Cycling and Strength Training

ford2600

Just wondering what are peoples experiences with with cycling and strength training.
I don't race but like to cycle long distance, so adding a little weight doesn't really concern me. I'm curious as to what people have found beneficial; compound lifts, low reps high weights is what I was thinking but not sure what will work best.

I've been lifting for last 6/7 weeks, but mainly concentrating on form, technique and mobility so weights are low so far. I thought I was ok strength wise, I'm not!

So for sportive/audax riders that use weight training what has been your experience? What had had most benefit, how often per week, what to do in summer etc?

I suppose part of reason for doing it was two experiences with getting physically stronger which in hindsight I found interesting
* Last winter, other than a sedentary job and cycling, I spent one day a week minimum and every Saturday doing very physical work. 6 hrs a day felling, cleaning trees and then lifting them out of the way and stacking lengths. First week or two weren't fun but after that I adapted and grew to enjoy it. I probably did it from Oct-February and it coincided with feeling very good on bike
* When I used to play Gaelic, early season training used to start in early January. Mainly endurance work with strength training for first 6 weeks or so. Every year two full time dairy farmers never returned until Partick's Day. However despite not training for 3/4 months they always returned in great shape, good endurance fitness, strong, low body fat, in spite of probably consuming the weekly recommended amount of alcohol per hour every Fri/Sat night! Both worked really hard all year round though

kenmc

I found kettlebells, done under a proper instructor with decent weights (i.e. weights higher than you can occasionally buy in Aldi or Lidl) to be a huge benefit to me when I was racing a couple of years ago. Improved core, glutes, lower back, shoulders - and of course thighs and hammers. When I was racing, offseason I would do 1 hour wednesday evenings and saturday mornings, was usually a compound of KB, chins, deads, bodyweights, alongside whatever rides/turbo sessions lined up. During the racing season I would drop out one of the classes if I had a race the next day, otherwise would do it.


Still do a couple of lunchtime KB sessions a week in the carpark in work with a few colleagues, even though no longer have the time for racing or training much these days, it's a very good bang-4-buck IMO.

NamelessPhil

I use kettlebells too and I love them, I use an 8, 12 and a 16kg kettlebell. I've used resistance training before from October through to February because I had found that early season hill climbs used give me lower back pain and I presumed that was from weak back and stomach muscles. Compound lifts, squats, deadlifts and lunges all worked well. Short sessions worked for me, 40 minutes up to three times a week.

In the summer I don't tend to do as much, maybe a session a week. I've gained most benefit in the off season.

Himself attended a pilates class over the winter and found that beneficial, planks FTW!

ford2600

NamelessPhil wrote: »

I use kettlebells too and I love them, I use an 8, 12 and a 16kg kettlebell. I've used resistance training before from October through to February because I had found that early season hill climbs used give me lower back pain and I presumed that was from weak back and stomach muscles. Compound lifts, squats, deadlifts and lunges all worked well. Short sessions worked for me, 40 minutes up to three times a week.

In the summer I don't tend to do as much, maybe a session a week. I've gained most benefit in the off season.

Himself attended a pilates class over the winter and found that beneficial, planks FTW!

Thanks

Have kept bike to once a week since starting, along with a little spinning, I'll probably should have started in October as planned!

I'll pick your brain on the Midlands 300 if I'm in any kind of shape for it.

Glad to see you are on road so soon

smacl

I also used to use kettlebells a lot for strength training when I was into competitive martial arts. They're brilliant in that they're compact, relatively fun to use, and well suited to short sessions at home once you've picked up the basics. Well worth doing classes starting out and every now and again to have your form corrected, and getting a class with an experienced instructor. The quality of instruction out there varies quite a bit, some great, some not so good.

