This winter season is the first time I’m spending a significant amount of time in the gym. I’m trying to figure out the best way to combine weight work with lots of aerobic volume on the bike & run. The worry I have is that doing weights on the same day as a bike or run will detract from the benefits of both, or that I’ll be more likely to develop an overuse injury. I’ll add that I am somewhat injury prone due to muscle imbalance/weakness, which is one reason I’m lifting.
I’m guessing there isn’t a single recommended formula, but I’m curious how other people do it. Do you do weights before or after your run or bike? Do you have days that are just weights, and do you consider those recovery days? How long do you wait between workouts, or do you just do one after the other?
There are many ways of doing it, but I think one rule that almost everyone will agree with is do not run immediately after lifting. Hard cycling workouts would not be a great idea either. If you want another workout immediately after lifting, try swimming. Stay away from the hot tub/steam room after lifting. Remember exercise doesn’t make you stronger, recovering after exercise makes you stronger. Exercise without recovery is pointless.
Many people lift in the off season when they aren’t running and cycling so much. Do you not have an off season?
I like to take 36-48 hours between very hard workouts. Athletes with more experience can stack tough workouts within the same day, but still need 36-48 hours between their tough days.
The Triathletes Training Bible by Joe Friel has good sections on planning your week and weight lifting. Articles by Mark Allen and Gordo also have lots to say about lifting and training.
I did one work out last year that is good for increasing pain threshold. Actually its more for building leg strength and foot speed when your legs are fatigued.
2 x 50 - 100 squats with 1/3 of your body weight run 1 mile on the treadmill hard (minute or two slower than 5K pace)
1 x 50 - 100 squats with 1/4 of your body weight run 1 mile on the treadmill hard as close to your 5K pace as possible
Do this on Friday or Saturday because you legs will hate you the next day.
I found that doing a recovery spin on a bike for 15-20+ mins after lifting w/ legs (squat, leg press, etc) is very helpful for making sure your lifting strength becomes cycling strength. Which is the whole point.
A coupla yrs ago, I lifted like a madman over the winter, and due to the lack of doing the cycling aftewards (to “spin it in”), I found that my newly gained strength and power did squat (pun intended) for me on the bike.
Second the idea that running after lifting (well, lower body anyway) probably isn’t a great idea, but running beforehand is fine, and a nice warmup.
I’d recommend keeping whatever cardio you do on the day of lifting in Z1 or Z2 at the most.
Not sure what your routine is but we have had good success in the offseason doing an am or midday lift and then an evening aerobic maintenance routine. This allows for some post life recovery time but you still get the benefits of the double.
If a split routine is not an option, I would lift at the end of a workout. This allows you to pre-exhaust the muscle and reduces the potential for overuse injuries. Lifting and then running or swimming are going to leave you prone to injury as these are form intensive exercises and form breaks down when muscle fatigue is high. Its not the engine that falls off, it’s the wheels.
Not agreeing or disagreeing, just wondering what the logic is?
2 reasons, increased injury risk and decreasing return on investment.
After lifting your legs are worn out, increasing the chances of injury. Running has a lot of injury risk anyway don’t make it worse.
After lifting, the quality of a run or hard bike is going to be very low. Low quality workouts don’t give you the physio effect that you were looking for and have an inordinately high cost in terms of recovery.
Off season is a tricky subject that I don’t have mastered. However, most endurance athletes have a period of down time in which they don’t do structured or high volume training. Off season is important to prevent burn out and to allow the body time to heal.