5 mistakes in the weight lifting gym
There are many myths about training principles in the bicycling world but there are even more in the weight lifting gym. I have seen a lot of strength training programs for cyclists on the internet, but most of them are of a very poor quality. It is obvious that many coaches are good at endurance training, but lack experience and knowledge about strength training. I have a feeling that many of these coaches do not know how the neuromuscular system works and how it adapts to the weight lifting.
Common mistakes in strength training programs
1. Non-functional exercise
It is important to know that neuromuscular adaptations are closely related to the specific exercises you do. You should try to do exercises that have a movement similar to pedal strokes. Avoid leg extensions and do some quality squats instead. To be honest, if you are not injured it is a waste of time to do leg extensions.
2. Too many exercises
If you do the right exercises you can train the whole body with only a few different lifts. When you get familiar with strength training, I recommend you start learning the techniques for lifting free weights. I want you to lift free weights because you train more balance and are able to train more explosive. My favourite exercise for cyclists is definitely squat. I agree when other cyclists tell me that squat is king. That exercise will make a difference in your view of strength training. Before you do some heavy squats you should let an instructor introduce you to the correct technique. It is good to be supervised in the first couple of training sessions.
3. Too few sets
When you were 4 years old and tried to ride your bike for the very first time, you did not try only once to master the discipline. You tried over and over again. What you did was to learn your neuromuscular system how to ride a bike. When you lift weights you want to adapt your neuromuscular system to lift heavy iron. Just as you needed many attempts to manage your bike, you will take advantage of many sets in the weight lifting gym.
4. Too many reps
When you are a cyclist you are interested in strength gains, not weight gains. I will recommend you use a rep range of 3-6. With this rep range you will develop strength without gaining extra body weight. I have seen a lot of programs that would be better for body builders training for hypertrophy, using a rep range of 8-15. There are also some coaches that believe that it is possible to build strength endurance in the gym. They recommend sets of up to 100 reps. I do not agree with these coaches. If you want to train for strength endurance, you should do it on your bike. Again we are talking about specificity.
5. Train to failure too often
Many cyclists believe in the ‘No Pain, No Gain’ attitude. I like the spirit too, but it is not the best way to increase performance in strength training. Your neuromuscular system does not like failure training and if you keep doing it, your strength gains will end at a plateau. I recommend you finish your sets at least 1 or 2 reps from failure.
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Strength training might increase performance | Cycling Training Tips said,
November 23, 2006 @ 5:18 pm
[…] As I wrote in a previous post about strength training, many cycling coaches do not have an idea of what they are doing in the weight lifting gym. It seems like they are trying to convert their training principles from the cycling world into the weight lifting world. I believe that cycling coaches should listen to people who are more experienced with developing explosive power. Track and field coaches have a very scientific approach to strength training. Olympic style weight lifters are experts at improving power without gaining additional body weight. Knowledge about strength training increases in a very accelerated pace, but nevertheless, most riders stick to their conservative training principles. I hope that more riders and coaches will open up their eyes and discover what is going on. […]
Patrick said,
December 29, 2006 @ 10:41 pm
I just read your article with great interest but there was some things that fellt really wrong for me.
I’m a Personal trainer, mainly working on streangth improvement. I agree with you on many points but not when you talked about reps.
To say that 3-6 reps puts on streangth but not weight is just not true in my world. The debate around reps in fitness world is big and controversal. But in general 3-6 reps is great for putting on wheight and streangth. There is an old idea that that you can build up streangth without putting on weight. That idea is old that we have thrown in the trash.
You can build up streangth without gaining weight for a while but eventually youre muscles are going to gain wheight. This is going too happen regardless of what your reps.
As a side note, 3-6 reps is somthing people in powersports uses a lot.
Jesper Therkildsen said,
December 30, 2006 @ 1:03 pm
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for commenting.
Maintaining a low body weight is essential in both road cycling and mountain bike, since carrying extra pounds (dead weight) decrease your performance. That is same situation for a weight lifter competing in a weight class. If the weight class is <82.5kg, then he will have to work hard for neural adaptations instead of hypertrophy, because additional body weight will make hime compete in a heavier weight class (<90kg).