Just gone back to a bit of boxing training myself with my eldest over the last couple of weeks, and shocked how much upper body strength and fitness I've lost over the last few years. Great craic, but a serious shock to the system. Planning on taking the kettlebells out as well a couple of times a week on nights I'm not using the turbo (or just slouching on the couch). Everything I've read suggests that regular resistance training is very valuable as you get older.

cdaly_

Pilates for me. 1 hr once per week appears to have made a big difference for me in terms of reduced/eliminated back/neck ache on the bike.

OTOH, it could be just that I have (finally) gotten that bit stronger on the bike...

shaka

Kettle bells done correctly will do wonders for the hips, complete core, quads,hammers and anything else you care to mention BUT it must be done correctly .

I've been to few different guys over the years particularly when weight training was my main excercise and athe amount of chancers out there who can really cause some nasty injuries.

ford2600

shaka wrote: »

Kettle bells done correctly will do wonders for the hips, complete core, quads,hammers and anything else you care to mention BUT it must be done correctly .

I've been to few different guys over the years particularly when weight training was my main excercise and athe amount of chancers out there who can really cause some nasty injuries.

Are you Cork based? Current gym is very much a powerlifting gym.

Free weights, squat racks etc, lot of emphasis on mobility, stretches and form. Seems good but I'm pretty ignorant.

The absence of mirrors, machines and egos had me sold:)

kenmc

ford2600 wrote: »

Are you Cork based? Current gym is very much a powerlifting gym.

Free weights, squat racks etc, lot of emphasis on mobility, stretches and form. Seems good but I'm pretty ignorant.

The absence of mirrors, machines and egos had me sold:)

Sounds like a good start for sure, any place that emphasizes mobility as well as weight is on the right track.

In Cork, TheStrengthRoom is supposed to be good for KBs although I've never been there.

Tenzor07

Weight training for the upper body is not needed for road biking, after all, the arms and hands are just there to keep the bars pointing in a straight line!

Ole Rodrigo

I've always believed road cycling solves any problems it creates, ie; just do more of it with as much hills as possible and you'll be grand.

That said, what about press ups and crunches? Cheap, fast and very effective when you get into them.

kenmc

Ole Rodrigo wrote: »

I've always believed road cycling solves any problems it creates, ie; just do more of it with as much hills as possible and you'll be grand.

That said, what about press ups and crunches? Cheap, fast and very effective when you get into them.

yes, and plenty of other body weight exercises for free too, chins, squats, reptilian crawls, lunges, there's loads of stuff like that on the web, also suspension trainers like Trx are cheap too

thebouldwhacker

Yoga and Pilates mixed with squats, easy dead lifts as well as foam rolling mixed in with bits of core work. Careful not to over fatigue the muscles though as injury can happen if the body needs to compensate on the bike. To avoid this I try and keep the weight down with 10 to 15 reps X3.
Did I mention Yoga, Pilates and foam rolling? I find these the most beneficial as they work the entire body upper, core and legs.

Jawgap

Swimming, a bit of yoga and some gym for me.

At the gym I focus on the Keiser machines which utilise air resistance rather than weights - I find it's more consistent and easier on the joints that weights.

ford2600

Taken from Bodybuilding.com article on Strength Training and Endurance Athletes.

Research exploring the effects of strength training on cycling has been a 'mixed bag'. We have the study carried out by Ben Hurley and his co-workers at the University of Maryland, in which 10 healthy men took up strength training (bench presses, knee extensions, knee flexions, press-ups, leg presses, lat pulldowns, arm curls, parallel squats and bent-knee sit-ups) for 12 weeks, while eight other healthy men served as controls.

After 12 weeks, the strength-trained men improved their endurance while cycling at an intensity of 75 percent V02 max by 33 percent and also lifted lactate threshold (the single best predictor of endurance performance) by 12 percent.

However, these men were untrained prior to the study and did not carry out regular cycling workouts during the research, so the applicability of these findings to serious athletes is questionable.

University Of Illinois At Chicago Study ///
The study carried out by R. C. Hickson and his colleagues at the University of Illinois at Chicago was considerably more practical. In that investigation, eight experienced cyclists added three days per week of strength training to their regular endurance routines over a 10-week period.


