I’m having a really great season this year cycling, I’ve made a lot of progress since last year and most of that I attribute to having trained like a machine all winter and spring, I never took off more then a week in the last year and half. Granted I have plenty of scheduled rest days and recovery weeks so I avoid getting fried like I did this spring when I got a little too carried away ahaha.

What I learned this season was I reached my peak strength in about 3x months, after that point anymore squats or weights or power training or intensity wasn’t going to give me much more significant improvement, I tried really hard for the first half of the summer to take my strenght and power on the bike up another level put no matter what I did I couldn’t do more. What I did notice a good improvement on is power endurance I can repeat those short hard race spike efforts over and over where in the winter and spring I could only do that a few times before I’d blow a gasket.

Cycling fast and long requires both strength and endurance. I always thought of myself as having good endurance, and that strength was my limiter. I failed to recognize that yes endurance might come easiest for me, but that doesn’t mean I should only work on strength. Even if it is a strength if you don’t use it you lose it and cycling is 80% endurance and 20% strength unless you’re doing short track efforts. So the 80/20 rule should apply to cycling I think and so do other top coaches I’ve read about. They say 80% of riding should be aerobic sub-threshold training and only 20% or less should be high intensity. Of course depending on your genetics, time of year in your schedule, and target events you may do more of one or the other.

I only started training seriously 1.5 years ago, so I basically really screwed up by going out and hammering on almost every single ride then spending the winter hammer the weights and obsessing over power. Yeah it helped develop my anaerobic system much much better, and improved my VO2max etc. but my endurance was so neglected that it has now become my limiter even though it’s historically always been a strong point for me in running and cycling.

Focusing to much on intensity and not base was a bad mistake also because I don’t have years of cycling and training under my belt, I’m building up from nothing, I could barely ride my bike around the block last spring and I was 80lbs over weight too! Base and aerobic cycling should be the focus esp. the first couple years of cycling or longer as strength and power are built on top of a big aerobic base and synergisticly help your anaerobic system work better.  I was all icing and no cake.

Even though I did mostly group rides last year,  every ride was a race for me as I was riding at my limit to keep up, I was out of shape and over weight, and I suffered the whole summer long, I was exhausted and burnt out by fall and it felt good to ride a bit slower and on my own schedule in the fall. But that lasted about a couple weeks then I was hungry to make a big improvement over the winter. I wanted to lose as much weight as possible and improve strength as I thought that was my limiter. I was only half right though, yes strength was my limiter, but in only 3 months I was much much stronger a rider and my endurance was now dwarfed and now the limiter. But I thought I could keep improving strength more I worked on strength all winter spring and half way through the summer, but never got stronger of faster then where I got after 3x months of focused strength and power training. I should have spent the fall and most of the winter doing lots of aerobic base miles, then did 3x months of strength work in the gym, then more base miles in the spring and early summer while converting gym strength into on bike strength.

I don’t regret what I did, as it was really neat to see my strength make a big jump, and help my riding a ton, as strength was my biggest limiter but not my only. The other limiter was endurance and that you can’t improve dramatically in 3-4 months like you can with strength. Endurance base training is miles in the bank, paying your dues.

I think for a bigger rider like myself having a big aerobic engine is even more important as it’s so easy to go anaerobic on even the smallest hill because of the power to weight ratio is so poor. I think if you’re a lighter rider, you can get away with more as your weight doesn’t trigger you body to go into the red as fast.

So needless to say I’m focusing most of my training now on aerobic training, and throwing in some on bike strength training and racing once a week or so to maintain the anaerobic system. This winter I’ll hit the gym again in January and do that until the start of April, I’m still going to do base miles during these three months but I’ll be cutting down on volume
a bit, but will still do at least one 3-4hr ride a week in to maintain the aerobic system. Then in March I’ll start to do more on bike strength work and start ramping up miles and then in April I’ll be putting the miles on and merging gym strength with bike strength and bike endurance and working on power in the May, then by end of May beginning of June I should be coming into really good form for some A events and I’ll try to carry that form through most of the summer and fall.

