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Cycling Training Tips

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Strength Training Without Additional Body Mass – 3

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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 some 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).

5 Mistakes In The Weight Lifting Gym

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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.