Strength training, biking, and muscles

Just came from a bike ride and half way through as my thighs and butt were killing me (I bike outside, which includes wind resistance, hills, and traffic), I started thinking about how weight training and cardio such as biking might affect each other. 

I know that you should give your self at least a day or two between strength training days (I do the total body workout and the basic ab exercises from this website) to allow your muscles to fully recouperate.  When I go biking, I know that it is considered cardio, but as I said earlier, I definitely am working my thighs and butt pretty hard, I feel a burn similar to what I feel during strength training when I'm going up hills or fighting the wind. 

My question is, if I go biking the day after I do strength training, is this going to interfere with my muscles' ability to recover and grow?  I would go running, but I've developed plantar fasciitis (sp?) and am trying to minimize my running for a bit to help it settle down (hence the biking).  And what about doing by cardio kickboxing video (Kickboxing for Dummies) the day after strength training?  I'm really excited to be working out and getting in shape and want to make sure I'm doing this right.  There's a high possibility that I am WAY over analyzing this, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask! Thanks!

Well, the answer depends on your goals.

If you are trying to gain muscle, you should either eat a lot more to compensate for the biking or you should try to cut it down. That is, unless you are a beginner weight lifter, in which case you can still gain muscle in a calorie defecit.

If you are trying to lose weight, you should have cardio in there as well on your non-training days, and the biking covers that.

As long as you are eating enough calories for your muscles to repair themselves with-and enough protein- the biking should contribute to stronger legs. Give yourself at least one active rest day a week-no cardio, no weights- and if you start feeling fatigued and aren't seeing strength gains, try increasing your calorie intake or laying off the cardio a little. As long as you are still seeing strength gains at the gym, you should be okay. If you want those gains to be as significant as possible, keep cardio to a minimum.

well the first indication i would go by is how you feel. if you feel like you have the energy and are not pushing yourself you should be fine. there is pushing & then there's pushing.

i've had symptoms of overtraining before even tho i really i followed the rules of doing strength 1-2 times a week & running every other day. but having been through that, i now know the difference between when i feel lazy or when i start to experience symptoms of overtraining. if its just laziness i work through it.

also i do the 10-15 minute rule. if i dont feel better after 10 minutes of exercising i know my body isn't ready yet & i stop.  that has only happened to me 4 times since january though, i usually do feel better.

however, as the above post said take at least one day off per week from anything & make sure your nutrition is spot on. there's nothing worse then having so much enthusiam & putting so much work in the short term, only to find in a couple of weeks you can't work on acheiving the results you want in the long term and have to start all over again.

Original Post by acer824:

Just came from a bike ride and half way through as my thighs and butt were killing me (I bike outside, which includes wind resistance, hills, and traffic), I started thinking about how weight training and cardio such as biking might affect each other. 

[...snip...]

My question is, if I go biking the day after I do strength training, is this going to interfere with my muscles' ability to recover and grow?

[...snip...]

Treat a weightlifting day as a hard day, and if you want to ride the next day, ride easy, just spinning at a high cadence (85-90rpm) in an easy gear, to get your heart and lungs going without putting too much stress on your muscles.

In fact, that kind of workout can actually help your muscles recover faster than doing nothing at all, provided you're not out too long (30-60 minutes is about right for me, but I ride a lot--I did 670 miles in August, so scale your active recovery accordingly).

An alternative to hitting the gym is what Chris Carmichaels calls "Muscle Tension Intervals," which means that you select a really hard gear that you can only turn over at about 50rpm (in the saddle), and pedal with good form for 4-6 minutes on a level or slightly uphill stretch of road, then switch to an easy gear and recover for 10 minutes, then do it again, 3-6 repetitions depending upon your fitness level.  That exercise is very hard on the connective tissues of the knee, however, so it's not something you want to jump into until you've been riding for awhile (I'd say at least a year).  It is the most biking-specific form of strength training you'll find, though.