Does anyone else workout in the gym?

AmpedCycle said:

I'm asking this question because it's related to cycling, although it doesn't directly apply to cycling. In other words, I'm asking a question about the side effects of cycling on gym performance.

I've been working out for about 1.5 years, now, with some good solid strength and mass gains... but it seems to take forever to achieve these results. Does anyone else workout and have some advice for balancing healthy weight lifting with as good or better cycling performance? I'm talking about specific routines, lifting days on concurrent cycling days, and muscle synergists/antagonists for balancing the two different groups of muscles weight trainign and cycling train. No, I don't currently lift my legs... I just do a simple 3 day per week upper body program . Here's a look at it:

Monday:
Bench Press + dumbell bench press (4 sets total, 4-8 reps each)
Incline bench press + incline dumbell bench press (3-4 sets total, 4-8 reps each)
Triceps exercise-- various types. Tricep press down (cable), skull crushers (free weights), overhead cable extension (4 sets, 4-10 reps each)
Ab work-- various types. Exercise ball crunches weighted, ab machine, etc (4 sets, 8-10 reps)

Thursday:
Military press, dumbell and barbell (4 sets, 6-10 reps each)
Lateral shoulder raise (3 sets, 8-10 reps each)
Front shoulder raise (3 sets, 8-10 reps each)
Combined lateral and front shoulder raise (1 set, 10 reps)
Posterior shoulder extension (reverse of pectoral fly 4 sets 10 reps)

Saturday:
Pullups, 1 set normal hand position, 1 set wide hand position, 1 set close hand position, 1 set normal hand position
Bent over barbell rows (3 sets, 10 reps each)
Cable rows (sitting 1 set 10 reps)
Barbell and dumbell bicep curl (4 sets, 6-10 reps)
Hammer curls (2 sets, 10 reps)
Back extensions (4 sets 10 reps)

So that's the deal. Throw in the cycling, and you've got yourself a workout plan. How's it look?

Looks pretty good to me, except I would do bicep work after working on the pecs, and work on the triceps on Saturday because you've already given the tris a pounding with your back work, so you finish them off completely with your triceps exercises. I've got a couple of fantastic tricep exercises but to explain them to you would be pretty difficult as they are a little unconventional. If you really want to know, I'll try and explain.

Personally, that is too many exercises for me. I would keep it to a minimum, sticking with the basic compound movements, and staying away from machines.

If you lift heavy, and keep the volume low, it shouldn't affect your cycling too much. I did total body heavy lifting, and my legs felt great when on the bike. The key is keeping the volume low. I should add that I only lift because I am specifically interested in my sprint ability.

It is hard to put on muscle if you are riding because endurance activity release hormones that reduce/limit muscle size. It makes sense because excess muscle mass is of virtually no use in endurance sports.

have you found that when you lift heavy (less than three reps) at almost maximum strength that you dont put on muscle? Does it help your sprint at all? has it negatively affected your other skills on the bike?

I am also interested in improving my sudden acceleration and sprint on the bike but i seem to be do be doing too many reps...10-20 reps. Isn't that the way bodybuilders work out :eek: :o 🙁 😕 .

I too cross train and have for years. Whether what you do is correct or not, depends entirely on your goals and objectives. The reps you are doing would imply you are into muscle bulking and the cycling provides fat burning. Is this correct or do you have other objectives?

dm69 said:

have you found that when you lift heavy (less than three reps) at almost maximum strength that you dont put on muscle? Does it help your sprint at all? has it negatively affected your other skills on the bike?

I am also interested in improving my sudden acceleration and sprint on the bike but i seem to be do be doing too many reps...10-20 reps. Isn't that the way bodybuilders work out :eek: :o 🙁 😕 .

Doing more than 10 reps is not going to do much for your sprint at all, and it's going to leave you sore, most likely. I never get sore from maximal strength lifting if the volume is low. It can even help your sprinting because it primes your nervous system and fast switch muscles.
I'm not sure if it hurt my endurance because I wadn't training for endurance at that time. Overall, heavy weights are good for someone who is heavily dependant on sprinting (track sprinter). If you are a road sprinter, you don't need them. I make most of gains in sprinting from just doing lots of sprints.

mikesbytes said:

I too cross train and have for years. Whether what you do is correct or not, depends entirely on your goals and objectives. The reps you are doing would imply you are into muscle bulking and the cycling provides fat burning. Is this correct or do you have other objectives?

Right, muscle bulking and cycling performance (with added fat loss). I think keeping upper body muscle is a good thing, especially since I slim WAY down to around 155 when I don't. I'm 6'2'', 170-175 currently.
I'm not really interested in having a crossover between my lifting in the gym and my cycling performance, either. I lift to stay strong and look good. I was on another forum talking about this, and everyone said that cyclign would be detrimental to muscle gain... endurance activities being antagonists to muscle building. I think that if I keep it up, though, I'll eventually be just as strong as most weightlifters AND an excellent cyclist... despite the negative effects cycling and weight training have on each other (slower muscle gain and added body mass). If I ever start getting up to 200 pounds, I'll cut back. But for now, 170 isn't all that much and I still outclimb everyone I ever see (except those damned peewees on the juniors race team... little [censored] smoke everybody).

dm69 said:

have you found that when you lift heavy (less than three reps) at almost maximum strength that you dont put on muscle? Does it help your sprint at all? has it negatively affected your other skills on the bike?

I am also interested in improving my sudden acceleration and sprint on the bike but i seem to be do be doing too many reps...10-20 reps. Isn't that the way bodybuilders work out :eek: :o 🙁 😕 .

