hey hey hey.
So, upper body, weights and all that jazz.
At the moment the training plan I’ve built (kudos on the create a plan tools, very good to use) I do indoor training 3 days a week, with one outdoor ride on a friday morning.
There will be a few longer rides in there at times, and will of course adjust training to suit. This leaves 3 “spare” days which I had thought of to use for gym work, but i’m struggling with the motivation to add that in and then follow it up with a good training ride the following day, or, just struggling to do it when my legs ache from the day before
I’m keen to not over-train. I want my body to repair my legs! but equally I don’t want to just keep dropping weight without some sort of plan.
so, upper body
what do you do?
when do you do it?
is this just a simple case of “suck it up buttercup, get in the gym!”
It kind depends on what those 4 rides are in terms on intensity and duration. But I’d say you’d probably want to do something at least twice a week. Maybe one heavier day and one lighter day. The heavier day, best case, would be on the same day as a harder ride where you ride in the morning and lift later in the day. But if you can’t do a double day then I’d try to do it the day after a hard ride and before a tempo or lower day.
One day would be a more typical weights workout (Bench, rows, etc) then the other could be lighter bodyweight stuff (pushups, pull ups, band work, etc). The weights would be when you get stronger and then the lighter day would be more of a maintenance day. Hitting it only once a week is usually a recipe for not making much progress.
I could probably handle two lift days to be fair.
You’re right too, doubling up is likely going to be my best way to work things out.
I do my ride in the mornings, people don’t seem to start at my office till around 10am so I can fit my training rides in before that which works great for me. Evenings are then free to do normal family life, but I think if I want to progress I’ll have to crack on with some more dedicated lifting.
I was doing it in september, but it was ALOT! I worked with a coach on TP and it was a bit relentless, didn’t feel all that sustainable - it’s a hobby after all, and whilst I want to make lifestyle changes, I do still have to work and be a dad and all that so it needs to be good use of time.
I think I’ll plan in a couple of lift days next week (which is when my plan starts properly) Monday and Wednesday evenings look good at the moment but will look into it a little more.
Yeah scheduling the double days are tough. If you have the space, the second lighter day could probably be done real quick at home so you don’t have to go through the faff of getting to a gym. You’d just need some minimal equipment like a pullup bar, maybe a kettlebell, etc.
yeah I’ve got a small gym space at home anyway, any excuse to avoid the gym I pay for is a blessing (ruddy trapped into contracts! won’t be doing that again!)
Everyone is different for sure, your training history, current training load, age, etc. all play a factor, is it more of a time issue or just not feeling physically able to? If you feel like you need some full days to recover during the week then you will probably want to do your weights after you do your rides, if you’re able to separate them by several hours then you can reduce interference effects. Start small and build up over some time while listening to the feedback from your body. Unless you’re focused on an elite level of racing where you need to squeeze out every ounce of on the bike fitness, it’s likely worth pulling back your bike training just slightly to be able to get the muscle and bone benefits of weight training. Even at the expense of not optimizing your on the bike fitness.
I have found that knowing under what circumstances I am most likely to get the strength training dones is soooo valuable!! Consistency wins EVERY time .
I’m glad that you have found a schedule that works for you! Keep it up!
I generally do a 2 day split, one with primarily lower body (although also includes deadlift or rows), and then a second upper body day (I do calves on upper body, however). Each day supersets around 4 plyo exercises (lunge jumps, box jumps, single leg pogo, etc.)
I’ve been lifting over 20 years so my upper body workouts have little to no impact around any of my cycling sessions. I cycle in the mornings (4-5 days a week) and do my two lift sessions during lunch at home on days that I work remote. Those are usually two-a-days.
I usually do an interval workout Monday, then my leg workout on Tuesday. My next interval day will be Thursday or Friday, so I’ll be ‘mostly’ recovered from the leg workout by that time. The upper body workout is usually Thursday or Friday, but again, has minimal impact on any cycling. For most newer weightlifters it may have to be incorporated more carefully, but over time it should have little to no impact.
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