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Weight Training for Cyclists
by Karen Brems
As the racing season draws to a close, it is time to start planning
your off season training. A good off season program is critical for
building your fitness up over a period of years. It will lay the foundation
for next season’s performance. This doesn’t mean you need to hammer
all winter. The off season is also a time to add variety to your training
and take a mental break from the more structured, high intensity riding
you do during the season. Many cyclists including most (but not all)
elite level racers include weight training in their off season program.
When weight training for cycling, it is important to remember that
you are a cyclist, not a weight lifter. Your goal in the gym should
be to use weight training so you can ride faster, not just so you can
lift more weight. Weight training alone will not make you a better
cyclist. Lifting can increase the size and number of muscle fibers
you have, however except for maybe match sprinting, cycling is basically
an endurance event and your performance depends on supplying energy
to those muscles over a long period of time. Most average cyclists
can ride at 30 mph for 5-10 sec. without too much difficulty, especially
if they have someone to motorpace them up to that speed (acceleration
takes a tremendous amount of power). Your muscles have the strength
to push the pedals to go that speed. However, very few people
can go 30 mph for an hour, or even for 5-10 min. To do that, you need
a constant supply of oxygen and fuel to those muscle fibers and that
takes a highly developed cardiovascular system.
There are as many different philosophies of weight training as there
are different coaches. The following is based on my personal experience
as well as the majority of advice I’ve gotten over the years. You can
use it as a starting point, but everyone has to figure out for themselves
what works best for them. Improper weight training is a very good
way to injure yourself. Always lift with proper technique. If you
don't know proper technique, ask the staff at your gym. That’s what
they are there for. Always build up gradually in weight. You can use
your first set as sort of a warm up set. Never start the session with
a weight you haven’t lifted before. You should always do a warm-up
of at least 5-10 min. of light cardiovascular activity (enough to break
a sweat) before starting your lifting session. This can be riding the
stationary bikes, the Nordic Track machine, a rowing machine or whatever
you like. You can also ride your bike to the gym. Same goes for after
your weight workout: always do a cool down of 5-10 min. followed by
5-10 min. of good stretching. When doing any leg exercises,
never bend your knees more than 90 degrees. This can put extra strain
on your ligaments and tendons. You don’t bend your knees more than
90 degrees during the power phase of your pedal stroke so that is the
range of motion you are trying to strengthen. When lifting very heavy
weights, it is a good idea to have a spotter. When doing squats, you
should use a weight belt to save your back.
Weight training programs are generally divided into phases. The length
of each phase depends on the total amount of time you want to devote
to weight training. High intensity riding and heavy weight training
are not compatible. Your performance on the bike will probably decrease
while you are lifting. You have to be able to accept that and realize
that your real gains will come when you back off on the weights. Many
weight programs are based on the amount of weight you can lift once
or your “1 rep max.” (1 RM). Each phase is characterized by a
specific number of sets and reps with a percentage of your 1 RM. Determining
your 1 RM can be difficult and dangerous in terms of potential for
injury. You basically have to devote an entire workout to determining
your 1 RM on various exercises and you have to estimate somewhat anyway
because if you try too many different weights, you will just get tired
and your 1 RM won’t be accurate anyway. You will also have to fail
at some point, so having a spotter is very important. You can test
your 1 RM once a month or so to see how much strength you have gained.
You will be able to see this fairly clearly anyway though just by how
much you can lift at a specific number of reps. To figure out percentages
based on a 1 RM, you also need to know the weight of the machine itself,
such as the weight of the sled in the incline leg press. As a substitute
for determining your 1 RM, you can just pick the weight to make the
reps work out. The last rep of each set should take you to “momentary
muscle failure” where you simply can’t lift the weight any more. With
a spotter, you may be able to get an extra rep or 2. It is these last
few reps of each set where you are making the real gains in strength.
As far as how many different exercises you do, it depends on how
much time you want to spend in the gym. You should be able to do a
pretty complete workout in 1 - 1 1/2 hours. If you have more time
than that, you are better off spending it riding! The emphasis should
be on lower body exercises. A fairly complete lower body program covering
all the major muscle groups involved in cycling would include: leg
press, leg curls, leg extensions (upper 45 degrees only), calf
machines (seated and standing) and squats. Good back exercises are
back extensions and dead lifts (Be careful with these - they can strain
your back too much - have someone critique your technique.). You should
do some upper body lifting to help your stability on the bike as well
as your sprint. It is also necessary for any track events requiring
a standing start. How much upper body lifting you do somewhat depends
on how much bulk you want to add to your upper body. Personally, I
do very little upper body lifting: basically just one pushing exercise
(bench press, chest press or dips) and one pulling exercise (bent over
rows, seated rows or chin-ups). Latissumus pull downs are also a good
exercise. I also swim in the off season to work on upper body strength.
