Brianmcg Starting Strength Progression on Cycling Performance

[Brianmcg]

I'm an avid roadie and have decided to do a little experiment on myself. I am going to be following the Starting Strength linear progression and seeing how that will effect my cycling performance.

I will be posting my ending weeks lifting numbers and tracking my cycling performance on a number of Strava segments.

My current segment times are as follows:
Segment 1: 4:37
Segment 2: 2:04
Segment 3: 1:30
Segment 4: 9:20

If anyone is interested I can actually post the links in the future.

I currently do not have any 1RM for my squat, bench or deadlift.

I worked out Monday 3/17 with the following weights
Squat 95lb
Bench 95lb
Dead 95lb

Weights were not very heavy but am working on my form. I did multiple warm up sets on each with just the bar. Its been at least 5 years since I have lifted any weights.

Wednesday workout will be adding 10lbs to the squat and deadlift and using 45lbs for the OHP.

[carson]

i don't know anything about Strava segments or much about cycling but becoming stronger will help everyone do every physical thing better. Welcome.

[Brianmcg]

i don't know anything about Strava segments or much about cycling but becoming stronger will help everyone do every physical thing better. Welcome.

Thanks carson. Strava is just a site where you can log runs and bike rides using a GPS device. People can make "segments" anywhere. For example a 3 mile hill climb. Once that hill is a segment anyone that rides on it will get their time posted like a leaderboard. Its a good way for people like me that ride alone a lot to still challenge yourself and see if you are improving.

Here is one of the segments I will be tracking:
Knob hill Climb: http://www.strava.com/segments/4382663
Its a climb of 1.4 miles with an average gradient of 5% with a high of 23%.

I think this will be a good one to track my progress on as it will take a lot of extra power to get the king of the mountain on.

My theory being as my squat and deadlift go up, my times will come down. We will see.

[Brianmcg]

Wednesday 19MAR2014

Still a little sore from Monday's workout. Been a long time.

Did multiple warm up sets with just the bar working on form etc. Really liking going really deep in the squat, it's like a whole new exercise. I had my wife do a quick video of me from the side so I could see if I was going low enough. She said "YOUR GOING WAY TO LOW" So I knew before I looked I was doing it right. LOL.

I bumped all the weights up 10lbs
Squat 3x5x105
Bench 3x5x105
Dead 3x5x105

[Brianmcg]

Thursday:
45 minute easy bike ride. Just too nice not to ride.

Friday:
All weights up 10 lbs.
Squat 3x5x115
Bench 3x5x115
Dead 3x5x115

The bench is starting to feel heavier, but handled the reps fine.
Squat and Deads still feel light. I will keep them on the 10lb progression longer than the bench.

[32shutout]

As a former roadie I'm very interested in your results!
I must say I wonder if continued cycling will cut in to your recovery and prevent a speedy progression? Maybe setting a couple months aside to focus just on building strength would be more effective, but then again I'm sure you want to keep your aerobic conditioning up. Either way, even if your progression takes a little longer I'm sure you'll see improvements. Good luck!

[Brianmcg]

As a former roadie I'm very interested in your results!
I must say I wonder if continued cycling will cut in to your recovery and prevent a speedy progression? Maybe setting a couple months aside to focus just on building strength would be more effective, but then again I'm sure you want to keep your aerobic conditioning up. Either way, even if your progression takes a little longer I'm sure you'll see improvements. Good luck!

I agree. I won't start putting any real miles in until late May/June. Right now any riding I do will be pretty easy keeping my heart rate below 140bpm and only 3 days per week. This would be more like active recovery.

[Brianmcg]

Saturday: Short 60 minute ride, very easy pace.

Monday:
Squat 3x5x125
Bench 3x5x115
Dead 3x5x125

Bench and dead lifts felt really light. Probably could have used more weight but sticking to the progression. Squats were good, starting to feel heavy.

Shockingly my bodyweight went up 3lbs to 173. I was kinda surprised at that.

[iFreedom]

Nice work. As a triathlete and endurance road and mtb'r, I'm in!

[Brianmcg]

Nice work. As a triathlete and endurance road and mtb'r, I'm in!

Thanks. I'm really looking forward to seeing my progress. I'm also surprised at the number of cyclists that have been posting in some other threads also.