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28/12/2008 9:15:19 AM
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Troy Collett
Posts 146
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does weight training help riding?
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28/12/2008 5:51:01 PM
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Jason Daniels
Posts 73
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more info please Troy? What kind of weight training? Upper body, lower body, core areas?
Improving your fitness will always help your cycling, so will improving your flexibility and your core body strength.
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28/12/2008 6:35:36 PM
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Paul A Yeatman
Posts 3
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I find that an easy weights session on the legs (leg curls and extensions) once a week at a moderate weight gives my legs a little extra umph along the flats and up the hills. Does nothing for my stamina though 
edited by Paul A Yeatman on 28/12/2008
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29/12/2008 10:43:50 AM
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maria LA szczerba
Posts 5
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Hello,
Weight Training definitely helps with your cycling, why, if you are doing endurance, sprint/speed, low impact, high impact and hills riding then weight training is a definite.
It also helps if people work their upper, lower, core, inner and outer muscles. One cant just work their outer muscles such as their legs only, you need the core for stability and some yoga or body balance classes which help with the inner muscles and strengthens them as well as the mind and body and rest days to allow the muscles to recuperate ready for the next ride and indoor trainer work helps too. A balanced diet also helps as well as a Training Plan and a good record of what you are doing.
Leg Curls and Extensions are not enough if doing a long distance ride, e.g. - Jayco Bay Series, Savings and Loans Rides, Bike SA Rides, Paris-Roubaix or Criterium Long Distance Rides or Hills Rides - Willunga or Norton Summit.
Maria Szczerba
29/12/08
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29/12/2008 1:27:21 PM
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Troy Collett
Posts 146
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well i just want a bit of overall body strength & maybe put on a couple of kilos.I also need some more leg strength to push a slightly bigger gear
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29/12/2008 5:24:42 PM
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DanielS
Posts 21
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Troy, you might find this link interesting: http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=strengthstern
In summation: weight training will increase strength, but there is little correlation between strength and endurance cycling performance. i.e. your ability to push a slightly bigger gear is limited by your fitness, and not by your strength.
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29/12/2008 11:07:32 PM
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Graham McArthur
Posts 15
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Cycling is fundamentally a strength endurance sport. Improved strength will improve performance, however, cycling is also event specific and requirements for a particular event may be quite different than those for another. Whenever you wish to target a specific component of fitness, such as strength, you will need to identify which type(s) of strength is required which will be directly related to the physical requirements of the event.
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30/12/2008 11:04:09 AM
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maria LA szczerba
Posts 5
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Hello,
A strong core ensures your abdominals, upper and lower back, hips, gluteus, and thigh muscles work together. Having strong core abdominal muscles improves cycling stability and you experience less fatigue as well as when you do long rides and when your arms are strong, you are better positioned to manage the bike handles a lot better too when weight training. By holding the bars for a long distance, if you are not doing some form of weight training then your arms will fatigue on long distance rides, they need to be strong. Yes, cycling is an endurance strength sport but endurance and stamina have to be built over a period of time not just when people feel like getting out their bikes and doing rides. Cycling is also a mind game with other competitors as well as yourself, you compete against yourself and set yourself to improve each time!
My suggestion is go to your local gym/personal trainer and work on a program for yourself and what areas you want to improve in your riding or rides.
Thankyou Graham.
Maria Szczerba
30/12/08
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30/12/2008 1:16:53 PM
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Graham McArthur
Posts 15
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As I said previously, cycling is fundamentally a Strength Endurance sport. This means it requires a combination of strength and endurance. However, there are different types of strength and different types of endurance. Which combinations are required for peak performance depends on the cycling event.
Strength training for sports must be based on specific physiological requirements of the sport and must result in the development of either 'power endurance' or 'muscular endurance'. Also strength training must revolve around the needs of planning or periodization for that sport and employ training methods specific to a given training phase, with the goal of reaching peak performance at the time of major competition or a specific targeted event(s).
If you just train for 'maintenance' then you will never reach your peak or your best and will unlikely make any significant improvements.
