Just wondering what people’s opinions are on cycling the day after a heavy legs session in the gym the day before…..

I can hardly walk today, and I cant decide if forcing myself to ride to work later will be a good thing or a bad thing.

Good thing. Flush out the damage. Go gentle so you don’t use the type 2 fibres (which I hope you were hitting).

Why you doing heavy leg sessions if you’re a cyclist? Are you Chris Hoy?

Because I do lots of strength training, and enjoy it (kind of) lol. Can’t imagine Chris Hoy would need the opinion of the STW massive.

I squat or dead 3 times a week, so riding often ends up the day after a session of leg work. It doesn’t seem to do any harm and can, at least temporarily, alleviate any pain. Stamina seems to suffer after a couple of hours riding though, particularly in the quads.

If the OP can hardly walk though after a legs session I’d look at how he is training.

+1 for both of Mcnulty’s points. I usually take it pretty easy after doing squats/deads though, as the more stress you put on your legs with cycling the less you’ll get out of the weights. A gentle recovery ride/commute etc can be beneficial, especially immediately after doing weights as this then acts as your cool down (which I am often guilty of skipping otherwise 🙁 )

Doesnt sound like he does it too often.. Ime that’s what happens if you lay off for too long then come back a little too keen.

Yes could be. Consistency will give better results than going very hard/heavy on an irregular basis IMO.

I badly monged myself in Feb ’12 (totally ruptured my patellar tendon, so dealing with that plus leg strength rebuild from approximately nil since then) so have been balancing strength training and riding for 18 months under close supervision from physio – thank **** for work PMI…

Seems a gentle ride a day after a heavy gym session is a good thing – basically been working my quads to fail then repeating three times in a session once or twice a week. Mix of exentric and eccentric loading in fhe gym and a gentle 45-60min spin the day after seems to help with the DOMS and general conditioning.

Stretching and sports massage work is also really helpful, plus don’t forget core work too, got to have something to hang all your leg strength off.