It is the $64,000 question for cyclists aiming to boost their performance: should they make lifting weights a part of their training regime? There are many arguments for and against and few topics raise the hackles of bike fans more than this.

But, in my view, one thing is certain: when you have a busy life and time is of the essence, strength and weight training should take a back seat. If you only have a limited amount of time to dedicate to your cycling training, then forget about lifting weights and pumping iron: focus on intervals and the sessions that will bring you the maximum benefit.

Use Your Training Time Effectively

Nobody is in any doubt that in everyday life strength training is excellent exercise and can benefit everybody. From a health and wellbeing perspective, people of all ages should do some kind of strength training as part of a healthy lifestyle or exercise regime. The benefits are boundless; lifting weights can help to maintain muscle mass and core strength throughout a person’s life.

But in my area of expertise we are not talking about ordinary mortals: we are talking about serious cyclists. For riders, lifting weights CAN be a good option, let’s say, during the winter months as an alternative to road training, or if they have the luxury of incorporating lots of variety into their training programs. During quieter training periods, pumping iron can be an excellent alternative to regular endurance training. And there is a school of thought that weight training can make the tiny but crucial difference to highly-trained athletes.

Sadly, few people have all the time in the world at their disposal. Ambitious cyclists who want to boost their performance tend to have busy lives: children, families, careers, social life…. So they need to prioritise their training to get the best results possible and spending several hours a week in the gym pumping iron may not be a feasible option. When you only have so much time available, something has to give, and training on the bike will almost certainly increase your performance more than lifting weights.

The Research Is Inconclusive

The studies that have taken place so far as to whether strength training can boost a cyclist’s power and performance are inconclusive. Most riders know that they must put in heavy bursts with 1,000 watts during a race. But can these bursts be improved by strength training? The answer is unknown because we lack the statistics to back up any theories advocated by some bike coaches and riders.

One of the most burning questions is whether it is possible to convert the neuronal power from strength training to generate extra performance on the bike.

One of the most common theories is that weight training makes muscles more efficient when they recruit muscle fibers for contraction. This theory does sound sensible and feasible, but it is extremely difficult to prove in the lab.

Extra body weight derived from lifting weights will slow you down when you climb or accelerate your bike. And then there is the “power-to-weight ratio”, which refers to how many watts you can push compared to your body weight. That ratio has a huge impact when you climb or accelerate.

But during the cold winter months, strength training can be an excellent alternative to road and endurance training. One crucial question cyclists should ask themselves is whether they would enjoy doing some weight training as an alternative to regular bike riding when it is extremely cold outside.

Strength Training Should Never Have A Negative Impact

So, yes, strength training is brilliant from a health viewpoint, but for dedicated cyclists wanting to stretch themselves and make tiny improvements, it can be dropped if time is tight.

In a perfect world it would probably be the ideal scenario to have “strength training only” days. In practice this can be difficult, especially if you are tackling a fair amount of endurance training.

But while strength training is a viable alternative to regular endurance sessions, especially in the winter, it should never have a negative impact on your overall training regime, so sessions on the bike should always come first.

“Would it not be more beneficial to simply pushing a large gear (if on a trainer) or doing steep hills. I personally have gotten more out of doing 28% grade repeats for 2 hours then doing any sort of lifting…
Andrew Coggan / Ric Stern seem to think weight training is useless / determintal compared to cycle strength training specificity.”

Definitely an interesting question!

Strength training for cyclists is a controversial topic which I have tried to describe in http://www.training4cyclists.com/strength-training-might-increase-performance/

Qoute:
“Strength training is a controversial topic when we discuss optimizing of training programs for cyclists. There is no definitive answer to whether cyclists should include weight lifting in their winter training plans. There have been made several studies which have not yet proved that cyclists can benefit from strength training.

One of the biggest problems for these scientific studies is that they are done at untrained people and the study group is usually small. That makes it rather difficult to prove a significant difference between endurance training only versus endurance training combined with weight lifting. My best guess is that strength training does make a difference and it is, at least in theory, possible to prove it with a larger study group. But the difference between including strength training or not, is obviously not the most important factor when it comes to overall performance in road races. Thus, it is very difficult to recommend you to either go to the gym or spend an extra hour on the bike. In both cases you will probably improve your overall performance level. It is important to notice that even though studies about strength training does not produce significant gains in overall cycling performance, it is very likely that there is a difference. ”

This article about squat is primary an article to show why you should squat IF you decide to strength train. Not to discuss whether you should strength train or not.

Strength endurance training should always be performed ON the bike

2 hours of 28% grade repeats does not sound as max strength training to me, rather like strength endurance, which I always recommend should be done on a bike. That is why I don’t recommend long strength endurance sets with 12, 20 or even 100´s of reps. That is better done on the bike.

But when we are talking max strength, squat gets important, because you activate almost every single motor neuron in your quadriceps (and a lot of helper-muscles) in a heavy lift. It is very difficult to activate the same percentage of motor neurons on a bike, and especially if you are doing steep hills that take more than 5 revolutions in the pedals. When you train for neural adaptations it is important to activate as many motor neurons as possible. Also there some discussion whether a better neural control will help you to be more efficient when recruiting muscle fibres.

Still, I recommend doing ‘power sprints’ on the bike. These sprints are accelerations for about 8seconds in a heavy gearing e.g. 53/16.

