Resistance Training

doyler78

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/training- ... allen.aspx

I'm looking at the 250 watt programme (just being nosey)

Am I being thick or does that advocate 2 hour resistance sessions?

Just interested in how long you guys that do do resistance training sessions do them for because that seems a huge chunk of anyone's time.

Not really interested in the whole argument about whether resistance training is or is not a productive use of time for the ordinary cyclist. Just interested in whether people would actually do that sort of training.

ut_och_cykla

it appears to advocate 6 hours a week - More than 2 hours a week sounds like a lot to me (I'm a weight training advocate BTW!) and would really only fit into early winter training. If youve got 6 hours a week for weight trianing I would suggest halving it and riding for teh other 3 hours!

Escargot

IMHO 2 hour sessions are a bit much. General rule of thumb is that you should do 1-1.5 hours max and then get out of the gym.

It really depends on your goals i.e. strength, hypertrophy, but in most cases if you do an hour at high intensity you will be ready to leave the gym!! Either way it's probably best to do one hour at high intensity than two hours of drifting about.

I currently do three/four 1 hour sessions and would like to do more but don't have the time.

Alex_Simmons/RST

doyler78 wrote:

Am I being thick or does that advocate 2 hour resistance sessions?

No, you are not being thick. Yes, it has 3 x 2hr weight session listed in the first week. These 6 hours are in addition to the 8-12 hours listed for on bike training. The specific exercises intended for the weight session would not appear to be part of the plan.

hunterpeaks

Just to chime in here.
So, when you do weights in the off-season, it might take an hour and half for the first couple of weeks to learn the flow of the exercises, figure out which people to push out of the way to get to the machine, etc. ;-)
WIthin two weeks though you should be able to nail the routine within an hour or 1hour 15minutes max. The additional time is for cardio cross training, which is really up to you, so all total in the gym you could spend 3 hours if you wanted or more!
Hope this clears it up.

Hunter

hopper1

I do +/-45 mins, 5 days a week, purely for maintenance.
Then I do 8-10 hours on the bike.
At the mo I'm fighting my weight, so I'm running as soon as I get out of bed (45 mins), 5 days a week, too!... :roll:

doyler78

Thanks all. Was a bit busy. Only getting back on this tonight. Anyway seems not too many would be doing such programmes though I do note what Hunter says about that being a max time for someone new to a programme to allow them time to familarise themselves with the new routine. Have to say though I don't know if someone reading those snapshots would actually understand that important point and therefore they could be quite taken aback by them as I was especially when you consider these are part of pretty low FTP training plans also.

3 x 45 min sessions a week is about all I can cope without going into boredom meltdown And again on what Hunter said that programme can actually be squeezed into about 25 mins if I'm in a real rush as I was last week on one of my sessions.

Escargot

Just bear in mind that although your time will speed up initially it will then go the other way, depending on what you're trying to achieve (sorry to add to the boredom of doing more weights ).

As your body adapts you will undoubtedly get stronger so you will need to increase the weight to get anything meaninful out of doing resistance work. You will then invariably reach a point where the rest period needs to be lengthened i.e. from 30 secs to 60 to 90 etc. as doing each set (of say 10-12 reps or whatever) takes more out of your body.

warrior4life

If by resitance training you mean weights i think 2 to 3 times a week is ample for cycling.

Im a personal trainer at David Lloyd and a former bodybuilder and i've tried all kinds of training..

The basic theory is any overload works, if you train for 2 hrs you'll burn alot of calories, burn fat and have not much energy.. To get top end power i'd go low rep heavy weights, 3 stets of 5-8 squats etc..

You should check out heavy duty training because its the type that helps most for me with cycling.

Ive read lots about high rep work..20 reps etc but thats relly no nearer to the thousands of revolutions that you will do riding the bike than 8 reps is..

Save your energy for the bike, short intense weigths sessions to build power... if you can do 20 reps of an exercise then the first ten to fifteen repetitions are so your body doesnt need to adapt at all, its only the last 5 that count..

Also you will be training for 8-12 weeks before you see major change, up the protein!!!

warrior4life

45 mins 2 to 3 times a week...