I like riding my bike. I want to be better at it. I also want to stop being skinny fat.

Conventional wisdom says that to better at riding your bike you should ride it more. But for health reasons, vanity and an interest in other sports I know I should be lifting weights as well to alter my body composition.

The question is, how do I effectively combine riding my bike, doing HIIT on the turbo and lifting weights with overcooking myself (in my 40s) and thwarting progress.

So, what could a decent programme with weights or kettlebells look like?

Or should I investigate the crossfit route where you get your cardio from lifting weights quickly?

Hit me up with your tales of physiques transformed or best broscience insights please 🙂

I did something along these lines throughout 2013. 3 weight sessions, 3 big cardio sessions.

It sort of worked, but the time commitment was huge and to be honest I couldn’t get the weight on that the lifting required. I ate cleanly and LOTS of it, but with that much going on it just got used up.

That said, it was still the fittest and strongest I’ve ever been.

If I was doing it again, I’d probably do the Stronglifts program along with regular bike riding and swimming/running. I still reckon it would be hard to hit the weight gain needed for growth if you’re banging out a few high intensity cardio sessions each week though.

I’m not a big fan of the “cardio” label as IMO it oversimplifies endurance training and ignores the fact that weights/HIIT are actually really good CV workouts.

Personally I find that if you’re cycling lots or lifting weights properly (with the goal of getting bigger and/or stronger) then either will knacker you out so you’ll have to compromise on one or you won’t get much out of either. (Might be different if you’re in your 20s!)

So I tend to do weights more heavily in the winter when I’m not riding so much and knock them back to a “maintenance” level in spring-early autumn when I’m riding alot. I’ve never been able to make any strength gains whilst doing loads of cycling – probably the riding soaks up too many calories. Might be different if you ate an absolute crapload of food but then you still have to factor in recovery time after each hard session.

There’s a reason why most cyclists aren’t big & muscular! If you really want to look like that you’ll probably have to scale the cycling right back for 3-6 months and hit the weights properly. Not personally something I’d want to be starting just as the weather is getting good though!

Cardio and weightlifting? Try Crossfit*!!

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnjYyfkcaNI[/video]

*don’t actually try crossfit 😆

Kettlebells

I swapped from doing mainly just cycling to just weight lifting and my body composition has changed loads, about 2 stone heavier (mainly muscle, but also a fair bit of flab).

I’m now adding in kettlebell circuits to try and burn off some of the flab….

I know it’s not exactly what you have asked, but taking up swimming has solved your riddle for me.

It is complimentary to any cycling and running you are doing as it trains you to control your breathing, is a bit “cardio” if you want it to be, and is a bit resistance like weights. Bulks out your shoulders, arms and chest, works your core, and if how hungry you are afterwards is anythign to go by must burn a few calories too.

to be honest I couldn’t get the weight on that the lifting required.

I had this and the solution was to stop all other training, so I only did weight lifting on alternate days and ate a shit load or protein powder. Went from 38″ to 43″ chest in a year without doing a single bench press (only cleans, snatches, deadlifts, squats). My quads went from 52cm diameter to 60cm from the squatting. Sadly my waist went from 32″ to 35″ from the flab gain due to zero cardio 🙁

curcuit training which consists of resistant exercises and cardio excercise for short periods of time?

Everything zilog said.

Kettlebells

Sandbags

how much time per week do you have for exercise mate?

in the end you may have to accept you cant be a racing snake (is that what you mean by ‘better at riding my bike’?) and a bodybuilding god at the same time 🙂

if you mixed the two id guess your body reacts to averages and would ‘settle’ somewhere between the two (but im not an expert).

main thing to make sure happen is that you enjoy what you do and dont see it as a chore. i havent ridden for ages now, i decided to go the ‘weights’ route, mainly cos my riding buddies all went to roadbikes plus theres nothing inspiring close by, plus im lucky enough to be able to use the gym as part of my working day. i enjoy it tho, and seeing changes happen. (no matter how small) 🙁

I’ve been doing 2-4 sessions a week in the work gym (its a tenner a month ffs so why not) and tend to alternate between strength/core work 1 day and a session on the static bike the next.