But I know now how to build up my anaerobic system and that racing helps build anaerobic endurance, but that the meat and potatoes of my riding in my training schedule for the week, the month and year need to be 80% aerobic and 20% anaerobic.

So what things have you learned from first hand experince in regards to your own base training over the years? Did you skip weight and power training, or cadance and effientcy training and not improve much? Or did you spend your entire winter on the fixie and blow everyone away the nex season. Let me know your thoughts I’m curious.

I’ve been riding bikes on and off my whole life and through the years I “trained” as best as I could, but I think since the last time I was seriously biking about 9 years ago I have learned the most about training and my own body and how it reacts and what works best for me. I might not be 20 years old and have the suborn strength and endurance of someone that age, but I think I have learned a lot more in recent years that’s really helping me now, things that I wish I had known then, I really wish I would have had a really good coach when I was younger.

Here’s a highlight of some of the things I’ve learned over the years

1. Strength: I’ve learned that my body is built for endurance but at the sacrifice of strength, I have above average endurance esp. for someone of my size, but I have average or below average strength.  I think for every sport a person most become technically good at the sport, but there comes a point where speed, strength, agility, flexibility etc. are the things that need to be improved on to reach high levels in most sports. I’ve found this to be very true with rock climbing and in cycling, but of which I’ve trained for very hard and specifically to improve strength. My climbing improved by 1/3 and I was climbing at an elite level after spending an off season of strength training. My body seems to respond well to strength training,  and training in general. I’m not sure if other people would see such an improvement, I imagine they would but I don’t know other people’s bodies like I know mine. Now I’m employ the things I learned from strength training for rock climbing, and just general strength training and body building and apply that to my cycling.  And from what I’ve seen over the last 3 months of strength training I’ve been doing for my legs and core and even my heart muscle which I’m “strength training” as well, the improvement in my power output on the bike has been dramatic for me. And I’m excited as I’ve never been in such good cycling shape and I know that I’m only scratching the surface since I still have weight to lose and there’s no way that in only 3 months of strength training I’ve reached my genetic potential in my leg strength.
2. Natural diet: I’ve learned about how critical a healthy diet is, how important fresh raw organic vegetables and fruits are for our bodies. How some foods make us weak and tired, and other foods make us feel strong, energetic, light and fast.
3. Periodized diet:  I’ve learned that you should eat differently depending on what your body needs, what type of training or stress you have going on at the moment, the climate you live in, and your body type etc.
4. Strength to weight ratio: I’ve learned that when I was running a lot and was very light, I was able to rock climb much more gracefully and efficiently, with little forearm strength training I was able to jump on what where hard climbs and actually climb them.
5. Cardio stregth and how it helps rock climbing: I noticed also when rock climbing that not only was it easier when I was light from running a lot and being very thin, but also that my new found cardio endurance helped feed my arm muscles fuel, and also most importantly my climbing technique was very good even things got tuff because I was able to breath through it and have oxygen going to my brain so I could think clearly and have cordination. Usually when you climb at your limit your often start holding your breath and becoming stiff, when that starts it’s only seconds before you pop off.
6. Rest: I learned from bodybuilding that if I was patient and waited 5-6 days to let my muscles fully recover that I grew more muscle and got stronger, and when I did train that muscle again, I could really tear it up and train savagely. This was after having been bodbuilding for a year though, and going to the gym and not feeling sore anymore after training. Once I started resting fully and training more intestly I started to progress again. Lesson learned, Train really hard, but rest really hard too. If you rest half way then train again you won’t be able to truely train hard.
