Nickds7

So does anywhere here who mountain bikes hit the gym on a regular basis? Also, what gym do you go to and how do you like it?

I signed up for the gym the other week (24hourfitness).. I also signed up for 10 personal training sessions. (I thought long mountain bike rides were a good workout until a single personal training session .)

Am I alone out here? Does everyone here who mtbs think the gym is just for roadies ?

MulletArgyleman

haha!..............i've no idea

dauphin

sorry you got roped into 24 hr fitness. just a scam to take your money...

LowCel 

During the off season I go to the gym three days a week to work on my core my legs as well as a couple of upper body exercises. I find that it helps me out quite a bit. Lately I have decided that I want to be in better all around shape so I have started going back to the gym on a regular basis. However, all I am doing is core and upper body. My legs get enough of a workout putting 200 or so miles in a week on the bike. Not only that, I don't want to risk hurting a knee or pulling a muscle resulting in me being off of the bike for a month.

Now, I am primarily a roadie these days so keep that in mind. However, I got my workout instructions from my coach when I was training for mountain bike races. It is also recommended to go to the gym during the off season by Joe Friel and most other coaches. If you are over 35 then it is recommended to go to the gym once a week even during the season to help maintain muscles.

As for what gym I go to, I'm not sure why it matters. If you must know though I go to a Nautilus. I generally get there a little before 6:00 am on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. As long as I go before work I can still get rides in after work.

junkyard

I'm at the gym fairly regularly. During the cycling season, I'd say I'm there about 3-4 days a week and I use my weekends for riding. Work has made it difficult to ride during the week, so I use the gym as a means to keep active. I do not work legs during the cycling season. I find that they get a pretty good workout on the bike. During the offseason, I try to incorporate legs into my routine. I also try to get to the gym 4-5 days a week when I'm not able to be on the bike.

I do not go to 24hourfitness.

Little Leo

30 minutes before school and 30 after. I do not use the gum for cycling specific but it helps in the biking department.

ilikebikes

I personally think that you can do everthing you do at a gym at home, all the time one waste getting ready, commuting, working out, and commuting back home can be spent on a nice bike ride, or working out at home with family or friends I beleive, and this is my personal opinion and not directed to anyone on this forum, that people who go to gyms just want to show off, I used to work out on a daily basis and was in great shape, all from home, went to the gym a few times to satisfy some friends invites just to find a bunch of show off wannabe "Arnolds" flexing and giving us the,"I look sooo much better than you" look! "ILL BE BACK!?" Nah, I never went back!

LowCel 

Obviously you have never seen my massive roadie arms or my overly soft ab.

01amberfirewv

I'm just starting to ride again but have been lifting for years. I follow the same principles described here https://www.ast-ss.com/max-ot/max-ot_intro.asp More weight less exercises. I've noticed that I really don't have to spend much time on legs since I started riding again though. I hope to start racing again next season

DylanTremblay

I have weights and a machine at home so thats were i work out. Usually 45min every second day depends if I feel like it. I don't even bother with and leg workouts though cause biking takes care of that. So I end up only doing upper body stuff.

meatrocket

I do upper body and core muscle weight training at the gym 3 times a week. As far as the gym I go to the YMCA. Its cheap and its month to month, no contract to sign. They have all the same equipment as the name brand gyms. Only downside tho is that the chicks at the Y aren't nearly as hot as the ones at 24hr. I used to be a member there too.

JonnyV

I lift at home when I dont' get a chance to lift at work. I work for a store that sells high end gym equipment. When we're not busy, I'm usually lifting. I love this job.

junkyard

Sounds to me that you either had a bad experience at the gym or have a self confidence issue. There are plenty of guys much bigger than me at the gym, but I find them to be good resources for questions and advice on lifting and muscle development. Rarely, if ever, have I found them judging me based on differences in my physique as compared to theirs. Similar to cycling, people at the gym have different goals and most people are mature enough to understand this. You're comments about "wannabe Arnolds" is as much an unfair judgement as the one you perceived they were giving you. I do not go to the gym to show off. I go to get a good workout. And it happens to be a workout that I could not match by staying at home, especially when I work out with one of the guys you consider a "wannabe Arnold".

mtnbk3000

absolutely not, i see the difference in my biking if i don't work out for a couple of days. unfortunatly once football season is over the schools gym is flooded with football players who get in the way too much too get a good work out

ryanlovesyou

We have a great gym on campus that's free for students. I'm usually there every day playing racquetball, sometimes I lift weights too.

Hellbound

I also belong to a 24 hour fitness gym. I weight train everything however, not for the cardio. I just got into mountain biking because all those cardio machines make me feel like I'm going nowhere(well literally I'm not) and are boring as heck.lol So now between my cardio(or getting outside on the trails and living life again on my mountain bike as I like to call it) it was the best move I've ever made to get into mountain biking......it has truly changed my life.

stona

I went to the school gym twice a week for upper body while I was on school term and riding. Now that I'm on work term for 4 months, I ride more often but I don't go to the gym. I just do different weighted chin-up variations and sets. Personally, I found that upper body training helped my riding...seemed to make the technical parts of it easier (if that makes sense lol). Once winter sets in, I think I'll do some leg exercises at home until school term starts again. Maybe dumbell squats?? Don't know yet

SprSonik

I lift and ride (road and mountain). Used to powerlift when I was a lot younger, and was benching upwards of 375lbs before I blew up my shoulder in a nasty mtn bike crash (bunny hopped a 18" tall telephone pole and plowed shoulder first into a rutt). Today, many years later, I can bench @ 300lbs one day and put in 60 miles on a road bike at @ 16mph the next. Specifically relating the gym to Mtn biking...all else being equal, you have better control of the bike and less fatigue if you lift. Extra muscle makes even more sense if you have to walk out or port-a-bike for any real distance.

