Cycling specific gym work?
Discussion
Hi all!
I used to go to the gym each lunch time, but traded that in for all the cycling I was doing. I miss the gym and bored and lunch, so want to get back to it. However, I thought I'd try and better my cycling by training to that.
I'm sure there was a thread discussing exactly this topic, but I can't find it at all?
My question - with 4 x 45min sessions a week, what would the best training in the gym be to compliment cycling?
Thanks all
Tony
I'll not do a separate thread, but; how important is colour on a bike? I want a black Garmin Edge 500. They're £225 everywhere. The blue one can be had for £180 (Halfords). Convince me I want a black one....pleeeeeeeease
I used to go to the gym each lunch time, but traded that in for all the cycling I was doing. I miss the gym and bored and lunch, so want to get back to it. However, I thought I'd try and better my cycling by training to that.
I'm sure there was a thread discussing exactly this topic, but I can't find it at all?
My question - with 4 x 45min sessions a week, what would the best training in the gym be to compliment cycling?
Thanks all
Tony
I'll not do a separate thread, but; how important is colour on a bike? I want a black Garmin Edge 500. They're £225 everywhere. The blue one can be had for £180 (Halfords). Convince me I want a black one....pleeeeeeeease
Nothing you do in the gym compliments or helps you in cycling if you're talking about weight based stuff, possibly the only stuff that would help woudl be core work, and dips to build triceps a bit.
I go to the gym and do a normal weights routine, but its been remarked many times that I'd be a better cyclist if I stopped doing it.
I go to the gym and do a normal weights routine, but its been remarked many times that I'd be a better cyclist if I stopped doing it.
Some of this 
Every paper and bit of research I've come across says that for road riding, until you're at the very, very top, then nothing is the gym is going to benefit you, certainly not compared to time spent riding.
If you have time to go to the gym though, but can't use that time for riding, then I guess as much cardio as possible with some core strength?
Every paper and bit of research I've come across says that for road riding, until you're at the very, very top, then nothing is the gym is going to benefit you, certainly not compared to time spent riding.
If you have time to go to the gym though, but can't use that time for riding, then I guess as much cardio as possible with some core strength?
Also it depends on the sort of riding you want to do.
I think the reason I have a good sprint and pretty strong short burst pwoer is that I did a lot of muscle stuff before hand, but now I'm trying to convert to endurance and what not, as its only useful in a few environments, crits and track I guess.
I think the reason I have a good sprint and pretty strong short burst pwoer is that I did a lot of muscle stuff before hand, but now I'm trying to convert to endurance and what not, as its only useful in a few environments, crits and track I guess.
Thats pretty much it, although if you can find a gym local to you with one of these you can kill two birds with one stone:
http://trixter.net/Xdream-full
They're much more interesting than sitting on a turbo, been using these at my gym quite a lot over the last few months and find them brilliant, better than a spin class too if you use it correctly.
Its hard to reconcile in your mind that to be a better road cyclist that you need legs like Hoy and an upper body like Skeletor - which lets face it is not a good look!! So we all end up in the gym doing weights which dont really do us many favours aside from aesthetics.
http://trixter.net/Xdream-full
They're much more interesting than sitting on a turbo, been using these at my gym quite a lot over the last few months and find them brilliant, better than a spin class too if you use it correctly.
Its hard to reconcile in your mind that to be a better road cyclist that you need legs like Hoy and an upper body like Skeletor - which lets face it is not a good look!! So we all end up in the gym doing weights which dont really do us many favours aside from aesthetics.
Interesting stuff - thanks again.
I've no specific goals in cycling, just that I want to get better, and to a point that when I join my local club (Wigmore if anyone knows it) that I won't embarass myself. So it was more a question of not doing something that would directly contradict, as much as something that will help.
As it is, I'll just continue to do what I used to
I've no specific goals in cycling, just that I want to get better, and to a point that when I join my local club (Wigmore if anyone knows it) that I won't embarass myself. So it was more a question of not doing something that would directly contradict, as much as something that will help.
As it is, I'll just continue to do what I used to
For core strength make sure you talk to a trainer (or physio) who knows what they're talking about (e.g. with pilates experience) so that you know what exercises to do.
Things like sit-ups do nothing for your core strength, which is about the muscles around your spine and inner lower abdominals (or something like that). Those muscles can be quite challenging to activate/isolate when exercising but once you know how to exercise them, it really makes a difference.
An example I was given was that when accelerating on a bike, core strength will help keep your hips from moving around, thereby reducing power transmission losses.
Things like sit-ups do nothing for your core strength, which is about the muscles around your spine and inner lower abdominals (or something like that). Those muscles can be quite challenging to activate/isolate when exercising but once you know how to exercise them, it really makes a difference.
An example I was given was that when accelerating on a bike, core strength will help keep your hips from moving around, thereby reducing power transmission losses.
I think that it also depends on your chosen discipline, for riders concentrating on doing shorter distances - crit races, certain track disciplines etc then weighted squat work is definately worth doing, as it should increase your sprint speeds.
