Can Riding Up Hills Be Considered Strength Training?

[alpinerabbit]

Begging to differ, I don't see where weight lifting, pilates, yoga differ from cycling in terms of building bone strength, as they equally do not have "impact".

It definitely builds muscle. hell yes. They won't pump up as much - they will first get lean and efficient - and of course it will be limited to your legs - but you build calorie-burning meat.

maybe for the bones, MTB'ing would do it. Or riding cobblestones.

[Crankin]

The research I have read says that mountain biking is slightly positive for building bone density, but you still need to do weight lifting!

[Velobambina]

Agree with Robin and Lisa. Adding weight training and some weight bearing exercise, like walking, running, etc. are essential to keeping your bone health.
Riding hills will make your muscles stronger but you also risk muscle imbalances (been there, don't want to go there again). Also, upper body and core strength is important.

Lynette, good job making it up that hill. By the way, it gets easier, just keep at it.

[OakLeaf]

Begging to differ, I don't see where weight lifting, pilates, yoga differ from cycling in terms of building bone strength, as they equally do not have "impact".

When you do exercises like leg presses, step-ups and squats (that stress the legs, pelvis and spine), you're lifting more than your body weight, so the bones get slightly compressed. When you do upper body work with free weights in a standing position, then your spine and legs are again supporting significantly more than your body weight. Just like muscle, the way you build bone is by slightly breaking down what you already have, so your body builds it back stronger.

With yoga, you're doing body weight only, and with Pilates if you use resistance it's not a lot, plus it generally isn't along the length of the spine or legs. Same thing with upper body work in a weight machine (that is, it can be a lot, but you're not using legs or spine). So your bones don't get stressed beyond what they do in "real life." That's the difference.

[Grog]

So are pushups not weight bearing? (since you're only pushing your own weight up?)

:S

[Eden]

Here's a nice description of lots of activities and how they fit in the continuum
http://www.nof.org/prevention/exercise.htm

I don't think anything that is non-impact has a lot of effect on building bone density - but it all has other benefits including better balance and increased muscle tone, which both help to prevent bone breakage too. So no, cycling up hills, yoga, pilates, pushups and weight lifting do not build bone mass, but all can be useful for your overall health and for preventing the falls that cause fractures. Having strong muscles can help to protect weak bones!

[Tuckervill]

That website said weight lifting and exercises using your body weight DO build up bones, so perhaps you meant to say something else there?

Karen

[Raindrop]

In addition to being a cyclist, I'm also a personal trainer and indoor cycling instructor, and I often tell the people in my cycling classes that if they're using cycling as their main aerobic exercise, to add weight training....if they don't do enough of that, there are some studies that suggest jumping up and down 50 times daily (landing lightly) is enough to increase bone density, particularly in the hip region.

However, if there is any chance that you have osteoperosis, osteopenia or any other issues affecting the knees, hips or lower back...check with your physician before doing this.

[Eden]

That website said weight lifting and exercises using your body weight DO build up bones, so perhaps you meant to say something else there?

Karen

No, my reading of the web site was that the 2 types of exercise that build bones are high impact and low impact exercises. The other types are good for you, but don't necessarily build bones in a significant way. I may very well have interpreted it incorrectly and be wrong about that. They say 2, don't tell you which ones and then follow it with descriptions for 4 types of exercise....

[Over50Newbie]

Wow, I guess this wasn't an easy question to answer after all!

Now let's see if I have this right:

• Bicycling up a hill will help build muscle strength, but not help increase bone density.

• But having strong muscles will help protect my bones, help my balance, and will help against bone breakage in a fall.

• I need to make sure that if I have strong quadriceps, I also need to balance that out by building strength in my hamstrings.

• And, like Grog, I also want to know if push-ups are considered a weight bearing exercise? And if the answer is no, then why are squats considered weight bearing? And what about pull-ups? All of these are done without weights - but you are lifting your own body weight. Are these exercises in the "resistance exercises" category? And, if so, does that mean that they help increase bone density, but just not as much as lifting weights?

And Velobambina, thanks for the encouragement. I do find that as I continue to do hills, they get a little easier each time!

Thanks everyone,

Lynette

[Tuckervill]

Yes, the website wasn't very precise.

But I've seen over and over on this forum how we should lift weights because cycling does nothing for our bones. It's interesting. It leads me to think once again that as long as I do something every day, that's better than nothing, and variety is the spice of life!

(I'm glad those 100 jumping jacks have been doing something for my bones!)

Karen

[michelem]

Interesting journal article addressing this issue (study was for males, but I think we can still get some good stuff from it):

Medline Abstract
SE Warner, JM Shaw, and GP Dalsky

Bone mineral density of competitive male mountain and road cyclists.
Bone, 2002 30: [Abstract] [Full Text]
Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0920, USA. s.warner@m.cc.utah.edu

The purpose of this study was to compare the bone mineral density (BMD) of two types of trained male cyclists (n = 30) with recreationally active men (n = 15), aged 20-40 years. Sixteen of the cyclists regularly trained for, and competed in, cross-country mountain bike races. The other 14 cyclists trained and raced on the road. The cyclists had trained an average of 11 +/- 3 hours per week for 8 +/- 4 years. Fifteen recreationally active men volunteered as controls. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used to assess BMD of the proximal femur, lumbar spine, and total body. Anthropometric, muscle strength and power, aerobic fitness, and sex hormone data assessments were conducted on all participants. Mountain cyclists were younger and weighed less than road cyclists and controls. BMD at all sites was comparable among the three groups (p > 0.05). When adjusted for body weight and controlled for age, BMD was significantly higher at all sites in the mountain cyclists compared with the road cyclists and controls. Some anthropometric, physical fitness, and sex steroid variables were predictive of BMD, but of these variables, only total body weight, total body fat, and aerobic fitness were different between the groups. In conclusion, endurance road cycling does not appear to be any more beneficial to bone health than recreational activity in apparently healthy men of normal bone mass. Higher BMD in the mountain cyclists suggests that mountain cycling may provide an osteogenic stimulus that is not inherent to road cycling. [emphasis added]