Training4cyclists

Cycling Training Tips

weight lifting

Reader Question: Why Should Cyclists Train Like Weight Lifters?

by 5 Comments

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 Might Increase Performance

by 2 Comments

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.

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.