I think that sounds very reasonable 
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5x5 sounds like a good place to start but donāt be afraid to cut it back to 3x5 or 5x3 or some sort of pyramid with lower volume as you ride more and maybe find you canāt balance the stress.
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Also, What type of warm up do people do for weights. I have been doing 20min warm up and cool down on gym bike but sense I should maybe do a few reps at much lower weights before the actual sets?
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20 min might be bit more than is required but, similar to on the bike warm ups, gym workouts are pretty individual and might be for as much as a psychological warm up as a physical one. But I like to just warm up with body weight movements and then some with lower weight.
So if Iām doing squats and working sets started at 135 I might do something like:
bodyweight x 10
45 x 10
95 x 6-8
115 x 5-7
135 x 5 (first working set)
And Iāll do some stretching between these sets and also do some arm circles and maybe some band pull aparts to warm up the upper body. And if I feel particularly tight or something then Iāll add more bodyweight or 45# sets with more stretches.
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I would continue through base phase or better year round. To guide you there is a relative intensity chart together with Prilepinās chart. You get rep ranges for percentages of 1RM in Prilepinās and relative intensity of the session in the chart of the same name.
I would personally mix it (which is what I converged to) and do some series of threes one day, fives the other and perhaps sevens on the third one. Changes the stimulus and is more fun.
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With regard to 5x5. Donāt you want to periodize your strength training, just as you would for cycling?
To me, 5x5 would be like jumping right into threshold intervals. I know very little about strength trainingā¦BUT, Iāve listened to Frank Overton discuss cycling-specific strength training and just read an informative article (link below) and from an endurance perspective, they progress from lower weight and higher reps to heavier weight lower reps. Nothing Iāve read has spoken about 5x5 or advised such low reps to start.
Source:
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FWIW although its written more for masters, I suspect the principles apply to all:
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Usually what is recommended is 5-10 mins on a rowing machine. This warms up the whole body better than cycling.
Followed by some dynamic stretching/activation work. Then start with the bar and add warm up sets from there.
If you donāt have access to a rowing machine (or are using some weights at home), then 10 mins of cycling would be great (just enough to get a sweat on). Especially considering the workout is likely to be lower body dominant for you. But maybe add some skipping, or press ups/core work to warm everything above the waist up.
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Sets of three and four repetitions of prime exercises such as deadlifts off of blocks, bench press, seated rows, and front squats are all incredibly useful when you understand when, how and why to program them into a training plan for an athlete. Also understand how they shouldnāt be incorporated into a training plan. For example, donāt hit the gym and immediately go into heavy weights. You first need to go through two stages in the strength training cycleāanatomical adaptations and hypertrophy.
Happy liftingāamazing how good it feels to finally move some weight. Also amazing at how bad it feels trying to ride Tempo/SS the day after a strength sessionā¦legs are fried.
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It gets easier - I started late June and over last 2 months its definitely gotten easier after moving into a maintenance phase. The recent lifting is still a lot of work - heavy work, explosive work, and core stability. More sleep, more work!
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If you have 0 experience of strength training then a period of anatomical adaptation would probably be sensible.
But if you have some history of training and are currently fairly active then I would just start with 3x5 and focus on keeping the form solid and rpe below 7 for a while.
If you are aiming to lift massive weights then doing some higher rep hypertrophy work first may make sense, but for most athletes they will make all the progress they need from linear periodisation of strength focused lifting (3-6 rep range).
Most cyclists are probably concerned only about adding strength, and want to keep mass gain to a minimum. If this is the case then avoiding higher rep work makes sense. Strength is a skill that can only be trained by lifting progressively heavier weights. So lifting something not particularly heavy for lots of reps is going to stimulate mainly hypertrophy. Just training for strength will probably build some muscle mass anyway. But at least it will be functional.
You can probably use 3x5 on squat, deadlift and isolation work (lunges, split squats ect) to add strength for 6 months or so until gains slow down. Then you may want to add another set or two (moving to the 5x5 programming mentioned here), or else try a different program like 5/3/1 ect.
