Training4cyclists

Cycling Training Tips

Reader Questions

Reader Question: Why Should Cyclists Train Like Weight Lifters?

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Should Cyclists Train Like Weight Lifters? - Image by Eric McGregor

Why do you recommend cyclists to to train like weight lifters (few reps)? Wouldn’t be better to train for strength endurance with 8, 12 or more reps?

Maintaining a low body weight is essential in both road cycling and mountain bike (Watts per Kilogram), 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

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.

If you decide to strength train this winter, I will highly recommend you to read my series about how you can get stronger without adding additional muscle mass.

Ps. It’s not certain that cyclists have to lift weights at all. Most riders will benefit more from extra bike training.

Strength Training On The Bike?

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“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 8 seconds in a heavy gearing e.g. 53/16.

Indoor Bike Training When The Weather Is Bad?

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Do you ever consider to do a session on a indoor trainer (spinning or hometrainer) instead of cancelling an outdoor training session due to bad weather?

Training in cold, bad weather is probably not good for you. Your performance goes down, your motivation goes down and your bike gets dirty. Most riders don’t like that.

Good planning is your friend

Don’t let the weather surprise you again tomorrow, so instead of having the same problem the following day, take a look at the weather forecast. Make a new training plan for for the rest of the week (or month!) Being aware of the weather situation is a very good place to start if you want to maximize your training program’s success rate.

Indoor cycling is a great alternative

So what do I tell my riders when there is bad weather? I always recommend my riders to do indoor cycling instead. If you are dedicated for your training program you can always ride it on a stationary bike. Bump. It’s all about being dedicated (and a bit crazy) I’ve done several rides of 3hrs on a stationary bike and have a personal best of 5hrs on a stationary bike.

I think it is a question about personality – some riders get bored if they have to ride 1hr on an indoor bike and others can do several hours without getting bored. Some of my riders do their planned ride on the stationary bike and others prefer to take a shorter, more intensive ride.

Quitters never win, Winners never quit

Cancelling is not an option if you want to achieve really good results. But don’t be stupid, because you want to stick to the training plan. As I’ve said previously, good planning is your friend.

Average Heart Rate vs Threshold Power

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Question from Rob Worrell: “My seasonal goal was an 11mile hill climb near my home at the conclusion of the summer. In interval training I once hit 182BPM (I am 39 Years old), but most of my intervals are around 160-170BPM. In the MTB hill climb race (seasonal goal), I averaged 173BPM for a 1:05:30 race time. This seems like my threshold is really close to my max of 182BPM? I lost by 6 minutes or 33 seconds per mile. Do I need to increase my threshold even higher? Or how do I get more power at the same threshold?”

Threshold heart rate and threshold watts are two different terms. Your best average heart rate for a one hour event is probably very close to your performance in the MTB hill climb race you mention. This means that on that specific day, you delivered an optimal performance.

No training = Lower threshold power

If you didn’t train the last 12 weeks before this event, you would probably still be able to maintain an average heart rate close to 173bpm, but there is no doubt that your finishing time will be significantly slower. This is because your threshold watts at the same heart rate are much lower when you haven’t trained.

More training = Higher threshold power

Thus, when you train consistently and do some good workouts, your threshold power output will increase, but your threshold heart will very likely remain at the same level. You are close to the limit of how much you can push your average heart rate, but that is in fact uninteresting. There is a huge aerobic potential waiting for you, when you start to work focused on your threshold power. In theory, there is no limitation on how far you can raise you power output.

The main training methods for threshold power are VO2 max intervals, aerobic intervals and endurance rides.

Is a Heart Rate Monitor w/ Cadence Helpful in Sprint Training?

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Kscheid asked me the following question: “I am interested in knowing a bit more about monitors. I have a heart monitor, which I like using, but I know that there are other monitors out there, say for cadence and/or power output. I am not a racer, so I am not sure I would really need the power meter. However, I do want to improve my sprinting ability. Would a monitor that shows cadence be enough to help with gauging and measuring improvement?”

If I was asked to do some serious improvements on sprint skills, I would never recommend an upgrade from a heart rate monitor to a heart rate monitor with cadence.

Knowing your cadence as a sprinter might be useful, e.g. in post-race analysis of gear choice and cadence in the final sprint and other crucial moments. Before you start to analyse your performance in previous races, I think it is much more beneficial to work on your sprint power through training. That means different sorts of power sprints, high speed sprints and tactical sprints. That will make for sure make you a better sprinter.

Power meter can track progress in sprint performance

A power meter is the only tool worth considering if you want to track your progress. Spending time on analysis of maximum cadence is inaccurate and waste of time as a measurement of sprinting power. If you are not the lucky owner of a Power Tap or SRM Crank, the only way to track gains in sprinting skills will be on the result list. In most situations this is a cheap and really nice indicator of progress. On the opposite, what is a gain in maximum sprint watts worth if you can’t convert that to better results?

Sprinters can benefit in several ways from power meters

When the above is said, there are a lot of other good reasons why sprinters should use a power meter. If you are a road sprinter, you will need a large aerobic engine which can be trained more precise with a power meter. High sprinting power simply isn’t enough on the roads, you will need well trained aerobic system, like it or not.

Track sprinters who has 200m as their primary discipline don’t need the same amount of aerobic endurance training, but they will need to do anaerobic endurance intervals where a power meter is the logical way to pace intensity (heart rate monitors are worthless for these kind of intervals).

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