If you're more into doing longer distance rides and endurance events - say 100 mile sportives / audax's etc then they aren't quite so beneficial.
Workouts targetted at your short twitch ( sprint ) muscles, such as that demonstrated by Mr Hoy, aren't used very much once you do the longer stuff as you won't be using them very much. I would have thought that simply "getting the miles in" by any means possible would be a better use of time?
If you're more into doing longer distance rides and endurance events - say 100 mile sportives / audax's etc then they aren't quite so beneficial.
Workouts targetted at your short twitch ( sprint ) muscles, such as that demonstrated by Mr Hoy, aren't used very much once you do the longer stuff as you won't be using them very much. I would have thought that simply "getting the miles in" by any means possible would be a better use of time?
There has been a few studys that say it doesn't improve your sprinting mostly because people don't rest and recover properly.
But I agree with what you are saying, I have a decent sprint probably because I did 4 years of heavy weight training beforehand. But I can still ride 70-80 miles, it all depends on goal as you say, there is no real requirement for me to be able to ride 150 miles as I'll never need to do it at a competitive level I doubt.
But I agree with what you are saying, I have a decent sprint probably because I did 4 years of heavy weight training beforehand. But I can still ride 70-80 miles, it all depends on goal as you say, there is no real requirement for me to be able to ride 150 miles as I'll never need to do it at a competitive level I doubt.
[quote=okgo]There has been a few studys that say it doesn't improve your sprinting mostly because people don't rest and recover properly.
That doesn't surprise me, its like the core comments earlier, these along with proper rest and correct post ride stretches tend to be neglected, but are much far more beneficial to continued improvement than perhaps realised.
As for your having a decent sprint based upon your prior weight training routine, this is not surprising! One of my riding buddies was a rower for many years which targets muscles in a similar fashion. This, by its nature means that he has much better "explosive" power than me in sprints / time trials, in fact anything up to about 50 miles he is fantastic. Get him over a long distance however and the advantage reverses in my favour as he has retained quite a bit of the weight that rowing brings about.
All of which means that i keep encouraging him to eat pies, because the moment he decides to drop some weight he'll be unstoppable!
That doesn't surprise me, its like the core comments earlier, these along with proper rest and correct post ride stretches tend to be neglected, but are much far more beneficial to continued improvement than perhaps realised.
As for your having a decent sprint based upon your prior weight training routine, this is not surprising! One of my riding buddies was a rower for many years which targets muscles in a similar fashion. This, by its nature means that he has much better "explosive" power than me in sprints / time trials, in fact anything up to about 50 miles he is fantastic. Get him over a long distance however and the advantage reverses in my favour as he has retained quite a bit of the weight that rowing brings about.
All of which means that i keep encouraging him to eat pies, because the moment he decides to drop some weight he'll be unstoppable!
Yeh I don't think I've lost much power/strength since those days and have dropped 3 stone, that's when s
t gets interesting.
But its not all about power, look at cavendish! He is powerful obviously, but I'd imagine someone like Griepel is producing absoloutley huge wattage in a sprint, and in the worlds, imagine how many watts Cancellara was producing to be about a bike away from winning far more than cav I reckon, he's just got a good position and technique, you can't just be strong. Unless you're a time trialer of course, then you can and you'll win every time, Martin, Cancellara etc.
t gets interesting.But its not all about power, look at cavendish! He is powerful obviously, but I'd imagine someone like Griepel is producing absoloutley huge wattage in a sprint, and in the worlds, imagine how many watts Cancellara was producing to be about a bike away from winning far more than cav I reckon, he's just got a good position and technique, you can't just be strong. Unless you're a time trialer of course, then you can and you'll win every time, Martin, Cancellara etc.
Agree, technique plays a huge part in racing, but not much you can do in a gym to improve that!
Cav is a great point to illustrate this, apparently his lab test stats are dreadful for a pro. However he's smaller than a lot of his compettitors, so assume he has a better power to weight ratio, this together with a lower stance producing less drag must assist his more obvious qualities during the latter stages of a race.
Cav is a great point to illustrate this, apparently his lab test stats are dreadful for a pro. However he's smaller than a lot of his compettitors, so assume he has a better power to weight ratio, this together with a lower stance producing less drag must assist his more obvious qualities during the latter stages of a race.
Yep, I've probably under talked how much power he makes, its a huge figure for those few seconds he needs.
But when you look at Cancellara's paris roubaix (average of just under 300w for the duration) and see that to get that break he did where everyone thought he had an electric bike he peaked at 1450 watts, I reckon based on others in our club who have power meters and SRM's that I've ridden with that I can make over 1100 watts as an absoloute balls out oxygen debt ridden effort, to think he did that and then carried on at 700 or so to make the break for a few mins was mental.
But when you look at Cancellara's paris roubaix (average of just under 300w for the duration) and see that to get that break he did where everyone thought he had an electric bike he peaked at 1450 watts, I reckon based on others in our club who have power meters and SRM's that I've ridden with that I can make over 1100 watts as an absoloute balls out oxygen debt ridden effort, to think he did that and then carried on at 700 or so to make the break for a few mins was mental.
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