It is correct that the rep range is often used in powersports, but the people who are really interested in additional body mass (body builders) work much more in the rep range from 5 to 12.
Sets of few reps apply very little damage to the muscle fibres (protein degradation). This damage is normally one of the parameters responsible for stimulating the muscle fibres to grow. By avoiding this protein degradation we can minimize the stimulus to hypertrophy. Also there is a couple of other ways to minimize or completely avoid additional body mass but still getting stronger.
I wrote a series about it here:
http://www.training4cyclists.com/strength-training-without-additional-body-mass-1/
http://www.training4cyclists.com/strength-training-without-additional-body-mass-2/
http://www.training4cyclists.com/strength-training-without-additional-body-mass-3/
http://www.training4cyclists.com/strength-training-without-additional-body-mass-4/
/Jesper
Patrick said,
December 30, 2006 @ 11:15 pm
I read your articles. I did not see anything that supported your few rep theory.
I am not sayin that it is wrong for cyclists to train like that. I’m from the world of bodybuilding and I’m here to learn how you train in different sports.
What studies have you read to support the theory of few reps, no hypertrophy?
The reason for my reaction is that, I grow up in the gym and has worked a lot with different reps and set and filosofies. I did my greatest gains working with low reps and I’m not alone, I have seen a lot of people, grow with that sort of training.
Jesper Therkildsen said,
January 2, 2007 @ 4:45 pm
It is very, very well documented that choosing low reps is the best way to build strength.
If you think low reps is the best way to build muscle mass, I guess you have some basic exercise physiology to catch up with.
Here is a good article on strength training:
http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/69/
And an article on adaptation:
http://www.training4cyclists.com/how-a-muscle-develop-force/
Heath said,
January 3, 2007 @ 8:04 am
Hi, after reading the comment banter, I came across this site (Below) which seems to support the few reps approach-
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw57.htm
-as a serious cyclist (climber) looking to increase power without extra muscle weight this info was a lot of help so thanks, I was doing way too many reps!
Coach Matt said,
February 7, 2007 @ 7:51 pm
Guys - for the recreational reader/lifter I think it is important to add that low rep/high weight execises should only come after a substantive adaptation/endurance period - the potential for tissue damage is significant and early lifters who “go heavy” to try and increase “strength” (which is a bit of a non-starter term to begin with) may increase their injury risk. Additionally - for cyclists especially, it isn’t so much the low rep count that relates to performance - it is the plyometric/speed-strenght element. That is to say that for a cyclist to see true gain from lifting they must focus on the explosive movement rather than the amount of weight lifted. Consider- how often do you pedal as slowly as that 3-5 rep sequence? It’s about muscle fiber recruitment - move faster recruit more type II muscle mass…
Jesper Therkildsen said,
February 7, 2007 @ 8:47 pm
Matt,
It seems like you don’t know that much about how the central nervous system adapts to heavy weights referring to your last comment about ‘pedalling as slowly as in a 3-5 rep sequence’. This indicates to me that you really doesn’t know what you are talking about since the whole idea of training with heavy weights is to increase the 1rep maximum - not to simulate pedalling frequency. If we can increase 1rm in a relevant exercise like squats we can also pedal harder in sprints and accelerations.
Yes, explosiveness is important, but making explosive movements with light weights will not activate all motor neurons, thus you will not generate the neural adaptations needed for development of maximal force. Example: Who will make the fastest squat with 100kg?
Rider A: 1RM 100kg
Rider B: 1RM 200kg
It is obvious that Rider B will make that squat faster than rider A even though rider A might be more explosive. Thus, absolute force is very important. Who of these riders can generate the highest power in a sprint? Well, who would you put your money on..?
What I recommend is lifting the weights as fast as possible in the concentric phase, thus recruiting every single motor neuron. But lifting heavy weights (above 80% of 1RM) will naturally develop explosive force (and absolute strength).
High rep strength training is a waste of time since it doesn’t improve your 1RM and if you was interested in strength endurance, you should not do it in the gym, but on your bike (better neural adaptations).