I don't know if it's helped my sprint or not. That's not why I lift. Weights have helped with my upper body strength... and as far as cycling goes, I can muscle the bike around pretty good and I have some added back strength/endurance. But I lift to get bigger and stronger, and it's fun, too. It's just that my progress has been so slow it's ridiculous in the weight room.

I'm with VelomanCT on this one. More compound movements, fewer total exercises. For example, dips could cover chest, anterior delts and triceps all in one movement.

The routine shown looks haphazard and without an overall plan or objective.

Also, too many people train for the wrong objectives. They either train for the burn/pump or they train so they'll be sore the next day. All that is really necessary to invoke adaptations is to use progressively more weight on the bar.

Doctor Morbius said:

I'm with VelomanCT on this one. More compound movements, fewer total exercises. For example, dips could cover chest, anterior delts and triceps all in one movement.

The routine shown looks haphazard and without an overall plan or objective.

Also, too many people train for the wrong objectives. They either train for the burn/pump or they train so they'll be sore the next day. All that is really necessary to invoke adaptations is to use progressively more weight on the bar.

Compound movements, eh? I like what I'm hearing here. I've heard other peole talk about compound movements, before, but I've always been scared of them because I've had problems with back pain in the past, and other injuries that prevent me from doing certain exercises. I can't do squats because of the strain it puts on my lower back, I looked at deadlifts as an alternative to back extensions... but I'm still unsure if I want to risk it or not. Also, I can't do dips because of a shoulder injury I had. What other compound movements are out there that would give me more functional strength, instead of the more isolation-type exercises I'm currently doing? Do these thypes of exercises require extensive research, guidance, and practice before attempting? Should I talk with a trainer before attempting any of them? I'm making an appointment to see a trainer ASAP... so maybe I could take these questions with and ask for some guidance about form when lifting.
Right now, I'm doing pullups and military presses that appear to be my only "compound" exercises. How would you define "compound exercises" anyways?
Also, as far as not having a guided, structured lifting plan, all I can say is that I'm trying to incorporate almost each specific upper body muscle and it's antagonist muscle for complete, balanced strength gains. You can see from my routine that I get almost all major upper body muscles... but where I think I need the most work is in training all these muscles to work together. Maybe I could benefit from a new routine of some kind... I need to switch it up right about now, anyways.

If you are having back problems and supporting weight for free squats you might consider using a plate loaded hack squat machine if you have access to one.

You get the same full range of motion as squats, but your back is supported against the pad and with a decent power belt you should be able to really focus on your quadriceps rather than having to focus on your back. (Of course always start light and don't increase until you feel like you have good form and that there will not be a problem with your back)

Hack squats were one of my favorites, but my current gym doesn't have one.

What is really important is you diet, you need to make sure that you eat protein after [or just before] your weight sessions, as it is needed to repair the muscles. I have found that eating protein speeds up the recovery. Some say that the protein also burns fat, however I'd say that muscle burns fat, but the protein strengthens the muscles. If you are trying to loose fat at the same time, try not to consume too much carbs at night, as they aren't been burned off and get stored, so pig out earlier in the day and ease up at night.

I have found that even when I have quite sore legs from the gym, that I can still cycle quite well (say 90%), so I guess that different fibres are being used.

I'd say your best bet for getting good weightlifting advice is to post on a bodybuilding forum (such as www.wannabebigforums.com). The advice over there tends to be: do two work sets per exercise rather than three, use heavy weights for 6-8 reps, no more than about 6-7 exercises per workout, eat lots of protein, and make sure you do full squats and deadlifts if you want to see improvement in your upper body. Lastly, you cannot gain muscle mass if you're not gaining weight.

--Steve

ZimboNC said:

I'd say your best bet for getting good weightlifting advice is to post on a bodybuilding forum (such as www.wannabebigforums.com). The advice over there tends to be: do two work sets per exercise rather than three, use heavy weights for 6-8 reps, no more than about 6-7 exercises per workout, eat lots of protein, and make sure you do full squats and deadlifts if you want to see improvement in your upper body. Lastly, you cannot gain muscle mass if you're not gaining weight.

--Steve

Interesting web site, I have put an intro for myself wannabebigforums.comshowthread.phpOpen ↗

That is a good website. Thanks for linking it!

I hit the treadmill and steps a lot and does a lot of lats, legpress and sit-ups. I don't do dumbell curls and bench a lot, it affects my cycling stamina and speed whenever my body's built up so much.

[INDENT]I usually just lift weights and do some squats when I go to the gym for around 1 hour every day because cycling is already my cardio. My routine is to alternate them everyday. So basically exercise in the morning (squats, pushups, situps) for 30 minutes, then gym for weights (30min - 1 hr). Then the next day I cycle for 1 hr.[/INDENT]

I'm a fitness freak in the sense that I work out at the gym almost on a daily basis which has helped me immensely in becoming a better rider. It is all about planning it in a way that both does not clash. I use the morning for riding my bike while the evening is a period when I take out time to work at the gym.

Absolutely 🙂 Good for the body and mind. Cycling only neglects a bunch of stuff that a well rounded gym program can address.

I don't usually go to gym because of busy schedule, but maybe once every three months. I just play sports, like basketball and badminton, every Friday after work. and during weekends I use my bike if my sleep enough. Besides I don't need to go to the gym, I contented with body, I just want to develop my cardio, stamina, and biking and playing sports is enough for me.