Will moderate gym work to go with my training leave me flat for races?
I have gym work on my program with the local sport academy.
I am worried that now is a bad time to start on gym work as it is the middle of the season.
Thanks
joe

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If you have to do gym work. Stick to upper body stuff...

If your legs feel tight a zone 1 ride for 20 - 30 mins will loosen them up without making the tightening worse.

Both of the above can be slotted into a "rest" day.

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"Ride it like you've just stolen it!"

it shouldn't leave you flat - on the contrary it should give you more strength

if you do heavy strength work then it will definitely contribute to your legs feeling "stale"

make sure you include some core strength work for your abs and lower back to balance out

Maybe I didn't explain my post.

If you are riding 6 days a week, please please please dont go to the gym on your rest day and do lower body work outs.

The body needs it's rest days. Most coaches will suggest either light spinning (zone 1 heart rate - most cyclists grannies would overtake them in zone 1) or upper body work out.

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"Ride it like you've just stolen it!"

Joe's doing 500km a week and being 16 his muscles are just starting their max growth year.

I agree that you must have 1 day a week with no training, and some will argue that gym work has no place in road cycling (Joe is a roadie not a trackie and he's limited to tiny gears until the end of the year) but I beleive strength and power are important in road.

He's trying to prepare for next when he will be allowed to ride a 53*15. Currently he's limited to a 39*14.

Rather than spend a day concentrating on gym work (and the required recovery while you put on muscle), I'd do strength work on the bike.

Will it cause you to feel flat? I think that depends on the person, but I've spoken to and watched many who have been flat during gym work.

39*14 @ 16year??? At that age whe were allowed to use 50*16, and I still had problems above 45, last year it was 52*14 and that was quite fine, although something bigger is not that bad
For the gym thing: train your abs and lower back, it's no problem but not the day before the race. And you don't really need a rest day. 1-2 hour at low speed riding is not bad.

500 km a week at 16???????????

does that not freak anybody else out???

Thats 52miles a day for 6 days a week, factoring in a rest day.

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"Ride it like you've just stolen it!"

Factoring in that he even has a rest day every week, that's freaking much!! I'm 22, riding for a Continental Team and average 500km a week riding every day...

not really. if you've got the time for it, all the better! i would if i could

one of the elite guys racing for our uni club was averageing 1000k/week riding six or seven days a week this past year...and doing his degree at the same time! he's having to work back up to it now, as he had a bad crash and fractured his pelvis just before the beginning of term. from what i remember he's just turned 19.

Hope thats on a road bike Lloyd...

Imagine the stress on his body of 1000k of off-road miles. For those of you still in "old money" thats 625miles. Over 100 miles a day if you treat yourself to a rest day...

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"Ride it like you've just stolen it!"

It's more than your average rider, but would such miles have an impact on the effectiveness of weight training?

I required several days of recovery work after the gym when I was gyming. This was due to my body type (I put on lots of muscle but require more time to recover).

I stopped going to the gym 2 years ago and my riding improved out of sight.

While each body responds differently to training, I wonder if including a gym session during 500km of training might be asking a bit too much.

I'm all for weights during the off season, but given your current training load, tread carefuly with your training. Some programs can run an athlete into the ground, the successful athlete will learn what training their body responds to and everyone is different.

What experiences do other riders have with weights during road season?

there's a difference between 19, as mentioned in one of the other posts, 22 in the above one and and 15 - a dramatic difference in both the physical and psychological maturity of the athlete involved!!!

in terms of lifting during the season I have also fonud that it does not leave me with enough recovery time - but again I tend to be a little gung ho in the gym...

Curly: Is this plan from Sutto, or someone else? It sound like a one of his, and they tend to be very effective - but make sure you watch your position closely as you grow and do lots of flexability work to go with it.

I started doing Iyengar Yoga about 2.5 years ago and when its upper body work is combined with the flexability work I'd prefer it to weights. But, as always you and your coach know your program better than I do.

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Nope its a plan from Mick chapman, (if you know him) hes the head coach at the hunter academy of sport. I talked to him yesterday about the weights and he said that they work, so im gonna trust him, it hasnt left me flat yet, i did gym work last week and had an awesome race on sat.

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