For example, are you unable to physically push the pedals hard enough (a symptom of this may be that you can ride a 20min effort at almost the same speed as a 3 min effort)
Or maybe you are getting out of breath too quickly?
Or you can make good power, but you are unable to sustain it?

No, none of those things. I am happy climbing, I cope with it well, I do some long rides with big climbs in and enjoy them all, likewise I smash out the short sharp ones and enjoy those too. My evidence for being slow is when I (used to) race. My power output is good (I used to train with a powertap), my power to weight ratio is not. No-one’s going to reach their potential with 8kg extra fat, are they?

I know I can lose weight if I ride 10 hours of base training a week, but I can’t do that any more given I have a family and I work away. So the question is how best to use the time I do have.

I could try and gain power, but I have found that if I do that I end up needing to eat more and I maintain weight. So I’m simply trying somethign new and seeing if it helps my weight, my biking and/or I enjoy it.

I achieved a threshold power* of about 330W whilst training previously. I’d heard suggested that to win a Sport race you’d need a power to weight ratio of 4.2 w/kg. So to get there I could either bring threshold power up to 370W, or lose 10kg. The latter should be much easier than the former, shouldn’t it?

* by which I mean 1/2 hour or 10 mile pace

I achieved a threshold power of about 330W whilst training previously. I’d heard suggested that to win a Sport race you’d need a power to weight ratio of 4.2 w/kg. So to get there I could either bring threshold power up to 370W, or lose 10kg. The latter should be much easier than the former, shouldn’t it?

Hell yeah, much easier to lose 10kg than gain 50W.

I know I can lose weight if I ride 10 hours of base training a week, but I can’t do that any more given I have a family and I work away. So the question is how best to use the time I do have.

This covers it pretty much:

The Southern Yeti – Member
Then if it’s purely weight loss go for maximal calorie burning HIIT/circuit workouts.
Maximise the time you spend in the gym by doing as little rest as possible. Chuck a 250m sprint on the rower into the circuit to keep your HR as high as possible and try not to lift so much weight your muscles ache after. Key to the weight loss will be total volume of work each week not smashing your legs into hypotrophy.

Doesn’t need to have any special workouts, although i’d avoid things that isolate small muscles like biceps/triceps.
Do your exercises in a circuit moving from muscle group to muscle group with minimal rest and keep the HR up. In a busy gym with queues for popular equipment it may be more practical to look at alternative floorwork exercises that cover the same muscle groups.

Good advice, thanks.

One of the biggest faffs so far has been finding and fitting different combinations of weights to the bar for the original workout I was given. I’d much rather jsut leave it at a set weight.

I’d much rather jsut leave it at a set weight.

unfortunatley your legs are bigger than your arms.

I mean I don’t want to change weights between sets, not between exercises.

I mean I don’t want to change weights between sets, not between exercises.

I see.

5×5 is a great work out for cyclists. add pull ups fo a vertical pull.

I have found that adding weight every workout isn’t ideal for hard bike training too. I’m planning on less weight training as i up the bike training (same weights but less progression and 1 session per week rather than 3)

I used to be well over 150kg, and whilst cycling was great for losing weight the quickest and most efficient fat loss period I had was when I was lifting weights seriously, mainly following a routine similar to the Stronglifts 5×5. I was eating 4,000 to 4,500 calories a day and still losing weight.

I put on a lot of muscle, particularly quads and hamstrings, but it was too much muscle to carry around for cycling! The legs were often aching too, so it made cycling a bit of a chore at times.

After breaking my arm it stopped the lifting for a couple of years, but I’m now trying to find the right balance between still being able to lift but not carrying too much weight for cycling. As above doing 5×5 but not pushing the weight upwards week on week would possibly work as a decent balance. If you are MTBing lifting weights makes arm pump a thing of the past too.

My experience of personal trainers is mixed, I know a couple from school who are great, well trained and offer sensible advice. The ones that work at my local gym are useless and offer some off advice – one told me I was squatting too deep when I was just at parallel.

I have found that adding weight every workout isn’t ideal for hard bike training too.

Seem to be discovering that. I said that my legs didn’t ache after doing the big deadlift/squat session on Thursday, which is true. However they were totally shredded on the bike Saturday and Sunday, and the commute was hard work.

And I’m bloody starving and feel like I could eat an entire Pret a Manger.

I have decided I love deadlifting. Really satisfying and actually gives a bit of an endorphin high which seems hard to come by for me these days. Going for 5×5 as suggested.

80kg deadlift, 70kg squat, but it still really hurts my shoulders.