7. Patience: I gave up MTB racing after my first season because I had no patience and I was unrealistic about how fast I could progress. I have to really laugh at myself now, but my first MTB race I did, I entered as “elite” class, I was fast, but not that fast, and of course got left in the dust.  It was a very humbling experince and I trained hard and did more races that season and had one problem after another, besides getting dropped all the time, I kept breakign my bike and crashing from riding at my cardio limits and having nothing left for cordination. I honestly expected of myself to be winning elite class MTB races my first summer of racing. I didn’t understand that it takes at least a couple years training summer winter summer winter long to start to get really fast for most people, and then even longer to reach your genetic potential.
8. Not taking one training session or week or even one season of biking performance too seriously. I would make judgments about my potential and talent as a cyclist on a daily basis always re-evaluting myself and trying to figure out if I’ve become a pro today, or if I am kidding myself that I could be great one day. I would let one bad race, one bad training sessesion descourage me from riding, sometimes leaving riding all together for the whole season or years.
9. Periodization in training:  I’ve learned about periodation in training, training different aspects of athletic performance at different times of the year then brining them together and trying to be in “peak” form at the time of your target events.
10. Peaking: I’ve learned that when you’re peaking you’ll be breaking new records on a daily basis, feeling as strong and powerful and fast as ever, then as quick as that comes, a week or two later, you’re feeling like you’re at 50% riding is really off etc.
11. Tapering and doing it properly: I’ve learned that tapering before breakthrough training sessions and before competition is important, better to be under trained and over rested then over trained when starting a race. But I’ve learned too that tappering and taking it too easy can leave you feeling stiff and slow in a race esp. during the begining part while you’re warming up.
12. Warming up is crtical before races for me.
13. Cross training and avoiding staleness: It’s good to avoid riding or running or doing any sport too much, it’s good to maybe run one day instead of riding etc.  so you don’t get stale.
14. Training your weakness and racing your strengths: We all are born with certain body types, and respond to training differently, and have different weaknesses we have to train. It’s important to be honest with yourself and identify exactly the things you need to work on to reach your goals. It’s also important to race in events or courses that are suited for your body type if you plan on winning. If you’re a light rider, then climbing will generally be easier for you and hilly courses. If you’re a big powerful rider, then maybe shorter, flatter events suit you, or sprinting etc.
15. I use to think that training on a stationary bike was silly, and artificial and not as good as a real bike. But what I have learned is that on a stationary bike you have many advantages. You can train any time of day, in any weather condition, there’s no excuse to cut a training session short because of rain or hot weather either. You don’t have to worry about getting run over by cars or smashing into rock and trees, so you are able to focus on the pure physical effort of cycling and put all your focus into it. Coasting feels really silly on the stationary bike, I avoid doing it. I am able to focus on my pedaling technique better as I’m not distracted. I am able to focus on my bike position, breathing etc as well. Also doing one legged pedaling drills is much easier on the stationary bike. And there is always, water, fuel, bathroom, towel, music etc. on the stationary. Granted riding out on the open road is very exciting and fun and what this sport is all about, the stationary training, rollers etc should not be overlooked as one of the tools in your arsenal. Just make sure to take enough rest days and do a little cross training to avoid getting stale or over trained on the trainer as it’s easy to do when weather and darkness don’t slow you down.
16. And most importantly have fun! What good is winning or reaching your goals if you’re not happy? Just chill out and be patient train hard, rest even harder, have fun and don’t pressure yourself so much