Strength, speed and endurance are the important components for successful performance. The "dominant" ability/ component is the one from which the sport requires a higher contribution. For example in cycling the dominant ability in road, mountain bike and general track is aerobic endurance. Most sports, including cycling, require peak performance in at least two of the principal components. In fact some cycling events require extremely high performance in all components [team pursuit & road team time trial for examples]. The relationships among strength, speed and endurance create crucial physical athletic qualities. A better understanding of these relationships will help you understand power and muscular endurance and help you plan your sport/event specific strength training.
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30/12/2008 1:17:43 PM
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Graham McArthur
Posts 15
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The forum wouldn't allow me to post the entire reply in one post so here is the rest of it...
Combining strength and endurance creates 'muscular endurance' - the ability to perform many repetitions against a given resistance for a prolonged period of time [this is essential for all cycling events!]. 'Power', the ability to perform an explosive movement in the shortest time possible, results from the integration of 'maximum strength' and 'speed'. The combination of 'endurance' and 'speed' is called 'speed endurance'.
Agility is often overlooked in cycling simply because we sit on a bike and don’t run around an oval or court, however it is an important component of cycling fitness and is the product of of a complex combination of speed, coordination, flexibility and power. When 'agility' and 'flexibility' combine the result is 'mobility', the ability, in cycling terms, to react quickly, with good timing and coordination - getting out of the saddle, initiation of the sprint, climbing hills, descending, cornering, feeding on the bike, taking turns correctly, adjusting on bike position to changing conditions, avoiding obsticles. To perform these at your peak, you need well developed 'mobility'. Back to the topic of strength.
Specific development of a 'biomotor ability' [strength, endurance, speed etc] must be methodical. A developed dominant ability directly or indirectly affects the other abilities. To what extent depends strictly on the resemblance between the methods employed and the specifics of the sport.
So - development of a dominant biomotor ability may have a positive or negative transfer to pedaling a bike. When an athlete develops strength, he may experience a positive transfer to speed and endurance, however, a strength training program designed only to develop maximum strength may negatively affect the development of aerobic endurance and speed. Similarly a program designed to develop aerobic endurance may negatively affect strength and speed.
Since strength is a crucial athletic ability for all sports including cycling, it always has to be trained with the other abilities/ components of the sport.
Most actions are more complex than what has been discussed above. Therefore strength in sports should be viewed as the mechanism required to perform skills and athletic actions. The reason for developing strength is not for the sake of being strong, the goal of strength development is to meet the specific requirements of a given sport, to develop specific strength or combinations of strength to increase athletic performance to the highest possible level.
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30/12/2008 2:15:31 PM
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maria LA szczerba
Posts 5
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Hello,
Thankyou for all of that. It will help others from now on and it will certainly help Troy and the others on this forum about the topic.
All of that I have learnt through doing Specific Sports Exercises and all of what you have said, thankyou Graham for letting everyone know.
Maria Szczerba
30/12/08
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31/12/2008 4:29:07 PM
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Clayton Marsland
Posts 6
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How much weight training do you think Rasmussen does?
http://www.professionalcycling.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/rasmussen.jpg
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31/12/2008 8:01:14 PM
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Graham McArthur
Posts 15
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None, he uses drugs instead. Roadies generally don't need weight training, but they sure do a lot of strength development. The only time they may need weights is if they have an imbalance or for rehabilitation following injury. In 99% of tour riders the amount of climbing they do in racing and training takes care of their strength development.
Their weight training is very sport specific (as it should be) and is done on the bike using mountains and ergo.
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1/01/2009 4:13:29 PM
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Troy Collett
Posts 146
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ok so it looks like the best thing is to spend time developing strength by using the big ring more often
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1/01/2009 4:29:22 PM
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Robert Rau
Posts 149
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Hi,
Looked at that photo of Rasmussen - looks anaemic too! Perhaps a transfusion is in order, and a few of those high protein supplements??? (What does he look like in the off-season? maybe needs steriodal therapy? Lance would claim, ...its the bike! (Good case for needing drugs in sport
edited by Robert Rau on 1/01/2009
edited by Robert Rau on 1/01/2009
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2/01/2009 10:38:21 AM
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Dave gomer
Posts 6
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Troy, if time is an issue, eg you don't have all day to train and recover, then you are probably better served by putting as much time in on the bike as possible and you will develop your strength by climbing and planned efforts in a big gear. You should be spending most of your time in lower gears however, it will not help overall by riding around in big gears all day. If you are spending as much time on the bike as you can, but you also have time where you must be home, like having to look after kids etc but can do some training in this time, then weight training would be beneficial, if it is organised with some knowledge and thought.
