1 workout per day or 2?

cheezhead said:

I have workouts scheduled a couple of days a week that include lifting weights and then doing a long tempo interval. My question is I'm wondering if it's better to lift and do the long tempo right after lifting all in the afternoon, or to lift in the morning along with an hour spin afterwards, and then do the tempo interval in the afternoon? Which way will I see the most benefit from this workout day?

what sort of cycling/racing do you do?

ric

ric_stern/RST said:

what sort of cycling/racing do you do?

ric

I'm a cat2 on the road, prefer longer hilly races and TT's to crits (read: I'm not a sprinter!).

cheezhead said:

I'm a cat2 on the road, prefer longer hilly races and TT's to crits (read: I'm not a sprinter!).

i'd suggest then, that the weights aren't of much use... see the sticky thread at the top,

ric

ric_stern/RST said:

i'd suggest then, that the weights aren't of much use... see the sticky thread at the top,

ric

Why would you suggest that? With sprinting and explosive power being my limiter, would it not benefit me to lift and then ride a bit to transfer it to the bike? I know I'll never be a sprinter, but my 5 sec. and 1 min. max powers are pathetic compared to my 20min.!

I have no idea how lifting weights affect cycling performance but as far as lifting weights and aerobics go, recent studies show that if you lift in the morning, your stores should be ready to go in the afternoon. However, doing a long aerobic(spinning in this case) after a lifting session only lead to muscle catabolism. There's quite a few studies done regarding this matter so googling them shouldn't be hard. My advice is to lift in the morning and ride in the afternoon(tough to schedule and go back and forth to the gym but that's the price)

Oh and a side note that not many know about is, prior to lifting, you should not stretch. Stretching should only be done after the lifting is done. However, proper warm ups, in this case cycling or running for lower body lifting, is a definite must. This is because, an elongated(stretched) or contracted(not warmed up) muscle produces less force. Furthermore, not warming up leads to injuries. Stretching at the end also helps recovery(flushing the lactic acid build up) and increases flexibility(only if you do proper stretching, not the 2 second holds)

Izzy G.

cheezhead said:

Why would you suggest that? With sprinting and explosive power being my limiter, would it not benefit me to lift and then ride a bit to transfer it to the bike? I know I'll never be a sprinter, but my 5 sec. and 1 min. max powers are pathetic compared to my 20min.!

Sure, weight training may make you a little better at weight training (as long as hypertrophy is involved). However, given that 1) weights will be detrimental to your other bike abilities, 2) you can increase your bike sprinting ability by sprinting etc, and 3) your self admittedly a very poor sprinter - it would make sense to not do weights at the detriment of your strengths (pun intended!).

Also, if you're looking at AC's power profile tables, don't forget that the 5 and 60 secs powers are anchored around elite track sprinters/kilo riders - not roadies.

ric

cheezhead said:

I know I'll never be a sprinter, but my 5 sec. and 1 min. max powers are pathetic compared to my 20min.!

How many times per week do you practice sprinting right now? One thing we learn is that cyclists LOVE to train at what they're good at, and don't train at what they aren't.

If you aren't, I would suggest that this may be a better approach (cycling) to improving sprinting than lifting weights (non-cycling). I'm with Ric on this.

I'm not a sprinter either, and coach many never-sprinters....but we all do sprints one per week.