VS.

There seems to be much debate in the forums, books and studies about the effectiveness of lifting weights and strength training for cyclists or endurance athletes in general. I think one key point that is always ignored is that we are all built differently and everyone has unique strengths and weaknesses that we’re born with and we should  train in a way that is unique to the way we’re built. Also the length of the event we are intending on competing in should have a bearing on how much and what types of strength training you do as well. So both the type and length of events and also your genetics both should play a role in how your unique training plan. It seems like most people want to make things simple black and white, should I lift or should I not lift weights? But the truth is much more complex then that, but yet I see the same question asked over and over online in the forums etc. Do you think that Chris Carmichael would have Lance doing all the strength training they do in the off season if it didn’t work? And I can tell you from documented first hand experience that for me it has made a huge difference in my riding, weight loss, and overall fitness and well being! You have to make an honest assessment of your strengths and weakness and train to improve your weaknesses and further improve your strengths.

Extreme examples of two possible types of riders Rambo rider, and Gates rider and some things to think about

1. If you’re naturally strong and have powerful muscles, then making them stronger probably won’t help much with cycling unless your focus is short distance events where you can never have enough leg strength. Now on the other hand if you’re built like a sprinter, but want to race in long events like centuries etc. you’ll probably want to focus more on endurance training to help build up your ability to ride for many hours at a time. But I still think that everyone no matter how they’re built should strength train for cycling, you’ll just need to do less of it. Think of the 80/20 rule, you should be riding lots of easy to moderate miles but still having a day or two a week dedicated to intervals and or weight training etc.
2. A skinny weak legged cyclist that may have plenty of endurance but not much strength or power will want to do the opposite and spend 80% of his time building up the raw strength and power in his or her legs to meet the demands of riding fast, esp. if you’re intending on riding fast for shorter distances where emphasis is on the muscular system.

It’s very surprising that so many “experts” bad mouth strength training for cycling saying it’s not effective, or even that it will slow you down or injury etc. Lifting weights is discredited by many, probably because the “research” that was done was only conducted on trained athletes for a couple months, which is too short a time span to see any major improvement in fact negative improvement probably is what happens in the first weeks of any weight training program as your body is adjusting and you feel sore most of the time. I found that for myself that I was slightly stronger the first month and a bit more a month later, but after a good rest over the Christmas week I was fully recovered and was stronger then ever, and now after another month, now 3 months later I hardly feel sore anymore after lifting weights and I’ve added about 160watts average to my previous average on my 10 minute TT test I do at the beginning and end of each monthly cycle. That’s a huge improvement, but I think that for me having weak legs and realizing it and making it a key point in my training focus is paying off big.

Here are the improvements I’ve noticed for myself from weight and strength training, I say “strength training” as you can strength your legs with body movements and on bike exercises etc.

1. My recovery time is much faster now, before I’d have sore muscles for days after a hard ride, now I only get sore only if I have a particularly grueling weight session with heavy weights and or high reps or a new exercise.
2. My running speed is faster, I feel like I have a much stronger stride now when I run, and that I can run faster.
3. My endurance has improved I don’t tired as easy, and most important my power endurance has improved.
4. My metabolism is higher, I’m losing weight faster now then just cycling or running alone.
5. I feel stronger, esp. from squats as they make your whole support system feel strong you can hold yourself up easier you feel more athletic
6. I also ski in the off season and I’ve noticed that I feel much stronger and have better muscular endurance and don’t have to stop in the middle of the run now, my legs don’t burn as bad.
7. Injury prevention, by having strong muscles, tendons and ligaments it helps reduce your change of injury
8. I think that by having legs that are strong and match the strength of your cardio system, your legs can drive your cardio system even harder so that your cardio system can improve even more. If your legs are weak and fail before your cardio system does then you won’t get as good a cardio workout. I notice now that I can feel my heart muscle really working where before it was more like my legs just burned up and I’d have burning legs and an overall feeling of fatigue but not really out of breath, it just seemed to start with the legs and then my whole body was in distress. Now with my stronger legs I can pedal big gears for much longer times and I get the intuition that my cardio system is getting stronger too in an effort to match what my legs can dish out.
9. They do say that your legs act as a second heart helping blood move around during the contraction of your legs. If that’s the case that would also reinforce perhaps the theoretical advantage of having a high RPM pedaling style of a rider like Lance Armstrong. Perhaps having stronger legs helps push the blood out of your legs better?
10. I think that from strength training my legs are more powerful meaning the motor units i.e the nerves can fire more synchronize and deliver more force in a shorter time.
11. I also think that from strength training I’m able to know spin much faster then before, I can get up to 150RPM now where 130RPM was about limit, I felt like my legs where going to just fly off if I went any faster.
12. I’m sure my sprint has improved now, we’ll see once I start riding outside.

Anyway, it just blows my mind that so many cycling “coaches” tell their riders to avoid weights, here are some common myths I hear

1. Weight training will make you get huge muscles and add extra weight then that will cause you slow down.
2. Studies have proven that strength training has no benefit in endurance tests.
3. Look how skinny pro rider John Doe is
4. It will make you’re pedaling stroke bad
5. It will make you rider slower and weaker
6. There is no benefit from strength training
7. I’m sure there’s more I haven’ heard or I forget about too