Fitness compromised.

[Campbell]

Hey guys,

About 2 months ago i started going to the gym 4 times a week to increase muscle size and strength. Since introducing this gym training into my routine i have noticed a massive reduction in my stamina and general cardio fitness when i get on my bike.
I know that its kinda one or the other, in regards to training my body to be best suited to one type of activity, but i want to find a balance.
Has anyone else experienced something similar, or does anyone have any advice.

Thanks,
Campbell.

 

[Noodley]

As you say it's a question of finding the right balance. I used to be very lean yet had little stamina....now I am 'less lean' but have good stamina (well I do when I am not ill!). I intend to try to start getting a balance very soon

Try using less weight and more reps, and throw in a couple of classes (spin, step, yoga, etc).

What about bike time?

 

[Campbell]

Bike Time

Bike time is about 20-30 miles, every sunday.
My goal was to increase the distance rather than the speed, but if i tried to increase the speed and decrease the distance i could work the bike into my training use it as a leg workout.

 

[marzjennings]

I never mix the two, I either weight train or cycle. It's hard to do both. I take a couple months off the bike every year to hit the gym for a while, squats, benches, etc to help keep the body in shape. I tried doing both in the past, but my cycling on the weekends suffered and so I would push myself harder exhausting myself before the next week in the gym.

 

[montage]

You are only cycling once a week? That is going to hit the fitness hard.
If you want to get better at cycling, leave the leg weights out - in the winter/off season many of the pro's reduce time on their bike and hit the gym more often.

Cycling does do your legs yes, aswell as your core. The following principle can be used for running/swimming/any edurance activity
Per Week:
1 x long distance ride - I would say build up to 50miles+, do this ride at the weekend
1 x tempo/interval session - make sure you have a base fitness before attempting this, for now I would replace this with just a shorter (10-15 miles) "hard ride", but once your stamina increases bring in intense interval training.
1 x recovery ride - medium distance (if you are doing 50 miles at the weekend make this around 20 miles...take it easy, try to stay aerobic for the whole ride)

If you do leg weights, you will struggle to perform on rides, as your legs will be tired. Cycling tones your legs up nicely, and unless you are sprinting, cycling uses very low forces, so being able to squat 160kg in the gym means sod all over a long endurance ride.

 

[Noodley]

Okay, when I was at my fittest a few years ago I used to ride most evenings at a fast pace for 10-20 miles, and go to the gym/swimming 5 times per week for an hour (mix of classes and gym work)...it took a bit of planning but nothing too difficult. I lost a lot of weight and was very fit, but needed to work on stamina. So the gym was dropped for time on the bike....I made a bit of an arse of things and ended up stopping the gym completely But I did end up being able to cycle 600km

I'm 'taking stock' after a few months of not being very good healthwise and reckon my original most evenings riding along with 4/5 times per week will be good, and as I know I can do the distances the mental side of "can I do it?" is taken care of.

The right food and sleep has a lot to do with it as well.

 

[montage]

Oh and make sure you have a rest day where you do next to nothing .... I've said this in another thread but the 3 points to stress when trying to get better at endurance sports:
1.build the base (get the miles in)
2. build the base
3. rest and recovery

 

[jpatterson]

Yep I'd agree with the 3 points above. There are shorter ways of doing it such as 2by 20s and sweet spot training but personally I prefer the FaCT system using a HRM of long slow consistent steady rides

 

[montage]

2by20s? Not heard of this.
Sounds like some form of intervals which I wouldn't recommend until a base stamina is reached

 

[jpatterson]

Coggan talks about it a lot - sweet spot training. I wouldn't recommend it either, as you say until a good base has been built up. But then I am becoming more switched onto the FaCT system of steady intensity rides.

 

[Bigtwin]

IMHO muscle bulk is essentially dead weight on a bike. Once you have core stability, and that's fairly easily attained, only leg muscle is useful. The rest is just oxygen using weight to lug around. Thus, the more of it you develop, the more leaps and bounds of cycling fitness you have to gain to compensate.

Or put another way in simple terms, that's why most pros, sprinters aside, look skeletal from the waist up, and stringy from the waist down.