Cycling and weightlifting

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postman

Squire
Location
,Leeds
I do light weights but not at the moment.Something wrong around the 'bits' so i am waiting to find out what.But doing weights does make me feel better.
 

Cuchilo

Prize winning member X2
Location
London
May be more down to fatigue ? Your body needs fuel ( sugar in your blood ) to work . If you are over doing it your body is telling you to ease up . Take a bit of time out of cycling ( two weeks ) No leg work and i bet you will be smashing it when you get back on the bike .
 
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Daninplymouth

Daninplymouth

Über Member
Just to add I wasn’t looking at using weights to improve my cycling i was just seeing how people used both types of exercise and any positive or negative things to change. I did notice when climbing out of the saddle since being back at the gym that I could feel my arms and forearms aching
I’m not a super fast cyclist, my gym numbers are fairly decent. I know adding muscle mass will require more energy. Just got to try and find a balance that works for me really. I feel much better losing the weight through cardio I just want to regain a little size and definition. This week I think I will bin off training legs to see if that helps with feeling a bit sluggish
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Well, since you put it like that...I used to body build, then moved into power lifting, and now lift to keep on a bit of lean bulk - probably a major pschological flaw, but id hate to be a small, weak person. It doesn't hamper my cycling in the least.
 

ChrisEyles

Guru
Location
Devon
I don't lift, but do body weight calisthenics. They're relatively high rep compared to a lot of gym work, but I definitely find them helpful for building endurance as well as being great for functional strength. I don't really analyse my performance, but feel like it has improved my cycling fitness.

I do six days a week of either cycling/running or calisthenics, and do sometimes find I burn out a bit and have to ease off. Mind you my job is outdoors physical work, forestry ops in the winter can be pretty knackering by themselves.

Cycling is such a specific form of fitness I think it's a good idea to mix it up with something different, unless you're aiming to be properly competitive perhaps.
 
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Daninplymouth

Daninplymouth

Über Member
May be more down to fatigue ? Your body needs fuel ( sugar in your blood ) to work . If you are over doing it your body is telling you to ease up . Take a bit of time out of cycling ( two weeks ) No leg work and i bet you will be smashing it when you get back on the bike .
I think you are right here. Think I may have been over doing it the past few weeks. I have been hitting the weights 4-5times a week but not at a hard level about 60% of what I would do pre lockdown so I wasn’t really factoring these as a full on work out, along with that Iv been cycling at least 4times a week and then doing a mobility routine 3-4times a week. Have been eating a lot more carbs and been adding carb powder into my cycling drinks.
Had a weekend of rest and smashed it on the bike today so think I’m going to play around with my routine a bit and drop weights to 3x a week and upper body only and see how that goes. Just get a bit frustrated as I’m still on furlough if I don’t go gym or cycling I’m stuck in the house all day
 

BigMeatball

Senior Member
Hi, was just after feedback from some of the people who lift on here. How do you fit it all in and do you find weights effect your cycling performance?

Yes, I found weightlifting affected my cycling performance.

I moved from powerlifting to triathlon. For the first 6 months I tried to keep powerlifting in my training plan, although reduced to 2 times a week and it just didn't work.

Having to go for a bike ride the day after I'd squat or deadlift was a nightmare (either my legs or my lower back was sore) and also all the weight I was carrying around on the bike would tire me out quickly on climbs. It also goes the other way: having to squat the day after my weekend long bike ride was just crap. I was always huffing and puffing, sore all the time, tired all the time and ended up not enjoying either.

So, in my experience, powerlifting and triathlon CANNOT co-exist because it's just too many disciplines to train for. BUT, powerlifting and cycling CAN co-exist as long as:
- you don't expect to train 4-5 times in each discipline
- you don't expect to excel in either
 
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Drago

Legendary Member
Yes, it does.

I moved from powerlifting to triathlon. For the first 6 months I tried to keep powerlifting in my training plan, although reduced to 2 times a week and it just didn't work.

Having to go for a bike ride the day after I'd squat or deadlift was a nightmare (either my legs or my lower back was sore) and also all the weight I was carrying around on the bike would tire me out quickly on climbs. It also goes the other way: having to squat the day after my weekend long bike ride was just crap. I was always huffing and puffing, sore all the time, tired all the time and ended up not enjoying either.

So, in my experience, powerlifting and triathlon CANNOT co-exist because it's just too many disciplines to train for. BUT, powerlifting and cycling CAN co-exist as long as:
- you don't expect to train 4-5 times in each discipline
- you don't expect to excel in either
Thats ingtresting, never a problem for me. 6 days a week of both, and big compund exercises with 2 or 3 times my own weight dont seem to drain me. If I went right to the edge and worked up to a 1 rep max then it might be different, but clanging and banging big weight never seems to leave me drained or weak for more than a few minutes.
 

Cuchilo

Prize winning member X2
Location
London
I think you are right here. Think I may have been over doing it the past few weeks. I have been hitting the weights 4-5times a week but not at a hard level about 60% of what I would do pre lockdown so I wasn’t really factoring these as a full on work out, along with that Iv been cycling at least 4times a week and then doing a mobility routine 3-4times a week. Have been eating a lot more carbs and been adding carb powder into my cycling drinks.
Had a weekend of rest and smashed it on the bike today so think I’m going to play around with my routine a bit and drop weights to 3x a week and upper body only and see how that goes. Just get a bit frustrated as I’m still on furlough if I don’t go gym or cycling I’m stuck in the house all day
My take on it is everything is about your body turning everything into blood sugar . Thats what we run on so if you burn that off to fast then you cant function .Rice and pasta is slow burning to make sugar so pretty much crap food if intense training , Very ripe bananas are fantastic .
I try to mix my diet up with good fat , carbs and protein ...... and a kebab ^_^
 
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