Barbell Squat

The strength training was incredibly simple, focusing on parallel squats (five sets of five reps per workout), knee extensions (three sets of five reps), knee flexions (3 x 5), and calf raises (3 x 25), all with fairly heavy resistance. The only progression utilized in the program involved the amount of resistance, which increased steadily as strength improved.

Cyclists Strength Training
Barbell Squat Barbell Squat
Barbell Squat
5 sets of 5 reps
Leg Extensions Leg Extensions
Leg Extensions
3 sets of 5 reps
Seated Leg Curl Seated Leg Curl
Seated Leg Curl
3 sets of 5 reps
Standing Calf Raises Standing Calf Raises
Standing Calf Raises
3 sets of 25 reps
Printable Page PDF Document

Nonetheless, the strength training had a profoundly positive impact on cycling performance. After 10 weeks, the cyclists improved their 'short-term endurance' (their ability to continue working at a high intensity) by about 11 percent, and they also expanded the amount of time they could pedal at an intensity of 80% V02 max from 71-to-85 minutes, about a 20-percent upgrade.

However, a different study showed that strength training could also have a profoundly negative effect on cycling performance. In that piece of research, carried out by James Home and his colleagues at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, seven endurance cyclists who averaged about 200 kilometers of cycling per week incorporated three strength training sessions into their normal routine.

The strength program was relatively unsophisticated, consisting of three sets of up to eight repetitions of hamstring curls, leg presses and quadriceps extensions using fairly heavy resistance.

After six weeks, the strength training produced rather impressive gains in strength (the gains averaged a bit more than 20 percent). However, actual cycling performances were not improved; in fact, they were worse than before the strength training was undertaken! 40-K race times slowed from 59-to-62 minutes, and the strength-trained cyclists complained of feeling 'heavy' and tired during their workouts - and even reduced their volume of endurance training because of the excessive fatigue.

Why did Hickson's study uncover clear advantages associated with strength training for cyclists, while Home's work revealed the reverse?

No one knows for certain, which means it's time for a personal observation. It seems likely that the strength training carried out by Hickson's charges improved fatigue resistance in their muscles, permitting them to persist longer both during high-intensity tests of endurance and prolonged efforts at a submaximal (80% V02max) intensity.

Meanwhile, it's likely that Home's added strength training sent his athletes into the overtrained - or at least 'stale' - state. The feelings of fatigue which originated shortly after the beginning of strength training suggests that the athletes were simply doing too much work.

Home's cyclists averaged 124 miles of weekly riding when they started their strength training, while Hickson's athletes were logging considerably fewer miles, so one might be tempted to suggest that strength training can produce major benefits for low-mileage cyclists but does much less for experienced, higher-mileage competitors who have already built up considerable strength merely by riding.

That certainly wouldn't be an unreasonable thought, but it doesn't explain why strength training per se would actually slow down endurance performances, as it seemed to do for Home's performers (no other study has shown this). It seems likely that Home's added strength training was simply the straw that broke the camel's back; it wasn't the strength training which slowed the cyclists but the total amount of work they had to complete.

shaka

ford2600 wrote: »

Are you Cork based? Current gym is very much a powerlifting gym.

Free weights, squat racks etc, lot of emphasis on mobility, stretches and form. Seems good but I'm pretty ignorant.

The absence of mirrors, machines and egos had me sold:)

Work in Cork live in Limerick, has been struggle to find a consistent decent gym that suited me work wise and was on the north side of cork .

Was in Planet Leisure on the Mallow road and found it good equipment wise but haven't renewed .

Joined OB fitness in ardpatrick county limerick , look him up on YouTube . finding his way of training excellent. A lot of body weight stuff and and working on flexibility in my quads and hips.

Hani Kosti

Compound lifts (learn proper form first to stay injury free)
Yoga or pilates
Swimming