are you? What equipment do you have available? Do you have experience lifting weights?
The best program you can find is one you enjoy enough that you will actually stick with. I could develop the most elaborate/optimal workout (and have) for most athletes and people just wanting general health, but it’s pretty complex both in experience and quite a bit to do for a novice strength trainer.
That of course is just the actual training program. Building muscle is 100% training, and 100% nutrition.
I keep my lifting very very simple and it works great for me.
Three sets per muscle group per week. (except quads which is 6). No more than that. Compound movements, no muscle isolation stuff. I am in and out of the gym quickly.
I stay at the same weight until I’m doing 3 sets of 7 reps. Then I add 2.5-5lb (depending on exercise) and start back at 3 sets of 5 reps with the new heavier weight.
Weight lifting days are harder riding days. I ride in the morning and lift in the afternoons.
Monday: Total Rest
Tuesday: Sweet spot ride / Squat + Overhead Press
Wednesday: Easy ride / no lifting or body weight only if I want
Thursday: Endurance + ride / Deadlift + Chest Press
Friday: Total Rest
Saturday: Threshhold ride / Bulgarian Split Squat + Bent Over Row
Sunday: Easy Long Endurance ride / no lifting or body weight only if I want
That’s my whole schedule. I change almost nothing. Sometimes I take a week off lifting but when I do that I at least get one set of body weight exercises to failure for each body part. Pushups, pullups, wall-sit, etc. Near the end of a training block when threshold workouts get hard I might skip a leg workout in the lead up to be a little more fresh. I make micro adjustments like that but keep those to a minimum.
I ignore all the fancy niche silliness that seems to show up across the lifting-sphere. Basic movements, slow progress, bread and butter / meat and potatoes.
This. Keep it simple. Accept that it’s hard to do both cycling and lifting. Prioritize which is more important to you. I do an A, B split 2-3 sessions per week. But the lifts are almost identical.
This is a great point to highlight too. I read so often people biting off way more than they can chew and feeling frustrated that they can’t hit PRs all over the place in all the disciplines they have crammed into their schedule.
It is! I accept that I’m an endurance athlete first (for most of the year). When I get into build the lifting drops down to 1-2 days a week, then sometimes none for a month or so before a big race. I’m okay with that (even though all the influencers say it’s wrong, lol). When I get into off season I back off the running and lift more. I’m 47. At the end of the day I’m likely doing more than 90% of people my age so it has to be okay right?