The aim was to increase strength and fend of the winter flab, considering the amount of calories I’m burning through I was surprised my weight didnt really go anywhere but I look trimmer and feel stronger. I really need to get out on a decent run to see how I perform on some of my local climbs.

I do weights, then 90 seconds of skipping or mountain-climbers with a bosu ball in between sets.

Try and you’ll be the sweatiest person in the gym, trust me!

Your wights programme has to be complimentary to your cycling programme. If you’re talking about hard core bodybuilding and builing significant muscle mass, then the story used to be (at least a good few years ago)that body builders heart and CV system becomes enlarged with thickened walls as you’re trying to pump large volumes of blood around your body at a high blood pressure at low heart rate. Whereas cyclists and other endurance athletes develop a more efficient heart and CV system designed to be pumping blood around the body at a smaller volume per pump, but at a higher sustained heart rate. Clearly these two things are incompatable.

But it should be possible to incorporate a weights programme geared around burning fat and improving muscle tone, fittness and endurance that compliments your cycling and appeals to your vanity. Not sure if this is still current thinking or has since been disproved – of course the effect of drug abuse in bodybuilding might have a signficant effect – but then drugs are rife in other sports too.

I can only comment on what’s worked for me but I think, as above, as long as it’s within reason you can develop enough muscle to look good and still ride regularly.

My routine originally only included a few push ups, pike press, sit ups, dips and curls and a 15 mile ride daily. Now I go for a very fast walk for an hour and a half on M/W/F as well as the muscle building routine (which has been severely raised) and a ride on T/Th/S and occasionally, if I have time, on any damn day I feel like it.

The increase in muscle building has noticeably increased my arm and chest size and I’m showing a 4.5 pack without flexing from doing hanging leg raises. I’m eating about 3/4 the amount of protein suggested by most bodybuilding web pages but it doesn’t seem to hinder the muscle development – everyone’s different and all that.

I’m not trying to look like the Hulk, though – just get back to where I was before I gained all this bloomin’ fat.

Edit – late forties, if that matters.

Just ride your bike – that way you are guaranteed never to miss leg day.

I know I should be lifting weights as well to alter my body composition

There are alternatives. Single speeding helps build shoulder & leg strength as well as, obviously, being a cardio exercise.

Calisthenics exercises like levers & flags build awesome core/back/shoulder/everything strength without bulking up too much and give a real sense of progression that just being able to train with increasingly heavier weights doesn’t quite match. They also burn a shitload of calories cos they’re proper hard

Calisthenics exercises like levers & flags

Had to Google those two. I’ve been doing levers (front and back) without even realising they had a name. Bloody hard work!

I bought a 16kg Kettlebell, Enter the Kettlebell by Pavel Tsatsouline, sourced a copy of the video and am following the Art of Strength ETK workbook (google it for a PDF copy)

The swings, cleans and snatches involve a lot of leg work so I’ve relaxed my riding while doing the programme – I figure I’m getting more than enough fitness CV, strength and flexibility and that this all benefits my riding.

I’m half way through the programme (though it’s taken me about twice the time) and I’ve significantly increased leg, core and Shoulder strength. The rest of the upper body is starting to build. But what’s cool is that I move better in everything I do and get less niggly strains (I am not just using my legs for everything).

Started hitting the weights hard about 4 months ago including pull ups, dips, dead lifts and squats, the transformation in that time is incredible. I’m going down the bodybuilding route, moderate weights with strict form, occasionally going to failure. I have increased my calorie intake by about 50%, with more protein and take creatine supplement.
I also boulder indoors and this has also improved with the weight training.
I’ve never been one for taking my shirt off in public, but this summer i will be making an exception, i’ve bloody earned it!
Cardio isn’t slogging for hours, it can be achieved pretty quickly with a skipping rope.
For the record i’m 52 in a few months and can now do 10 pull ups with 20kg.
The only problem is, i can hear the theme to Rocky constantly playing in my head and can drop dragon flags into any conversation.

Interesting and more encouraging than I’d expected – thank you.

Time is a concern because of long hours at work, but I’m also hoping to use a structured training plan as a way to re-establish boundaries at work and claim some of my life back.

Sounds like kettlebells could be the way forward.