Lower body lifting and cycling

[RoadRaven]

Bluebug, I suggest you do some reading around this, or talk to specific cycling trainers/coaches.
There are different schools of thought on weight training.

Some say definately do (like Equus). And (also like Equus says), be smart and specific about what and how you incorporate weights into your training programme.

Others say do weights, not specifically to improve your cycling but as a sensible cross-training programme which will, by way of increasing your fitness level, have the follow on effect of increasing your fitness on the bike as well as ensuring your body gets an all-over work-out.

Then there are others (like me I guess - and remember, I am self-coached and self-taught... not a physio, a trainer, a coach) who do no weight training. I have read widely of cycle science specific books and articles, I have talked to the elite men and women I occasionally mix with, I have listened in on conversations, and I have taken part in forum conversations liike this one. So my opinion is only a lay-person opinion... not an expert's.
I do no strength weight-training for several reasons

• When I have time to exercise, I want to be on a bike, not stuck in one place with weights. I want to be on the road.
• I do not want to build muscle (non-cycle specific muscle) because I already carry too much weight up a hill.
• When I have time to exercise, I want to be on a bike, not stuck in one place with weights. I want to feel the sun or the wind or the rain.
• When I look at/read/listen to/watch how pro-cyclists get ready for events, they ride a bike. Lots. And then they ride it again. Lots.
• When I have time to exercise, I want to be on a bike, not stuck in one place with weights. I want to breathe in the smells and scents of our world.

I do believe there are merits in strength-training with weights, particularly for women who may need to be stronger in their upper torso/arms in order to cope comfortably with the postition a bike can place you in.

I am still to be convinced that strength-training the legs has merits for cycling, because you are (potentially/probably) strengthening the muscles in different ways, and teaching your muscles to be strong in a different way to that which they will be used on a bike.

Keep asking and researching, and if you opt for weight/strength training, do be advised by someone who actually rides a bike or who has worked with cyclists. All the best.