Cycling priorities

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jimskelton
jimskelton Posts: 13 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
For all you cyclists out there, what are your priorities for strength training in the weight room? Specifically, what lifts do you do, and do you lift heavy/low reps or lighter/high reps?

I found heavy weights bulk up but don't necessarily make me fast when considering power to weight ratio. My goal is for my legs to produce the most amount of watts with the least amount of muscle mass. And for my body overall, that means my upper body only needs be strong enough to support my upper body while cycling.

Any and all ideas are appreciated!

Replies

  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    This is old but hits pretty much the key points:

    http://ashwinearl.blogspot.fr/2005/11/off-season-training-index-and.html
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Most of my strength training wouldn't be of interest to you (upper body compound lifts, pyramid style high rep/low weight to low rep/high weight - partly to get advantages of all rep ranges but also find it helps my elderly body avoid injury). I can't stand the skinny upper body look for myself so accept that my aero and power to weight ratio on the bike is compromised by carrying a bit more upper body muscle than truly serious and dedicated cyclists.

    I do relatively little lower body strength training apart from some leg presses, leg extension, leg curl - partly to keep legs fresh but also I'm a bit restricted by knee and back injuries (no squats, deads or lunges). Most of my leg strength work indoors is high resistance intervals on training bikes, also use a rowing machine for a bit of cross training.

    But I find the greatest help to my cycling from gym work is from abs and core work. Really reduces my fatigue levels and helps to maintain form on a long ride.
    Hanging leg raises, sit ups, weighted crunches, single dumbbell side bends, cable twists mostly.
  • bpn007
    bpn007 Posts: 1 Member
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    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/how-to-strength-train-for-cycling.html

    This is a good write-up on this topic and this is the strategy I employ. Lift for strength, i.e heavy weight, low reps (1-5), not hypertrophy (8-12 reps). Read the article for a detailed explanation. In my experience I think a lot of cyclists are not knowledgeable on weightlifting and thus have a misconception/fear about "heavy" weights, getting bulky etc. Bottom line, get as strong as possible.
  • jimskelton
    jimskelton Posts: 13 Member
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    I'm in my 50s, so I'm a little concerned about really heavy weights. My knees remind me every once in a while when I try leg pressing 400. And last year I injured my knee doing heavy on reverse leg curls.

    I find on long rides, my greatest weakness is my legs. They simply lose strength after an hour of 85% max heart rate. I would also like to climb hills faster, meaning ridding any unnecessary weight and developing strong, efficient muscles.

    Thanks for the blog EvgeniZyntx. I read through it and see about implementing some ideas. I'm my 30's, I didn't do any weight training and I was lean and fast. In my 40's, I found out I had to do some weights in the winter to at the minimum maintain what I had. Now, in my 50's, the last couple of years I've noticed my strength decrease over the summer, so this year I did weight training once a week over the summer with satisfactory results. I'm finding as I age, I have to fight to even retain every bit of muscle mass...
  • Working2BLean
    Working2BLean Posts: 386 Member
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    This would get lots of replies and info on cycling and triathlon boards

    Slow twitch.com

    Great forum

    Speed intervals work for me. Just sprint and recover. Find some hills!!

    I like to do 20 miles as fast as I can. It helps to do that with a buddy and draft/race. Find someone to push you. Im not sure what shape you are in, but for me, 20 miles of rolling hills over 20mph is serious heart pounding work.

    It usually is tougher to get cardio shape beyond muscle mass for me. That is where the work is.

    Cycling forums will be your friend.

    I find that stiff leg deadlifts and glutes/hamstrings exercises help with power.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,207 Member
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    I've been a cyclist for a long time now. :)

    What I've discovered is that in the weight room, it is beneficial to focus on the upper body and core. Not to a professional bodybuilder level, but enough to strengthen the upper body and core. This, for me, makes riding long distances and riding hills so much more comfortable.

    That said, one additional thing I'm doing this year is stair climbing ... 125+ flights a week. That seems to be making a difference in my climbing.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
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    I concentrate on upper body strength because I get a lot of strength from bicycling. However, I spent three months last summer in pt due to arthritis in one knee and concentrated on developing strength in my quads, hamstrings, and butt, in addition to balance. The strength I developed from that resulted in my being able to climb hills in a higher gear and to pass people on them as well.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,390 Member
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    I'll be watching this thread for good input. Overall I don't think that there is much of anything better than the actual thing... getting out and riding towards our goals. BUT I know as it cools off I won't be on the bike as much. And if I can maintain certain areas it will have me up to speed quicker when I'm back on the bike.

    I also wonder if riding style influences the muscle groups needed much? I say this only due to never really noticing certain muscles when riding. For example, I've never had my glutes even feel much of anything, regardless of the length/intensity of a ride. Yet I've never done any real glute training to speak of, nor do I think I have the most powerful butt around!