Are you setting up correctly for the squat? Read this:

http://www.landon.net/uploaded/documents/athletics/Strength_and_Conditioning/Squat.pdf

If you get your shoulders arranged right they shouldn’t hurt unless you’re skinny. There’s more technique than most think!

Whilst googling I found his deadlift technique instructions – read this too (page 14 onwards):

http://spartantraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/kelly-starret-basl-sample.pdf

The whole book is good but it’s a literally weighty tome and can be a bit overwhelming!

I read a lot about deadlifting, I’m quite happy with my technique as I have to put a lot of power in and nothing feels bad. As long as I remember to straighten up at the end to relax my back.

First time I tried the bar for squatting I couldn’t do it at all, but this time not so bad. I find it hard to get my hands/arms far back enough, due to shoulder inflexibility.

Those instructions look good, will try and work on it next time.

There’s a lot of range of movement required in the lifts – I have a faulty ankle due to a bad break which was pinned back together and my right shoulder is a bit weird from years of bass playing (wouldn’t be so bad if I’d used a pick!)

Yoga helps me a lot – and I’ve found that my recent habit of sitting cross-legged to meditate has helped with the squat! Definitely find some exercises that increase mobility (I hesitate to call them stretches because that’s not really the best way to approach them…)

I must start yoga or pilates or something, my upper body is stiff as hell.

Just try some of Abi’s routines on Pinkbike.

I also do Scaravelli inspired yoga but that’s rather niche! 😉

I find it hard to get my hands/arms far back enough, due to shoulder inflexibility.

Does your gym have a safety bar for squatting? If so try using that. Much easier hand position

Safety bar? The one on runners that just slides up and down?

So is the weight coming off?

Nope. One of these. Give a much more neutral arm position.

So is the weight coming off?

Of course not 🙂

(yet)

@boardinbob haven’t seen one of those – will have another look.

I’m confused, does the OP want to lose weight or be leaner?

Well no, I don’t care about how I look (see Capt America pictures for evidence). I just want to loose fat to cycle better. I didn’t say ‘lighter’ because I want to keep cycling power.

With that in mind, manage your diet and use your exercise time to train on the bike.

I must start yoga or pilates or something, my upper body is stiff as hell.

Yoga, pilates, weights… stuff I’d love to have time to do but given limited time for exercise as I have to fit around job and family (and STW) time I’m pretty sure that substituting on bike training time for these activities would be to the detriment of making me faster, leaner, or lighter.

However if you enjoy it and want variety then crack on.

I’m confused, does the OP want to lose weight or be leaner?

Lose weight.

With that in mind, manage your diet and use your exercise time to train on the bike.

So you don’t agree with all the advice about weight training to lose weight?

I know I can lose weight if I ride 10 hours a week. But if I don’t have 10 hours, does weight training make sense? Interval training on the bike does not help me lose weight, for whatever reason.

The gym can be done late when the kids are in bed, or I can go for an hour at lunchtime if I’m home, whereas an hour’s biking doesn’t seem to do much – plus the extra 30 mins spent getting ready and cleaning the bike. So it fits in time-wise.

The idea was that changing to something different would help. I seem to have adapted to doing the riding I do, so not much changes.

It’s not just about weight loss though, is it?

The aim is to get faster on the bike and I reckon the best way to do that is to ride your bike. You can do gym work and maybe lose weight but then you won’t have been riding your bike as much. There’s more to being quick than just power and weight.

Interval training on the bike does not help me lose weight, for whatever reason.

I’d be wondering what that reason is. Sounds like you’ve now been doing weights and you’re still not losing weight, for whatever reason. Hmmm.

Sounds like you’ve now been doing weights and you’re still not losing weight, for whatever reason

I haven’t done it long or consistently enough for it to have an effect. I ended up going away with work just after I got this programme, so I didn’t have the facilities to do the programme so I just sort of made it up a bit – then I was ill, etc etc.

I’ll give 5×5 a chnace and do it properly, see how I feel. And I’ll ride.

You can do gym work and maybe lose weight but then you won’t have been riding your bike as much

I’ve been riding for long enough that I know I can pick up bike fitness easily enough. But losing weight is pretty difficult, so I’m focusing on this. A large part of the problem in the past has been focusing on bike fitness, training hard there, which means I have to eat more to fuel the hard training and the weight stays the same. Currently planning on more low intensity cycling and the weights, will see how I get on.

Be interesting to see how you get on. I can’t see why, if you don’t lose weight because you eat more when training hard on the bike, that the same won’t happen with weight training.

TBH it just sounds like you’re just eating too much 🙂

I’ve started doing a fasted commute 3 times a week again and have lost 5-6lbs in a fortnight.

