Sure I remember. You're that young chap that left my cheese out in the wind!AmpedCycle said:I've got a question for you, doctor morbius, since you seem to have a general idea about the question I'm going to ask, even though it doesn't relate to your post.
I've lost muscle mass and strength in the gym over the last 3 months as a result of decreased gym time. In may, for instance, I was working out 3 times per week. This switched to once per week "to maintain" (in the words of the atheltic coach at the gym) from that point until now. During this time period, my cycling has been relatively constant in terms of frequency, duration, and exertion.
The routine I was on used the same exercises repeated three times per week. I see that your own workout program has you hitting body parts once per week (or one body part per 5 days).
How can my frequency decline at the gym account for such a dramatic decrease in strength and size? I'm sure you'll remember me... I've had some conversations on here before with you through the message network. I'm the 24 year old guy, 165 pounds, 200 miles/week average (or maybe 220).
I did make a final response on that thread a while back. I don't know if you've read it ... http://www.cyclingforums.com/t278030-.html
I've tried many weight training routines over the years and have felt that none of them were optimum at everything but they may have been good at some things.
I've tried the once per week method and never made any progress on it at all unless it was at the beginning of a period where I'd had mucho time off. It was just way too much time (for me) between training the vast majority of bodyparts, the exception being quads, hamstrings and lower back. They tended to do alright on such a program. However, arms, abs, calves, delts, chest, traps and even lats were undertrained on a once a week program.
Note that some people tend to thrive on this type of program but I never did. A noted strength coach, Charles Poliquin, says that training each bodypart once a week is OK for some people for hypertrophy but it is too long between bouts to increase strength. In my case it was too long for either to improve. Felt_Rider who occasionally posts on this board and was once a competitive bodybuilder seems to like it, however.
I've also tried training each bodypart three times per week and found it to be valuable for short time frames for upper body work only. I did it one summer and looked harder and more sculpted but in the long run it was too frequent to maintain and I also ended up with a shoulder injury.
Basically, no matter how you split up your weight routine something is going to suffer so it becomes a kind of a circus act trying to juggle the various routines in order to try and give each muscle group it's fair shake. Doing my current 5 day routine (outlined above) I feel like most bodyparts are getting worked at an almost optimum level. Upper legs could use an extra day of rest and arms need to be worked more frequently. Everything else seems to like what I'm doing. And it's been especially good for overall recovery.
In your case, doing 200+ miles of cycling per week and trying to lift, it becomes a real circus act. Instead of just juggling some bowling pins it's more like those guys who spin about 20 plates on the poles and keeping them all spinning without falling down and breaking.
As I recall you had lost about 12 lbs of bodyweight? Although that may sound like quite a bit it really isn't. I've already gained 5 lbs just in 2 1/2 weeks just because I started lifting again. So if you plan to cut back on cycling for Winter and hit the gym a little more you will easily gain back the weight you lost.
When you do start lifting more, instead of just doing each bodypart 3 times a week, and cut back on cycling some I would suggest doing a split routine like push/pull and doing it this way...
Week A:
Monday: Push - chest, delts, triceps
Wednesday: Pull - lats, biceps, abs
Friday: Push
Week B:
Monday: Pull
Wednesday: Push
Friday: Pull
Repeat Week A:
This way each bodypart will be worked every 4 to 5 days. This should work out fairly well for you especially if you plan to train only upper body and abs and save your legs for cycling. Try to focus on compound movements and see what happens.