I think most people here wonāt ever get hereā¦
Fwiw, I used 3x5 to increase my squat from 70kg to 140kg (2xbw) in a matter of months. At this point strength wasnāt the biggest limiter for me in my ability as a cyclist so I just strength trained for maintenance. Reducing frequency of sessions and volume of those sessions gave me more energy to focus on riding (such as converting that strength into sprint power).
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Just my 2cents, but you could also look into doing 5/3/1 by Jim Wendler. Very self explanatory and gives you the prescribed percentages per workout. Assuming you are just wanting to lift once or twice a week, you could do 1 day focusing on the squat, and the second day focusing on the deadlift. I personally find this system to be a little less taxing on the muscles (assuming you donāt go overboard with accessory lifts).
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Dear strength gurus,
In a recent cycling podcast (canāt remember which one, too many) the host said that doing some upper body/arm- based strength work immediately after a ride wouldnāt impact any of the aerobic adaptations. IIRC, although the (AMPK/MTOR) signals are conflicting, because they are being sent to different body parts, you can benefit from both adaptation types at the same time without overriding one or the other.
Anyone got any more information, reading or even anecdote on this? Personally if my arms were a little bigger thatād be nice, because currently even āpro-fitā jerseys are baggy round my arms. Iām sure I have a few minutes after a ride to do some extra arm-specific stuff.
I always lift 2 days per week, it honestly makes me feel better. Iām not going to be an Olympic bike racer anytime soon but I do want to live a healthy life. It feels good not feeling like a weak ass human.
I primarily focus on the big 4 lifts (squat, press, bench, deadlift, pull-up) and do a couple full body moves also, like loaded windmill or some kettlebell get ups as an example . 2 days of strength and any extra time during the week I spend on mobility and rest. If I feel Iām lifting too much I drop the weight that week and make sure my form is perfect. I try to lift in the hyper trophy range or max two range. Usually 3 weeks hypertrophy then 3 weeks max rep, long rest periods those weeks. I like lifting personally and itās all individual.
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@chad sorry i maybe i missed something is this long thread. Is it better to do strength on the same day as cyclingday?
So for example:
Monday: restday
Teusday: morning strength, evening cycling
Wednesday: cycling
Thursday: morning strength, evening cycling
Friday: restday
Saturday: morning strength, in day cycling
Sunday endurance cycling
Saturday and sunday i can switch depends on the weather.
But my question is, do i have to do strength on the same day as cycling? I read something about when i do strength on the restday, the legs dont get real rest.
Coach Chad answered that exact question in a recent podcast (canāt remember which one, unfortunately). He pretty much agreed with what you heard in that signaling was at the cellular level. Although he didnāt do a deep dive, he was of the opinion that if different cells - so muscles - were targeted, there was no concern eliciting different signaling pathways.
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thnx. I dont understand your last part
Although he didnāt do a deep dive, he was of the opinion that if different cells - so muscles - were targeted, there was no concern eliciting different signaling pathways.
See this:
which I summarize with:
- high-intensity TrainerRoad workouts in the morning, and strength training in the evening
- low-intensity / short-and-easy endurance / recovery TrainerRoad workouts can be done immediately before strength training (or do them in the morning to maintain morning/evening TR/strength schedule)
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Iām clearly not qualified to answer your question with authority, so take it with a grain of salt, but hereās my takeaway rephrased:
Strength training and endurance training elicit adaptations that are opposite to one another and canāt happen simultaneously. These adaptations, however, happen at the cellular level (within each cell of the muscles). Therefore, you could do an endurance bike workout and elicit endurance-related adaptations in your leg muscles and immediately follow that with sets of heavy pull-ups and elicit strength-related adaptations. This would be true because different and conflicting stimuli were given to independent muscle groups. My understanding is that the same conclusion wouldnāt be true if you were to perform heavy squats right after your bike workout, because then you would be giving the same muscles conflicting signals.
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Is it possible to do strength in the morning and cycling in de evening? This is better in combination with my job.