Eschew the recovery can of coke and you’ll be lighter in no time.

I did fasting commutes. Didn’t lose weight. Ate little. Endurance improved a lot, legs stayed incredibly tired all the time.

Are you sure you didn’t have an overactive H2M reflex at the same time?

Yes, I am, for that period.

BF seems to be lower at around 18%, it was 22% a while back.

Quite enjoying Stronglifts 5×5.

It started me off at 42.5kg squat a month ago which was very easy, now on 65kg squat and 55kg for the bench press, both still reasonably easy. Looking slightly slimmer but weigh the same.

Feel like a significant improvement in leg power on the bike. 5 hour mountain slog last weekend and finished strongly despite being incredibly hungry.

I’m sure you all care.

Up to 82.5kg squat now – it’s getting to be a proper effort. 37.5kg overhead press is hard though and I may have my first failure tonight at 40kg.

Still weigh the same and subcutaneous fat also doesn’t seem to have gone down much visibly but I somehow look slightly less pot-bellied. Definitely buliding muscle under the fat though.

I care Molly. Keep it up.

I’m only posting to keep myself honest 🙂 May do another selfie soon.

I care, too. In fact I was going to bump it to enquire but thought you’d probably take it the wrong way.

My squat is the same weight (with bar) and yeah, quite hard work to stop it becoming a Good Morning. Bench is up but the overhead is seated so although I’m lifting the same my standing was 10kg more before surgery last year. Deadlift I had to dial back as an old upper chest injury started up again. Physio’s helped but I’m only upping the weight by 2.5kg to try and get back to the 140 before the recent strain.

I don’t know about you but I’m eating shit loads (clean) and not suffering like I did when I tried it in calorie deficit. Fat loss is slow but as you write, muscle makes its way through. This week (though probably next week or the week after 🙂 ) I’ll start the hill sprints and box jumps but the mesh makes itself known whenever I move too fast so that’s my excuse and definitely not the 10 minutes of vomit inducing struggle.

Pehaps an STW Shirt-Off is in order.*

* JK

Edit : I’m only doing 3×5 on the squat, too, not 5×5 as on the presses and row. I’m 49 so that’s my excuse. I have a love/hate relationship with squats even though I’m short and gravity is on my side.

I’m not finding that the lifting makes me eat more. If anything less, because they replace a run or a bike ride which, although I can manage them because I’m so used to it, they do take more out of my system that it then demands be put back in. I’m only doing 2 workouts a week instead of three, because I’m still running and biking.

The problem during April when I settled into 5×5 was that due to the great weaather I was doing lots of riding at the weekends. So I’d still have slightly sore legs come Tuesday which made the sqauts hard. Didn’t do so much riding the last few weeks and the squats are easier.

I originally decided to eat moderate carbs – small bits of pasta, wholemeal bread etc – whilst doing this and felt fine, but now I am seeing what happens if I run a significant calorie deficit. But the strength gains seem to be really helping on the bike, so maybe it’s not worth trying to diet. If I can sqaut 1.5x body weight at the end of the summer, it should generate a load more power on the bike, shouldn’t it?

I have a love/hate relationship with squats

I like them. Prefer deadlifts but the Stronglifts guy doesn’t so I don’t do many 🙂

May do another selfie soon.

Who’s currently in possession of the STW ‘sensual sock’?

This is interesting:

https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/why-serious-cyclists-should-consider-strength-training

Didn’t do so much riding the last few weeks and the squats are easier.

I found it difficult to keep the weight increase going when I combined cycling with weights. The 10 – 15 mins of hill sprints and box jumps straight after the weights session is much more manageable for me. Definitely wouldn’t consider riding on a rest day but I’m lifting for strength and body recomposition at the moment hence the calorie surplus – it’s deliberate rather than forced through lifting. Better for recovery, too.

I am seeing what happens if I run a significant calorie deficit.

I tried that late last year – got down to 800kcal before injuries and tendon pain started and the fat fell away in no time. Looked good, tho…

Also, last year when I was still cycling on the odd occasion, I hooked up with a friend for a local ride which always starts with bloody Stocking Lane – a bastard of a climb when cold – but to my surprise I killed it without any issues on the leg muscles, suffering only in the lung department.

Heavy squats are good for cycling, for sure.

The Stronglifts app gave me really light weights to start with, so I’m only now beginning to feel like it’s a workout. But whilst my legs are pushing hard they don’t really get tired; my arms do though. But it keeps on ramping up so it’ll happen 🙂

Re tendon pain.. I found that with the squatting my ITB pain has come back on the run the following day.

Just had a salad for lunch…