Starting gym just before summer after a year off..?

Training
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Ideally, I’d like to start in the off-season, but after taking a year off from cycling, I want to do everything possible to build my fitness effectively… Should I postpone going to the gym until the off-season and concentrate solely on my TR workouts, or would incorporating 1-2 gym sessions per week be beneficial for my training? Keep in mind that I’m a gym novice, so I’m likely to be very achey. :sweat_smile:

Thanks.

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Yes do it. Periodize your gym work as you do for your bike work .

In regards to your DOMS if you start slow and build you can limit your soreness.

Figure out if gym is a supplement to your bike or visa versa and crack on. …

Good luck

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If you’d had a year off cycling you’re basically in an offseason anyway. Have a month of getting back into the routine of cycling and work in 2 workouts separated by a few days at least and go from there.

Allow yourself to deal with the mental anguish of getting on the bike after a squat day and have to turn the pedals at 100w. Over time this gets easier as you get more experienced.

Good luck

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After a year off maybe start with a block of Z2 while your legs are getting used to the gym routine. Then the soreness wouldn’t be a big deal.

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If you have enough time to fit in a couple of gym sessions each week, I think it would be worth it! It’s almost always beneficial to do some strength work in addition to your on-bike training – even if you’re just doing some simple bodyweight exercises when starting.

Here are a few TR resources that might be helpful to go over:

You’re right that you’ll probably feel some aches/delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) when starting out, but you’ll likely start to feel better and better as you keep up with strength training over time. It’s a great way to build a solid foundation to feel stronger on the bike, and it’s also excellent for injury prevention – which keeps you training consistently over the long term.

Try to keep your strength days lined up with your harder interval sessions in your cycling plan so your easier days stay easy. That will help you recover before the next hard workout in your plan.

Hope this helps – feel free to let me know if you have any additional questions!

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