You can also do upper body circuit training once a week. This
is a good way to develop strength without adding much bulk. You should
include abdominal exercises every session such as crunches, leg lifts,
knee lifts or abdominal machines.
The first phase is a transition phase. This will last about 3 weeks
and is characterized by high repetitions with very low weight. The
purpose of this phase is just to get your body used to lifting. You
may have very strong quads from riding, but you still need to strengthen
the supporting muscles and tendons before you can start squatting heavy
weight. You will very likely get very sore at the beginning of this
phase. A workout would consist of 2-3 sets of 15-20 reps of each exercise.
You can also incorporate circuit training into this phase. In circuit
training, pick 8-10 machines (you don’t have time to load and unload
plates) and spend 30-40 sec. on each machine and 20-30 sec. between
machines. Rest 4-5 min. between circuits. This is a good way to work
your upper body, back and abdominal muscles.
The next phase is the hypertrophy phase. This will last 4-5 weeks
and its purpose is to provide a high volume of lifting with moderate
to moderately heavy weights. Workouts consist of 3-4 sets of
8-12 reps at 65-75% of your 1 RM. One thing to note, is that each phase
is really a gradual progression to the next phase. For example, you
might do 20 reps of a very light weight the first time you go to the
gym. After a week, you would add some weight and do 18 reps. The 3rd
week you drop to 15. Then you start your hypertrophy phase with 12
reps and add a set. Whenever you decrease reps, you increase weight.
Once you can do 12 reps at a particular weight, increase it and start
with 8 reps.
The next phase is the strength phase. Here you increase the number
of sets, increase weight and decrease reps. A workout would be 4-6
sets of 4-6 reps of 80-85% of your 1 RM. Lifting heavy weights
can cause injury and a warm-up set of 10 reps is a good idea here.
Personally, I only go to really heavy weights on exercises involving
more than one major muscle group and that are more specific to cycling
such as leg press and squats.
The last phase is the power phase. Some research has shown that strength
gains are speed specific. In other words, to really gain strength for
cycling, you have to simulate those muscle contraction speeds in the
gym. In the power phase, the emphasis is on lifting a moderate amount
of weight as fast as you can - aim for 1 sec. per contraction. You
might do 3-4 sets of 10-20 reps at 50-60% of your 1 RM. The idea here
is that you are transferring the gains you have made in the previous
phases to your cycling. One might then ask, if strength is speed specific,
why do all the other phases? The answer is that high speed weight training
puts a lot of strain on your muscles and you need to build up the
strength to handle it in the other phases. This is also a good time
to add plyometrics or jumping exercises to your program. You
can also add lunges, telemark squats or squat jumps.
The number of days per week you lift depends on your schedule. You
can make significant gains with only twice a week in the gym. Track
riders lift up to 4 days a week: twice for upper body, twice
for lower body. Contrary to popular belief, lifting weight will not
make you gain significant weight, especially not for women. Eating
more and riding less (which is what most people end up doing in the
off season, especially around the holidays) is what will make you gain
weight. Muscle does weigh more than fat, and you can put on a couple
of pounds of muscle through weight training, but no more than that.
Your increased strength to weight ratio will more than make up for
it.
If you have the time, adding a maintenance phase can be a good idea.
Here you basically just lift once a week with moderate weights and
reps and 1-2 sets is plenty. The goal is just to maintain the gains
you have already achieved. The longer you can keep this up, the less
you will be starting from scratch next year. It is difficult to lift
once the race season is in full swing, however. If you do a long easy
ride once a week, you can do your lifting on this day. Don’t lift on
or the day before doing hard training on the bike. Another option is
to do strength work on the bike. You can do a workout once a week where
you do hill repeats in as big a gear as you can handle. You should
be at 45-50 rpm for 3-5 min. Do 4-6 repeats with 2-4 min. rest. You
should keep your heart rate below threshold here as the emphasis is
on muscular, not cardiovascular conditioning. You can also do
“power sprints”. Start from almost a dead stop (less than 5 mph) in
a big gear (53x12 or 53x13) and sprint as hard as you can for 15-20
sec. Do 6-10 repeats with full recovery in between. You can also
do one of these workouts once a week in the off-season as a supplement
to your gym training. For example, you could do 2 heavy leg workouts
a week in the gym and one day of upper body circuit training and a strength
workout on the bike.
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