Shawn said,
March 4, 2007 @ 8:45 am
“”There is an old idea that that you can build up streangth without putting on weight. That idea is old that we have thrown in the trash.”"
That comment is 100% WRONG! Powerlifter George Halbert (to name only one) has increased his max bench in the past 1 1/2 years from 628 to 702 while maintaining 8% body fat & a 198 body weight. I have been an avid powerlifter for years & have increased my Deadlift from 390 to 505 while maintaining a 225lb bodyweight. Powerlifters regularly increase their totals while maintaining body weight. Muscles CAN get stronger without getting larger (to a point). An example is to armwrestle a farmer or contruction worker with smaller arms against a bodybuilder with larger arms. Unless we’re talking a pro bodybuilder……My money is on the farmer/contruction worker. I cycle to increase my hip/leg strength & to help recover from my Max-rep cycles. A cyclists diet will help keep the Strongman build away.So please…Go ahead & (once acclimated to it) GO HEAVY!!!
danny said,
May 25, 2007 @ 4:21 pm
im a 17 year old who has just started time trialing. through out the winter in engaged in an extreamly intense weight session aim at increasing my lower body strength. i did this workout 2 days a week and the gains were phonominal. it completely transformed my riding and made me a great climber and really helped my time trialing. however, now the racing season is upon me i want to concertrate on threshold intervals and proper riding but i also want to keep all of my strength.
any tips on how i can maintain my strength with only doing 1 strength session a week
cheers for any replies.
Jesper Therkildsen said,
May 26, 2007 @ 10:37 am
I think you shall focus more on your performance on your bike especially when you are new into time trialing. Having a good position on the bike and a solid aerobic engine is far more important than the benefits you will get from strength training.
danny said,
May 27, 2007 @ 1:57 pm
thanks jesper, i will bear that in mind and work more on my aerobic capacity and anerrobic threshold as well as the technical aspects of riding
cheers again.
danny said,
May 28, 2007 @ 5:14 pm
oh, one more thing though. if i did cut back on the weight training, would cycling be stimulating enough to maintain my strength, or maybe even get stronger in the form of cycling specific power????
it would really help me if you could give me the jist of it. cheers
Eric said,
December 30, 2007 @ 8:57 am
I’m an Exercise Physiologist and keen road cyclist.
Evidence in peer reviewed journals (not questionable websites or random examples of power lifters) supported by the American College of Sports Science (ACSM) indicates that strength can increase in the absence of weight gain. This is achieved through improved coordination of muscle fibres and increased motor unit recruitment (nerves activating more muscle fibres at one time).
Shawn, you have stated, and I quote, “There is an old idea that that you can build up streangth without putting on weight. That idea is old that we have thrown in the trash.” You then go one to give examples of people (yourself included) who have achieved increases in strength in the absence of weight gain….confused???
Jesper, I agree in part with some of your comments however I think you lack a distinction between strength and power. Like you say, strength is basically 1RM while power is how fast you can move a given weight. To train with heavy weights alone is no good for power improvements unless you are able to do so quickly. The weight must not be so heavy as to limit the explosive action and this is where the alactic anaerobic system with be utilised as opposed to lactic anaerobic and some aerobic.
In regards to the number of reps one should complete, evidence suggests that power (mass/time) improves best with low reps (3-6) with full recovery (2min). Strength is best achieved through completion of 6-10 reps with four sets shown to be most effective once accustomed to resistance training. Hypertrophy is best obtained through higher reps i.e. 12-15. This is because the build up of metabolic waste products is essential for hypertrophy to occur. This type of training also facilitates muscular endurance.
Also notable, the eccentric phase of lifting is essential for strength improvements and hypertrophy hence why some body builders do hypermax eccentric lifts i.e. are spoted with a weight >100% for the concentric phase and then control it unaided through the eccentric phase.
Finally, it should be noted that there is significant cross over between various training protocols. Strength training will probably result in some hypertrophy and power training will elicite some strength improvements. There are certain exceptions each theory and certainly difference between individuals but don’t take one isolated example and use it as factual evidence.