When it is not too hot, I ride my city bike to the gym (12 mile round trip @ 45 minutes) and lift for @ 45 minutes 3x per week. Add another 2 or 3 10-15 mile road rides at lunch during the week, and 1 longer (45+ mile) road ride and you have a very full, very fit week.

The nice thing is that riding is low intensity, highly repetitive, and aerobic activity. Lifting is high intensity, non-repetitive (compared to cycling), and anaerobic activity. If you do it right, you can work every muscle group in your body, both the fast and slow twitch muscle fibers, without ever getting bored or hurt (except for crashing).

Biking (road or Mtn) helps in the gym, and gym time helps on the bike. If you bulk up you will need to work harder climing hills, but the strength gains are worth it.

junkyard

That's a pretty definitive statement. Not sure I agree with it. I have found that greater upper body strength helps limit upper body fatigue when on the trail.

scr1be

i don't bike that much. maybe once every two weeks max nowadays. i'll get back into it soon.

i go to the gym 5 days a week because my company offers the facility. i'd never go that much if they didn't. i basically just go during lunch for an hour a day.

my split is as follows:
monday: cardio (mma class)
tuesday: chest/triceps
wednesday: back/biceps
thursday: shoulders
friday: legs
(i'm too lazy to do cardio, but i should).

i find that when you ride, your legs do get stronger, but going to the gym is still advantageous.

Nickds7

A scam? Sure they want you to sign up really badly but I wouldn't call it a scam. It's only 24.99/month for 24/7 access to one gym . It's not like my personal trainer is trying to get me to buy stuff, he has been recommending products that 24hr doesn't even sell.

It does hold back the muscle gains if you do more cardio then just warming up at the gym since most forms of cardio causes you to loose muscle. I'm planning on keeping the cardio to rides since it is more of a workout than your average gym cycle.

ilikebikes

Take a breath buddy! as I stated in the post,"I beleive, and this is my personal opinion and not directed to anyone on this forum" But since you feel the need to attack: did you read that phrase? or did you just skip over it? "Sounds to me that you either had a bad experience at the gym or have a self confidence issue" The only bad experience I had at the gym was going there and self confidence? I wouldnt be where I am today without it "people at the gym have different goals and most people are mature enough to understand this" yeah, like your soooo mature making a mountain out of a mole hill "You're comments about "wannabe Arnolds" is as much an unfair judgement as the one you perceived they were giving you" were you there when this happened to me? I dont think so, my comments are mine by the way, just like your comments about me are yours "I go to get a good workout. And it happens to be a workout that I could not match by staying at home, especially when I work out with one of the guys you consider a "wannabe Arnold" thats great! Im happy for you, but my opinions are still mine, as yours are yours, you want to work out at a gym, well yeeeeha! more power to you, but my opinion stays the same, as its what I experienced when I went to the gym, I have eyes and ears, and can read a face as easy as reading a book, not to mention the fact that we did try to ask questions to the "experienced" guys, they suggested we get personal trainers! so yeah, theyre big apes in my book, maybe not you and your pals, but they were, if you take this or my other posting as a personal attack on you, well maybe you had a bad experience sometime in you life, but thats neither my problem nor my concern Good day to you lad

Cyclist30907654

I don't know enough about fitness and conditioning. So tell me you're joking, right? (about the muscles gains part)

Hasselhof

I have this theory about the gym.

All of my friends that are gym members are in a constant state of frustration that they pay for gym memberships that they don't use enough. I'll be sitting in the car with them as we go past all these tanned looking bodybuilders walking in the front door and without fail I'll hear them biatch and moan about how much its costing them and how they feel bad they're not working out more often.

Me on the other hand, I'm not a member and I don't feel that way. I feel satisfied in the knowledge that I *could* got to the gym if I wanted to, I *could* just drop a couple of bucks and do a casual resistance or group training workout, and there is this extra warm feeling I get inside because I'm safe in the knowledge that I'm not paying for the privilege to not go the gym like my friends.

Its awesome

junkyard

My post was not intended as an attack or to make a "mountain out of a mole hill", but merely a response to your comment that people use a gym as a means to show off, are wannabe Arnolds, etc. You had a negative experience with one or two of the people who work out in a gym, so that makes everyone who uses a gym an attention seeking ape? That seems like a very closed minded way of viewing things. What would have happened if the first guy you met at the LBS was a wrench toting jackass, would you have turned away from cycling? The fact is that many of us are cyclists as a means to get exercise. This indicates to me that many of us are health conscious on some level. Many health conscious people utilize more than one means of exercise to better themselves. In insulting those who use the gym, even on a bike forum, you were bound to get a response, even if you tried to qualify it with your "no offense meant" disclaimer. I never took your post as a personal attack, I was merely responding as someone who utilizes a gym, is not there to get attention and is certainly not an Arnold wannabe.