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2/01/2009 7:57:04 PM
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Gavin Wright
Posts 2
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If you have a good endurance base already from hours in the saddle, then strength training is definitely the missing link for improvement. I used to only do the long rides and couldn't understand why I could only take of the odd second in my hill climbs. I didn't lift more than a heavy book for years, but I did do core work. After getting a proper personal trainer who could specify the correct weight to push, the correct reps etc. I started doing PBs on everything I touched - and I mean smashing them. Took about 4-6 weeks to peak, and included upper body and back work as well as big leg work.
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2/01/2009 8:52:51 PM
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Troy Collett
Posts 146
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cheers Gavin
I reckon I might give it a shot.I really need to devlop strength to push the big ring during races.The core work etc sounds interesting
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4/01/2009 12:29:06 PM
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Aaron Babb
Posts 14
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Progressive rsistance training has a important involvement in cycling and especially for your weekend worrior or weekly racer. Majority of people on here, including myself, arent in the le tour this year and just want to know how to most effectivly train with time constraints. If your a professional your yearly schedule will half replace your training. Most of us arent professional.
Core work is huge! Like Maria pointed out. If your not propelling from a stable surface your going to be much less efficient despite your CV fitness and dispite your leg strength/power. Consider trying to jump as high as you can off soft wet sand or a concrete slab. Energy is lost into the sand therefore energy is lost to help propell you further.
As far as core strength goes you cant beat "The plank/hover" we all know it and we all hate it  . Try holding one leg up of the ground for 30secs then the other to help get some uni lateral strength, a rider wanting sufficient stability should be able to hold the plank for at least 3 minutes 3 times in a row with a 30sec rest, anything sub and you could be loosing some of the power you have been working so hard to achieve. We over complicate some things too much, sure many things need to be as specific to the sport as possible but for others not as much. Your tansverse abdominus is your main "Core muscle" or stabiliser and it does just that stabilisers it doesnt move any part of your body it just supports so all you need to do is isometrically train it and it doesnt matter what position you do this in e.g. the position you will be sitting in the saddle or lying flat in the plank position as the attachment and origin of the muscle groups insertions hasnt changed. A stable core will mean power isnt lost up through your trunk but delivered as best as possible to your legs the same way you would expect a stiff frame to deliver power to the road.
Also resistance training in the gym for your quads/hams/calfs etc why not? Your pre season legs look like your sisters then during the season they have increased in size, why, hypertrophy of which fibre type predominatly, type IIA/B. Sure you can slug it up hills heaps and you still should but consider if you need greater leg strength you could either do heaps of good gradient hill climbs over a pronlonged period or cheat and get in a gym and hit the squat rack as isokinetic training insnt joint angle specific like isotonic/isometric training. Thats what exercise physiology is all about finding ways to cheat (legally) and force adaptation faster or more effectively to optimally enhance performance. Hence if strength is your current weaker point you could continue to do sub optimal quads (for example) contractions climbing up a hill or max those bad boys out of a squat rack or leg press, and get the bulk faster to coincide with your "strength endurance" training up those hill climbs. Dont forget also that bigger bulk dosnt mean better there is an optimal point there and you'll hit it pretty quick otherwise those track sprinters like Sean Eadie who has the biggest quads ive ever seen in my life would flog every man and his dog up a climb.
Resistance/weight training isnt required for everyone but for some one who does need greater contraction force hit the gym for a short period in conjuction with endurance training and see for yourself if it helps. Also if the gym weights arent for you, try a 10 RM with 4-5 sets on a stationary ergo or spin bike we saw unreal improvements with our cyclists using this.
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12/06/2009 11:33:42 PM
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Troy Collett
Posts 146
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the british mag cycling weekly usually seems to have some good training info on core training
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