I often hear that cyclists skip strength training because they are afraid they will gain additional body weight. In this series I will try to explain how cyclists can strength train without gaining extra body weight. This article is a part of the ‘Strength training without additional body mass series’. You can read the rest of this series here:
1. Why additional body weight should be avoided
2. Nutritional tips to avoid hypertrophy
3. Training tips to avoid hypertrophy
4. Tips about strength training

4. Tips about strength training

Warm up before strength training
Use a stationary bike for at least 10 minutes. Afterwards you should do some light weights in the exercises you are going to train. E.g. take 1 set of 10 reps of squats with 40% of the weight you are going to use in the training set. Also take 2-3 reps with a workload close to the one you are going to train with. This is a kind of weight acclimatization for your neural system.   

Strength train with other riders
I think it is important to have a training buddy when you strength train. There is a motivating factor in training with other riders heading for the same goal. As with all kinds of training, it’s easier to reduce intensity when no ones are watching you.

Help each other with lifting style
It is also safer to have a friend or two to help you if you get in trouble in a heavy lift. When you train with other riders, remember to comment on their techniques, hopefully this can prevent dangerous situations to happen. If you have a good training partner, you will get a lot more out of strength training in the long run. Remember to look at their tecniques, not how many kgs they are lifting.

Recovery periods between sets
Another benefit of training with other riders is that there will be a natural break between sets. When you have a training partner, it becomes easier to get the recommended recovery periods of at least 2 minutes between sets.

Ride on the bike after strength training
This is not a very well documented advice, but I use it and think it works alright. In theory this little trick should help the muscles to convert the stimuli from strength training to increased functional neural adaptations. I am not sure whether this happen or not, but I think that riders should train on their bike all week or at least on all training days.

I often hear that cyclists skip strength training because they are afraid they will gain additional body weight. In this series I will try to explain how cyclists can strength train without gaining extra body weight. This article is number 3 of the ‘Strength training without additional body mass series’. You can read the rest of this series here:
1. Why additional body weight should be avoided
2. Nutritional tips to avoid hypertrophy
3. Training tips to avoid hypertrophy
4. Tips about strength training

3. Training tips to avoid hypertrophy

When you start to strength train you will make progress in the beginning with little effort. This is not due to hypertrophy, but rather neural adaptations. This explains why beginners experience great improvements in the first couple of weeks when they begin to lift weights.

Maintaining a low body weight is essential in both road cycling and mountain bike, since carrying extra pounds (dead weight) decrease your performance. Actually 1kg can cost you around 1 minute on finishing time on Alpe d’Huez.

I have a couple of training tips that can help you to avoid hypertrophy of your muscles when you strength train:

Short sets of 1 to 5 reps
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. Body builders would prefer sets from 6 to 15 reps, because these longer sets cause more protein degradation which stimulate the muscles to grow. 

Long recovery periods between sets
When you train for neural strength you are interested in a full or almost full recovery between each set. This little move, which is a very social and comfortable time of the training session, makes it possible to keep protein degradation at minimum. It also makes you able to perform lifts at higher level, which in the final end makes you stronger. I recommend you to take a break of at least 2 minutes between sets.

Avoid failure training
This training type is a big mistake when you train for neural adaptations. It might also be a big mistake if you train for hypertrophy, but that is another story. The point is that failure training might trigger your muscles to grow and also there is a risk that your strength gains will reach a plateau too early.

Avoid forced reps
This training type is not made for strength gains. It is from 80’s where people believed in ‘No pain, no gain’. Again, if you focus on strength gains, forced reps are not a topic. Forget about the ‘No pain, no Pain’ attitude, well if you like to suffer, it is much better for you to suffer during som effective interval programmes made for your aerobic system. 

Be explosive
Well, this advice does not exactly protects your muscles from growth, but I think that it is an important advice for serious cyclists or other people interested in neural strength gains. In the concentric phase of the lift, you should try to barbell as fast as possible in the concentric phase (lifting phase).

I often hear that cyclists skip strength training because they are afraid they will gain additional body weight. In this series I will try to explain how cyclists can strength train without gaining extra body weight. You can read the rest of this series here:
1. Why additional body weight should be avoided
2. Nutritional tips to avoid hypertrophy
3. Training tips to avoid hypertrophy
4. Tips about strength training

2. Nutritional tips to avoid hypertrophy

It takes time to build big muscles. Before a muscle would start to grow it needs regular training sessions and plenty of the right calories served at the right time. The keyword is consistency.

You will need more calories than normal because building is muscles not essential for your body to survive. Thus, if you don’t get enough calories, your muscles will not begin to grow.

When a muscle increases its square diameter we call it hypertrophy. Nutrition plays a big role for hypertrophy and therefore I have included a nutritional article in the series about how to avoid additional body mass. Elite cyclists and other serious riders should normally try to avoid hypertrophy since it slows them down on the hills.

So what should you change when you start strength training?
Nothing! The biggest mistake is actually to make big changes when you start to strength train. (I suppose that you already eat a healthy diet with the proper amounts of carbohydrates, proteins and fat, whole grains, vitamins etc. If not, change your diet immediately! )

Avoid hidden calories
Avoid those hidden calories in juice and soft drinks. These calories accumulate and don’t provide value to your diet, but they provide simple fuel which makes it easier for your muscles to grow. You should also avoid products like cake, candy, ice cream etc. Ok, you are a serious athlete I know, so sorry for reminding you about so obvious things…

Focus on quality food
Thus, if you stick to your current diet, you will have enough fuel to train hard and recover from the training. You don’t need extra proteins, protein bars, amino acid supplements or anything like this. Save your money – Instead spend them on quality food.

Remember that your strength training focuses on a small volume. Thus, there will only be a slightly degree of extra protein degradation. If you eat a healthy diet there will already be enough proteins ready for your recovery period. I will talk more about protein degradation in the next part of this series.