Weight Training Article

[Cassandra_Cain]

I know there is a lot of debate over weight training and cycling...the thing is most of the "experiments" are on some pretty high level athletes. They are already very fit and extra leg presses or the like don't help.

BUT, there are many many many more cyclist on the planet who aren't elite and who don't have strong core or legs or may have some issues with muscle fire sequencing (ie piriformis muscle taking over for glutes). in this case, strength training is necessary to build up muscle mass to handle the load for required for cycling.

I would be interested in seeing NON racers being tested before and after a strength routine. especially those non racers who only picked up biking in their 30's and beyond.

my two cents

H

I posted references from the article mentioned above a while back ago during yet another weight lifting thread.

For people who are low fitness, then basically any form of exercise, including weight training, is going to improve their conditioning.

For those that ride their bikes 4-6x/week and do so consistently with a sensible plan, then I doubt any benefit would come from weight lifting. Plus weight lifting and endurance cycling combined have been shown to cause what's called an interference effect, which further limits the benefits. Moreover, weight lifting diminishes mitochondrial capacity in muscles which also decreases endurance ability.

Endurance cycling, (tdf, giro for example) don't require high strength at all, the forces are low. I've said this ad nauseum here but some still want to think otherwise despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

High strength is a requirement for track events like the 200m, 500m, and the kilo to a lesser extent. Look at Chris Hoy or Anna Mears, they lift weights and need to have high strength in their legs, torso, and even arms, to excel at their events

For everything else, if your goal is to be faster on a bike, then you are better off spending your training time, which is a limited resource for us all, on your bike.