Training advice for a beginner

Training
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Hi all. New here. Got a question about strength training.

For context, before I get into this…I’m 47, I’m heavier than I’ve ever been, and I recently had a health scare.

I drastically changed my diet and started going to the gym two months ago, and starting riding about five weeks ago, realizing pretty quickly that cycling is the exercise I’m enjoying the most. I’m down 15 pounds the first two months, so things are moving in the right direction.

I sat down a couple weeks ago and wrote out a structured training plan for myself. I’m riding three times a week. Two shorter rides during the week and a longer ride on the weekend, and I’m bumping up the total time on the bike by 10 percent each week. I am taking this VERY slow because I want to set a good base without getting hurt. Here’s the schedule I put together for myself:

WEEK 1—Two 30 minute rides, One hour-long ride

WEEK 2—Two 35 minute rides, One hour long ride

WEEK 3—Two 35 minute rides, One 1:15 ride

WEEK 4—Two 40 minute rides, One 1:15 ride

WEEK 5—Two 40 minute rides, One 1:30 ride

WEEK 6—Two 45 minute rides, One 1:45 ride

WEEK 7—Two 45 minute rides, One 2 hour ride

WEEK 8—Two 1 hour rides, One 2 hour ride

These will all be in Zone 2. I’ll add more later. I’m currently on Week 3 and feeling good.

On to the questions…..

I’d like to work some strength training in here. So here are my questions:

  1. Should I only do strength training on my off days?

  2. Should I limit weight training to one day a week?

  3. What types of exercises would you recommend for someone just starting out?

  4. I’d like to work in some core training (just bodyweight). Should I limit that to once a week?

Thank in advance for any and all replies.

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  1. It is much better to combine your weight training with your more challenging days on the bike. Bundle the “hard work” together. Keep your rest days 100% rest. Otherwise you will struggle to really recover properly and will begin a slow downward progression to overtraining.

  2. For a beginner I think 2 days weight training is the best approach. Consistency is key so having a full week between sessions isn’t ideal for making progress. You are always better to do more frequent but shorter sessions rather than fewer longer sessions.

  3. I would begin with the very basics with weight training. Deadlift and squat for lower body, bench press, overhead press, rows for upper body. Don’t complicate it. You can safely ignore all the “fancy” strategies you will find out in the Influencer Realm. It’s mostly rubbish. I wouldn’t worry as much about more targeted muscle groups just yet (biceps, triceps, calves) and stick to the big compound movements for full body stimulus. Honestly you can do only those basics for your whole life and become incredibly strong.

  4. For bodyweight core training I would shoot for 3x a week or more. It really depends how hard you are planning on going with that but since you’re planning only bodyweight for core work then 3x a week is a good start. Again, frequency and consistency is key.

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I’ve nothing to add to your plan or ‘j’s’ comments…well done and keep going.

However you may become a bit ‘bored’ after some time of doing just zone 2 rides so it may become useful to keep your rides fresh to add in some ‘fartleking’…fartleking is a non-structured training, basically harder efforts based on feel rather than a structured system which may be hard for some, especially new riders.

You can throw in some harder efforts such as from one telephone pole to another as a sprint, going harder than usual up a short, punchy climb, varying your cadence such as riding for a mile at 60rpm’s to simulate a leg strength training then resuming your normal cadence to recover, also increasing your cadence by 10rpms, every 30 seconds until your butt starts bouncing on the saddle…remember the cadence and work on improving it over time…I can spin at 130rpms sitting squarely on my saddle but it takes practice…if you are using a TR training plan or just riding as you feel, try some of the more recovery/endurance based TR rides which will give you a variety of goals during the ride, especially working on a fast, light and fluid cadence.

One hinderance that new riders can encounter is the dreaded ‘plateau’…new riders improve quickly and dramatically but as the body reaches and achieves these levels you feel great and think this will go on forever…nope, not how it works lol…once you hit your ‘peak’ of big improvements the following improvements will be continuously smaller and take longer to achieve. This is the norm and not you failing in any way…it actually means you are doing great and have tuned/toned your body and mind to the point where the next improvements will be more difficult and take longer to achieve…you are also starting to reach your zenith based on a variety of reasons…ie, genetics, body type, physical well being and perhaps most important mental well being.

Greg Lemond summed it up best with this quote…”it never gets easier, you just go faster”…this is so true and the more fit you become the harder it gets to achieve the next ‘level’…so depending on what you want, how much you will give to achieve it, etc. depends on this.

But for now have fun, embrace the levels you are achieving overall in your ‘new’ life and don’t worry about how long it takes…you do have the rest of your life after all and the fun has just begun…

Good luck and keep us informed…

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