    On the flip side, I can almost always find a bit of burn in my quads even though they are probably more fit than my glutes. Ditto on feeling the core muscles used. I can even feel my upper body a little on acceleration or hard sprints.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    robertw486 wrote: »
    I'll be watching this thread for good input. Overall I don't think that there is much of anything better than the actual thing... getting out and riding towards our goals. BUT I know as it cools off I won't be on the bike as much. And if I can maintain certain areas it will have me up to speed quicker when I'm back on the bike.

    I also wonder if riding style influences the muscle groups needed much? I say this only due to never really noticing certain muscles when riding. For example, I've never had my glutes even feel much of anything, regardless of the length/intensity of a ride. Yet I've never done any real glute training to speak of, nor do I think I have the most powerful butt around!

    On the flip side, I can almost always find a bit of burn in my quads even though they are probably more fit than my glutes. Ditto on feeling the core muscles used. I can even feel my upper body a little on acceleration or hard sprints.

    For the casual rider, sure. Just ride.

    But if you truly want to improve performance then training for power and strength are a must. The Morris plan (which is referenced in the blog I posted) is an excellent way of improving riding performance - especially when coupled to the off season.

    Other than the blog - Morris also has a book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071410910.

    The other books I've used or can recommend are Sonvals ´cycling anatomy - exercises for specific imbalances or issues and Doyle's weight training for cyclists (I used Morris more, but some team members preferred Doyle - I found it a good read without actually personally applying it.)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
    edited November 2015
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    jimskelton wrote: »
    For all you cyclists out there, what are your priorities for strength training in the weight room? Specifically, what lifts do you do, and do you lift heavy/low reps or lighter/high reps?

    I found heavy weights bulk up but don't necessarily make me fast when considering power to weight ratio. My goal is for my legs to produce the most amount of watts with the least amount of muscle mass. And for my body overall, that means my upper body only needs be strong enough to support my upper body while cycling.

    Any and all ideas are appreciated!

    I work in seasons. Lifting "heavy" leaves me pretty much wasted for riding so I only do "heavy" cycles in the winter when I'm spending far less time on my bike.

    the rest of the year i work in 6 week cycles of undulating periodization, hypertrophy range, and low weight high rep stuff depending on where I'm at with my training. I have the added benefit of working with a coach who is also a USA cycling coach so I rely a lot on him to switch my workouts up at appropriate times...he will generally do a de-load with me a couple of weeks before an event and often my workouts consist of primarily just doing some "bro" work.

    My coach is a big advocate of Oly lifting as a matter of general fitness and those lifts are the foundation of the programs he puts together for me and all of his clients...I credit my Oly work and plyo work for substantially increasing my explosiveness. my programming includes an Oly lift and plyo work every session.

    In general my workouts look something like this:

    A:
    Oly work (Cleans and Jerks and/or Clean Variations)
    Plyo work
    Horizontal Push (Bench Press Variations)
    Hinge Movement (Dead Lift Variations)
    Horizontal Pull (Row Variations)
    Single Leg (Step Ups, etc)
    Arms (Triceps)
    Core

    B:
    Oly work (Snatches and Snatch Variations)
    Plyo work
    Vertical Push (OH Press Variations)
    Squat Variations
    Vertical Pull (pull-ups/lat pulls, etc)
    Lunges
    Arms (Biceps)
    Core



  • jimskelton
    jimskelton Posts: 13 Member
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    Such a variety of ideas! I am going to do a little experimenting with free weights, especially squats and dead lifts. In the past few years I've done mainly isolation lifts with machines: leg press, seated calf raise, reverse leg curl, hip abductors, and I'm sure this has helped maintain muscle mass.

    And, I'll see about cautiously moving toward heavy weights, since that seems to be the trend now. It's so easy to injure myself though at my age. And when that happens, it takes weeks to recover and I can't afford that. For instance, I went heavy one day with the reverse leg curl and I felt something in my knee, which I think ended up being a torn ligament. It lasted 3 months into my cycling season, which is not very nice. And a couple of years back I was working up to heavy on the leg press and my knee joint twanged with a lot of pain, which set me back weeks. It just seems like a lot of the heavy weight advice is for 20 or so year old people whos joints are nimble and which heal quickly.

    cwolfman13, thanks for the input. I'm shying away from upper body work because for the last 8 years I built my upper body for firefighting duties, but my weight went up and my climbing really suffered. Even 5 pounds makes a big difference in the amount of power required for climbing. So I'm trying to find a balance of an efficient, functional upper body and core. I generally do one set/high reps of a variety of free weights. Despite what the literature says, from my experience, heavy weights seem to bulk my frame fairly quickly.

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