Lifting and cycling.. newb here

[ejc]

Hi. Just here looking for advice. My main focus is lifting, but, I'd like to improve my speed on my bike. Any good links would be appreciated.

I ride a Motobecane CX Fantom Pro. I ride maybe 150m a week in warmer months in Illinois. I think my LT is around 175. I did a 2 hour ride today on an indoor Precor recumbent. Level 8 @ 85rpm @ ~17mph @ ~135-140bpm. This was my first deliberate attempt at a zone 2 ride and my first ride in months.

Im looking into zone 2 training and I've added more SLDLs to my lifting regimen.

Thx

 

[Shaun]

@ejc I've moved your post into the training forum (as @Rockymountain suggested) - you should get more specific replies here than in the Welcome forum.

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Ride harder, ride more. Done

 

[Roadrider48]

Hi. Just here looking for advice. My main focus is lifting, but, I'd like to improve my speed on my bike. Any good links would be appreciated.

I ride a Motobecane CX Fantom Pro. I ride maybe 150m a week in warmer months in Illinois. I think my LT is around 175. I did a 2 hour ride today on an indoor Precor recumbent. Level 8 @ 85rpm @ ~17mph @ ~135-140bpm. This was my first deliberate attempt at a zone 2 ride and my first ride in months.

Im looking into zone 2 training and I've added more SLDLs to my lifting regimen.

Thx

I do a lot of front squats for a while now. And they have really improved my quad strength. Fairly low weight with a lot of reps.
I also do heavy regular squats going below parralell to strengthen hamstrings.

 

[i hate hills]

Welcome

 

[ejc]

Which authors are suggested? Would Joe Friel's blog be a good thing to soak up?

My problem is that I don't want to focus on cycling. I don't want it to hinder weight training. I know I can't have both at maximal performance levels, but, I'd like to push my cycling without impeding recovery or causing any catabolic effects (eating at a deficit presently).

What should I do and what should I avoid.

"Ride more and ride harder" sounds like a surefire way to mess up my focus in training, which is lifting. Am I wrong?

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

It's simple. There is only one way to improve on a bike and that is to ride it. The choice is yours

 

[Peter Armstrong]

Don't expect to be any good at climbing or have the muscle endurance to keep going either. Totally different muscle groups. I used to lift and now I cycle. The only way I could keep up with the club especially in climbs was to drop the gym sessions completely. Chances are you will be good at sprinting in a high gear!

 

[Joshua Plumtree]

Don't expect to be any good at climbing or have the muscle endurance to keep going either. Totally different muscle groups. I used to lift and now I cycle. The only way I could keep up with the club especially in climbs was to drop the gym sessions completely. Chances are you will be good at sprinting in a high gear!

Not sure I agree. I lift 70lb dumbells 4-5 times a week for at least an hour. Don't seem to have many problems keeping up with the best climbers in our club;, in most situations the weightlifting seems to have given me a power to weight ratio advantage over the majority of cyclists I ride with.

. I'm about 165lbs and have always made sure that I didn't bulk up too much when I was weightlifting more seriously, in fact used to take delight in out lifting people who were often 50 or 60 pounds heavier.

Currently using the turbo 4 times a week to train for my first TT season and riding between 100-120 miles outside every week.

Struggle a bit maintaining a high pace for an extended length of time (but so do most people); not convinced this has anything to do directly with the weightlifting, more a result of not having much of an aerobic based sports background.

 

[Herzog]

Muscle bulk has very little to do with power output on the bike (you need some obviously). Allen and Coggan explain it far better that I ever could.

I know that's a lazy link, but I can't find any articles online by Allen discussing this...

 

[Joshua Plumtree]

Didn't mention muscle bulk; weightlifting is one way of generating more power without necessarily increasing size.

 

[ejc]

@Joshua Plumtree.... I'm actually doing more strength training than bulking (zero bulking considering a caloric deficit). I too can outlift a lot of the bigger guys.

Im riding. I'm looking for some sort of guidelines to training for cycling on the back burner. I put in 100+ miles in the last 4 days and I haven't ridden in months. That seems pretty decent to me. I dont need to be spoonfed, just point me to some good resources and i'll read the information. I dont think thats much to ask when you consider how much BS is floating around about training.

I have no ambition to be an excellent cyclist or an endurance athlete. Not right now anyhow. But, I'll do a decent amount of biking during summer and I want to train the best I can without compromising my other training.

 

[ayceejay]

A fairly basic question: why do you want to go faster on your bike? Are you faster than you were, say 6 months ago, without any specific speed training?
Do you already have the fitness to build on?
Well that turned out to be more than one question but before you can make a plan to improve you (and anyone attempting to help) need to know where you are starting from.

 

[ejc]

@ayceejay I want to go faster for the sake of going faster. I am faster than 6 months ago without doing any cycling in that time.

Im fit and have the fitness to build on. 13%BF, 172#, 5'10", visible abdominals, squat 270, dead 330.

I have no cycling events that I need to train/peak for and the majority of my cycling wont be until July. That gives me 16 weeks.


I do leg days on tuesday and friday, following the 5-3-1 program by Jim Wendler. Wednesday, saturday, and sunday are off days.

I did a fair amount of reading on Friel's blog and decided on something like this:

2 hours in zone 1 (after lifting) on Tuesday and Friday for the next 4 weeks. 2 hours in zone 2 (after lifting) on Tuesday and Friday for the following 4 weeks. At this point it'll be May and I'll be able to go outside and do some hillwork and stuff.

I realize this isn't all that specific, but, the idea is to just do cycling training after leg days. Im hoping that a ride every 3 days will improve performance without hindering my lifting progress/recovery. I feel like I may be able to do 3 or 4 days a week in zone 1 as it may not negatively impact recovery at all.

Thoughts?

 

[ayceejay]

What is non-specific ejc is your goal, you appear to be training for no competitive advantage at all. Obviously there is nothing wrong with this but you might enjoy your cycling much more if you do it simply for pleasure. I thought you were talking about Olympic lifting until I saw the lifts you do so would I be right in saying that you exercise to look good? Unless you want to loose weight I don't think burning calories on your bike is going to achieve much although it may add definition to your legs giving you an athletic look.