Hi

I am getting myself back into shape - I used to compete and club and local level but have basically been off the bike (apart from the odd commute to work) for the last 5 years.

The wife & I have joined a gym - going alternative mornings (she does 3 days I do 2) before coming home to get the kids up & ready for school. I have restarted my commute - approx 10 miles each way.

The trainer at the gym has given me a range of exercises to do on the 'gym days' - my query is this.

Would I get more benefit from doing additional 'sprint' efforts and/or a high intensity turbo session on the 'gym day' or on a 'non-gym' day? I'm thinking that doing 2 really intense days with gym & turbo would promotee some sort of overcompensation on the other days.

I've been at this for about 3 weeks and plan to get another few weeks under my belt before I start the intervals.

The weekends are taken up with Swimming & Judo on Saturday and I'm usually out on the bike with my kids on Sundays. I could probably fit another turbo session in on these days but I don't have the time to spend hours on the bike.

Any comments would be appreciated!

F.

Hi mate,

Im not sure what your ultimate goals are but if you want to improve your performance on the bike you need to ease your way into your training. If you've been 5 years off the bike you need to work on your endurance first. Easy long rides with no more then FTP/tempo efforts. Some people advocate that intervals should only be done after a full year of base training.

If you jump straight into hard turbo sessions you will risk getting some bad injury. Strength workouts at the gym dont really help your cycling either. They might improve your core though but so does cycling.

_________________
Canyon Ultimate SLX 2013 + DA9070 + Red Quarq + Corima Aero+ MCC (Ordered! 6.0kg)
Canyon AeroRoad + DA9000 + Lightning Power2Max + MCU's (6.5kg)
Cervelo P4 + G3 Powertap (7.78kg)
Cervelo SLC + SRAM Red 2013 + Red Quarq (6.8kg)

I recently got a trainer and looked into training videos, since I already use the P90X video series to stay fit. I found this video series http://www.youtube.com/user/3LCTV
Definitely a great workout, You can buy the videos on ebay or from Amazon. They DVD's are multi region and shipping from The Isle of Man was free and fast. I sweat bullets and see huge results off the trainer.

Have a look on the TACX website for lots of advice on training plans plus lots of free downloads. Not as easy to follow as a training video, but lots to get you started there. As other posters say, build up the training - don't go crazy too early.

Cheers. Martin

_________________
S-works 2012 in Red viewtopic.php?f=10&t=111951" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What exercises have you been prescribed in the gym? If it doesn't involve squats get a new program.

I have also not understood the notion that you have to go real easy for months to build up a "base". Sod that, smash intervals from the get go. Plenty of info in these forums on short workouts.

_________________
"Physiology is all just propaganda and lies... all waiting to be disproven by the next study."
"I'm not a real doctor; But I am a real worm; I am an actual worm." - TMBG

John 7:15

Jeremiah 5:21

_________________
"Physiology is all just propaganda and lies... all waiting to be disproven by the next study."
"I'm not a real doctor; But I am a real worm; I am an actual worm." - TMBG

John 7:15 - If you look at that verse in context, the person who asked that question got owned.

_________________
Cervélo S2 2012 Red
Great minds think alike... sadly, so do the mediocre ones.

Finbar,

If the gym work is intervals/circuits, then maybe use the alternate days to build endurance at sustainable heart rates on the bike, focusing on exceeding 1 hour at first, then build from there. Watch the HR.
Cycling is a specific sport, meaning that riding slow always is as wrong as trying to always go hard.
Alternate and scope your workouts for objective results that probably will take time to rebuild after 5 years..
Set some goals, then train to meet them.. as you obviously know that from racing before I suppose.

Check out the website by Joe Friel (he has also written about 5 books and has coached Olympic athletes) and maybe have a look around at what Guy Thibault has written on MAP. Write down the info so you can keep track.

Respect your progress plan incorporating sufficient rest/recovery and take it from there. Diet is important.

Don't take the above as gospel, find out what works for you to achieve your objectives.

Party.

Pad.

I joined a gym

The only things that helped cycling were:
1) Spinning classes, essentialy a turbo session lead by a masochist with no particular goal.
2) Cardio intervals, I built up from 10min row/bike/run/step to 25min of each (so inc a warmup, 2 hours, no rest between machines), 2 hours steady state on a gym buike would be horrific, but 20-25min on each machine was bearable.
3) Swimming, good for core strength and loseing weight, and you can do it on rest days without worying about recovery as it's low impact and different enough from leg based cardio and cycling. Good for 'smashing intervals' one day and still getting in some calorie burning the next.

Better than all 4 though was quitting the gym and getting a turbo ant+ dongle/sensors/HR strap and a subscription to trainer road. Most hills round here are 1-5min so I just do 2x20 3 days a week and some recovery spins on a self made session which just waves between 60-80% FTP (idealy 70% constant would be better, but I needed a moving goal to focus on otherwise I got distracted). Cycling's quite specific, so it wont deliver a beach body, but will make you ride quicker.