Hi,
I would like to know your opinions on my situation (might not be a very common situation around here), with the knowledge you all have i’m sure it will be useful to decide on my path
Background: For most of my life, I was always basically a couch potato. 4 years ago i was weighting 105kg (232 pounds) at 170cm (5’7). I was able to over the course of 2-3 years lose a lot of weight (currently i’m at 73kg - 160 pounds). This was mostly done over spinning classes at the gym. It was something that grew on me and something i got passioned about. With time, I started switching things up to a more structured training. Invested in a trainer, and started following training plans. This allowed me more freedom in terms of the type of training (spinning classes always follow the same type of training - HIIT) and more freedom managing my schedule.
Funny Thing: I don’t know how to properly ride a bycicle. I only train indoor
Objectives: My objectives are very simple. Improve fitness. And that’s pretty much it. This is where i think i differ from most people here, and from the concept behind most plans. I don’t wanna race, I don’t really have a pre-season/race-season/off-season.
But i wanna do it using training plans and structured training, which is what motivates me to keep training.
Also, regarding the “not being able to ride a bicycle”, i do have some plans to slowly learn and start doing some stuff outside. I believe that would make things even more enjoyable. But realistically speaking, racing won’t be a part of my plans in the near future.
Challenge: Over the past years I think i was able to build a decent base in my lower body. That’s basically 90% of what I’ve done. I’m currently at an FTP of 221, which is not amazing, but considering where i came from, i find it pretty decent.
The thing is: My body composition is very unbalanced. While i do carry some decent strength in my legs, I have very low levels of muscle in my upper body (I’m basically very skinny-fat - Low weight, but most of it is still fat).
Plan:
This is basically what i have in mind for the next months/years, and what i want to achieve. This is where i could find some suggestions to see if i’m thinking correctly or if you suggest something else.
The 2 main points are:
- Weight Training ( More specifically upper body weight training )
In general, weight training is something that is viewed around here as not really necessary, or something that should be done at a specific season point (i was just listening to the podcast about resistance training).
But if we think about the main reasons as to why this is not recommended:
-
Upper body weight => Heavier Rider => Worse Performance: This doesn’t really affect me. I don’t care about races.
-
Too much body stress mixing weight training and bycicle plans: This is indeed relevant
My plan:
I want to do weight training (basically all-year around), but only for the upper body. Between 2-3 sessions/week. I don’t think doing legs is advisable, i would rather do it as recommended => Have a couple weeks of legs weight training in between plans.
Do you think my idea is reasonable?
- Bycicle Training plans
I still want to do some sort of training plan rotation. I think this would be beneficial to cover different types of training, and to keep me motivated (who would want to choose a plan and do it over and over without changing it).
I like sweet spot training plans, specially because i think it covers my weak spots (coming from HIIT types of training in spinning classes, it’s completely different).
What i was thinking is some sort of:
Sweet Spot => Interval Training (this one i could vary) => Resistance Training
and repeat.
Sorry for the long text, if you think i’m looking at things incorrectly please let me know, any input is welcome
Thank you